The Virginia Dale Star Party Site
   This is in the M.A.R.S. area. It is at Virginia Dale, Colorado (Two Chicks Paintball), just South of
the Wyoming border on Hwy 287. This  is 40 miles north from the 'Y' in N. Ft. Collins, Colorado and
approximately 28 miles South of Laramie, Wyoming at an elevation of 7560'. To see what this dark site
look like check out this page.
  1. Home(451K)is the location of the Virginia Dale site.
                        IDA's DarkSky Tool for finding the Limiting Zenith Magnitude of a potential Star Party Site.
                                                   Location is 40* 59' 51" (40.991833) by  105* 25' 04" (105.42332).
 
   MoonSet/Rise (Phase)       SunSet/ Rise
?
 5:21pm 3:39am 10.8% pm am
-  - - Twil> pm  am
 ?   6:24pm  4:05am  5.4%   pm  pm
 - - - Twil>  pm  am
? (12:06am)S  8:58am 15.8 %  pm am
- - - Twil>  pm  am
   ?   12:06am 10:10am   12.8%
  pm
  am
 - 06/15/02 - Twil>  pm am

Good Views
 Morning-

        Evening- Mercury-
                       Jupiter-
Zodiac Constellations in the Sky after sunset- Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra.
Zodiac Constellations that Rise after sunset-  Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornius, Aquarius.

  This is a good dark site with the ZLM (Zenith Limiting Magnitude) being ~6.7.  Last Thursday (10/27/2K) I could see
the 'attendent' galaxy(14.8 mag.) next to the Ring Nebula in my C-14. The light dome from the Front Range Area is about
20* wide by 10* high. In the SW. there is also a small Cheyenne light dome, but neither do much to obstruct the viewing.

Site                    Lat.      Lon.     IMAGE COORDS Computed    LP     Pixel  "Meas"  LP  error   Mag    Schaaf
                                                      i              j                nL      (Red)     nL      ratio      sq sec    Scale     obsvd   Lim Mag (obs)   Lim Mag
Virginia D CO   40.983  -105.433    411.2        252.3                6.09         46.0          0.      0.0000       21.79        6.49          6.76             6.7                      6.6 - 7.0
                    Much structure is visible in the Milky Way. The Zodiacal light is an obvious cone of light. The major
                      constellations are less obvious due to "noise" caused by the large number of faint stars now visible.
                      Passing clouds appear as dark moving masses as they block the natural skyglow or the Milky Way.
                      Few sources of skyglow are still visible.

Things to bring-Red flashlights, warm clothes, snacks, water, astro-things to trade or sell, camera & film,  telescope (of course).

Things Not to bring-Loud music, unruly pets, because there is wildlife in the area! and more info on  Star Party Etiquette!!

There are Toliet Facilities on-site! (1)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              05/10/2K2  tjt