Montebello report AND Moon Observing Spot

by Jay Reynolds Freeman


Ok, I'm writing this out of guilt for not going up to Montebello to look at the Moon. It seemed like a long drive up the hill for one object.

I was wondering where you [Rich Neuschaefer] had gone. I arrived at Montebello a few minutes past 8 PM. Rather to my consternation, I did not have a copy of our current permit, therefore, to be sure of remaining on the good side of the rangers, I set up on the shoulder of the road outside the gate. I had brought the Stargazer Steve 3-inch Newtonian. I looked at the Moon, but only briefly, and similarly Jupiter and Saturn. I chased down a few more Messier objects -- bright galaxies like M94 aren't too much bothered by a half moon, even with just three inches of aperture, but M51 did not show its companion, NGC 5195, and I could not spot M101 even though I could identify the field. I did find M63, and globular M3, and Messier double star M40. I looked at a few double stars, reviewed M45 and M41, and then packed up and left.

Yet even though I could probably have seen all this as well from my driveway in Palo Alto, given the Moon, there is still some utility in driving to Montebello: If there had been low-lying fog or scud, a driveway site -- or Houge Park -- might have been clobbered. It is hard to predict those conditions in advance, even just before sunset on a proposed observing night.