On Friday November 5th. I left San Francisco for the California Gold Country and my New Moon observing site outside the sleepy hollow called Fiddletown. The drive was pleasant although there was more traffic than I expected.
I left at 2:00pm and arrived at 5:00pm to be greeted by Dennis Beckley, who had arrived not long before I did. 20 minutes we were later join by a young man named Casey, a friend who happens to work at the Orion store in S.F. who had come to do some astro-photography.
It was dark, or nearly so when I got there so there was little time to relax. I set up my observing equipment and then my tent and finally settled back and had a quick snack.
As darkness came so did the stars. The Summer Milky Way was a washed with stars and I was sure I was going to have a great night of observing. Later in the evening Dennis would remark that it was as dark as he had ever seen it there and was certainly the darkest I had ever seen at Fiddletown. We attributed the darkness to valley fog that must have just blanketed the Tracy/Stockton light dome and subdued the one from Sacramento. This place is always dark, but this night was really dark.
I rarely have a pre-planed observation program laid out when I observe and tonight was no exception, I usually let the sky conditions dictate what I choose to go after. On this occasion any program other than Double Stars would have been a winner. The transparency was excellent, and the seeing varied from fair to fairly good. At one point I was able to see the E and F stars in the Trapezium
There were several highlight during the evening, I resolved a 14.5 mag central star in a planetary, sorry I forgot the NGC #, several of the Hickson galaxies 15 + Mag. But the best, was the observation of "Plettstone 1999" the Super Nova in NGC1637, discovered by our own Michelle Stone. It was a fabulous sight. The brightness of the Nova was striking. Both David and I were confused as to which bright knot was the galactic core. After looking at a photo from the digital sky survey we were able tell. Congratulations again Michelle! Can't wait to get out to your place and see how you did it.
By 4:00am Venus had clear the trees in the East and it's brightness ruined my hunt for those faint fuzzies so at that point I turned in for some much needed sleep. Needless to say I had a great Friday night.
I had planned on staying two nights. And was hopeful that it would happen until about 3:00pm. I looked southward and to my dismay there was a large band of thick clouds coming my way. Not taking any chances and counting my blessings from the night before, I packed up my things. As I was packing Ray Cash drove up hoping to do some imaging. And as I drove down Fiddletown road headed home, I spotted Steve Gottlieb headed for the observing site. I hope they had partial success after such a long drive.
Below is a partial list of the night's observations
******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* PLN 206-40.1 Galactic Longitude 206 Galactic Latitude -40.1 Visual Magnitude 9.6 Angular Size >18 Mean Radial Velocity -5 Magnitude: 9.6 RA:04h 14m 14.1s Dec:-12d 44' 31" Azm:155d 03' 31" Alt:+35d 56' 32" Rise: 19:58 Transit: 01:23 Set: 06:45 RA:04h 14m 14.1s Dec:-12d 44' 29" Epoch 2000 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* IC 347 Magnitude:13.0 RA:03h 42m 29.9s Dec:-04d 17' 04" Azm:161d 41' 57" Alt:+46d 20' 40" Rise: 18:59 Transit: 00:52 Set: 06:40 RA:03h 42m 30.0s Dec:-04d 17' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.7 x 0.6 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1358 Round galaxy with bright core. