The Lost Valley Observatory: Astrophotography in the Sierra Nevada Mountains by
Keith B Quattrocchi
Keith B Quattrocchi
Welcome to the homepage for the Lost Valley Observatory. This observatory is located at Sierra Remote Observatories in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Sierra Remote Observatories is a group of observatories located between Yosemite and Kings Canyon, at an elevation of 4600 feet, where the seeing conditions are excellent (averaging 1 arcsecond in the summer months). For more information about this multi-observatory site please go to www.sierra-remote.com. A YouTube video that summarizes SRO can be found on our YouTube.
This website contains information on this observatory as well as images and information from my prior observatory, which was located in Maine (MAS Observatory). I hope the information and images will be helpful to other amateur astronomers and those with an interest in astrophotography. The links to the upper right will take you to information about my observatories (past and present), and to images (old and new) and articles. The images for each observatory are chronologically listed. I've included the best and the worst and everything in between
Above are links contain information about this observatory and images from The Lost Valley Observatory, which saw first light in 2007. There are also links to images and information from the MAS Observatory (my previous observatory in Maine), which was closed in July of 2006. There are also links to images from the MAS Observatory (utilizing the RC, Takahashi 106 FSQ LX-200), amd to articles. I hope you enjoy the site.
Copyright 2018
Keith B Quattrocchi
The Lost Valley Observatory
My first dedicated observatory, the MAS Observatory, was built in 2003 in Greene, Maine. The new observatory, The Lost Valley observatory, is located at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO), a group of observatories in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mel Helm and I founded SRO in 2007 and it has been continuously operational since. You can visit SRO at www.sierra-remote.com.
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The Lost Valley Observatory is located at Sierra Remote Observatories at 4,610 feet, above the inversion layer of the central valley in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It has unique seeing conditions, averaging 1.0 arcsecond with very dark skies (22 magnitudes/sq arcsecond). The average wind speed is only 1 mph with most nights (65%) clear with no summer monsoons. Thunderstorms are rare. It is an ideal site for data acquisition, satellite tracking and communication.
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The Lost Valley Observatory at First Light in 2007
Local information and imaging conditionsfor The Lost Valley Observatory
(For live telemetry click on the "Live Telemetry" menu)
(For live telemetry click on the "Live Telemetry" menu)
Clear Sky Chart for the Lost Valley Observatory
(Local Seeing Conditions at the Lost Valley Observatory)
(Local Seeing Conditions at the Lost Valley Observatory)
The Lost Valley Observatory
Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at
Sierra Remote Observatories
16 step greyscale. An optimally balanced monitor will show all 16 steps as clearly defined.
In order to properly view the images on this site your monitor needs to be standardized, otherwise the images you view may look VERY different than those others see. To do this, be sure the 16 greyscale gradations in the above image are distinct. If they are not, adjust the brightness and contrast of your monitor until they are. Proper color calibaration of your monitor (e.g., use of PhotoCal or other monitor standardization tool) should standardaize color and therefore the "greyscale" of your monitor
Keith Quattrocchi and Bray Falls
Contact
Website Addresses: www.lostvalleyobservatory.com www.thelvo.com www.thelostvalleyobservatory.com |
The Lost Valley Observatory
Located at Sierra Remote Observatories Auberry, California Copyright 2004-2021 Keith B Quattrocchi |