by Leonard Tramiel
The conditions at the time looked promising. Solid fog bank out to the ocean and far beyond with tendrils that looked like it might envelope the peak and the valleys on all sides. It even started to get a bit warmer so we hoped an inversion would set in.
I set up and looked a Jupiter and could see only two Galilean moons. Checking later these were Europa and Callisto. Io and its shadow were transiting but I didn't know to look for them and I doubt they would have been visible anyway. My scope was still a bit warm and Jupiter was really low. Ganymede was in eclipse. Despite this it was nice to get a look at Jupiter taking advantage of the superb western horizon.
As it got darker the fog dropped a bit and we all thought it might be a really good night. Alas, it was not to be. The wind picked up, it got cold and the coastal fog blew away.
I don't usually have much of an observing plan when I go out and last night was no exception. The only thing I really had in mind was checking out a new strategy for finding the Dumbbell in less than the normal 10 minutes it typically takes me when I manage, usually I just give up. Pitiful, but that's the truth. Success! I'm sure that I'm not the first one to notice but a line connecting gamma Lyra and M27 has Albireo right smack in the center.
I snacked on some eye candy and then walked over to the observatory to see who was there and check conditions. After getting blinded by a car leaving Coulter and again by a really powerful flashlight I got to the observatory. This was the first time I'd seen the new setup with the lights on the road, the large flat area in front of the observatory and the observing pads. Nice. Said hi to Turley, Richard Crisp and Marek. Took a gander at the Blue Snowball in the 30" and headed back to the SW lot. The wind at the observatory area was so strong I was worried that my charts or maybe even the observing table would blow over.
It was calmer, but colder, back at the SW lot. The fog was wispier but it did a good job dimming the lights in front of us. Albert was doing a first light check out of yet another superb telescope and he showed me NGC 7331 with a scattering of fainter companions. More eye candy, some time staring at the Saturn Nebula at different magnifications and comparing views between my 12.5 and Alan's 10 took up much of the rest of the observing time. And I must confess, I spent far too long trying, in vain, to find anything worth an M number at the position charted as M73.
I left some time before 3. It was cold, windy and a bit damp. It was also quiet, peaceful, friendly and above it all there was sky full of stars with a nice, bright, mottled Milky Way. A nice night.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Aug 15, 2004 18:38:35 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 08, 2005 12:02:18 PT