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,S,BET2* Magnitude:12.1 RA:03h 33m 41.9s Dec:-05d 05' 04" Azm:165d 02' 50" Alt:+46d 03' 46" Rise: 18:53 Transit: 00:43 Set: 06:29 RA:03h 33m 42.0s Dec:-05d 05' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 2.0 x 1.5 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1355 Very elongated galaxy close companion. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. PF,S Magnitude:13.1 RA:03h 33m 23.9s Dec:-05d 00' 04" Azm:165d 07' 41" Alt:+46d 09' 34" Rise: 18:52 Transit: 00:43 Set: 06:29 RA:03h 33m 24.0s Dec:-05d 00' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 1.2 x 0.3 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1446 Probable star. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. EF,F1441 Magnitude:14.0 RA:03h 45m 59.9s Dec:-04d 04' 04" Azm:160d 23' 50" Alt:+46d 19' 45" Rise: 19:02 Transit: 00:55 Set: 06:44 RA:03h 46m 0.0s Dec:-04d 04' 00" Epoch 2000 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1451 Round galaxy in group. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,VS,LE Magnitude:13.3 RA:03h 46m 5.9s Dec:-04d 04' 04" Azm:160d 21' 44" Alt:+46d 19' 22" Rise: 19:02 Transit: 00:55 Set: 06:44 RA:03h 46m 6.0s Dec:-04d 04' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.4 x 0.3 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1449 Round galaxy in group. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,VS,VLE Magnitude:13.5 RA:03h 45m 59.9s Dec:-04d 08' 04" Azm:160d 25' 22" Alt:+46d 15' 54" Rise: 19:02 Transit: 00:55 Set: 06:44 RA:03h 46m 0.0s Dec:-04d 08' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.6 x 0.4 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1133 Faint galaxy. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,VS,LE45,2*NP,NF Magnitude:15.0 RA:02h 52m 41.9s Dec:-08d 47' 05" Azm:179d 51' 26" Alt:+43d 25' 53" Rise: 18:24 Transit: 00:02 Set: 05:36 RA:02h 52m 42.0s Dec:-08d 47' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.6 x 0.4 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* MCG-2-8-14 Spiral Galaxy Other ID PGC: 10875 Magnitude:14.5 RA:02h 52m 23.3s Dec:-08d 30' 45" Azm:179d 57' 46" Alt:+43d 42' 13" Rise: 18:22 Transit: 00:02 Set: 05:37 RA:02h 52m 23.4s Dec:-08d 30' 40" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 1.4 x 0.3 Position Angle 98.0 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1300 Barred spiral galaxy structure. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. CB,VL,VME,PSVMBM Magnitude:10.4 RA:03h 19m 42.1s Dec:-19d 25' 04" Azm:172d 20' 05" Alt:+32d 26' 09" Rise: 19:26 Transit: 00:29 Set: 05:28 RA:03h 19m 42.0s Dec:-19d 25' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 6.0 x 3.5 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1394 Elongated galaxy in group. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,VS,E170,SBMN Magnitude:14.0 RA:03h 39m 6.1s Dec:-18d 17' 03" Azm:166d 44' 32" Alt:+32d 51' 39" Rise: 19:41 Transit: 00:48 Set: 05:51 RA:03h 39m 6.0s Dec:-18d 17' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.9 x 0.2 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1402 Round galaxy. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. EF,VS,R Magnitude:15.0 RA:03h 39m 24.1s Dec:-18d 31' 03" Azm:166d 42' 44" Alt:+32d 37' 06" Rise: 19:42 Transit: 00:49 Set: 05:51 RA:03h 39m 24.0s Dec:-18d 31' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.4 x 0.2 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1393 Round galaxy in group. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. F,S,R,GLBM Magnitude:14.0 RA:03h 38m 36.1s Dec:-18d 26' 03" Azm:166d 54' 53" Alt:+32d 44' 10" Rise: 19:41 Transit: 00:48 Set: 05:50 RA:03h 38m 36.0s Dec:-18d 26' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 1.2 x 0.7 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1331 Round galaxy close companion. