Anza Borrego Desert

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Talk about a trip you took out to Anza Borrego

Little Blair with the 10" Meade Telescope Messages in this topic - RSS

hikerdmb
hikerdmb
Posts: 423


1/29/2012
hikerdmb
hikerdmb
Posts: 423
Went out to Little Blair Valley on Friday afternoon for a quick overnighter. The reason for this trip was to set up the Meade 10" LX2000 telescope and take advantage of the clear skies we have had for the last few nights. Got to our campsite and took a quick hike up to the end of the road and then up the canyon a little ways. There were quite a bit of new plants growing in shady areas along the wash.


There were also a few trees along the wash that were blooming. I am not sure of this tree but maybe someone can put a name to it.


Someone built some small stacks near the end of the road.



Wylie climbed up on some boulders for a better view.


As the sun set I got out the telescope and started setting it up for the night ahead.


This scope has a 10" mirror so it gathers lots of light which makes for great viewing almost anywhere but this night was special for sure.


It turned out to be one of the best nights viewing I have ever had in the desert. We saw Venus, Mars, Jupiter (could see the Red Spot) and stayed up til 1:00 to see Saturn. The Great Nebula of Orion was amazing. I have never seen so much of the cloud no matter where I set up the scope. We also saw many, many open star clusters, the most impressive was the Double Cluster which is found near Cassiopeia. We also viewed the Andromeda Galaxy and a few other very faint galaxies. I saw the Crab Nebula for the first time ever on this trip. I wish I could take some photos through the scope to share but I lack a camera for that. I brought the bino-viewers and used them for a great deal of time (think binoculars hooked up to a telescope) to see the mountains and craters on the moon as well as many of the other objects we viewed. Using bino-viewers gives everyting a whole new perspective.

Here is a pic of the scope with the bino-viewers hooked up.


Finally got to bed about 1:30 AM and slept in the back of the truck with the best dog in the world. It got down to the high 30's during the night but we stayed warm.


My buddy Andy took a bunch of night sky pics with his camera and I will add some to the forum when he finishes working with them.
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