Scope Diagram Astrocamera.Net - Astrophotography by Dave Kodama

July 2000 - A Month of Fire & Ice (Comet C/1999 S4)



Comet Linear - 15 minutes on E200 (2-stop push) through smoke and clouds - AP 155 F7. The fire causing the smoke interference for this shot is not the same as the major fire in Temecula one week later (below). Because of the smoke and cloud haze, the STV autoguider could not lock onto the comet for this shot, so it was manually guided using the display on the STV control panel.
Jupiter and Saturn share the sky with fall/winter objects... and smoke from the nearby Temecula fire - 20 minutes on E200 (2-stop push) - Pentax 105mm @ F4.
 

Here's the Temecula fire as it appeared about 4 hours after it started. Palomar Mountain is hidden behind the smoke plume.

The fire closed the main access highway to the OCA Anza site, but the hardcore (and the most optimistic) OCA members still managed to make it to the Saturday night star party!

 
12 hours later, the Temecula fire was still lighting up the skies. The fire might not be brought under control for as long as a week.


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