[Chaos-l] Perseids at Hanging Rock

[Mark Lerch]

The Sauratown mountains are a favorite destination of mine. Moore's Knob is the highest point in the range. Here are pictures from one of my trips there. I love the world's smallest pharmacy, at the entrance road in -

http://marklerch.com/trips/hangingrocksp2000/Hanging%20Rock%20State%20Park.html


-----Original Message-----
From: chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org] On Behalf Of Jon Stewart-Taylor
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 5:03 PM
To: chaos-l at rtpnet.org
Subject: [Chaos-l] Perseids at Hanging Rock

Hi all.  Kathleen and i did make it out to Hanging Rock State Park  
last night (8/12).  The Forsythe County astronomers were scheduled to  
do a public session in the visitor's center parking lot. We thought  
about joining them but the horizons at the center were kinda  
restricted.  We talked to various people at the park, and eventually a  
ranger mentioned that if we didn't mind a bit of a walk, the tower on  
Moore's Knob would be good.  Us: "Hmm.  It's rated 'strenuous', how  
hard is it, really?"  Him: "Oh, it's only rated strenuous because the  
whole trail is 4 miles".

Long story short, He fibbed. It was a 1.4 mile hike to gain 1000 ft of  
altitude (Steep: The trail to Moore's Knob is rated strenuous for a  
reason).  The tower is 25 ft above the highest point in the park (and  
therefore above pretty much anywhere east of the Blue Ridge).  It was  
a spectacular view when we reached the top at sunset. First time i'd  
observed in a sight where _all_ the horizons are measured in negative  
degrees.   You can see some pictures of the tower, and the view from  
the top, at:

    http://www.trailsofnc.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=561

Although the clouds were kind of iffy from dark 'till about midnight.,  
we saw a half dozen Perseids up to 30 degrees long, many 1st magnitude  
or brighter.  The light pollution to the south was particularly bad  
(Winston-Salem, i assume), but we could still see Scorpius and  
Sagitarius through the gaps in the clouds.  Just before Midnight, the  
clouds cleared out overhead right on schedule (thank you Clear Sky  
Chart). The Milky Way was very bright overhead, clearly visible from  
where Cassiopeia was rising in the east overhead to Cygnus then down  
each branch of the rift to Scorpius and Sagittarius.  Because of the  
southern light dome, the Scorpius branch faded quickly.

The bright Perseids continued at 10-15 minute intervals on average for  
the rest of the night  The most exciting one was about mag -1, left a  
glowing trail about 30 degs long, then skipped, rentered, and left  
another trail about 10 degrees long.  Fainter Perseids seemed  
unusually infrequent.

The clear skies persisted until dawn, when we gave in and napped until  
around 9:30.  It was still clear, but clouds were flowing through the  
valleys on either side of the ridge, sometimes washing right over the  
tower.  When they did, we could see our silhouettes on the cloud  
surface, surrounded by halos.

It was a rather long hike down, though.

If you haven't been there, it's a pretty nice park, reasonably  
accommodating of astronomers, and the view from Moore's Knob, day or  
night, is impressive.  Only real drawbacks are the distance (about 2  
hours drive) and the camping fee ($20, required if you're going to  
stay overnight).

Just dreaming:  Moore's Knob would be a Really Cool Place to put a  
permanent observatory with a 15-20 inch scope...

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






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