Yesterday afternoon my friend, Allen Takahashi, and I made the trek down to Fremont Peak for some possibly final comet photos (I keep saying that, but it just gets better). On the way down we noticed the tell-tale signs of moisture in the air as the sun got lower. From Gilroy we spotted a thick fog bank hugging the ridge line southeast (?) or the peak. After a little discussion about trying the "Duane Sand observing areas" between Tres Pinos and Pinnacles, we committed to the peak thinking that if the fog got us we could drive back down the road a few miles and park a turnout.

We arrived just after sunset and parked next to the observatory. Thick fog was visible at our level to the east and wisps were blowing over the peak. A conversation with Ranger Rick calmed our fears. Rick said that the previous night looked worse, but once it started to cool down the fog settled into the valleys. He also said it was 32 degrees Tuesday night. I was ready for that.

Walking away from Rick's house I looked to the NW and easily spotted H-B in the bright twilight. Allen and I setup our gear and just as we were getting ready to start shooting another car came up the observatory hill and parked just below us. Two retired gentlemen got out and we introduced ourselves. They were from Palo Alto and were also doing photography.

The darker it got, the more tail I thought I saw. It looked to me like there was a wide fan of curved dust tail extending all the way to Perseus' head (I hope the pointy end is his head) near the Double Cluster. In my 8x56 binoculars the thin ion tail was visible for perhaps 8 degrees. The geometry of the two tails appeared quite different from last Tuesday night. Now the ion tail seems to skirt the edge of the dust fan with a gap appearing a couple of degrees back due to curvature of the dust tail.

Allen had trouble with his cable release and borrowed one from our new acquaintances (lucky). We all shot as many photos as we could. I used my 50mm f1.4 and 135mm f3.5 lenses with exposure times from 30 seconds to 5 minutes on my hand-driven barn door. Allen shot Fuji 800 and Kodak 1600 (not sure of the exact emulsions) on a motorized equatorial mount with similar equipment.

The older gentlemen were apparently ill-prepared for the cold (did I mention the slight breeze?) and packed up around 9:45, leaving Allen with no cable release. He tried some shorter hand triggered exposures (using ASA 1600 film). I asked Allen if he remembered the men's names (I'm horrible with names) and he said, "One was Robert Packard, right?" We both paused as we realized who we might have just been talking to for the last two hours... We may never know. We headed back around 11pm and my pocket thermometer was reading sub-40. All in all it was a nice outing. I'll get my roll of PPF400 back tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

Doug

p.s. Either there was no fog over Soledad prison or it was just blowing right through it. The south horizon looked almost as bad as the NW...