Thursday, Ma'ch 27, 1997 lFahp valley azelte
Community News
i ii
A Sky To Remember
Pity our poor friends in the cities to whom the evening
skies are but a reflection of city lights that set the smog
aglow with an orange fluorescence. We in the deserts have
been treated to a spectacular display of the heavens during
this time of the Vernal Equinox. These first days of spring,
when the day and night are of equal length, have been a
rare treat for those who watch the evening skies.
All during the first days of the month a comet has lighted
the morning sky with it's fiery tail stretching away from
the rising sun. Later, as the comet prepares to return to the
far reaches of our solar system, the glowing point of light
brightens the evening sky as it lowers towards the western
horizon with it's glowing tail stretching away from the set-
ting sun.
A comet is pretty spectacular stuff, but the best was yet
to come. To those who follow such things, the time of Eas-
ter is set by the time of the Pascal full moon. Thatl natu-
rally, is why Easter always seems to fall on different dates.
It all depends on the moon. This past weekend was the full
moon and it wasn't just any full moon.
The moon this past weekend was not only lull, announc-
ing the coming of Easter, but a nearly total eclipse dark-
ened the sky seeming to brighten the fiery comet streaking
towards the western horizon. Shadows cast by the bright-
ness of the full moon began to slowly fade as the earth
moved into position between the sun and moon casting it's
• i
eerie shadow across the face of the lunar orb.
As the sky darkened, the stars shown with a greater in-
tensity in the heavy darkness of the fading moon. Families
gathered on desert lawns to watch the heavenly phenom-
ena. A rare treat indeed to see not only a comet streaking
across the evening sky, but at the same time watch the
shadow of the earth consume the brightness of the moon.
t$ It O Q # O B g Otl #, • # • B IP It # O e' It # O # • • • • •
Couldn't help but telephone a few friends to tell them
about the spectacular evening sky. Should have known bet-
ter. All of our desert friends were watching the heavenly
displays in the springtime sky. One more prosperous friend
was watching the display from the warm waters of a bub-
bling hot tub - really tough life.
In The Thermometer's
Shadow
by Mike Doughtery
A glorious nighttime sky with sights
that may never again be seen for hun-
dreds of years. A comet and an eclipse
together are about as good as it gets.
The weather was the best that spring has to offer, warm,
with little or no wind, and not a speck of dust in the sky. It
couldn't have been any better• Also it was over well before
midnight so as not to too heavily impact the hours of rest.
(Must have my beauty sleep)
There have been eclipses in the past and comets as well,
but this simple country fellow has never seen them together.
In fact for many years I firmly believed that celestial events
could only be viewed during times of extremely cold
weather and high winds. Every friend I've ever known that
has bought an expensive telescope for viewing the sky has
only invited me over on the coldest nights. Not an auspi-
cious time to view the wonders above.
The best comet viewed in the desert in recent times was
the comet West, in the spring of 1976. Unfortunately Com-
ets Khoutec had been well advertised the year before and
then was a complete bust. Comets were out of favor at the
Dea, eeeeeeeeeoeeeeeeeeeoeeeeee
time and Comet West went unheralded. I was camped out
behind Zzyzx and woke early. A trail of light stretched across
the morning predawn sky. I knew what it had to be, but was
amazed that I haven't known it was coming. I awoke my
companion, (these were in pre-Shirley days) and we Watched
the glowing display until the light was consumed by the
brightness of the rising sun.
1986 saw the much-ballyhooed return of Haley's comet.
We were at the Billy Mine in those days and the comet could
be barely seen driving home from the end of the swing shift.
We made a little money on Haley's comet. A comet watch
was held at Zzyzx for folks from the city to view the faintly
fading light of Haley's, and Shirley contracted to cater the
gathering. Quite a lot of work as facilities were a bit primi-
tive back then, but Shirley had fun and made a dollar or two
on the over billed celestial event.
There was something last spring that we were able to faintly
see from our bit of the desert. It was a comet slightly above
the western horizon. I was able to point it out to the visitors I
was working with at the dunes, but it could have easily been
mistaken for a bug on the windshield. Eclipses are not quite
so rare and we've seen a few.
