The Running Man Nebula

crew of meteorologists to get their helium-filled Kytoon totow aloft a cable with high-speed sensors for measuringthermal turbulence (Figure 4).A forecast of rough fall weather was coming true. On 1966July 25, I had arrived in Penticton with Mel Lytle, the DominionObservatory’s carpenter. We set up a small camp on the summitand, in steady blazing sunshine, we erected two observingplatforms, 5-m high. My plan was to compare the quality ofsolar images photographed by a pair of 15-cm refractors onplatforms that were spaced 1.5 km apart on the mountain’splateau. Two weeks of labouring at construction had landedme in Penticton Hospital on August 7 with muscular spasmsgripping my back. Midway through a week of treatment, Icommented to the physiotherapist that it had been cloudy thatmorning since sunrise, the first such day since I arrived fromOttawa. Her matter-of-fact response startled me: “Oh, thatjust means we’re going to have an early fall.” Her confidentprediction was rooted in years of tending an apricot orchardon one of the westward-facing terraces rising above OkanaganLake. She explained that there were years when the seeminglyendless sunny days stopped abruptly; cloudy days then becamecommonplace and prevailed until spring.This was my first exposure to any negative comment aboutfall or winter weather in the Okanagan. What I had been toldearlier about winter conditions on Mt. Kobau emphasizedpositive aspects; the summit was sometimes seen rising throughthe cloud at night by pilots descending to land at Penticton, orduring the day by skiers on higher slopes nearby. Conditionshad indeed changed when I got back to the mountain a weekor two later. Cirrus-streaked skies predominated. Even so wewere encouraged by good days with short periods lastingapproximately 30 minutes when image definition over afield-of-view of 6′ × 6′ was aperture-limited (Figure 5). On thenext-to-last day of our campaign, August 30, we awakened toa nasty shock; heavy hoar frost covered our tents and trailer tothe depth of a centimetre (Figure 6). There was no longerdoubt about an early fall.Back in our slowly ascending Scout, Aren and I disputed thenumber and sharpness of the turns we had already made andhow many were left. The odometer was too coarse to indicatethe remaining distance to the camp. Suddenly our headlightspicked out through the fog two red taillights at the spacing ofa large truck. I raged at the abandonment of a large vehiclewhere it blocked the road. I crept up to it, aiming a bit towardsthe side I thought was opposite to the mountain’s edge. Movinggingerly, Aren got out to investigate. He came back doubledup with laughter, motioning for me to come and inspect the“vehicle.” It was the storage/workshop trailer in the encampmentof three large trailers! We had arrived at the summit in fog sothick that we could only see the end of that one trailer. Wegroped our way to the commissary, roused the cook, and wolfeddown a hot supper before turning in for the night.Figure 5 — Sunspot Region McMath 8454 as it was forming on 1966 August 24.Figure 6 — Hoar frost covers the solar site-testing camp 1966 August 30. Theall-white observing platform for the solar refractor is at upper left.Figure 7 — Fog-bound journalists and photographers at the summit,1966 October 23.98 JRASC | Promoting Astronomy In Canada June / juin 2011