The short drive to Adin on Saturday morning was uneventful, and I arrived at the camp site around noon, promptly setting up my tent on Uranus row. Since the weather outlook was not looking very promising at the time, I made the decision to leave my scope in the car. This turned out to be a smart move because Saturday night was wild, with lightning, heavy rain, and even hail! My small tent handled the elements remarkably well, and I remained dry all night, unlike a few others…

On Sunday afternoon, Rogelio, David and I visited the Lava Beds National Monument. This was a fun outing, although it was a fairly long drive (3 hours round trip from Adin) During the day, the weather forecast gradually improved, and the sky turned mostly clear after sunset. Because of a few high altitude clouds, the sky that night was not nearly as dark as it could have been. I got NELM 6.7 in Hercules.

Monday night was slightly better. Alvin and I both got NELM 6.9. This was still a bit disappointing. Under such dark skies, when the conditions are ideal, one can get NELM 7.5. Tuesday night was probably the best one. After a really hot day, I got NELM 7.0 in Hercules. The milky way looked absolutely gorgeous, all the way down to the southern horizon. The seeing was about average on all three nights, although it felt a little more solid on the last night.

I had put together a list of about 60 objects, most of which from the Herschel 400, containing mostly galaxies, nebulae and globular clusters. I did not want to observe too many open clusters from such a dark site, because those can be observed under less than ideal skies from the bay area. I ended up observing about 40 of those objects, leaving enough time for some free-style eye candy that I did not log. Some of the highlights include observing the central star in M57, as well as the nearby IC 1296 galaxy in Alvin Huey’s 22″ scope. The crescent nebula was also putting on quite a show through my scope using an OIII filter. Finally, seeing both arches of the veil nebula in one field of view through David’s 80mm refractor was really amazing!

This was my first out of town multi-day star party, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of all, it was really great to finally meet a lot of TACos in person. The food cattered by our host, the owners of the Frosty Acres ranch, was absolutely delicious. The shower truck was awesome! A big thank you to the GSSP organizing committee for putting together the star party, and to David Cooper, who shared his canopy, and saved me from getting burnt by the Sun…

Location: Adin, CA [Elevation 4200 ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PDT)

June 21, 2009

NGC 4736 (M 94) GX CVn 12h51m21.2s +41°04′14″ 8.7 mag 10:50p
Very bright, fairly large, very slightly elongated WNW-ESE. Gradually brighter to a relatively large, round and very bright core.

NGC 5195 GX CVn 13h30m25.2s +47°13′10″ 10.5 mag 11:00p
Bright stellar core surrounded by an assymetrical halo, fairly bright on the west side, very dim on the east side where this galaxy connects to M51. The nucleus is slightly off center to the south.

NGC 5248 GX Boö 13h38m02.1s +08°50′10″ 10.9 mag 11:10p
Moderately large and bright, elongated 2×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright small round core, surrounded by a halo showing hints of two far-flung spiral arms, the one on the NW side being the most obvious. Very faint (15.4 mag) superimposed star about 30″ N of the core.

NGC 5557 GX Boö 14h18m51.2s +36°27′06″ 11.9 mag 11:20p
Small, moderately bright, round halo, gradually brighter to a stellar nucleus seen using direct vision during brief moments of better seeing. Fairly faint superimposed star about 30″ SE.

NGC 5676 GX Boö 14h33m09.0s +49°25′04″ 11.9 mag 11:35p
Moderately bright and large, elongated 3×1 NE-SW, very uniform. Very faint stellar nucleus.

NGC 5689 GX Boö 14h35m51.9s +48°42′07″ 12.7 mag 11:45p
Small, moderately bright, elongated 3×1 E-W, fairly bright almost stellar core.

NGC 7000 (North American Nebula) BN Cyg 20h58m52.1s +44°24′33″ 4.0 mag 12:05a
[Using David Cooper's William Optics 80ED F/6.8 refractor + Televue Panoptic 27mm + Lumicon OIII filter] Very easily seen, fits nicely in the 3.5 degree field of view. Very reminiscent of photographs. The “central america” “north eastern United States” and “north western United States” regions are brighter. The “Florida” region is surprinsingly dim. The entire nebula is “peppered” with fairly bright stars.

NGC 6543 (Cat’s Eye Nebula) PN Dra 17h58m36.6s +66°37′54″ 8.3 mag 12:25a
Very small, very bright, elongated 4:3 N-S, blue-green color at low power (95x) Central star seen very briefly during moments of better seeing. The use of an OIII filter shows the central region a little darker.

NGC 6207 GX Her 16h43m26.3s +36°48′53″ 11.9 mag 01:15a
Small, moderately faint, elongated 3×1 NNE-SSW, fairly uniform halo. Bright stellar nucleus or superimposed star (photographs show that it is a 13 mag superimposed star, not the actual nucleus of that galaxy) Fits beautifully along M13 in the 1.2 degree field of view of the Televue Panoptic 27mm.

NGC 6229 GC Her 16h47m17.5s +47°30′42″ 9.4 mag 01:25a
Fairly small and bright, unresolved but appears “powdery” with a few stars coming in and out of view during brief moments of better seeing.

NGC 6781 PN Aql 19h18m58.0s +06°33′21″ 11.8 mag 01:35a
Fairly large planetary nebula. Fairly uniform, round. Southern rim is slightly brighter and better defined than the northern rim. The center region appears slightly darker.

June 22, 2009

NGC 5897 GC Lib 15h17m58.8s -21°02′51″ 8.4 mag 10:50p
Moderately large, fairly uniform, fairly low surface brightness. A few bright stars are resolved over a milky background at 95x and 169x.

NGC 3147 GX Dra 10h17m41.3s +73°21′25″ 11.3 mag 11:00p
Small, moderately bright, round, gradually brighter to a fairly large core. At 169x, the halo seems slightly elongated NW-SE.

NGC 5866 (M 102) GX Dra 15h06m47.6s +55°43′42″ 10.7 mag 11:15p
Fairly large and bright, elongated 3×1 WNW-ESE. Fairly large central concentration. Forms an equilateral triangle with two fairly bright stars (mag 7.7 and 9.2)

NGC 5907 (Splinter Galaxy) GX Dra 15h16m11.0s +56°17′44″ 11.1 mag 11:25p
Fairly large, moderately bright edge-on galaxy. Elongated roughly 10×1 NNW-SSE. Weak central concentration/bulge. Hints of a dark lane at 217x. Eastern half of the bulge appears brighter. Fairly faint star (14.5 mag) about 1′ WSW of bulge. Reminiscent of NGC 4565, although not as impressive.

NGC 5982 GX Dra 15h38m54.3s +59°19′35″ 12.0 mag 11:35p
Small, fairly bright, with a relatively large core surrounded by a halo slightly elongated E-W. Forms a beautiful trio with NGC 5981 and NGC 5985. The members of this group show obvious differences in morphology.

NGC 6451 (Tom Thumb Cluster) OC Sco 17h51m20.2s -30°12′48″ 8.2 mag 12:05a
Fairly small, composed of about 30 moderately bright stars. Overall shape reminds me of an arrowhead. A large dark lane splits this cluster in the N-S direction.

NGC 6755 OC Aql 19h08m19.4s +04°16′53″ 8.6 mag 12:35a
About 30 fairly bright stars scattered within 15′. Irregular shape, several dark lanes. Located about 40′ SSE of NGC 6756.

NGC 6756 OC Aql 19h09m12.3s +04°43′12″ 10.6 mag 12:35a
Very compact group of relatively faint stars (could not get a reliable star count) surrounded by a darker ring and a few moderately bright stars.

NGC 6826 (Blinking Planetary) PN Cyg 19h45m05.7s +50°32′47″ 8.8 mag 01:10a
Small, very bright, roundish, very slightly elongated WNW-ESE. Blue/green color seen at 169x. Fairly bright central star. Blinking effect noticed easily. OIII filter shows hints of an extremely faint outer shell (?)

NGC 6946 GX Cyg 20h35m06.8s +60°11′02″ 9.8 mag 01:25a
Fairly large galaxy with a relatively low surface brightness, elongated 3:2 E-W. Very weak, moderately large central concentration. Two spiral arms seen pretty easily E and W of the core. Situated in a rich star field. Forms a superb couple with open cluster NGC 6939. Both objects can be seen within the 1.2 degree field of view of the Panoptic 27mm.

