Brief OR from FP

by Peter J McKone

I may have left Fremont Peak prematurely last night, when the second wave of clouds came through, around 10:30. The finder was getting moist and a big puff of wind reoriented my telescope, so I decided to pack up. By the time all the gear was safe in my car, the sky cleared again. The temperature was 40°.

The highlight of the night for me was seeing the second brightest star, Canopus. I think Peter Natscher was the first to spot in binoculars. The time was 9:30, and clouds were starting to clear from the southern horizon, when I mentioned to Richard Crisp that I was hoping to see this star. He pointed his go-to telescope at it, and told me it was just behind the hill on the horizon. We walked up the hill from the observatory and saw Canopus just above a large tree. It was the only star visible at that low altitude.

My first target of the night was NGC 1232, which is a large dim oval-shaped galaxy in Eridanus. Bob Jardine pointed out NGC 1360, a large dim planetary nebula with a prominent central star, just to the south of where I had been looking. This nice object should be on more people's lists. I also tracked down two of M31's companions, NGC 185 (fairly easy) and NGC 147 (averted vision). Finally, looked at NGC 1023, a big bright galaxy 5 ° southwest of Algol. This is how God intended galaxies to look!

I'm thinking about Montebello tonight. Is anyone else interested? If so, I'll phone the ranger before 3 pm