Montebello Thursday 1/15 Foggy

by Dan Wright

Fog fog foggity fog and dew. I arrived at 7 and they said, come in with your headlights, nobody's doing astronomy. Phil Terzain said it had been foggy since 6. Bob Jardine and I decided to wait it out (didn't set up our scopes, though). Phil sacrificially packed his stuff and split.

Foggy until 8:20, then suddenly it cleared up. For several minutes the sky looked great -- it was DARK (light domes attenuated). The winter Milky Way looked as bright as the summer. With renewed spirit, and a flurry of activity, we set up our scopes.

But then came fog, fog, and fog. Bored standing around talking, waiting it out. Green lasers like light sabers. Could barely make out Sirius and Saturn; they looked like fuzzy unresolved clusters. Cars and equipment soaked (except my SCT corrector, which Kendrick kept clear).

A car approached and stopped outside the gate. A window rolled down; a voice announced, "this sucks!" The car then drove away without coming down into the parking lot, as though heading back home.

Another nice window of clarity about 9:30. The whole sky suddenly fabulous. The comet looked great in binoculars and in my scope. The double cluster was a pile of diamonds on black velvet. The zodiacal light was apparent. I've never seen MB that dark.

It lasted maybe 15 minutes, and then fog. Andy Pierce showed a great Saturn right through the fog (the seeing was steady). I discovered that my SCT could also show a good Saturn through the fog.

But then came BAD fog. Couldn't see a thing. Water dripped off scopes and equipment cases. Waited until after 10, then gave up. Set up half my stuff in the living room at home to dry out. Marek, Pete, et. al. -- you didn't miss much. Here's hoping for better luck tomorrow and during the weekend.