NGC 7008 PN Cyg 21h00m51.0s +54°34′41″ 12.0 mag 01:40a
Relatively large and pretty bright planetary nebula. Appears elongated 2×1 N-S at low power. Using a higher magnification and an OIII filter, I can see 2 lobes positioned on a N-S line, the one to the north being the bigger and brighter one. Without the narrow band filter, the central star was easily detected, as well as a superimposed star to the ENE and 2 fairly bright stars located SE of the nebula. This object is also called the Fetus Nebula.

NGC 6905 PN Del 20h22m50.2s +20°08′04″ 12.0 mag 01:55a
Fairly small, moderately bright, almost round, very slightly elongated N-S. The disk is not perfectly uniform. The eastern portion of the nebula is brighter, while the southern and especially the northern regions are slightly darker. Fairly faint central star.

NGC 6118 GX Ser 16h22m20.2s -02°18′27″ 12.4 mag 02:05a
Moderately large, very low surface brightness, elongated 2×1 almost E-W, very uniform. Extremely weak central concentration detected at 169x. Fairly faint (15.2 mag) superimposed star located about 2′ E of the core.

June 23, 2009

NGC 5466 GC Boö 14h05m54.2s +28°29′25″ 9.2 mag 10:30p
Detected in 9×50 finder scope. Fairly large. Fairly uniform low surface brightness. Brighter stars resolved at 95x. A few more stars visible at 169x. Appears irregular in shape.

NGC 6171 (M 107) GC Oph 16h33m06.1s -13°04′30″ 7.8 mag 10:40p
Detected in 9×50 finder scope. Moderately large and bright. Best seen at 219x. Moderately dense, pretty well resolved.

NGC 6235 GC Oph 16h54m01.5s -22°11′38″ 8.9 mag 10:50p
Pretty small and faint. At 219x, a few brighter stars are resolved using averted vision. Appears slightly triangular in shape…

NGC 6284 GC Oph 17h05m06.3s -24°46′47″ 8.9 mag 11:00p
Pretty small and faint haze surrounding a moderately bright unresolved core. At higher magnification, a few stars are resolved in the outer halo.

NGC 6273 (M 19) GC Oph 17h03m15.7s -26°17′01″ 6.8 mag 11:05p
Spotted in 9×50 finder scope while looking for NGC 6284. Pretty large and bright, low surface brightness gradient. A large number of stars are resolved throughout at higher magnification.

NGC 6293 GC Oph 17h10m47.9s -26°35′42″ 8.3 mag 11:10p
Pretty small, moderately bright, intense core, outer region partially resolved at 219x.

NGC 6287 GC Oph 17h05m45.7s -22°43′22″ 9.3 mag 11:15p
Pretty small and faint, relatively uniform, located at the southern edge of a region devoid of stars (B51/B47 dark nebulae?) Takes on a powdery appearance at 219x, especially its eastern region, with a few stars coming in and out of view.

NGC 6304 GC Oph 17h15m10.8s -29°28′27″ 8.3 mag 11:20p
Pretty small, moderately bright, relatively uniform, unresolved at 219x, powdery appearance.

NGC 6316 GC Oph 17h17m15.4s -28°09′07″ 8.1 mag 11:25p
Very small, moderately bright, broad central concentration, unresolved. Located 1′ WNW of a fairly bright (mag 11.4) star and 1′ E of a slightly fainter (mag 12.3) star.

NGC 6342 GC Oph 17h21m46.0s -19°35′50″ 9.5 mag 11:30p
Very small, fairly faint, relatively bright core, unresolved. Located just 1′ NNE of a moderately bright (mag 12) star, and just south of B259.

NGC 6356 GC Oph 17h24m10.6s -17°49′24″ 8.2 mag 11:35p
Moderately large and bright, relatively bright core, unresolved (this object was low over the horizon when I observed it, so the bad seeing didn’t help)

NGC 6355 GC Oph 17h24m35.9s -26°21′48″ 8.6 mag 11:40p
Very small, pretty faint, relatively uniform, unresolved, apparently located behind a dark cloud.

NGC 6144 GC Sco 16h27m51.2s -26°02′42″ 9.0 mag 11:45p
Small, faint, right near Antares and M4. At 217x, about a dozen or so brighter stars are resolved over a milky background. Both M4 and NGC 6144 fit in the same 1.2 degree field of view generated by the Panoptic 27mm.

NGC 6369 (Little Ghost Nebula) PN Oph 17h29m57.6s -23°46′05″ 11.0 mag 11:50p
Pretty small, pretty faint, round, uniform, looks like an out of focus star at 95x. Delicate ring structure suspected, confirmed at 219x using a UHC filter. I did not see the central star. Northern rim looks very slightly brighter. Reminiscent of M57, but much smaller.

NGC 6401 GC Oph 17h39m14.3s -23°54′59″ 7.4 mag 12:00a
Small, pretty faint, almost completely uniform. Moderately bright (mag 12) superimposed star very slightly off center toward ESE.

NGC 6426 GC Oph 17h45m24.7s +03°09′56″ 10.9 mag 12:10a
Fairly small, surprisingly faint and uniform. Very weak central concentration. A few very faint stars pop in and out of view around the edge of the halo.

NGC 6517 GC Oph 18h02m24.5s -08°57′32″ 10.1 mag 12:15a
Small, fairly faint, small and relatively bright core, unresolved.

NGC 6633 OC Oph 18h27m44.9s +06°30′49″ 5.6 mag 12:20a
Best seen at low power (Panoptic 27mm) Easily spotted in 9×50 finder scope. About 30 bright stars of comparable brightness, along with many fainter stars, are scattered within about 25′.

The drive to Lake San Antonio is rather long (2h20m) but fairly pleasant, especially the last 50 miles. The temperature was very comfortable (low 80s/high 70s), and the traffic was very light on Highway 101.

Once I arrived at the overflow campground, I was delighted to see that Jim Molinari had decided to join me. Jim brought his SpicaEyes 20″ F/4 dobsonian telescope (http://www.equatorialplatforms.com/spicaeyes.html) I had heard of this brand before, but had never seen one myself. All I can say is that it looks like a solidly built (all powder-coated aluminum) fine piece of equipment, with lots of nice accessories (primary mirror thermometer, no clutches to engage/disengage the tracking system, etc.)

I proceeded to setup my equipment, only to realize a few minutes later that a large number of ants were passing through the area. I quickly moved my scope a little further in an ant-free area. Next time, I’ll have to think about bringing some insect killer to spray around my observing mat.

“Diehard Rogelio” showed up around 10pm to image a couple of southern targets located barely above the treeline, too low to capture from the bay area.

Early on, the seeing was a little soft, but the transparency was good. The light domes from King City and Paso Robles were barely visible, and the sky was truly dark. I had brought with me a chart of the big dipper labelled with star magnitudes. I was able to see, using averted vision, a star of 7th magnitude. Unfortunately, my chart was not showing stars fainter than 7th magnitude, so I cannot tell for sure what the naked eye limiting magnitude was, but the sky felt a little bit darker than at the D.A.R.C. observatory (not much darker though, maybe one or two tenth of a magnitude…) The seeing improved a bit as the night went on, and became quite good, although not excellent, after 1am. The temperature dropped surprisingly low, down to 38F at 3:30am. Good thing I had brought warm clothes!

I kept very busy all night, and managed to observe all the Herschel 400 targets I had on my list. Besides my “boring” prepared list, I got to see the Centaurus A galaxy (a.k.a. the “hamburger galaxy”) for the first time. Although very low above the horizon, the dark lane splitting this galaxy in half was pretty well defined, showing faint patches inside. This galaxy must be spectacular when seen from the southern hemisphere!

I feel like my star hopping abilities are getting better every time I go out. I really enjoy matching what I see in the finder scope with Uranometria, and finding the object I am looking for right in the middle of the field of view of my 16mm Nagler eyepiece. It’s like a “human goto”, only slightly slower (and quieter!)

Jim had brought his MallinCam color video camera, along with a small LCD screen. It was really astonishing to see a real time “video” (using short 7 second exposures) of NGC 3628 and M 51, and compare with views through the eyepiece.

