Last night (2/15/98), Rich Neuschaefer and Archer Sulley and I were out in the backyard of my home in Los Gatos, where my 10" f/5.6 dob was set up. Last year my neighbors along the back fence, used some sort of Agent Orange to clean up their weed-patch (which they've let grow back this winter), which proved very effective in taking out my 25 year old 15 foot tall oleanders, so I could insted enjoy the nice bright kitchen lights and pasta-fest until past 11 p.m. Am I pleased? Well, I've never had very good luck with picking neighbors. :-(

Anyway, we had a pleasant evening outside, in our winter jackets. The sky was very nice to see again! However, as Jay noted in his Fremont Peak Road report, there was some dewing, as evidenced by the haze on my Quickfinder, and the sky brightness was noticeable (even when sheilding my eyes from my neighbor's kitchen kleegs).

It was hazardous duty too, since the deck in my backyard is partial still. That should change soon, since our sauna arrives today and that will allow the construction dudes to get the rest of the surface boards down relatively quickly, if we get a dry day or two in the near future. So, we were walking along the main support 6x6's between the house and observing area.

We did get in a few objects, between lots of talk. I had printed out a list of =< mag 10 objects, but never got around to it. Instead, we peeked at M42/43 (6 stars in the Trap, no prob with a 12 Nag), M41, the Mexican Jumping Star (Tau in Canis Major), NGC2903 in Leo, Eskimo Nebula, M35 and the little guy next to it, M65 and 66, a hint of some of the bright stuff down in the belly of Leo, the opens up in Auriga (M36, M37 & M38). We could have seen more, but I left the star chart indoors. Oh, I did look for Leo 1, in my best effort to overtake Jay in amazing observations. No dice. :-)

I hear we may get a break on Wednesday, in which case I'd be up to going to Montebello. If it pans out, who else might be interested?