by Peter Mckone
Some people suggested that the skies weren't very dark last night, but I don't agree! I could see all three stars in the Little Dipper quite clearly.
First target of the night was the Mercury Nebula. We could see it naked-eye, high in the western sky, near Venus. In the scope at 210 power I could see a lot of nebulosity, even without a filter. Jupiter had evidently passed through some moon-forming region in Gemini, and a fifth moon was clearly evident. Some people felt that this might actually be a star, but who knows? Next target: the Antenna Galaxy near Corvus. By this time the dew was forming into large droplets and I could no longer get a good grip on the scope. When I did succeed in orienting it in a southerly direction, I looked through the finder and saw ... nothing! Where did all the stars go? This is when I became aware of the croaking frogs. Time to admit defeat and go home.
A small confession: I was able to see M51 and its companion. Usually the northern sky isn't dark enough at Montebello, but last night it was. Of course this was before my finder and Telrad were completely fogged over.
As you know, the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma stars in Ursa Minor are a lot brighter than the rest of the constellation. Of course it is unfair to judge the darkness at Montebello by looking only to the north. Yes, Mercury looked like a nebula. The scope is an F5 15" Discovery Dob. The primary stayed dry, but operating without a finder is a bigger challenge than I can handle.