I called it a night around 3:30am, slept for a few hours, and took off shortly after sunrise. I was home by 10am. Overall, I was very pleased with the sky at Lake San Antonio. However, I won’t be going there very often for one night only, mainly because of the long drive. Also, if you factor in the price of gaz and the campground fees, it amounts to almost $60. Finally, I was extremely tired all day on Wednesday, making for some interesting meetings at work… However, I can guarantee I will be going to CalStar this year!

Note regarding observation logging: I feel like my logging is improving in coverage and accuracy every time I go out. When I prepare an observation, I don’t like to look at photographs of the objects beforehand. I feel like it may affect what I document in my log, and not necessarily in a positive way. However, when I enter my log into SkyTools, I really enjoy matching what I saw with actual photographs. Most often, it matches pretty well. Sometimes, it matches beautifully as in the case of planetary nebula NGC 4361 (see log below), and some other times, it does not match at all, in which case I mark the object as “re-observe”. I also enjoy looking at the magnitude of the superimposed stars I was able to see. One of them for example (see NGC 4697 below) is of magnitude 15.3. A month ago, at D.A.R.C., under exceptional conditions, I was able to go as deep as magnitude 15.6! Not bad for a rookie using a 12″ scope!

Location: Lake San Antonio [Elevation 1082 ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PDT)

NGC 2419 (Intergalactic Wanderer) GC Lyn 07h38m46.2s +38°51′45″ 10.3 mag 09:40p
Faint, round, unresolved, progressively brighter core at 95x. Remains unresolved, but starts displaying a mottled appearance at higher magnification.

NGC 2683 GX Lyn 08h53m16.7s +33°23′14″ 10.0 mag 09:45p
Moderately large, fairly bright, elongated 5×1 NE-SW, gradually brighter core. Fairly bright superimposed star (mag 13) 2′ NE.

NGC 2782 GX Lyn 09h14m41.9s +40°04′34″ 12.3 mag 10:05p
Very small, very faint halo, fairly faint small but non-stellar core.

NGC 3379 / M 105 GX Leo 10h48m20.5s +12°31′52″ 10.2 mag 10:15p
Moderately large, very bright, broad central concentration. Uniform roundish halo, only very slightly elongated E-W. Forms a beautiful triplet with NGC 3384 and NGC 3389.

NGC 4361 PN Crv 12h25m01.6s -18°50′27″ 10.9 mag 10:25p
Moderately large planetary nebula, fairly bright, easily spotted at 95x. At 169x, it looks round, very slightly elongated NE-SW. The central star (mag 11.5) was seen easily using direct vision. At high magnification, using a UHC filter and averted vision, I started spotting delicate variations in brightness. This nebula seemed to be made of two “bars” centered on the central star. One is elongated 2×1 E-W, and the other is elongated 3×1 NE-SW. This impression was beautifully confirmed by looking at a DSS image.

NGC 5054 GX Vir 13h17m30.1s -16°41′13″ 11.6 mag 10:50p
Moderately large, fairly faint, uniform halo, elongated 2×1 N-S, gradually brighter to a stellar nucleus. There is a really nice group of 5 galaxies 15′ WNW, forming a circle.

NGC 4856 GX Vir 12h59m52.7s -15°05′48″ 11.4 mag 11:00p
Fairly small and fairly bright, with a halo elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Broad central concentration. Moderately bright superimposed star 30″ SE. Very faint superimposed star 2′ NE.

NGC 4594 / M 104 (Sombrero Galaxy) GX Vir 12h40m30.2s -11°40′41″ 9.1 mag 11:10p
Fairly large, very bright, elongated 3×1 E-W. Dark lane crossing the galaxy. Northern half looks much larger and brighter, with a very bright broad central concentration. The southern half is barely visible. Fairly bright star just 2′ N.

NGC 4781 GX Vir 12h54m54.7s -10°35′27″ 11.4 mag 11:20p
Moderately large, moderately bright, elongated 3:2 WNW-ESE, fairly uniform, very slight brightening in the middle. Fairly faint superimposed star 2′W. Forms a tight couple with fainter and smaller NGC 4784.

NGC 4699 GX Vir 12h49m33.1s -08°43′08″ 10.4 mag 11:30p
Fairly small, very bright, elongated 3:2 NNE-SSW. Small elongated core. I thought I saw two broad spiral arms, but a DDS image shows that this spiral is tightly wound.

NGC 4958 GX Vir 13h06m19.7s -08°04′25″ 11.5 mag 11:35p
Fairly small, pretty bright, elongated 3×1 NNE-SSW. Fairly broad central concentration.

NGC 4995 GX Vir 13h10m12.0s -07°53′07″ 11.9 mag 11:45p
Fairly small, fairly faint, very uniform, elongated 4:3 E-W, tiny nucleus. I noted a very faint superimposed star 2′ E. However, a 2′ angular distance would not make this a superimposed star. Moreover, there is a very faint (mag 15.4) star about 1.5′ E, and another one (mag 15.4) only 30″ E. I’m not sure which one I saw.

NGC 4697 GX Vir 12h49m06.7s -05°51′19″ 10.1 mag 11:50p
Pretty bright, moderately large, elongated 2×1 ENE-WSW. Fairly large central concentration. Very faint superimposed star (mag 15.3) about 1.5′ E.

NGC 4546 GX Vir 12h36m00.1s -03°50′52″ 11.3 mag 12:15a
Fairly small, pretty bright, elongated 5:2 E-W, small non-stellar core.

NGC 4030 GX Vir 12h00m53.6s -01°09′20″ 11.2 mag 12:30a
Moderately large, moderately bright, appears round at first, with a gradually brighter core. Framed by 3 fairly bright stars (magnitude 11.1, 11.5 and 13.7) I noted hints of 2 barely visible spiral arms going counter-clockwise.

NGC 4666 (Superwind Galaxy) GX Vir 12h45m39.2s -00°30′57″ 11.5 mag 12:40a
Elongated 5×1 NE-SW, with an elongated core. Forms a nice field of view with much fainter and smaller NGC 4668.

NGC 4753 GX Vir 12h52m52.7s -01°15′13″ 10.9 mag 12:45a
Moderate size, fairly bright, elongated 3:2 E-W, gradually brighter core to an almost stellar nucleus.

NGC 5634 GC Vir 14h30m08.7s -06°01′17″ 9.5 mag 12:50a
Fairly small, pretty bright, located at the base of an isosceles triangle formed by 3 fairly bright stars. At 300x, using averted vision, this globular cluster appears slightly mottled.

NGC 4550 GX Vir 12h36m00.7s +12°10′03″ 12.5 mag 01:05a
Fairly small and bright, elongated 3×1 N-S, with a relatively large, elongated core. Forms a tight couple with NGC 4551.

NGC 4548 / M 91 GX Com 12h35m56.5s +14°26′35″ 10.9 mag 01:15a
Large, round and faint halo. Embedded in it is a bar elongated 3×1 E-W, with a bulge in the middle, corresponding to the core of the galaxy. No trace of the beautiful spiral arms seen in photographs.

NGC 4459 GX Com 12h29m30.1s +13°55′30″ 11.4 mag 01:25a
Fairly small, bright and round, with a relatively large core and a stellar nucleus. Located 2′ NNW of a very bright star (magnitude 8.7)

NGC 4689 GX Com 12h48m15.7s +13°42′33″ 11.6 mag 01:35a
Moderately large, very pale, very uniform, elongated 4:3 N-S. Tiny very faint nucleus glimpsed at higher magnifications.

NGC 4477 GX Com 12h30m32.3s +13°34′59″ 11.3 mag 01:40a
Very faint round halo, elongated core 2×1 N-S. Forms a nice tight couple with smaller NGC 4479.

NGC 4473 GX Com 12h30m19.0s +13°22′33″ 11.1 mag 01:50a
Fairly small and bright, elongated 2×1 E-W, sharply defined non-stellar core.

NGC 3945 GX UMa 11h53m45.8s +60°37′33″ 11.7 mag 01:55a
Small, moderately bright, round, with a relatively large and well defined core and a very faint stellar nucleus. Photographs show an outer ring elongated 2×1 NNE-SSW.

NGC 3665 GX UMa 11h25m15.7s +38°42′44″ 11.8 mag 02:00a
Small, moderately bright, round halo, elongated core 3:2 NNE-SSW, stellar nucleus.

