Tikaboo "Horoscope"

Tikaboo Horoscope
OK, this isn't a horoscope, but rather a document that indicates likely days to observe tests at Groom Lake.

The theory behind "Tikaboo Horoscope" is the base likes darkness. In other words, they hate moonlight and sunlight is out of the question. To find the times when it will be dark enough to do a test gets ugly. For instance, one condition is that the time is a few hours past sunset to insure there is no stray light. I use two hours in my computations. However, you also need to insure the moon has set. So the dark time starts either when the moon has set or two hours after sunset. i.e. which ever is later.

Next up is to determine when the light returns. Sunrise is the obvious case, and again I bracket the computation with 2 hours. However, the moon could rise as well. Again, we test the worse case of the two situations.

Complicated enough? But wait, there is more. The usual case is the dark period begins on one day and the light returns on the next day. However, it may be the case where the moon didn't set during the evening but rather in the early AM, which is technically the next day.

From the test I witnessed and reports of observers on Tikaboo, these tests don't last very long. So if the column "test time" is around 30 minutes, they might do a test. Days when the moon is out are "x"'d off.

One thing you can do with this chart is pick a day when the test doesn't have to start at "stupid O clock", like 2AM. For example, if you climbed Tikaboo on May 24th, it gets dark at 9:50PM and the moon rises at 11:55PM. Thus you don't have to stay up all night to watch a test.