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Death Valley & The Great Conjunction
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shadetreemech
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:52 pm    Post subject: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

This year the Winter Solstice (Shortest Day of the Year) coincided with the Great Conjunction, the closest Jupiter & Saturn would align, from our perspective, since 1263. One of the nearest Dark Sky Places to Southern California is Death Valley.

I paid some attention to the Van, Cindy prepped meals for a couple days. We packed the telescope and headed East. I had already been to DVNP in 2018 solo, through Ridgecrest, up 395 and East on 190 through Stovepipe Wells. This time, we stayed on the 15 towards Vegas, jumping off on 127 North out of Baker. Hour and a half or so to Shoshone, then West on 178 into the Park.

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Off 178 East of Death Valley. The camera's level. We'd pulled a u-ey to climb up to a cave.

Campgrounds in Death Valley are closed due to Covid-19. Our plan was to dispersed camp on BLM land outside the Park Boundary. I had downloaded info for a few sites from freecampsites.net. One referred to dispersed spots inside the Park. Turns out there's a gravel road, West Side Road, about 40 miles long that runs, oddly enough, on the West side of DV. There are gravel trails, some requiring high clearance vehicles, that run West up into side canyons. The signs say, "No Camping Within One Mile of Road, No Open Fires". Prime Westy country.

First night, we set up the telescope and had a good time tracking our two target planets off to the Southwest just up from the horizon.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
The shot's from my Galaxy S8 phone camera. Little bit of "shutter" lag stretches the planets. Both are clearly visible. Through the telescope, you could see the rings of Saturn and 3 of Jupiter's moons.

Next day, Winter Solstice, was ,for me, New Year's Eve. Shortest Day of the Year, the days start getting longer up to Spring Equinox. Happy Winter!

We toured the Park, starting with a drive-thru at Badwater Basin, Lowest Spot in the US at 282 feet Below Sea Level. Too many people too close. We got out of the Van and took a hike at the first pull out on Artist's Drive.

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Artist's Drive. Death Valley in the background.

We drove around to various stops in the Park, making our way up to Dante's View.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
Dante's View looking Northwest. Badwater Basin in the foreground.

The night of the 21st we set up the scope again, tracking the conjunction. When we climbed into bed, I could see Orion rising in the East. I woke up periodically during the night, watching Orion's progress across the night sky out the back window of the Van.

A Great Two-Day Trip. I wear a mask and gloves when we stop for gas, Cindy stays in the Van. That's as close as we get to people on the Road. Hand sanitizer and wipes as needed.

Jupiter & Saturn are still visible in the night sky to the Southwest as of this writing. Refer to my photo for position above the horizon about 6 pm.

Happy Trails and Be Safe

Dan
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Last edited by shadetreemech on Wed Dec 23, 2020 5:02 pm; edited 2 times in total
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thatbaldwinlife
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Man I want to explore the Death Valley area so bad! Jealous.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 5:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

What a wonderland! I've done many century and double century rides through there. Also attempted the Furnace Creek 508 a few times, anyone know of it?
Love the pictures1 Thanks for sharing.
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thatbaldwinlife
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 7:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

GreggK wrote:
What a wonderland! I've done many century and double century rides through there. Also attempted the Furnace Creek 508 a few times, anyone know of it?
Love the pictures1 Thanks for sharing.


I've done a double century years ago but not in Death Valley! I rode from Seattle down to Portland in a day.
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dhaavers
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:00 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Also jealous...it's been overcast here for most of a week, plus 11" snow just today... Rolling Eyes Wink

Nice little report! Cool

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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Here is a picture I took from near Oatman, AZ on the evening of the 18th after a hike in the Black Mts.

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shadetreemech
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:38 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

There ya go.

Nice Shot.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:43 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Thanks
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bobhill8
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2020 6:21 am    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Great trip and photos- love the Westy/Astronomy Conjunction
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lcolon
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2020 9:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Been to death valley many times. One of my favorite places in CA. Highly recommended. Although every time I have been there it has been with my toyota land cruiser so I could pound all the off road trails.
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markz2004
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 4:47 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Cool!

What type of telescope you running ?
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Irishcalifornian
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 4:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Beautiful!
Amazing how similar the terrain looks just like Borrego Springs, where I live.
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shadetreemech
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 8:23 am    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

markz2004 wrote:
What type of telescope you running ?

We've got an "entry level" Celestron Travel Scope 70 Portable.

https://www.celestron.com/products/travel-scope-70-portable-telescope

Comes in a day pack.

Like a lot of other things, you can trade up as far as you want.

Dan
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:01 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

You should have put the camera up to the eyepiece of the telescope! Next time. It would have been cool to see the rings and the moons.

I've taken some decent pics of the moon that way.
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erste
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:57 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

really nice trip report and pics shadetreemech! thanks for sharing

I’m glad to hear you were able to make it out to BLM land to see the conjunction. I thought public lands had closed with the last lockdown but that must have been wrong.
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shadetreemech
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 8:22 am    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

erste wrote:
I thought public lands had closed with the last lockdown but that must have been wrong.


I got my info from BLM California's webpage:

https://www.blm.gov/site-page/blm-california-covid-19-updates

Scroll down to see the separate District Office specific closures and guidelines.

Happy Trails & Be Safe.

Dan
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 9:14 am    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Was there over Thanksgiving week.
Went north from DV Junction out to Crankshaft Junction, over the top to Eureka Valley Dunes. Camped there, then north west to Big Pine.
I'll post a couple pics, later.

Great place to socially distance.

Love DV!
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 11:49 am    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

j_dirge wrote:
Was there over Thanksgiving week.
Went north from DV Junction out to Crankshaft Junction, over the top to Eureka Valley Dunes. Camped there, then north west to Big Pine.
I'll post a couple pics, later.

Great place to socially distance.

Love DV!


Glad you are getting out. I'll check in with you next time I am out your way.... Very Happy
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 3:01 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

See you again , Jupiter-Saturn in 800 years...
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 3:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Death Valley & The Great Conjunction Reply with quote

Abscate wrote:
See you again , Jupiter-Saturn in 800 years...


Actually only 80 years. Laughing It has been a long while since the last one but not so long until the next. See you there....
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