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Gutenberg was on the terminator July 13, 2002, a 4-day old waxing moon. The first feature that caught my eye was an "X" comprising the crossroad of two rimae between Goclenius and Gutenberg. One rimae is Rimae Goclenius, 240 km long - the most prominent of a three-rille system. This rille continues into the crater Goclenius. The other part of the "X" a feature which looks like a riverbed heading towards crater Lubbock to the north.
Gutenberg itself is a fascinating crater sharing a wall with the partially flooded Gutenberg E on the eastern edge. The larger Gutenberg C was in darkness tonight, which made it appear as the southern half of a peanut-shaped crater.
(Rulk 48) Telescope: AP180EDT f/9 refractor, 16mm Zeiss Abbe Orthos in Zeiss Binoculars. Sketched on a night honoring Fremont Peak Observatory director and sketcher extraordinaire, Rob Toebe, who died in 2001.
These photos were taken at Rob Toebe Night at Fremont Peak Observatry, July 13, 2002.
Go to first page of photos
(Click on each thumbnail for a larger photo (1024x768). Four pages total.)
Rob Toebe Night at Fremont Peak
Jane Houston Jones
Saturday, July 13, was Rob Toebe night at Fremont Peak Observatory. Rob was an avid observer, logging countless observing hours on the Challenger Telescope over the years. A look in the FPOA observing logbook bears this out. Logbook pages are littered with his notes, running to the hundreds of galaxies on those perfect Fremont Peak nights, and containing those gems of literature such as "No fog or mosquitoes tonight...I love winter observing!" Before dark, Donn Mukensnable took out the old observing logbooks he brought so Rob's family and friends could read his reports and remember the times they had accompanied Rob to his favorite observing locale.
You couldn't have asked for a better day and night for friends and family to gather at Fremont Peak to remember Rob. The summer weather pattern brought fog below the peak, appearing like a glacier of billowing white and obscuring the nearby city lights. To the west, the fog stretched to the Moss Point Power Station, making the southwest parking lot a haven for lovers of the night as well.
Then we had a steak BBQ and headed up to the observatory for a informal memorial. We gathered in the observatory classroom and FPOA president Pat Donnelley unveiled the memorial plaque honoring Rob Toebe. The plaque will either be placed in the observatory, the classroom or on the telescope itself. Then a few friends and acquaintences spoke of Rob. Most poignent were Robert Garfinkle's words, about breakfast after observing many years ago when he first met Rob, and their subsequent collaborations. Rob's lovely deep-sky sketches adorn Bob's popular book, "Starhopping, your Visa to Viewing the Universe". Bob donated an autographed copy of his book to FPOA and also became a life member of FPOA, in Rob Toebe's honor. It was very touching.
Then, like the countless nights when Rob would have been at the peak, we set about setting up telescopes. It was time to observe the heavens. The brief talk was presented to the visitors, and then like every other clear Saturday night, lines formed at the 30-inch Challenger telescope and object after object were shown to an enthusiastic crowd. Out in front of the observatory, we took a look at the beautiful 4-day old moon through our own telescope. Other FPOA members were also set up, sharing views with the public. When the moon set, our telescope was aimed at the kind of objects Rob looked at night after night, year after year. Clusters and galaxies, planetary nebulae, and supernova remnants. I think Rob would have like that part of the night the best.
Jane Houston Jones
jane@whiteoaks.com