Montebello Thurs night

by Andrew Pierce


I went to Montebello last night. Rebecca and I arrived shortly after 9 pm. We were all alone except for the coyotes. No fancy observing just a father daughter seminar on starhopping around Sagittarius. Rebecca convinced herself that we were hearing coyote pups.

Conditions were good for Montebello. Although we saw fog nearby on the drive up, transparency was good and it was darker than usual, probably due to lingering fog or mist over parts of the Santa Clara valley. It was breezy however and seeing was mediocre.

I did get my first glimpse of NGC 7027 the proto- planetary in Cygnus, but it was hard to see any details with the wind and seeing. Also checked out NGC 6712 a globular in Scutum which was attractive and in a pretty star field.

When I got home to Palo Alto the Milky Way was just barely discernible in Cygnus near the zenith.