Richard,
It was nice to see you up at Montebello Wednesday night.
Yes, it turned out to be a pretty good night. Eventually, the humidity
did go back up, creating a mild dew problem, but we had several good
hours before that.
In addition to the folks you mentioned, Christopher Hays was there a
little later, and even later, James Turley dropped in, freshly back
from Arizona and the local lecture circuit.
The sky was clear and the darkness was typical for MB -- the usual
Northern light domes. As usual, the South was nice and dark, so I
spent most of my time viewing objects in Eridanus and Fornax, etc.
The seeing was way better than average. I had a very nice clean split
of Alnitak in the NP101.
One pleasant surprise was a nice view of NGC 1291, a modest galaxy in
Eridanus that I had not seen before. I was surprised because I found
it at all, given that I was using a small 'scope (Orion XT6) and this
galaxy is so far South (-41 degrees, farther South than NGC 55). But
it showed up quite well. At about 100X it showed a not-quite-round
shape with a moderately brighter center. I could hold it easily with
direct vision, but could see quite a bit more extent with AV. It is a
pretty easy hop from Acamar.
Finally, I spent some time with Jupiter and Saturn before packing up.
Marek outlasted me. I left right at Midnight, and he was still going
strong.
Just a taste of what's to come on Saturday. Hope you all have clear
skies!
Bob J.
--- Richard Crisp <rdcrisp@No-Spam> wrote:
> I finally managed to make it back up to Montebello last night. The
> weather
> looked mixed earlier in the afternoon but was really nice and clear
> up
> there. The temp was coolish but pleasant and the humidity dropped
> after the
> sun set.
>
> I saw Peter McKone and Bob Jardine as well as Mike Swartz and a
> friend of
> his who's name I did not catch.
>
> Marek showed up too before I had to leave around 7:30.
>
> Bob Jardine pointed out the Zodiacal Light to us as the sun set. It
> was
> really prominent. I'd have overlooked it thinking it was just a light
> dome,
> but it is in the wrong place to have been a light dome!
>
> I did not bring a scope, but had some binocs with me.
>
> The seeing was pretty darned good. Especially so considering the
> weather
> we've been having of late.
>
> Peter's 15' Discovery was showing an excellent view of the Trapezium
> in M42,
> with six visible stars.
>
> I also saw a good clean split of Castor before having to run off.
>
> It was really nice being out up there again.
>
> Richard
>
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