I almost didn't go to Montebello last night, based on the clouds and scuzzy skies in Palo Alto. It turned out to be a very pleasant night up there, however: nice temps, no wind, no dew, and enough holes in the clouds for many nice views (as long as you were flexible about targets early in the evening). I had to hug the southern horizon at times, but that gave me a chance to see some low declination targets I had never looked up before. Open clusters 2451 and 2477 in Puppis are both very pretty, but strikingly different from each other. (2451 has scattered bright stars with a prominent orange star in the middle. Nearby 2477 appears fainter in binoculars, but has much more numerous and concentrated stars in a telescope, a few hundred at least). The two are several degrees apart, and show the same contrast that I find so appealing between the well known M46 and M47 pair further north. The Puppis clusters are definitely Messier-quality objects, and worth a look.

NGC 1851 was also visible last night, a dense globular cluster in Columba with a bright core. This is a very low altitude object from Montebello, but impressive enough even through the near horizon murkiness that it must be great object from further south.

Higher up, the open clusters 1807 and 1817 in Taurus (just above the top of the shield of Orion) made a striking pair. They are just close enough together to fit in the same telescope field, and provide a nice poor-man's double cluster (should the real thing be covered by clouds).

Most people left about 10 pm. I waited for the next looming clear spot and was rewarded with the clearest skies I saw all night, so stayed a couple more hours. (The moon came up about 10:30 but then was hidden for a long time behind clouds in the east). Seeing was pretty steady and both double stars and the moon made great targets.

My first trip to Montebello was last March, a night when when Rich had his 4 inch Tak set up, and Mark hit a deer on the way home (see observing report archives). Rich was there again last night with the 4 inch Tak, now with a newly greased focuser that fixed a problem bothering him last year. Mark hit another deer on the way home last night, adding another notch to his Suburban, and another cautionary tale for everyone else driving to and from Montebello. And 10 months later, a night observing at Montebello is just as enjoyable as that first one for me last year.