by Jeff Crilly
Since I havent seen a post from Bob/David/Jay, I'll assume they are also still asleep, so here's the lowdown...
It was pretty good...
Got to gilroy about 7pm. The fog was in, looking ominous as ever.. dark clouds, etc. Drove through what looked like the Olympic Pennisula weather (sans rain) and onto san jaun bautista where it was still under dense fog (400 feet up?), however just south of SJB I could see clearing.
Heading up the hill there was still thick fog. It didnt clear until, well, until I got above it, which was when I was just on the other side Hollister Hills ORV park.
At the SW lot, the fog was down there a bit and very steady, and pretty thick. It was also over on the other side - in the valleys but not quite as thick.
Temps ran in the low 60s; humidity started out at about 91% and went *down* to about 70%. By midnight the temps were actually up a few degrees.
Seeing started out mushy, but Bob said it increased as the night went on.
Around 3am or so, we had a wash of thin fog that put a halo around the moon. This lasted just a few minutes.
We drove out at 4:06 am. (I guess it took me a while to pack up.)
I hit fog pretty quickly on the way back, and it was dense for most of the drive down the hill. Once in SJB, the fog had turned to "misting rain", complete with wet roads, etc. Now, it was indeed like Olympic Pennisula weather.
Between morgan hill and san jose there was a big clearing in the fog. I suspec that san jose fog is maybe bay fog, while gilroy, SJB, etc, fog is monterey bay fog.
As for the observing... it went well. I mainly just took a bunch of film pictures on slide film that I've been waiting and waiting to try out.
Bob/David/Jay were in deep silence focused on observing lists, while I just kicked back and looked at the milky way, neked eye and with binos... Btw, I was able to spot the veil (pretty easy) with the 9x63 and confirmed it with an oIII filter. I also was able to see good ole ngc7k with/without binos and the oIII. I think its pretty interesting at 9x with a filter. (I'll have to try that in the etx-60.)
Bob found the comet in the 12.5". We confirmed it on TheSky. It was interesting watching it move... Its not ultra spectacular, but was a great find.
All in all, it was a great peak night.