Steve Gottlieb also made the journey, arriving a little after I did.
We set up our scopes at Grey Pine flat with good views everywhere,
except for some cloud to the west. The first couple of hours were a
bit iffy, as the cloud/fog moved in and out of our views. We were
almost completely clouded out between 8 and 9, except for "sucker"
holes near Orion. However, that cloud rolled over by 9pm, taking all
the crud with it, and the sky was crystal clear for the rest of the
night. The temperature was a pleasant 5-10°C (40ish F) and the
humidity never got over 81%.
Steve and Jim have larger telescopes, and are seeking out peculiar
galaxies, and planetary nebulae. During the evening they were quite
willing to share their views of some really odd looking galaxies in
collision, or super clusters of stars within galaxies. I am
developing a severe case of aperture fever :-)
Observer: Robert Leyland
Date: 28-29 Dec 1999
Time: 1900 PST - 0130 PST
Location: Lake Sonoma CA. 38°43'N 123°02'W Elev ~1500
Weather: 9°C Temp 71% Humidity
Seeing: LM 6.5, passing thin layer of high fog early, cleared
completely by 2100
Equipment: 8" F6 Dob, Pentax XL EPs
While Andromeda is still high in the sky I look for NGC 7662 (Blue
Snowball) and NGC 7640, to follow up from the previous observations.
The wisps of high fog don't help, but there are some good clear
times. NGC 7662 is better than before as the adjacent star is
visible with direct vision in the 21mm EP (55x), and the Blue
Snowball lives up to its name, with lovely deep pastel blue
coloration, hints of spherical structure, and faint tendrils of mist
particularly nice in the 7mm (115x). NGC 7640 still avoids showing
me any nebulosity, but the central core area does show some
elongation.
In Steve Gottlieb's 17.5" the nebulosity show nicely, but it is dim
which explains why it isn't visible at all in the 8". Steve
explained that, he finds, for viewing galaxies a 2mm exit pupil gives
the best result, as that enables you to concentrate the light onto
the most sensitive regions in your eye. He uses a 20mm EP for
finding and an 8.8mm (220x) for studying which gives him that desired
2mm exit pupil on his f4.4 Dob.
By 9:30 I had moved on to Triangulum, which was now favourably
positioned above Andromeda.
NGC 890 shows faint nebulosity surrounding a bright central core. I
can tell it is not just scattered light by comparing with adjacent
stars of similar brightness. At 85x the nebulosity resolves better
but is still faint.
NGC 925 is a very nice galaxy with a line of stars along one side,
and a brighter star off the edge. The misty nebulosity is more
prominent than 890 and the central core it notably elongated, while
not as bright at the peak it is easier to see, as it is more spread
out.
Epsilon Tri splits at 170x, into two stars, with the second star
being much much fainter than the primary. It is closer than gamma
And, and quite similar in separation to iota Tri, as stated in NSOG.
The brightness difference makes it much harder to separate, showing
that this night has better seeing than two days earlier.
Looking like a faint "blade the galaxy NGC 784 shows up well at 55x,
it is surrounded by a trapezoid of bright stars right at the edge of
the FOV of the 21mm EP, with a group of faint stars surrounding it
closer in. Using the 10.5mm these faint stars fill the view, leaving
the galaxy in the center. The best view was at 85x, with averted
vision the galaxy's shape was quite clear, although it is faint.
Steve Gottlieb shows me a couple if sights I'd not seen before, one
was NGC 1999 in Orion, which is an emission/reflection nebula with a
dust cloud "incursion". The dust is very dark, forming a little
sideways V-shape around the central star. The nebula can easily be
seen in my 8", and later I have a look at it. The darkening is
noticeable as an asymmetry in the center of the nebula, and I am sure
I would have overlooked it without first seeing it in Steve's scope.
Jim Shields has M82 at high power, in which he is looking for
super-clusters, earlier he had a colliding pair of galaxies in view.
A small oval galaxy running into the middle of an edge on. The pair
looked like a high wing airplane, or the Enterprise (Star Trek)
viewed from the front. Quite a treat. Jim suggests looking at
"Thor's Helmet", after a few minutes Steve has it in view, and that
is quite a sight. The helmet looks like its namesake, with a high
eye-guard, and a neck flap in place, and a darkened area where Thor's
face would be, and fainter mistiness past the face accentuates the
region.
Back in Triangulum NGC 949 shows as a faint mildly oval fuzziness,
averted vision shows a brighter point in the "lower" middle. Is is
quite a cool shape, and relatively easy to find using NSOG (V1-p396)
Collinder 21 is a cute little "ear" shaped open cluster that I come
across almost by accident. I wasn't really looking for it, but the
image jumps out at 55x, listening to me, as I track down NGC 672.
This looks like a little "flying saucer". There are two very faint
stars on either side of the galaxy that need averted vision to see,
the star on the same side as the triangle asterism is just a tad
brighter. Both NGC 672 and Cr21 are viewable in the same FOV at 55x.
It is now a little after midnight, and before packing up, we take the
time to visit some bright old friends.
A peek at the trapezium shows the fifth star easily, and in Steve's
'scope the 6th and 7th as well. The nebulosity around the trapezium
looks bubbly in the big scope, showing a lot of fine structure.
I look for the Horsehead nebula, NGC 2024 looks very good and moving
off Zeta Ori I can see a faint edge which must be IC 434. I think I
can see the Horsehead, but it is probably wishful thinking, as NGC
2023 which is nearby doesn't show much nebulosity. Steve has an
H-Beta filter, and we get an excellent view of the Horsehead against
the emission nebula. In a curious coincidence the Horsehead is the
astronomy picture of the day on Friday. My 17 year old son thinks it
looks more like the back end of the horse, but even he is impressed
by the picture.
Jupiter and Saturn are well situated, now high in the sky, for
viewing. Jupiter looks amazing, one of the best views I've had.
Four moons are visible, but one is much fainter, and surely can't be
one of the "Gallilean" moons, I'll have to check with Starry Night
Pro later. The equatorial bands are clear with one split into two
bands, with a lighter center. Swirls and festoons between the bands,
and a number of bands away from the equator are quite obvious. [Sure
enough the fourth "moon" is a 9th mag star, HIP18787 in Taurus, Io is
hidden behind the planet we'd have need to wait until 3:05 AM to see
it appear]
Saturn is wonderful, four of its moons form a perfect parallelogram,
with Saturn offset to one edge. A fifth moon is visible close to the
center of the parallelogram. The Casssini division is visible all
the way around the ring, and subtle bands show on the planet itself.
[The moons forming the parallelogram are Titan, Rhea, Dione, and
Iapetus, the fifth moon was Tethys]
What a great night. Clear skies, especially after 9pm, and steady
air, no wind, good humidity. I would have stayed later, but
tiredness was setting in, and I still had to drive home.
------ rleyland@No-Spam ...................... leyland@bigape.com snappy saying snipped saving significant signature space erudite epigram edited enabling extra epistular expression