Foothill Col 100 hrs program

Rob Hawley

I set up in the row of 3 tube scopes as did the master himself. I learned that someone I knew 25 years ago on the right coast had recently bought one of Albert's scopes. It was good to reconnect.

The seeing was soft all night, but the sky was still relatively dry. Thus we were able to go for more objects than I imagined we could. Of course everyone was doing the moon and Saturn. Since there were several large refractors I conceded those objects to them.

I started with the usual suspects in the western sky. HIP 35213 (Winter Alberio), 2362, M41, and M42 were there at the start. I then started on the Auriga OCs. M81/82 were showing well. That was where my scope was most of the evening. M51 was a disappointment. M97 was visible with a filter, but not enough for the public. Finally I settled on M3.

The observatory was also open and drew large crowds. We had more than 100 people wondering in the 15 or so member scopes. I had someone at my scope almost continuously from 8 PM until 11 PM. By then I was ready for some hot cocoa.

Rob Hawley