Part #7 Go South!
The building boom of the late 90s and
2000s came from all directions to my
dark site. my observatory now came
under assault from all directions.
The towns at the bottom of the
mountains turned into cities and
the light pollution domes were
growing.
Even my once dark rural neighborhood,
where everyone knew to keep lights
off for the observatory was under
attack. All those friendly neighbors
had been replaced by flat landers.
They came up from the city, bulldozed
the entire land, pin to pin. Killing
all the Manzanita, Red Shank, Sage
& Mountain Mahogany. Then they drug
up a pre-fab and bought the biggest
brightest security lights they
oould find.
These people were ruthless! They
had no respect for anything but
their own narrow vision of mountain
living. Even the clubs dark site
(Orange County Astronomers) not
far from me was affected. i can
still remember when you could
only see ONE light from the
OCA dark site.
There had always been bylaws and
covenants in regard to outdoor
lighting. i mean Palomar Mountain
was nearby too. But this newest
migration of flat landers without
a clue were blatantly breaking
the laws and respect of the
locals. i tried to reason, i
tried to shield the lights,
i even tried to buy them off.
Nothing worked.
Well it came to the old adage:
"Love it or leave it." i left it!
and i'm glad i did when i did.
Because if i had waited any
longer, there wouldn't have been
any buyers in today's market.
Not to mention that i would
have been stuck under a sky
that never gets dark.
So my 28" StarMaster, 17 1/2 truss
dob, and C-14 are in a very dark
storage container. But don't cry!
i am now off the "Mainland" for
good on a 100 mile by 50 mile island
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Yes the Big Island of Hawaii with
the darkest skies and 2 mountain
peaks over 13,700 feet tall.
i am now a regular at the Mauna Kea
Observatories.
See:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/
Here at nearly 14,000 feet above sea
level i am currently making observations
with a pair of 20 X 125 mm astro
binoculars on a heavy duty fork mount.
The views from this location are some
of the best in the world.
Not to mention that the weather here
is great. i live by a warm clean blue
ocean, swim with dolphins and tropical
fish. See the whales and their calves
swim by in what can only be called
Paradise.
But i'm now ready to find a new home
for all my scopes, libary etc...
i am now posting this series of
stories of my astronomical adventures
to let everyone this:
i am committed to build the one of the Worlds
Finest Amateur Astronomy Observatory in the
Southern Hemisphere. You can see my
web site of the old Anza Observatory and
all of the equipment that will be part
of the project.
See my observatory that i wish to
move to the Southern hemisphere here:
http://www.anzaobservatory.com
and again the greatest observing run in my life:
http://www.anzaobservatory.com/gosouth.html
If there is anyone interested in this
project or has any comments suggestions
or ideas please eMail me at:
humphreys@greencafe.com
Go South!
Lance aka "abellhunter"