12/26/00

Observing/Conditions at Coe

by William G. Schultz


Conditions at Coe were favorable for observing. Temp at the overflow lot was stable at 52F from dusk till dawn. RH dropped continuously from 32 to 24%. Static straps were required after midnight. Valley temps dropped from 43 to 36 degrees; frost was in the valley as I left.

Wind speed increased through the night eventually becoming gusty and quite uncomfortable. The OTA was constantly being jostled by the wind after midnight. Today I have windburn despite backing my truck directly to the mount/OTA area.

Seeing was a little soft; transparency was impaired from time to time by bands of cirrus. With no fog in the valley, there was only haze to block the SJ/MH/Gilroy light. IOW, it never got really dark, but I was able to log objects as dark as 13th magnitude low brightness galaxies. I was able to log ~40 Herschel objects, on the target rich environments of Leo and Ursa Major.

I was solitary occupant of overflow lot until 11:35; at that time the SJAA loaner 13" Coulter and two guys named Michael showed up. They began a search for Messier objects and left at about 5:00 am when I did.

I failed to find Omega Centauri at 05:00. It would have been multicolored like most of the other stars at the horizon, and would have been rather holiday-like.

I hope to return at least one more time this week during the year-end break.