NGC 4800 GX CVn 12h55m05.9s +46°28′51″ 12.3 mag 02:15a
Fairly small, moderately bright, elongated 3:2 N-S, gradually brighter core. Fairly bright star (mag 13.2) about 1.5′ W.

NGC 5005 GX CVn 13h11m24.4s +37°00′29″ 10.5 mag 02:20a
Fairly large and bright, elongated 3×1 E-W, with a bright elongated, fairly large and well defined core.

NGC 5033 GX CVn 13h13m55.6s +36°32′37″ 10.7 mag 02:25a
Fairly large, moderately bright, elongated 2×1 N-S, with a small, bright and well defined core. Fairly bright (mag 13.9) superimposed star 1.5′ N.

NGC 5273 GX CVn 13h42m35.6s +35°36′22″ 12.5 mag 02:35a
Fairly small, very pale, round halo, tiny almost stellar nucleus.

Early on, the seeing was pretty good, but the transparency was just about average as indicated by the light domes from Fresno, Hollister and Los Banos. The seeing remained good for the entire night, and the transparency got progressively better, yielding very decent images of deep sky objects. The wind almost completely disappeared and the temperature dropped from 92F to about 75F by 2am. It felt pretty good to observe in shorts and T-shirt. Only Rogelio was pesting against the warm and varying temperatures. It’s harder to cool a CCD when the air is warm, and the focus shifts as the temperature changes.

Since the night was short (about 4 hours of darkness), I kept pretty busy all night. I ended up logging 25 new objects from the H400 list, which makes it a good and productive night. Thanks again to Dr. Lee Hoglan for letting us observe on his property. Below is my log for the night. Cheers!

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PDT)

NGC 2859 GX LMi 09h24m53.7s +34°28′28″ 11.8 mag 09:45p
Small, moderately bright, with a small non stellar core and a round halo.

NGC 3245 GX LMi 10h27m51.1s +28°27′37″ 11.7 mag 09:53p
Fairly small, moderately bright. Fairly bright non stellar core. Halo elongated 2×1 N-S.

NGC 3277 GX LMi 10h33m28.1s +28°27′50″ 12.5 mag 10:05p
Small (appeared smaller than expected - about 1.5′) with a round, faint, broad core, progressively brighter toward the middle, surrounded by a very faint halo.

NGC 3344 GX LMi 10h44m03.2s +24°52′23″ 10.5 mag 10:15p
Fairly faint almost stellar core. Round, faint halo does not appear perfectly uniform. Two fairly bright superimposed stars, mag 11.2 and 10.4, located respectively 1′ and 2′ E of the core. Fainter superimposed star about 30″ SW of the core.

NGC 3414 GX LMi 10h51m48.5s +27°55′32″ 12.0 mag 10:25p
Small, fairly faint. Small core, progressively brighter toward the middle. Very faint round halo. Much fainter NGC 3418 located about 10′ N.

NGC 3486 GX LMi 11h00m56.0s +28°55′29″ 11.1 mag 10:35p
Elongated 3:2 E-W. Progressively and very slightly brighter toward the middle. Very faint nucleus.

NGC 3504 GX LMi 11h03m43.1s +27°55′19″ 11.6 mag 10:45p
Moderately bright. Small, fairly bright and sharply defined core. Halo appears elongated 2×1 NW-SE. Fairly faint superimposed star <1' ESE.

NGC 4314 GX Com 12h23m02.3s +29°50′33″ 11.4 mag 11:10p
Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright with a broad central concentration. Hint of a nucleus at 305x. Moderately bright superimposed star at the NW tip. Another slightly dimmer superimposed star about 1′ SE of the nucleus. Star of similar brightness about 1.5′ ENE of the nucleus.

NGC 4414 GX Com 12h26m56.9s +31°10′13″ 11.0 mag 11:20p
Elongated 3:2 NNW-SSE. Fairly bright halo, progressively brighter toward the middle. Bright, sharply defined nucleus.

NGC 4494 GX Com 12h31m53.9s +25°43′20″ 10.7 mag 11:25p
Round, fairly bright, progressively brighter to an almost stellar nucleus.

NGC 4559 GX Com 12h36m27.4s +27°54′27″ 10.3 mag 11:40p
Fairly large and uniform, only slightly brighter in the middle. Medium surface brightness. Elongated 2×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright (11.9 mag) superimposed star about 2′ E. Slightly fainter (12.3 mag) superimposed star about 2′ S. Did not notice a third superimposed star of mag 13.4, located about 2′ SE, seen on DSS image.

NGC 4565 GX Com 12h36m50.6s +25°56′06″ 10.1 mag 11:55p
Superb edge on spriral. Best seen at 169x. Very reminiscent of photographs. Dark lane easily seen, splitting the central bulge slightly to the northeast. The southwest “half” thus appears larger and brighter, sporting a fairly bright nucleus. Extensions spotted up to 8′ on either side of the core.

NGC 4725 GX Com 12h50m56.1s +25°26′55″ 9.9 mag 12:05a
At low power, this galaxy forms a nice trio with NGC 4747 and NGC 4712. Fairly large and bright. Elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Bright, fairly large core. Two superimposed stars located about 3′ E and 3′ ENE. The halo showed hints of an “S” shaped spiral, although photographs do not show evidence of that.

NGC 4143 GX CVn 12h10m06.5s +42°28′58″ 11.8 mag 12:15a
Fairly small and bright. Elongated 2×1 NNW-SSE. Almost stellar core.

NGC 4111 GX CVn 12h07m33.8s +43°00′50″ 11.7 mag 12:25a
Fairly small and bright. Elongated 4×1 NW-SE. Elongated core. Nice FOV with nearby double star and NGC 4117/4118.

NGC 4151 GX CVn 12h11m03.0s +39°21′14″ 11.3 mag 12:30a
Very bright stellar nucleus, surrounded by a very faint halo showing hints of spiral structure. Forms a nice couple with much fainter NGC 4156.

NGC 4214 GX CVn 12h16m09.3s +36°16′34″ 10.2 mag 12:40a
Fairly bright. Elongated 3:2 WNW-ESE. Appears to be irregular in shape. Although fairly uniform at first, some mottling starts to appear at higher magnification.

NGC 4258 (M 106) GX CVn 12h19m27.6s +47°15′09″ 9.1 mag 12:45a
Fairly large and bright halo, elongated 2×1 NW-SE. Very bright small nucleus. Obvious signs of spiral arms, especially to the north. The core region appears elongated NE-SW (possibly a central bar?)

NGC 4346 GX CVn 12h23m57.7s +46°56′34″ 12.1 mag 12:50a
Fairly small and bright. Elongated 3×1 E-W. Small elongated non stellar core.

NGC 4449 GX CVn 12h28m40.5s +44°02′28″ 9.5 mag 01:00a
Fairly bright and uniform. Appears to be irregular in shape. Elongated 2×1 NE-SW. Faint almost stellar nucleus. Faint superimposed star about 1.5′ E.

NGC 4485 GX CVn 12h31m00.7s +41°38′54″ 12.3 mag 01:05a
Round, very uniform, very slightly brighter in the middle. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4490.

NGC 4490 (Cocoon Galaxy) GX CVn 12h31m05.9s +41°35′32″ 9.8 mag 01:05a
Elongated 3×1 WNW-ESE. Broad diffuse core. Faint superimposed star at the eastern tip. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4485.

NGC 4618 GX CVn 12h42m01.8s +41°05′59″ 11.3 mag 01:10a
Appears to be irregular in shape. A brighter bar is readily visible, elongated 3:2 ENE-WSW. The halo extends to the south of that bar. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4625 located 8′ NNE.

