[Chaos-l] Perseids: Hanging Rock?

[Jon Stewart-Taylor]

Hi all.  In response to my question about sites to the west, Walter  
suggested Hanging Rock, a state park north of Winston-Salem.

The CSC shows a bubble of decently transparent air appearing during  
prime meteor watching:

   http://cleardarksky.com/f.php?p=4C2112Pilot_Mountain&xhair=2&Mn=photoshop

I've called the park, and they've said it's "probably" fine (the head  
ranger is out, and i'm waiting for a confirmation call) if we use the  
visitor lot.  The only drawback is that we'd have to pay camping fees.

The dark-sky-finder has the park listed as "green":

   http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/index.php?lat=36.39005848892644&lng=-80.25272369384766&zoom=12&pollution=true

Not as dark as Medoc, but quite a bit darker than the Jordan Lake  
area, and quite a bit higher.  Hopefully the latter will lead to (at  
least a little) cooler and clearer.  I'm planning to take a 'scope or  
two and doing an impromptu public session if they have anybody to  
share with.

Anybody else interested in going there for the night?  They do have a  
"group" campground, so we might be able to get group rates if anybody  
else was interested.

We're planning to get there between 4 and 5, which means leaving in  
the next hour or so.

J.
-- 
Jon Stewart-Taylor:  joncst at earthlink.net
Chapel Hill Astronomy: http://www.rtpnet.org/chaos