by Jay Reynolds Freeman
I went to the Peak Friday 3 December. I took my Astro-Physics 6-inch f/8, with my Vixen 90 mm f/9 fluorite piggy-backed on it -- the first setup I have ever had which made me feel I could look an old Unitron catalog straight in the eye and not blink, even with no Unihexes. (I was doing some work for another article I have coming up for Sky & Telescope, and wanted to compare views through the two telescopes.)
I set up by the observatory. A college in Monterey was using the instrument for a class, so there were plenty of people, all quite sedate and well-behaved. Temperature got down as low as 5 C (41 F), but there was quite a bit of wind, so it felt rather chilly. I positioned myself and my equipment in the lee of the building as much as possible. There was no fog below, but the sky seemed very transparent. Relative humidity was about 50 percent. There was no dew.
I had a good night.