Occupy Tikaboo! (Astronomical Computations for October)

Occupy Tikaboo!

This is probably the last sane month to view Groom Lake from Tikaboo. I did it once in November after the Nellis Expo and it was mighty cold up there.

This pdf has the astronomical computations to determine if Groom Lake testing is likely.

www.lazygranch.com...

The base doesn't like moonlight, dusk, or dawn. They prefer to live in vampire mode. The criteria I use for "dark enough" is the period between two hours after sunset and two hours before sunrise or at moon rise. I can't imagine them doing any test less than 30 minutes. This is presuming they prep the article under cover (hide and scoot shed or hangar), then wheel it out in darkness.

The first likely day for a test is Sunday, October 16th. I probably don't test on the weekend, but I wouldn't rule it out. Between Oct 17th through Oct 23, the test time is dominated by the time between two hour post sunset and moon rise. From the 24th forward, the moon rises so late that the sunrise dominates the end of test time. I use two hours before sunrise as the limit.

Times are from the Naval Observatory website using Vegas for the location. Times are standard, not daylight savings. That really doesn't effect the days of the test, but rather when the test actually could start.

You can roll your own charts using the data from this link:
aa.usno.navy.mil...

The route to Tikaboo can be found here:
www.inplanesight.org...
You can do the drive in a car, but I suggest a 4WD with offroad tires. A full size spare is highly recommended. At least 6 liters of water/fluids), preferably 8 or 9 for the hike. I don't suggest doing it in the dark, so you will need to camp out (tent, pad, sleeping bag, flashlights). The tent must be free standing and very small. You can't drive a stake into Tikaboo or even lower. It's all rock.

Conversely, you can just hang out at ground level and scan the military airbands.

Use accuweather.com with Tonopah NV to predict the temperatures. Tikaboo will be a little colder than Tonopah.