by Jay Reynolds Freeman
We had a pretty good night at the Peak, though it was reported -- as is traditional -- that "you should'a been here last night", when the fog was in on the coastal plain. No such luck Saturday, so the light dome from Salinas was objectionable. Seeing okay but not to write home about. Sky very transparent. Environment warm, pretty calm, and dew free, except on the black seat of my observing chair.
Someone counted twenty-four telescopes and four mounted binoculars present, about the usual mix of types.
I worked deep-sky objects along about 30 south, from just east of Corvus into Scorpius and Ophiuchus, for about two and a half hours, then reviewed brighter stuff till the Moon rose, all with my C-14.
The site of the 24 telescopes and 4 mounted binoculars was indeed the southwest lot. I suspect there were more telescopes elsewhere, perhaps by the 30-inch, as it was a public-program night, but I didn't go over to see. That number of telescopes was about right for the size of the setup area.
The construction material is gone from the southwest lot. The effect of the new tower is negligible; there is a white light on it, but it seems less noticeable than the existing red ones; I am not sure why that is. On the other hand, the trees at the east side of the lot certainly aren't shrinking very much, and neither is the Peak itself: I had great fun chasing ESO galaxies in Hydra as they tiptoed stealthily from shrub to shrub in the chaparral on the west side of the main peak. I felt as if I were playing cowboys and indians with them, or that Mark's big red "Death Star" button would have been just the thing, to blow one to smithereens when I caught it in the open, clear of cover.
Hmn, that's an interesting mixture of metaphors... "Darth Vader, you low-down no-good dirty stinkin' pole-cat, DRAW!!" ("... but on his grave, they can't explain / The tarnished star that bears the name / Of Jedi...")
Um. Where was I... Later, I enjoyed an interesting view of M31, M32, and M110, not long after they rose, through an apodizing mask of the deciduous variety, courtesy of the eastern tree line.
The light dome from Salinas was fierce; notwithstanding, I did find those ESO galaxies with Harvey. Jane Houston reported that on the preceding night, there had been significant marine layer below the Peak, so things had been better. I was at Lick on the preceding night, and had a fine view of this layer from afar, it indeed looked good. We at Lick spent a long time that evening, waiting for San Jose to set. The marine layer penetration seems to be of benefit to the Peak more often, and in greater degree, than to Coe. Yet the probability of it coming up slope and dampening the observers seems greater at the Peak than at Coe.
Someone put the new, steel-pole gate to the southwest lot in the closed position, and draped its locking chain over the post (but left it unlocked); we were not bothered by in-and-out drivers during the evening. People seemed to be being very scrupulous about paying their fees. If fee payment and running a low profile is sufficient to keep the Park management willing to tolerate our covert presence, I'll do my part. After all, that has worked for the last 30 years. Paying fees is cheaper than running an initiative or recall campaign.
Ranger Cameron didn't come by -- it was public-program night at the 30-inch, I hear he was giving a talk there. I don't know what the subject was and would have liked to hear it, though probably I would not have been eager enough to do so to abandon those poor, forlorn, neglected ESO galaxies in Hydra. Besides, Harvey's quantum capacitor bank recharges swiftly, and that big red button is awfully tempting.
-- Jay "Clint Skywalker" Freeman