NGC 4631 (Whale Galaxy) GX CVn 12h42m37.1s +32°29′27″ 9.5 mag 01:15a
Fairly large and bright. Seen in 9×50 finder scope. Elongated 8×1 E-W. Fairly uniform at low power. The eastern half looks larger. At 169x, the galaxy appears mottled. Forms a very nice tight couple with NGC 4627. Fairly bright superimposed star between these two galaxies. At low power, forms a superb view with nearby NGC 4656 (the “hockey stick” galaxy)

NGC 4656 GX CVn 12h44m27.0s +32°07′06″ 9.7 mag 01:25a
Very elongated NE-SW. Bends toward the east at its north eastern tip, hence it being called the “hockey stick”. At higher magnification, some mottling was detected. At low power, forms a superb view with nearby NGC 4631 (the “whale” galaxy)

Henry Coe State Park

Description: State park near Morgan Hill
Elevation: 2600 ft
Latitude: N37 11.250
Longitude: W121 33.016

This site is only a 45 minute drive away from my house, although the road is pretty narrow and sinuous for the last 10 miles. The light pollution is pretty bad, especially from the north east to the south east, so I only go to Henry Coe in summer to observe star clusters, and nebulae using a narrow band filter. If you get lucky, the fog sometimes rolls in and covers the cities to the north and the east. In those rare cases, it can get pretty dark up there.

Dinosaur Point

Description: Parking lot adjacent to the San Luis Reservoir.
Elevation: 648 ft
Latitude: N37 03.90
Longitude: W121 10.217

This is my favorite observing site because it is fairly dark (SQM 21.4 on good nights) and is only an easy 50 minute drive away from my house. The only conspicuous light domes are to the east and the north west. This site is for winter observing only (including late fall and early spring) The winds are pretty strong during the rest of the year.

D.A.R.C. Observatory

Description: Private observatory located off of Little Panoche Road, near Mercey Hot Springs
Elevation: 1400 ft
Latitude: N36 42.4800
Longitude: W120 51.08

This is one of my favorite observing sites. It is an easy 2 hour drive away from my house, and is a truly dark site (SQM 21.8 on good nights) I go there every opportunity I get!

Lake San Antonio

Description: A county park and reservoir, site of the annual CalStar star party.
Elevation: 1000 ft
Latitude: N35 49.22
Longitude: W120 57.50

This site is the darkest of local sites, but it takes almost 3 hours to get there. Mostly for spring and fall galaxy observing. It gets beastly hot in summer, and pretty cold in winter. It is also occasionally susceptible to fog.

GSSP

Description: Private property on which the Golden State Star Party is held.
Elevation: 4400 ft
Lat: N41 8.06221
Lon: W120 580675

Located near the small town of Adin, in northern California. I’ve heard it was about as dark as it gets. Since I plan to go to GSSP this year, I will report back on the quality of this site later this summer.

Shortly after, we were treated with a nice view of a day-old moon, followed by planet Mercury and the Pleiades. What a nice way to start the evening! Later on, as the sky grew progessively darker, the zodiacal light was readily visible, although not as impressive as it was last weekend. The transparency was good, just not excellent…

The wind picked up again, and most of us found refuge inside the building for the next hour or so, watching a fantastic documentary retracing the history of George Ellery Hale: Journey to Palomar (PBS) I warmly recommend it, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Right after the movie was over, the wind died down again. It remained low for the rest of the night. Overall, the seeing was very soft all night, and the transparency was just average (although average transparency at D.A.R.C. means LMT of 6.5 upward!)

My observing list had a lot of small galaxies in Coma Berenices. At some point early on, I became frustrated because I had a terrible time matching what I was seeing in the finder scope and at the eyepiece with Uranometria, probably due to the lack of conspicuous field stars.

Around 1am, I started getting pretty cold. Around 2am, I decided to call it a night. I logged a disappointingly low number of new objects from the Herschel 400 list, but it was still a good night, and it always feels good to be out and surrounded by such great people! Below is my log for the night. Cheers!

Update: Peter Natscher reports:

I did two NELM tests within transiting Leo at 11pm (between Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma Leo) and another one in Corona as it was transiting later on in better seeing. They were 7.0 and 7.2 respectively. OTOH, my observations of Hickson groups and Abell planetaries at 250x with my 24 in. Starmaster appeared sub-par because of inferior sky transparency. After midnight, the rising Milky Way didn’t have the expected brightness. I believe the high winds from the Pacific lowered the transparency along with the seeing last night. We got two decent hours of observing by 2 am but it was cold for this time of year. I hope GSSP will be warmer.

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 4147 GC Com 12h10m36.5s +18°29′15″ 10.4 mag 10:40p
Fairly small and dim. The outside of this cluster was partially resolved at 169x.

NGC 4150 GX Com 12h11m04.2s +30°20′54″ 12.5 mag 10:55p
Small, faint, with a tiny core surrounded by a very faint halo elongated 2×1 NNW-SSE.

NGC 4203 GX Com 12h15m35.3s +33°08′43″ 11.7 mag 11:00p
Fairly small, fairly faint, with a small and fairly bright core and a very faint halo that appears round. Faint superimposed star about 1′ W.

NGC 4274 GX Com 12h20m20.7s +29°33′39″ 11.3 mag 12:00a
Fairly large and bright, elongated 3×1 almost E-W. Fairly large and diffuse central concentration. Faint superimposed stars about 2′ W and 3′E.

NGC 4278 GX Com 12h20m37.2s +29°13′41″ 11.0 mag 12:00a
Fairly bright and compact, round, with a relatively large core. Forms an interesting trio with slightly fainter and smaller NGC 4283 located about 4′ ENE, and much fainter NGC 4286, located about 10′ ENE.

NGC 4245 GX Com 12h18m07.1s +29°33′17″ 12.3 mag 12:20a
Fairly small and bright with a relativelt large core. Elongated 2×1 NNW-SSE.

NGC 4251 GX Com 12h18m38.6s +28°07′19″ 11.6 mag 12:50a
Fairly bright and moderately large, with a fairly small compact core surrounded by a halo elongated 2×1 E-W.

NGC 4293 GX Com 12h21m43.1s +18°19′43″ 11.1 mag 12:55a
Fairly large and moderately bright. Elongated 4×1 almost E-W. Weak central condensation.

NGC 4350 GX Com 12h24m28.0s +16°38′18″ 11.9 mag 01:10a
Fairly small. Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright non central core. Forms a nice tight couple with NGC 4340.

NGC 4394 GX Com 12h26m25.8s +18°09′36″ 11.6 mag 01:15a
Fairly bright with a non stellar core surrounded by a faint halo slightly elongated NNW-SSE. Forms a nice couple with M85.

NGC 4448 GX Com 12h28m45.2s +28°34′04″ 12.0 mag 01:20a
Elongated 3×1. Fairly bright and large core.

NGC 4419 GX Com 12h27m26.8s +14°59′34″ 12.0 mag 01:35a
Elongated 4×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright non stellar core.

Around 9pm, the sky turned dark like I’ve never seen it. Albert got an SQM reading of 21.84! It seemed a bit high to me, but Albert says he regularly gets readings of 21.1 at Fremont Peak, which is about correct. Under such dark skies, a lot of the galaxies I observed were starting to show intricate details.

Among the highlights of the night, I logged 27 new Herschel 400 objects. We also looked at a few bright deep sky objects: M101, M81/M82, M51, and later on, M83 all offered jaw dropping views.

Around 2am, Rogelio asked me what those “clouds” were toward the south east. The summer milky way was just … unrecognizable! All the faint extensions, all the dark nebulae that you don’t usually get to see at local sites around the bay area, started to appear. It truly looked like a photograph!

We finished off the night around 2:30am with a few more bright deep sky objects from the summer sky: M57, M27, M13, M17, M8, M20.

A big thank you to Dr. Lee Hoglan for the generous invitation! Last night was truly a night to remember.

P.S: still no sign of the elusive Gegenshein…

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 4041 GX UMa 12h02m44.4s +62°05′08″ 11.6 mag 09:20p
Fairly bright, round, non stellar core, gradually fainter toward the edge.

NGC 4036 GX UMa 12h01m59.2s +61°50′38″ 11.6 mag 09:25p
Elongated 4×1 E-W with a fairly bright stellar core.

NGC 3610 GX UMa 11h19m00.9s +58°44′10″ 11.6 mag 09:35p
Bright almost stellar core. Faint halo slightly elongated NW-SE.

NGC 3613 GX UMa 11h19m11.6s +57°56′59″ 11.7 mag 09:55p
Fairly bright almost stellar core. Faint halo elongated 3×1 E-W. Forms a nice trio of galaxies with NGC 3619 about 15′ SSE, and much fainter NGC 3625, about 5′ E of NGC 3619.

