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Location - Northern Holmes county just outside Mt. Hope, Oh Time - About 1:00AM Naked eye observing since I didn't take any bino's or anything Temp - Low 40's , Wind - 10-15 mph from NW Very cold for light clothing. Transparency -very good but unsteady viewing, about mag 6 which isn't bad for just a few miles from numerous small towns. Becky and I went to Amish country for a couple of days this weekend. For those uninformed about the Amish culture, they don't use electricity or modern conveniences and I thought this would be a prime opportunity for some rural dark skies. This proved to be a slight problem - their small communities are scattered around everywhere and they do have street lights and a lot of light around some of the small factories there. I was surrounded by many small light domes. None of the light pollution got above 7 degrees above the horizon. The land is relatively flat and larger cities can be seen from many miles. This was the first clear viewing that I had in many days. It was so clear that I mistook the milky way around Sagittarius for a low cloud until I noticed that it didn't move. The wind had everything blinking very badly, the borderline stars were winking in and out of view making it hard to get a good idea of the magnitude. Very nice evening for someone so unprepared. Maybe we will get some clear nights. Keep looking up. Tim
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