At Zzyzx we used to schedule eclipse parties and bring the
locals out to watch the passing of the planetary shadow across
the lunar surface. The parties were fun and we usually had a
big telescope and a visitor from the university to tell us what
we were seeing. It's always more fun to watch children see-
ing the sky come alive. Those were some fine parties. The
winter parties didn't do so well. It gets cold in this desert.
Anyhow, this past week was definitely a heavenly spec-
tacle. We and our friends enjoyed a show that filled the
evening sky and was completely invisible to the cities in the
clouds.
I1' II, tD ID ID It, IP II, qll Q I, O ID I ttp lit O 11 t tD m I t Q O O O a
'IP
®eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
The Good Sams enjoyed a long weekend in Amargosa
Valley. There were 165 rigs here with two campers in most
of them. Thanks to the Senior Center and Longstreet who
• qP el el, • B • 0 el, Lt, II el ll' IN, e It, It tl 0 It, IIJ 0 Ip 0 0 0 O 0 0
The Amargosa Christian Fellowship is having a special
Easter Service, Sunday the 30 beginning at 8 am. There
will be an Egg Hunt and Fish Fry/Potluck afterwards. If
shuttled them back and forth so that I
they could enjoy more of our vat- I Around Amargosa
Icy. The count at the senior center J U with Andrea
was so high that they ran out of food ]
first
For more information:
the
night[
l
[ Call (702) 372-5459
Amargosa Valley-Calendar of Events
Mondays: Boy Scouts, 3-4pm, Community Center
Tuesdays: Senior Tap Dancing, 9-11am, Community Center
Crafty Ladies Club, 9:30am Senior Center
Girl Scouts, 3-4 pm Community Center
Wednesday: Bingo, 7 pm Community Center,
Girl Scouts, 2-3 pm Community Center
Sunday March 30--Easter Services, Egg Hunt, Fish Fry/Potluck 8am, and Amargosa
Christian Fellowship
mEaster Egg Hunt, 9 am, Country Store
---Special Easter Brunch, llam-2pm, Longstreet Inn & Casino
Tuesday April 1 --People For The West! Mtg., 7:30pm, Community Center
you would like to come, please
bring one dozen eggs for each
Cactus ,. Cactus
Largest Selection in Nevada
Desert Plants ~ Succulents
.Lots of native Nevada plants including:
Red Barrels, Cholla, Yucca, Mound Cactus, Clariel
Teddy Bear, Beaver Trail, Pdckly Pear, Saguaro
Golden Barrels, Organ pipe, Desert Willow
Blue Pale Verde, Ocotillo, Mexican Fence
Post and Extremely Nice
Nevada Joshua Trees
Free Ca˘t,u,s Say you saw it in the Gazette, limit of one.
Over 4,000 Desert Plants n Stock!!!
Open: 9 am - 5 pm Daily, Sun 10 am ~ 5 pm 12740 Blue Diamond Road
1/2 Mile off 160 W. on Blue Diamond Rd. (Hwy 159)
(702) 875-1968
Fax (702) 875-1913
II III I IIII]11
II
eeo=*eeoe*eo,ooeeoo.eeee.eeo=
child who will be hunting eggs.
There will also be an Egg Hunt at the Country Store at 9
am. The Longstreet is having their Sunday Brunch, but with
a special Easter menu. Brunch is from 11 am-2pm and costs
$6.50 for adults with kids under 12 eating for half price.
i
KHWK Radio
From Pahrump to Bishop
has you
covered!
For the latest news, information and the finest
music programming be sure to tune to KHWK,
broadcasting from Tonopah.' If you're traveling the
vast distances of Central Nevada's desert terrain
you still can't miss us!
Member:. Press
Great Basin Radio Network
• 92.7 - Tonopah
• 93.5 - Beatty
• 94.3 - Lida and Scotty's Junction
• 94.3 - Gold Point
• 95.9 - Pahrump
• 103.9 - Bishop, Mammoth and Big Pine •
• 104.9 - Round Mountain
• 105.5 - Hawthorne