NGC 3619 GX UMa 11h19m56.4s +57°42′31″ 12.5 mag 09:55p
Fairly faint stellar core. Very faint round halo. Forms a nice trio of galaxies with NGC 3613 about 15′ NNW, and much fainter NGC 3625, about 5′ E.

NGC 3898 GX UMa 11h49m48.0s +56°01′54″ 11.3 mag 10:05p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Very faint halo elongated 2×1 E-W.

NGC 3982 GX UMa 11h57m00.4s +55°04′22″ 11.8 mag 10:10p
Fairly faint, very uniform, slightly elongated NE-SW. Very faint stellar nucleus. At 95x, 52′ TFOV, no less than 5 galaxies are visible in one eyepiece: NGC 3998, NGC 3990, NGC 3977, NGC 3972 and NGC 3982.

NGC 3998 GX UMa 11h58m28.2s +55°24′05″ 11.4 mag 10:10p
Fairly bright almost stellar core. Faint uniform halo slightly elongated NW-SE. Forms a tight pair with NGC 3990. At 95x, 52′ TFOV, no less than 5 galaxies are visible in one eyepiece: NGC 3998, NGC 3990, NGC 3977, NGC 3972 and NGC 3982.

NGC 3992 (M 109) GX UMa 11h58m07.8s +53°19′20″ 10.5 mag 10:20p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Pretty large and bright halo, elongated 4×1 ENE-WSW. Hints of spiral structure. Fairly bright superimposed star 1′ NNW of the nucleus.

NGC 3631 GX UMa 11h21m36.7s +53°07′05″ 10.7 mag 10:35p
Fairly bright round non stellar core. Round halo, appears slightly mottled.

NGC 3729 GX UMa 11h34m23.0s +53°04′24″ 11.7 mag 10:45p
Fairly uniform, elongated 2×1 N-S. Fairly bright superimposed star 1′ S. Forms a nice couple with NGC 3718.

NGC 4102 GX UMa 12h06m55.0s +52°39′29″ 12.1 mag 11:00p
Small, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. The core seems slightly elongated E-W while the halo is elongated 2×1 NE-SW. Fairly bright stars 1′ W and 2′ E.

NGC 3953 GX UMa 11h54m21.1s +52°16′28″ 10.5 mag 11:05p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Fairly bright halo elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Fairly faint superimposed stars 1′ NW and 1′ ENE of the nucleus.

NGC 4026 GX UMa 11h59m56.8s +50°54′34″ 11.7 mag 11:15p
Elongated 5×1 N-S. Fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 3949 GX UMa 11h54m13.6s +47°48′20″ 11.4 mag 11:20p
Fairly uniform, elongated 2×1 E-W. Faint nucleus seen at higher magnification (217x)

NGC 3938 GX UMa 11h53m20.9s +44°04′08″ 10.9 mag 11:45p
Round, faint, uniform nebulosity. Faint stellar core. Faint superimposed star about 3′ WSW.

NGC 3675 GX UMa 11h26m41.1s +43°32′05″ 11.0 mag 11:50p
Elongated 4×1 N-S. Fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 5322 GX UMa 13h49m37.5s +60°08′30″ 11.0 mag 12:40a
Elongated 2×1 E-W. Fairly bright, fairly large core. Faint superimposed star <1' S and slightly brighter one about 3' E of the nucleus.

NGC 5631 GX UMa 14h26m53.9s +56°32′15″ 12.5 mag 12:50a
Fairly bright non stellar core. Round uniform halo.

NGC 5473 GX UMa 14h05m06.1s +54°50′46″ 12.4 mag 12:55a
Small, round, pretty faint, with a non stellar core. Very faint superimposed star <1' E. I later found out this was a mag 15.6 star, which is right at the limit of detection for a 12" scope on a perfect night!

NGC 5474 GX UMa 14h05m24.6s +53°36′53″ 11.5 mag 01:10a
Fairly faint and uniform, with a weak condensation located at the northen edge of the halo. Faint superimposed star (mag 14.6) 1′ NE.

NGC 5694 GC Hya 14h40m10.8s -26°34′53″ 10.2 mag 01:25a
Small, bright, round, gradually brighter toward the center, unresolved.

NGC 4088 GX UMa 12h06m04.9s +50°29′13″ 11.3 mag 01:30a
Elongated 3×1 ENE-WSW. Fairly uniform with a faint stellar nucleus. The halo does not appear perfectly uniform, and shows hints of 2 curved arms. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4085 located about 10′ S.

NGC 4085 GX UMa 12h05m53.9s +50°18′01″ 12.3 mag 01:40a
Fairly faint, uniform, elongated 4×1 E-W. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4088 located about 10′ N.

NGC 4051 GX UMa 12h03m40.8s +44°28′42″ 10.8 mag 01:55a
Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright stellar core. Two large spiral arms seen at 169x.

NGC 3941 GX UMa 11h53m26.7s +36°56′00″ 11.3 mag 02:10a
Slightly elongated N-S. Fairly bright, large, round core.

NGC 3813 GX UMa 11h41m50.4s +36°29′38″ 12.3 mag 02:15a
Elongated 3×1 E-W. Fairly uniform. Fairly faint (mag 14.3) superimposed star 2′ E, right at the eastern edge of the halo.

• M101, reminiscent of Rogelio’s recent photograph (see TAC archive)
• NGC 4565, absolutely superb
• A galaxy cluster in Leo (we counted about a dozen faint galaxies in one eyepiece)
• A superb Arp galaxy (I can’t remember which one) with jaw-dropping intricate details
• A globular cluster (M3 I believe) using a binoviewer

Below are some photos of the event, followed by my log for that most excellent night. All objects were observed using my 12″ F/5 Dobsonionan telescope. Cheers!

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 2787 GX UMa 09h20m13.0s +69°10′01 11.6 mag 10:50p
Round, gradually brighter toward the center, with a non stellar core surrounded by a very faint halo. Faint star 1′ SE, even fainter one 1′ W-SW.

NGC 2976 GX UMa 09h48m05.1s +67°52′35 10.8 mag 11:05p
Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly uniform, no central condensation visible. Fairly bright superimposed star at the SW edge of the halo. Slightly fainter star (mag. 14.1) just beyond the NW edge of the halo.

NGC 2985 GX UMa 09h51m16.9s +72°14′17 11.2 mag 11:15p
Round, with an almost stellar core surrounded by a faint halo. A star of similar apparent magnitude as the nucleus of this galaxy can be found 1′ E.

NGC 3034 (M82, the Cigar Galaxy) GX UMa 09h56m42.9s +69°38′15 9.0 mag 11:25p
At low power (56x and 95x), this galaxy appears very bright and very elongated SW-NE. It looks like a cigar or a spindle. At higher magnification (169x), many details start to appear. A large dark lane almost splits the galaxy in half. Other dark and bright patches can be seen throughout.

NGC 3077 GX UMa 10h04m08.7s +68°41′26 10.6 mag 11:35p
Very slightly elongated NE-SW. Fairly large core surrounded by a faint uniform halo.

NGC 5457 (M101) GX UMa 14h03m35.0s +54°17′56 8.4 mag 11:40p
Seen through Peter Natscher’s 24″ F/3.7 Starmaster using a Televue Ethos 17mm eyepiece. The view was absolutely incredible! It was reminiscent of photographs I’ve seen of this galaxy. The spiral arms were superbly defined, and many bright knots (HII regions maybe?) were easily popping out here and there.

NGC 2742 GX UMa 09h08m20.1s +60°26′40 12.1 mag 11:55p
Elongated 2×1 E-W. Fairly uniform, with only a weak central condensation.

NGC 2768 GX UMa 09h12m23.5s +60°00′05 10.8 mag 12:00a
Bright, elongated 3×1 E-W with a fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 2950 GX UMa 09h43m18.5s +58°48′37 11.9 mag 12:10a
Bright, almost stellar core. Faint halo, elongated 2×1 NW-SE.

NGC 3079 GX UMa 10h02m39.1s +55°38′12 11.4 mag 12:15a
Very elongated almost N-S, slightly curved and assymetrical. Faint superimposed star at the northern end.

NGC 3310 GX UMa 10h39m23.4s +53°27′17 11.2 mag 12:25a
Round, small and fairly bright, with a relatively large core.

