Montebello, 27 Sept. 2006

by Bob Jardine

Recovered from Calstar yet?

I went up to MB last night, and I'm glad I did. Conditions were great -- only a light jacket required, good to very good seeing, and clear.

I got there late, moon set shortly thereafter. The sky was a little grainy or murky at first, but got better. And darker. It wasn't a "black cloud" night, but it was getting close by the time I had to pack up and leave. I drove through a pretty think fog layer on the way back down the road.

Mid-evening, the SQM read typical for MB: 20.26 overhead, 20.43 towards the South. But when I left at midnight, it read 20.84. Fog was starting to turn out the lights! I wish I could have stayed. (For reference, 20.84 on my SQM is mid-way between typical Coyote and Typical Coe.)

There were four of us there -- one left early and the other three stayed until midnight; one was Andy Maufett-Smith, quietly observing away in the direction of MB's great South; I failed to get the names of the two others.

I was splitting doubles with TOBY -- got some nasty ones too. 59 Ser, Stf 2375, 4 Aqr, Stf 2920, 35 Psc, Eta PsA, 36 And, 42 Ceti. Several of these were quite tight, and one was definitely less than 1.0 arcsec. Still gotta check the PAs I recorded, but I think I got them all. But I was skunked on Eta And and Eta Ari; and no, not in the sense that I couldn't find them :)

Bob J.