Omega Centauri, a Couple of Comets, and a Slew of Galaxies
2024 March 16 (a.m.): Omega Centauri, a Couple of Comets, and a Slew of Galaxies What do I do when it’s a weekend with good weather for deep-sky observing, but the First Quarter Moon is washing out the evening sky? Well, if I’m up for it, I just observe during the morning instead. Just after midnight on the morning of March 16th, I drove out to a dark site at Willow Valley Reservoir, in eastern Klamath County on the Oregon-California border. There is a light dome from Klamath Falls to the west, and a tiny light dome from Lakeview to the east, but overall this is a great site with wide-open horizons. The reservoir itself was full. Google Earth has a satellite image from 2017 that shows it flooding the access road. It wasn’t that high this time, but as I turned in to the parking area I stopped to make sure I wouldn’t be driving into the water. The Moon wouldn’t set until 2:18am, so I left my scope out for a while to cool down while I rested in the car. It wasn’t that cold, abo...