NGC 2681 GX UMa 08h54m14.9s +51°16′48 11.2 mag 12:30a
Very bright, almost stellar core surrounded by a faint round halo.

NGC 2841 GX UMa 09h22m43.4s +50°56′17 10.0 mag 12:45a
Elongated 4×1 NW-SE. Fairbly bright elongated core with a stellar nucleus. Pretty faint superimposed star at the NW end.

NGC 3184 GX UMa 10h18m52.7s +41°22′39 10.4 mag 01:00a
At low power, this galaxy appears as a uniform disk. At higher power, with a bit of concentration, a faint and stellar nucleus appears embedded inside a very weak and slightly elongated core. The halo shows hints of spiral structure.

NGC 3198 GX UMa 10h20m31.5s +45°30′10 10.9 mag 01:05a
Pretty faint. Elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Fairly uniform with a very weak core and some very subtle mottling.

NGC 4027 GX Crv 12h00m00.5s -19°19′14 11.6 mag 01:35a
Overall pretty faint with a weak core. Northern portion of the halo shows a spiral arm, confirming my impression on 2009 Mar 24.

NGC 3166 GX Sex 10h14m16.3s +03°22′34 11.5 mag 01:50a
Small, roundish, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. This galaxy forms an interesting couple with NGC 3169, located only 7′ E.

NGC 3169 GX Sex 10h14m45.4s +03°25′04 11.3 mag 01:50a
Small, roundish, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. This galaxy forms an interesting couple with NGC 3166, located only 7′ W.

NGC 3556 (M108) GX UMa 11h12m06.7s +55°37′22 10.7 mag 01:15a
Fairly uniform. Elongated 5×1 E-W. Superimposed star right in the center - could be confused with the galaxy nucleus. Some mottling was easily detected.

NGC 3726 GX UMa 11h33m54.2s +46°58′35 10.7 mag 02:25a
At low power (95x), this galaxy appears uniform, elongated 2×1 almost N-S. At higher power (169x), a faint stellar nucleus appears, along with some hints of a spiral structure.

NGC 3877 GX UMa 11h46m40.1s +47°26′28 11.8 mag 02:30a
Elongated 5×1 NE-SW with a weak core and a faint stellar nucleus.

NGC 3893 GX UMa 11h49m10.6s +48°39′22 10.8 mag 02:35a
Small, roundish, fairly bright, with a large core. Fairly bright superimposed star about 1′ NW. Very faint superimposed star less than 1′ S. Halo does not seem perfectly uniform.

The sky remained pretty much unworkable until about 10:30pm, time around which it started clearing up nicely. Around 2am, I did a limiting magnitude test in Leo. I counted 20 stars in that triangle (that’s mag 6.3) However, as my eyes were sweeping that region of the sky, I was able to catch glimpses of many more fainter stars, but decided not to count them as I could not reliably keep track of where they were and how many I was seeing. Anyway, as you can see, the conditions were pretty good.

I spent most of the night in Leo, looked at some eye candy through Mark Johnston and Greg LaFlamme’s scopes, talked shop while waiting for the sky to clear up, and caught my first glimpse of M13 and M57 right before packing up. Overall, it was a good night, with 18 new H-400 objects logged. Cheers!

Location: Dinosaur Point [Latitude 37°03'54"N - Longitude 121°10'13"W - Elevation 648ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 3900 GX Leo 11h49m40.5s +26°58′02″ 12.3 mag 10:35p
Elongated N-S 2×1 with a pretty faint non-stellar core surrounded by a very faint uniform halo. Located near the middle of the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle formed by 3 stars of similar magnitude.

NGC 3626 GX Leo 11h20m35.2s +18°18′11″ 11.8 mag 11:00p
Fairly bright almost stellar core surrounded by a much fainter halo elongated almost N-S 2×1.

NGC 3607 GX Leo 11h17m25.9s +17°59′58″ 10.9 mag 11:10p
Fairly bright almost stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly dimmer NGC 3608, located only 5′ N, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2′ S-W. NGC 3599 is located about 15′ W.

NGC 3608 GX Leo 11h17m30.4s +18°05′42″ 11.6 mag 11:10p
Fairly bright stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly brighter NGC 3607, located only 5′ S, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2′ S-W of NGC 3607. NGC 3599 is located about 15′ W.

NGC 3681 GX Leo 11h27m01.0s +16°48′33″ 12.4 mag 11:25p
Round, with a faint almost stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3684 GX Leo 11h27m42.3s +16°58′34″ 12.3 mag 11:25p
Round and fairly uniform, with no obvious core. The halo seems to become slightly brighter toward the center. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3686 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3686 GX Leo 11h28m15.1s +17°10′12″ 12.0 mag 11:25p
Elongated 2×1 N-S. It looks fairly uniform, with no obvious core (a slightly brighter central condensation was suspected) A faint superimposed star is visible using averted vision, about 1.5′ S of the center of the galaxy. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3242 PN Hya 10h25m14.7s -18°41′34″ 8.6 mag 11:40p
This nebula is also known as the “Ghost of Jupiter” nebula. At 95x, this planetary nebula appears very bright, round and very uniform. It shows an almost surreal fluorescent blue-green color. At 305x, the nebula loses its color, but starts revealing details, especially an elliptical ring, elongated 2×1 N-S, nested inside the nebula. The central star was suspected during very brief moments. Its visibility seems extremely dependent on the seeing.

NGC 3655 GX Leo 11h23m25.9s +16°32′08″ 12.3 mag 12:05a
Elongated 2×1 N-S with a non stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo. Located about 2′ W-SW of a star of comparable magnitude.

NGC 3489 GX Leo 11h00m49.9s +13°50′55″ 11.1 mag 12:20a
Elongated 2×1 E-W with an almost stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo.

NGC 3628 GX Leo 11h20m47.9s +13°32′14″ 10.0 mag 12:25a
This is an edge-on spiral. As such, it appears very elongated E-W. At 169x, the dust lane was detected, but not easily at all! The galaxy does not appear perfectly symmetrical like some other edge-on spirals do. It looks like its disc is warped a little. A faint superimposed star is visible near the eastern end, 1′ south of the center line. This galaxy is a member of the splendid Leo triplet, which also contains the much brighter M65 and M66, located about 20′ south. All three galaxies fit within a single field of view of the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7′) and show distinct morphological differences.

NGC 3412 GX Leo 10h51m24.7s +13°21′37″ 11.5 mag 01:00a
Fairly bright, with an almost stellar core surrounded by a faint roundish uniform halo, very slightly elongated N-S.

NGC 3593 GX Leo 11h15m08.1s +12°45′52″ 11.8 mag 01:05a
In the field of view of the TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1′), this galaxy appears pretty faint with a non stellar core surrounded by a faint uniform halo elongated 3×1 E-W.

NGC 3384 GX Leo 10h48m48.3s +12°34′37″ 10.9 mag 01:15a
Fairly bright with an almost stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo elongated 3×1 NE-SW. This galaxy forms a beautiful tight triangle with brighter M105 and smaller and much fainter NGC 3389. The members of this group are separated by only 4′ approximatively.

NGC 3810 GX Leo 11h41m29.5s +11°25′01″ 11.3 mag 01:25a
Pretty faint, with a low surface brightness. The halo looks pretty uniform, with only a slight brightness gradient toward the middle. The halo is slightly elongated 2×1 NE-SW.

NGC 3640 GX Leo 11h21m37.4s +03°10′51″ 11.3 mag 01:35a
Fairly bright and large core, surrounded by a roundish halo.

NGC 3521 GX Leo 11h06m19.2s -00°05′17″ 9.9 mag 01:45a
Fairly bright and large, with a bright stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo elongated 4×1 N-S. The western portion looks slightly dimmer. I confirmed this later by looking at actual photographs. Dust clouds seem to be more prevalent on the western half of this spiral galaxy.

NGC 3912 GX Leo 11h50m35.5s +26°25′28″ 13.2 mag 01:55a
Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7′), this galaxy is hard to find. A good finder scope is of great help! It appears tiny, faint, and elongated 2×1 N-S.

I arrived at the overflow parking lot around 5pm. Rogelio Bernal Andreo joined me around 7pm, followed by Al Howard a bit later.

