by Marek Cichanski
The Friday marathon at Coe was an incredible success. Conditions were awesome. Moderate turnout, good folks. Rob Hawley, Sean (McCauliffe?) and I marathoned until dawn. I managed to bag & log all 109. They either matched that or came close, and everyone involved had fun. Rob is a weather god.
No dreaded Coe Wind.
No dreaded Coe Dust.
No dew. No humidity.
No cold. Long pants, t-shirt, sweater, that was it. 60 degrees and bone-dry when I left at 6 am.
Real good transparency, and good seeing. Very good seeing early on.
Fog rolled in and covered Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and even San Jose eventually. Wonderful dark night. Thick fog, humid, and 45-50 degrees during the drive home.
In the wee hours, the Milky Way was only 5 - 15 degrees above the eastern horizon, but one could easily see the Large and Small Sgr Starclouds, the Scutum cloud, the Off-Ramp, the Great Rift, and the Cygnus cloud.
During the great odyssey through Virgo, there was scarcely ever a Virgo Messier that didn't have at least one NGC galaxy in the field of view as well. The 84/86 area (beginning of Markarian's Chain) looked like the Hubble Deep Field.
I think I may have bagged the central star in the Ring, at least intermittently.
People had a lot of fun, but we also went after it hammer and tongs. A late-night 'break' consisted of mag-ing up on Jupiter and experimenting with filters. I re-adjusted my sling and re-collimated at 2:45 am, to kill time waiting for the earth to turn, and to be ready for the final pre-dawn assault.
And what an assault it was! For me, at least, the last hour and a half or so was a desperate battle to the finish. I had to bag one object after another right above the horizon. My dob spent more time pointed at the dirt than you want to know. The way I was grubbing around on the ground next to that truss tube, you'd have thought I was friggin' breakdancing. It was bloody unreal. Couldn't believe some of the DSOs that I pulled out of my rear end just before astro dawn. Full-bore, eight-cylinder, b---s - out observing. Loved it! Got all 109 - and y'all can forget about M30 for now. Ain't gonna happen.
I can only imagine what it was like at the Peak. Everyone there must have been pooing their knickers. I'll bet Kingsley bagged the CMB. Good gawd, y'all!
Fingers crossed, let's hope that Saturday night is as good! If I can manage to sleep the day away, I'll head for the Peak this afternoon. Now it's off to slumberland. My brain hurts...
Posted on sf-bay-tac Mar 12, 2005 07:46:05 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 12, 2005 10:50:14 PT