I arrived at IHOP at about 7pm with my 22” f/4.1 reflector with a
Pegasus mirror. Mark Wagner (18-inch Obsession), Jane Smith (18”
Starmaster GOTO) and Shneor Sherman (22” f/4.1 Bruce Sayre built with a
Pegasus mirror) were already there with their telescopes set-up. About
30 minutes later, Manny arrived.
The conditions were very good to start with. As the sun went down,
transparency appeared. The seeing was good at 6 to 7 out of 10. As the
night progressed the transparency deteriorated to the south and
southwest.
I’ve decided to continue with my Abell Planetary survey.
Alvin
OR follows...
-- Location: IHOP Date: 09-05-04 Observer: Alvin Huey Telescope: 22” f/4.1 equipped with a Paracorr Eyepieces: 35mm Panoptic, 17mm Type 6 Nagler, 13mm Type 1 Nagler and 9mm Type 1 Nagler. Filters: Lumicon O-III and UHC filters. Transparency started as 7/10 ended at 6/10. Seeing varied from 7/10 at the beginning to 6/10 as the night wore on. Abell 52 RA:19h 4.6m Dec: +17º 57’ Size: 37x34” Mag: 16.5p Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 70º 22” f/4.1 (203 and 293x) – Very faint, 3:1 elongated patch with a position angle of 135º. Even surface brightness throughout its 30x10” surface. I could hold this object nearly 100% of the time with averted vision and O-III filter. It’s 18.4 magnitude central star was not visible. A 10th magnitude star lies about 10” SSW. A nice 30-60-right triangle of 13th magnitude stars lie about 3’ south. Abell 53 RA:19h 6.8m Dec: +06º 24’ Size: 30x27” Mag: 16.3 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 60º 22” f/4.1 (203 and 293x) – Very nice and considerably bright, round disk measuring about 30” across. Annular structure was suspected. This object was sometimes visible with direct vision. The best view is at 203x and O-III filter. I didn’t try for the 20.9 magnitude central star. Abell 55 RA:19h 10.5m Dec: -02º 21’ Size: 47x32” Mag: 13.2 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 50º 22” f/4.1 (155 and 203x) – This planetary is one of the easier Abells. It’s considerably bright slightly elongated disk is visible with direct vision. The center is slightly brighter and no central star is seen as it was magnitude 20.5. Position angle is about 90 degrees. It shows best at 155x and O-III filter. This object is visible without any filters between 75 and 293x. Did not try any higher magnifications. The size is about 40x30”. Abell 56 RA:19h 13.1m Dec: +02º 53’ Size: 188x174” Mag: 14.1p Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 70º 22” f/4.1 (75, 155 and 203x) – Star field located, but not seen. Abell 58 RA:19h 18.3m Dec: +01º 47’ Size: 44x37” Mag: 17.4p Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 50º 22” f/4.1 (75, 155, 203 and 293x) – This is a very difficult object. Picked off only 25% of the time with averted vision as an extremely faint round glow just above the sky background. Abell 62 RA:19h 33.3m Dec: -10º 37’ Size: 161x151” Mag: 14.7 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 40º 22” f/4.1 (75, 155 and 203x) – Considerably bright, large and even surface brightness patch. It showed a slightly elongated, irregular shape. There were 6 stars embedded in the nebula, but not the magnitude 18.8 central star. The grouping of stars forms a “V” with the bottom at the south end of the planetary nebula. Estimated size is about 140x120” across with a position angle of 0 degrees. Abell 64 RA:19h 45.6m Dec: +05º 35’ Size: 40x34” Mag: 15.3p Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 50º 22” f/4.1 (155, 203 and 293x) – Very faint and slightly elongated. Position angle is about 135 degrees and its estimated size is about 40x30”. I didn’t try for the central star. Easiest at 203x and O-III filter. A bright grouping of two 10th and a 12th magnitude stars lies SE and arranged like a 30-60 right triangle. Abell 67 RA:19h 58.5m Dec: +03º 02’ Size: 69x61” Mag: 13.6 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 50º 22” f/4.1 (75, 155 and 203x) – Considerably faint, slightly elongated, even surface brightness. Visible with direct vision only about 50% of the time and 100% with averted vision. Estimated size is about 60x50” and position angle is about 150º. No central star. Best at 155x and O-III filter. Abell 57 RA:19h 17.1m Dec: +25º 37’ Size: 40x34” Mag: 14.4 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 70º 22” f/4.1 (155,203 and 293x) –Considerably bright, 2:1 elongated patch. Even surface brightness. Estimated size is about 40x30” and oriented about 120º from north. I didn’t try for the magnitude 17.6 central star, when I should have. Visible with direct vision and O-III. Abell 59 RA:19h 18.7m Dec: +19º 34’ Size: 94x80” Mag: 16.4 Transparency: 6/10 Altitude: about 50º 22” f/4.1 (155, 203 and 293x) – Very faint, only if the 6th magnitude star is off the field and with an O-III filter. It lies only 4’ NNE. Suspected a crescent shape, which turns out to be just the brightest part visible. I would estimate the visible part at about 40x10” across and pointed almost away from the bright star. Abell 63 RA:19h 42.2m Dec: +17º 05’ Size: 40x27” Mag: 16.9 Transparency: 7/10 Altitude: about 60º 22” f/4.1 (155 and 203x) – Very faint and slightly elongated in a rich starfield. Even surface brightness across its 40x30 surface. PA = 90º Decided to re-observe Hickson 92 and get a better view of the “fifth” true member of the “quartet”, NGC 7230C. This member is a very small and faint compared to the other five members. Just a note, NGC 7317 is not a true member of this very compact cluster of galaxies, but rather an optical member. NGC 7317 lies “only” 42 million light years away and 6.5 times closer than the rest of the quintet. In fact, NGC 7317 is a member of the nearby NGC 7331 group, a beautiful spiral galaxy about half degree north. NGC 7230C RA: 22h 36.3m Dec: +33º 59’ Size: 0.6x0.4’ Mag: 16.7b Transparency: 6/10 Altitude: about 60º 22” f/4.1 (155, 203 and 293x) – Very faint, round patch. Slightly brighter towards the middle. Averted vision grows the galaxy to about 30” across. It lies about 4’ east of NGC 7319Received on Tue Sep 7 19:13:31 2004