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VF,VS Magnitude:14.0 RA:03h 26m 30.1s Dec:-21d 21' 04" Azm:170d 45' 48" Alt:+30d 19' 11" Rise: 19:40 Transit: 00:36 Set: 05:28 RA:03h 26m 30.0s Dec:-21d 21' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.4 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1332 Very elongated galaxy with bright core. Constellation Eri Dreyer Descr. VB,S,E114,SMBMN Magnitude:10.3 RA:03h 26m 18.1s Dec:-21d 20' 04" Azm:170d 48' 51" Alt:+30d 20' 34" Rise: 19:40 Transit: 00:35 Set: 05:27 RA:03h 26m 18.0s Dec:-21d 20' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 2.2 x 0.9 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1365 Barred spiral galaxy structure. Constellation For Dreyer Descr. VB,VL,ME,RN Magnitude: 9.5 RA:03h 33m 36.4s Dec:-36d 08' 04" Azm:171d 21' 22" Alt:+15d 27' 56" Rise: 20:53 Transit: 00:43 Set: 04:29 RA:03h 33m 36.0s Dec:-36d 08' 00" Epoch 2000 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1379 Round galaxy in rich galaxy cluster. Constellation For Dreyer Descr. GCL,B,PL,R,GPMBM Magnitude:12.0 RA:03h 36m 6.4s Dec:-35d 27' 04" Azm:170d 43' 40" Alt:+16d 03' 51" Rise: 20:52 Transit: 00:45 Set: 04:35 RA:03h 36m 6.0s Dec:-35d 27' 00" Epoch 2000 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* H VI 20 NGC 288 Globular cluster highly resolved. Constellation Scl Dreyer Descr. GCL,B,L,LE,*12...16 Magnitude: 8.1 RA:00h 52m 47.7s Dec:-26d 35' 10" Azm:208d 15' 09" Alt:+19d 47' 43" Rise: 17:27 Transit: 21:58 Set: 02:34 RA:00h 52m 48.0s Dec:-26d 35' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 13.8 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* Sculptor Galaxy H V 1 NGC 253 Very elongated galaxy,dust & bright knots. Constellation Scl Dreyer Descr. VVB,VVL,VME54,GBM Magnitude: 7.1 RA:00h 47m 35.7s Dec:-25d 17' 10" Azm:209d 58' 12" Alt:+20d 28' 14" Rise: 17:17 Transit: 21:53 Set: 02:34 RA:00h 47m 36.0s Dec:-25d 17' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 25.0 x 5.0 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 7203 Round galaxy in group. Constellation PsA Dreyer Descr. CF,R,STELL,3RDOF4 Magnitude:13.0 RA:22h 06m 40.6s Dec:-31d 10' 10" Azm:234d 36' 08" Alt:-05d 49' 18" Rise: 15:02 Transit: 19:13 Set: 23:24 RA:22h 06m 42.0s Dec:-31d 10' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 1.3 x 1.0 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 7202 Nonexistant. Constellation PsA Dreyer Descr. EF,S,STELL,2NDOF4 Magnitude:13.0 RA:22h 06m 40.6s Dec:-31d 12' 10" Azm:234d 34' 37" Alt:-05d 50' 37" Rise: 15:02 Transit: 19:13 Set: 23:24 RA:22h 06m 42.0s Dec:-31d 12' 00" Epoch 2000 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 777 Round galaxy. Constellation Tri Dreyer Descr. PB,PL,R,GLBM Magnitude:12.0 RA:02h 00m 12.1s Dec:+31d 25' 57" Azm:243d 10' 48" Alt:+77d 33' 39" Rise: 15:10 Transit: 23:06 Set: 07:05 RA:02h 00m 12.0s Dec:+31d 26' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 0.7 x 0.6 Position Angle 154.0 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* NGC 1514 Planetary nebula disc with central star. Constellation Tau Dreyer Descr. *9INNEB3'DIAM Magnitude:10.0 RA:04h 09m 11.9s Dec:+30d 46' 53" Azm:108d 06' 41" Alt:+72d 40' 50" Rise: 17:22 Transit: 01:18 Set: 09:11 RA:04h 09m 12.0s Dec:+30d 47' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 1.9 ******* 11/6/99, 12:01 AM ******* Blue Snowball H IV 18 NGC 7662 Planetary nebula ring. Constellation And Dreyer Descr. PLNORRING,VB,PS,R Magnitude: 9.0 RA:23h 25m 54.0s Dec:+42d 33' 07" Azm:293d 45' 20" Alt:+50d 53' 46" Rise: 11:26 Transit: 20:32 Set: 05:41 RA:23h 25m 53.9s Dec:+42d 33' 00" Epoch 2000 Size (mins) 2.2