Winter 1999, Vol. 22, No. 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Q&A
Looking Up: The Transit of Mercury
New View from 36-Inch Telescope
Fire in the Sky: II
Astronomy of the Twentieth Century
The Winter Sky

. . . and Fire Below, too
A heavy helicopter drops water on rekindled
brushfires threatening mop-up hand crews at the
Oliver Observing Station in September. Though the flames came close, extraordinary efforts by hundreds
of firefighters spared the observatory harm through
the crisis, which lasted six weeks. Our caretaker,
Ivan Eberle, stayed on the mountain, taking dramatic photos like this one. See story here.