Overall, I was disappointed with the observing conditions. I don’t think I’ll come back to Coe unless there’s fog. There is just too much light pollution. The milky way was barely visible. The western sky is a total waste, the south is bad, the northern and eastern portions of the sky are just ok. I am not sure the drive is worth it.

I packed up around 11:30pm. On my way down, I saw a wild hog - a big one! It didn’t seem bothered by the passing car and kept going up the hill.

My goal for that evening was to 1) try out some new equipment (Starbound observing chair, Televue Panoptic 27mm, Televue Nagler 16mm, Orion RedBeam Self-Powered LED flashlight, ScopeStuff variable counterweight system, Catseye collimation tools, chemical foot warmers) and 2) start my Herschel 400 project.

Let’s start with the equipment. I found the Catseye collimation tools (cheshire and auto-collimator) to be very nice once Peter Natscher explained to me how to use them. I also tried Rob Enns’ laser collimator, which gave me different results. This is probably because my secondary is not perfectly aligned underneath the focuser. I will have to tune this alignment with a sight tube at home.

I found the Starbound observing chair to be a great value, very comfortable. The ScopeStuff variable counterweight system was a great help when pointing near the horizon (it renders the altitude brake useless) The Televue Panoptic 27mm worked great, but I was barely able to reach focus with it… The Televue Nagler 16mm was my favorite eyepiece, delivering great views. I also used an old Vixen LV9mm, which made me feel like I was staring through a peep hole… I’ll have to replace it with a Televue Nagler 9mm (the Ethos 8mm seems a bit too expensive) I found the Orion flashlight to be too bright (even on the “Low” setting) so I put some translucent tape in front of it. But then, I discovered that the battery life was not that great, and I had to manually crank it several times after approximately 3 hours of use. I’ll have to see if I can remove a couple of LEDs to lower the brightness and increase the battery life. Finally, the chemical foot warmers worked nicely, but provided heat for only about 3 hours, not the 6 hours advertised…

Early on, Venus, combined with the haze, was a major source of light pollution. Overall, I feel like I will have to re-observe a lot of objects (especially galaxies and nebulae) Star clusters are usually less affected by light pollution and poor transparency.

I used two atlases: The Pocket Sky Atlas and the Sky Atlas 2000.0. I feel like the difference between these two atlases is too small to justify using both of them. Moreover, I prefer the compact format of the Pocket Sky Atlas. Therefore, I’ll have to get the more detailed Uranometria vol. 1 & 2 in addition to the Pocket Sky Atlas, and sell the Sky Atlas 2000.0.

I only have a red-dot finder, and I sometimes wished I had an optical finder too, especially when the object I was seeking was surrounded by several other conspicuous objects. A couple of times, I wasn’t quite sure which object I was looking at. I especially liked Albert Highe’s setup (his red dot finder is attached to a right angle optical finder scope - although I still wonder whether I should get a right angle or a straight view finder scope…)

Besides my prepared observing list, I observed Sirius’ companion through Peter Natscher’s 24″ scope. It was easy at 600x. I then tried with my 12″ scope at 300x and I was able to see it too, though not as distinctly, and only during rare moments of steadier seeing. I also observed a couple of carbon stars including Hind’s crimson star, and before leaving, around 1am, looked at M51 through Rob Enns’ 16″ scope. Although still low on the horizon, the spiral structure was obvious (but the bridge between M51 and its companion galaxy was not detected) Finally, Dave Coopper’s AstroPhysics refractor gave superb views of Saturn.

Now for my observing list. As I am writing this, I noticed that I forgot to log a lot of important details (For example, instead of saying that a cluster is “large”, I should have tried to estimate its size in arc minutes. I also noticed that as the night went on, the logging got worse…) When I re-visit some of these objects, I’ll have to pay more attention to the quality of my logging. Overall, it was a decent night and I was quite happy with my newly acquired equipment. Cheers!

Location: Dinosaur Point [Latitude 37°03'54"N - Longitude 121°10'13"W - Elevation 648ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Vixen LV9mm (170x - 18′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 247 GX Cet 00h47m36.1s -20°42′44″ 9.7 mag 06:40p
Elongated 4×1 N-S, low surface brightness, fairly uniform, only very slightly brighter in the middle.

NGC 157 GX Cet 00h35m14.6s -08°20′48″ 11.0 mag 06:50p
Pretty bright, elongated 2×1 NE-SW, fairly uniform. Faint star nestled inside the halo. Surrounded by two bright stars on a N-S line.

NGC 246 PN Cet 00h47m31.2s -11°49′23″ 10.4 mag 07:00p
Pretty bright, round, with darker areas inside. The E-SE portion is darker. 3 easy stars nestled inside the nebulosity + 1 fainter.

NGC 584 GX Cet 01h31m48.9s -06°49′17″ 11.3 mag 07:10p
Elongated 2×1 E-W, progressively brighter towards the middle, fairly bright overall. Nearby galaxy 5′ E-SE (NGC 586)

NGC 596 GX Cet 01h33m20.0s -06°59′06″ 11.8 mag 07:15p
Fairly bright, round, bright almost stellar core. 15′ W of bright star.

NGC 615 GX Cet 01h35m33.7s -07°17′38″ 12.4 mag 07:20p
Elongated N-S, almost stellar core.

NGC 720 GX Cet 01h53m27.9s -13°41′41″ 11.1 mag 07:27p
Slightly elongated NW-SE, fairly bright, with a bright and almost stellar core.

NGC 908 GX Cet 02h23m30.8s -21°11′38″ 10.8 mag 07:32p
Fairly bright and uniform, gradually brighter towards the center, elongated 3×1 E-W.

NGC 779 GX Cet 02h00m10.7s -05°55′13″ 11.9 mag 07:40p
Fairly bright, elongated 3×1 almost N-S, bright almost stellar core. Eastern side felt darker for some reason. Photos don’t show any dark lane however.

NGC 936 GX Cet 02h28m06.3s -01°06′51″ 11.2 mag 07:45p
Pretty bright, with a bright non stellar core. Looks round. This is supposed to be a barred spiral. I did not however detect any central bar structure. Faint galaxy 10′ E (NGC 941)

NGC 1022 GX Cet 02h39m00.8s -06°38′17″ 12.1 mag 07:52p
Fairly bright, round, somewhat brighter in the middle. My notes mention that the halo did not seem perfectly uniform (?)

NGC 1052 GX Cet 02h41m32.6s -08°12′59″ 11.4 mag 08:00p
Fairly bright, round, somewhat brighter in the middle.

NGC 772 GX Ari 01h59m50.8s +19°03′16″ 10.6 mag 08:30p
Almost round, fairly bright with a bright non stellar core. Did not see any hint of spiral structure.

NGC 1964 GX Lep 05h33m46.4s -21°56′30″ 11.5 mag 08:40p
Slightly elongated SW-NE, fairly bright, almost stellar core. Dim halo. I noted the presence of a faint star in the halo right near the core. I forgot to include its relative position though.

NGC 2215 OC Mon 06h21m17.4s -07°17′16″ 8.6 mag 10:10p
About 30 fairly bright stars scattered within a 10′ roundish area.

NGC 2232 OC Mon 06h27m43.9s -04°45′51″ 4.2 mag 10:20p
Large (50′) cluster of about 20 scattered stars, including 10 Mon.

NGC 2204 OC CMa 06h15m58.8s -18°40′07″ 9.3 mag 11:00p
20+ stars in front of a somewhat milky background. Orange star 10′ to the north.

NGC 2354 OC CMa 07h14m34.4s -25°42′23″ 8.9 mag 11:10p
40+ stars over a milky background. Several dark lanes split the cluster.

NGC 2362 OC CMa 07h19m05.7s -24°58′20″ 3.8 mag 11:15p
Small cluster of about 30 fairly bright stars, centered on an even brighter star surrounded by a darker band.

NGC 2360 OC CMa 07h18m09.8s -15°39′31″ 9.1 mag 11:20p
Large and compressed cluster of stars of comparable brightness.

NGC 2244 OC Mon 06h32m26.1s +04°56′06″ 5.2 mag 11:25p
Very bright and large cluster inside the Rosetta nebula.

NGC 2264 OC Mon 06h41m30.2s +09°53′11″ 4.1 mag 11:35p
The famous Christmas tree cluster. Very beautiful. Did not notice any nebulosity.