Investment executive wins astronomy auction

Associated Press

The head of a California investment company had the winning bid of $16,000 in an online auction to spend a night of planet-hunting in Hawai'i with a well-known astronomer using one of the largest telescopes in the world.

Walter Cruttenden, 52, of Newport Beach, Calif., will spend a night observing the work of astronomer Geoff Marcy, who is with the W.M. Keck Observatory on the Big Island.

"I've never done anything like this before, and I've never been above 13,000 feet," said Cruttenden, chairman and chief executive of Cruttenden Partners in Newport Beach. He was referring to 13,769-foot-high Mauna Kea, where the twin Keck telescopes are located.

The date of Cruttenden's five-day trip will be determined by Marcy's observation schedule.

Although Cruttenden will get to tour the summit, the night of astronomy activities will be spent at a more comfortable 2,800 feet at the observatory's headquarters in Waimea, where Marcy will be able to work the telescopes with remote commands.

The fund-raiser on e-Bay by the San Francisco-based Astronomical Society of the Pacific drew 10 bids on Jan. 13- 23.