[Chaos-l] Report from upstate NY

[Michael Hrivnak]

I arrived in upstate NY today, just in time for a fairly clear evening.  I 
found a small gravel culdesac at the end of a small road, on the east bank of 
the Hudson River.  It's a sizeable clearing with relatively few obstructions 
from trees.  The only downside is that I was about 20 feet from a set of 
train tracks, and 4 trains passed by in the 3 hours I was there.

Anyway, the viewing was great.  The area is very dark, although I look forward 
to venturing into the Catskills soon which should be even better.  My viewing 
spot was quite a bit darker than the Farrington Point boat ramps.  The skies 
didn't really settle until nearly 11pm at which time I was viewing the Wild 
Ducks.  The detail on that object was astounding to me, and the most 
impressive I've seen yet with my scope (8" Orion Dob).

So, I'm off to a great start with my new hobby.  This was about my fourth time 
out since getting the scope fully operational.  I'm learning my way around 
the sky and having lots of fun doing it.  Thanks for everyone's input to help 
get me started, and I look forward to meeting more of you in the fall.

Michael

P.S.  I decided to use my wiki to keep track of what objects I've viewed.  
http://hrivnak.org/wiki/index.php/Extraterrestrial_Object_Observation