[Lvas] Desert observing tips / Anybody up for observing this week?

[Jonathan Kade]

For what it's worth, we got a little too sick of the Strip yesterday
evening (didn't take that long ;) and decided to try visiting Mount
Charleston.  We found a decently protected parking area near a
trailhead and set up.  (On the way up, Diane was somewhat shocked when
we found the youth correctional facility next to the hilltop
campground!)  We spent some time with the UMa/CnV galaxies and with
assorted Messier and other open clusters, but then identified the top
of Centaurus and looked for it.

I'm 95% sure we found Centaurus A - a large bright patch with visible
dark lane - but it was extremely low contrast.  Much better in 15x70s
than in the 66mm telescope, too.  Based on where it was, we knew Om
Cent was behind a ridge in the mountain, so we broke down the
equipment to call it a night.

But coming down the mountainside, we realized we could see much more
of the body of Centaurus, so we stopped at the next pulloff and got
out the binoculars.  We caught Om Cent just over a ridge, right near
the meridian.  There was just enough time to pull out the telescope
and set up.  The cluster was blobby and stars didn't really resolve,
but it was stunning nonetheless - especially with the mountain ridge
right below it in the field of view!

Comparing it to M13, which was just across the sky from it, it was
hard not to be struck by how badly the great globs of the north
compare to the great southern ones.  We still haven't seen 47 Tucanae,
but maybe someday...

Jonathan