Note on marine layer, and S&T atlas

by Marek Cichanski

KILLER.

I was at the Peak last night, and it was a classic Black Cloud Night at the Peak. I've seen the fog be higher before, but I've never seen it block the Bay Area light domes any better. There was essentially no light from SJB, Hollister, Gilory, Morgan Hill, or even San Jose and the greater Bay Area. It was sweet. Even Soledad Prison had had a smackdown put on it by the fog.

At 4:50 am the Milky Way was nice and distinct all the way from M46 to Deneb. It's worth firing up some software and visualizing what that means. I've rarely seen the N and NW so dark from the Peak.

There was haze and extinction below about 15 degrees, but all was sweetness and light above that. Milky Way was 'sugary' most of the time. Seeing was pretty good too. I often used 840x on the 30" (5mm t6 Nagler w/ ParaCorr), and the star images were pretty point-like most of the time.

I want to make a detailed OR later today or tomorrow, but the main thing I did was to work on my M31 / M33 project. The egg has now been wiped off my face! I managed to bag some stars in M31 and M33, using the Local Group Survey Project's data and images. I feel confident about having identified the stars in question; the FITS images from the 4m scope that the group used were very helpful. So, it really IS possible to see stars in other gx's besides the Magellanic Clouds!

I also looked at Einstein's Cross. It was consistently fuzzy, with intermittent glimpses of individual quasar images popping in and out of view. Very cool to have seen even a part of the show.

Got Pease 1 in M15, blinking with an OIII.

So, the sky was sweet. I'm not sure what the forecast is like for tonight's marine layer. I'd like to go to Hogue, but I may be too tired.

Oh, and the new little S&T atlas is sweet. Love it. One-stop shopping. Mine is already battle-scarred from August frost down under.

Marek