by Richard Crisp
I was out both nights imaging.
On Sat night, the conditions were warmer than on Friday when it got chilly. And there was a serious temperature inversion.
For example, the temp when I departed the parking lot at 3:30am was 67 degrees and at 3:50am on 280 the temp was 53 degrees.
But the observing was good both nights. There was a bit of a breeze on Friday and it felt humid to me (lacking a hygrometer, qualitative is all you will get from me) but on Sat night the breeze was both lighter and drier.
Stars shone steady with little twinkling.
On Saturday night I was imaging M27 and M16 using the Celestron 14SCT with a f/6.3 focal reducer for increased field of view. On Friday I was using the same setup but without the focal reducer to "zoom" in on the Star Queen in M16.
Links to the images can be found at:
The images I mentioned are the ones added in August.
(as usual, you may need to use your Yahoo password to open the files if you are signed up with Yahoo).
On Saturday night I arrived well after dark due to an earlier committment. As I arrived I noticed another group of people there and walked up to talk before driving in. They had also just arrived, and were just beginning to set up. About midnight they left.
Montebello has its downsides, but you can't beat its convenience to the south bay!