Observing at Coe was great last night. I arrived first and thought my friend Daniel and I would be the only ones. I was a little worried driving up through the fog, but when I drove above it, I could see the conditions were perfect. The fog was like a blanket blocking the city lights. I have never seen it so dark at this location!
We were joined by two other astronomers whom I did not know, and Jay. I am impressed that Jay drove all the way to Pacheco, found the conditions bad and then turned around to find good conditions at Coe. I just lucked out.
Early in the night we saw an incredible meteor! I wasn't a Taurid or Leonid. It started about one quarter the size of the moon, but was much brighter. Jay estimated -8. I could see pieces breaking off in the flaming tail. It was a very bright green. Then it split into two pieces. It turned orange and left two flaming trails until it sputtered out.
WoW! I was impressed.
Observing was great. I drew a beautiful picture of a piece of the veil. Daniel found Hubble's variable nebula, which I had only seen in the 30" at Fremont peak. My new 7mm eyepiece did a wonderful job with Daniel's filter. I looked at some winter favorites - the rosette, M1, M79 and of course Orien. Jay was challenging my eyes with his faint fuzzies.
We finished the night lying back with our bincoulars. We saw several Leonid stragglers in the +1 / +2 range, and a few Taurids in the -2 / -3 range.
It was a great night!