by Marek Cichanski
At sunset, it looked like it was going to be a great night. Still, calm, warm, thick fog just a few hundred feet below. Very nice. Sadly, as it got dark, it got windy, cold, and wet. Dew heater straps were brought out, and they did a good job of keeping things dry. The wetness seemed to abate a bit during the night, but the wind never really went away.
If my record keeping is accurate, I managed to achieve a goal that I had long been working for - completion of the Herschel 400 list. When I got my last object, NGC 772, I noticed one more object outstanding - in Monoceros! Oh No! But when I got home this morning, I saw that it was just an ngc number typo, and so it looks like I really did finish the list. It's conceivable that some small clerical error will turn up, and maybe there's something left to log, but I doubt it. Now I have to join the AL and begin the long odyssey of writing up the logs, so that I can get the pin. Here's the ironic part - depending on how long these logs take to write up, I may get my H400 pin before my Messier pin. I rather like that, for some reason.
Except for the wind, it was a great night. The midnight steak snack (courtesy of James and Richard) was a life-saver. Hit the spot, big time. I can still taste it. Mmmm... Hey, it's better than Blues Nachos...
Food, folks, fun, and the end of a long quest. Life is good. Made up for the wind.
Oh, and BTW, Rashad's Coronado Personal Solar Telescope ROCKS! I was blown away by the views that I had through it. A great instrument.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Aug 15, 2004 19:14:48 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 08, 2005 12:06:48 PT