With weather prospects looking very iffy on Saturday I wasn't sure whether to chance it on the Sierras (Fiddletown or Blue Canyon) or one of the closer-in bay area sites (Tri-Valley or Lake Sonoma). Lake Sonoma, nestled in the Sonoma county wine country near Geyserville, is an easy 60 minute drive up 101 from San Rafael and generally has skies close to mag 6.5 -- so, off I rushed at 3:30 PM under ugly looking clouds.
In fact, the bay area and central valley was covered by an enormous blanket of fog and high cirrus. When I arrived, Lake Sonoma seemed to be at the edge of the densest layer with some clear spots but conditions deteriorated further from bad to miserable after sunset with Venus and Jupiter/Saturn completely disappearing in the soup. I decided to set up anyways and figured I give myself a couple of hours before terminal boredom sank in (no one else had shown up).
By 6:30 I was surprised to find the clouds thinning with the milky way looking good, and by 7:00 the skies were crystal clear, except for the extreme southern horizon where low lying fog was glowing from the blanketed light from Cloverdale and Santa Rosa. After such an unlikely beginning, conditions ended up superb -- dry, no wind, good seeing (Jupiter's moons were easy to resolve into discs) and the transparency was awesome (easy to reach the CGCG limit of 15.7 (blue photographic) in my 17.5"), with the low fog creating black-out conditions.
I had decided (for some unknown reason) to focus early in the evening on faint galaxies in the tiny constellation Equuleus. What's Equuleus well-known for? Not much, except a few doubles and as a guidepost to point your scope at M15. So, I figured the constellation had not been explored very often. I failed to identify the field of IC 1375 (GSC has a number of spurious objects in the field making it very difficult to star hop) and a few members of the UGC 11697/11700 cluster, but here's what the constellation has to offer (including a couple of previous observations)--
IC 5083 = Z425-038
21 03 51.5 +11 45 49
mag 15.5 (CGCG), Size 0.5x0.5
17.5": faint, very small, round, 15" diameter, faint but sharp stellar nucleus. Located 4' due W of mag 8.8 SAO 106811. Forms a close pair with a mag 14 star just following.
N7015 = U11674 = M+02-53-012 = Z425-040
21 05 37.4 +11 24 51
V = 12.5; Size 1.9x1.6; SB = 13.6
13": faint, fairly small, slightly elongated N-S, diffuse, weak concentration. A mag 15 star is at the S edge 40" from the center.
CGCG 400-027 = NPM1G +09.0521
21 05 40.3 +09 14 03
mag 15.2 (CGCG)
17.5": very faint, fairly small, round, 25" diameter, weak concentration. Situated between mag 8 SAO 126534 6.5' SW and a mag 9 star 8.5' NE in a fairly rich star field.
U11680 = Z401-001 = II Zw 101 = A2105+03
21 07 41.4 +03 52 17
Mag 15.6 (CGCG), Size 1.9x0.7; PA = 70d
13": extremely faint, very small, round. Situated between two mag 14 stars about 1' N and 1' S and two mag 9.5 stars 5.3' NE and 6.4' SW.
IC 1360 = Z401-003
21 10 50.3 +05 04 17
Mag 15.6 (CGCG), Size 0.7x0.3; PA = 20d
17.5": extremely faint, very small, round, 15" diameter (probably viewed core only), low even surface brightness. A faint star is close NW. A group of 5 stars (four in a curving string) is just to the north. IC 1361 lies 10' E.
M+02-54-005 = NPM1G +11.0498
21 12 01.3 +11 29 44
Mag 15.5, Size 1.0x0.8
17.5": very faint, small, elongated 3:2 N-S, 25"x15". Located 10' SSW of U11697 in a poor group of faint galaxies (WBL 670).
U11697 = M+02-54-007 = Z426-016 = Mrk 898 = NPM1G +11.0499
21 12 10.2 +11 39 34
V = 14.2; Size 1.0x0.6; SB = 13.6; PA = 152d
17.5": very faint, very small, slightly elongated NNW-SSE, 0.4'x0.2'. Weak even concentration to a quasi-stellar nucleus. Located 7' S of mag 7 SAO 106913. In a poor cluster (WBL 670) with MCG +02-54-005 10' SSW and UGC 11700 15' SSE.
U11700 = M+02-54-011 = Z426-020
21 12 24.8 +11 24 30
V = 13.9; Size 0.9x0.7; SB = 13.3; PA = 13d
17.5": very faint, small, elongated 4:3 ~N-S, 40"x25", very small slightly brighter core. A faint star is superimposed at the NW edge. Member of a poor cluster with U11697 and M+02-54-005.
M+01-54-003 = Z401-006
21 12 47.7 +08 46 56
V = 14.0; Size 0.9x0.7; SB = 13.3
17.5": very faint, very small, round, bright core, faint stellar nucleus. Located almost at the center of a 3' square consisting of four mag 12.5-13.5 stars. In the same 220x field with N7040 10' NE.
N7040 = U11701 = M+01-54-004 = Z401-008
21 13 16.5 +08 51 53
V = 14.1; Size 1.0x0.7; SB = 13.5; PA = 150d
17.5": faint, fairly small, diffuse, oval 3:2 NNW-SSE, low almost even surface brightness. A very faint mag 15.5 star superimposed at the south edge is actually an extremely compact companion with dimensions 15"x7". Forms a pair with Z401-006 10' SW.
Anonymous companion to N7040
21 13 16.6 +08 51 35
Size 0.25x0.12
17.5": this faint, stellar galaxy is superimposed on the southern edge of N7040, just 18" south of center!
IC 1364 = M+00-54-006 = Z375-013 = II Zw 107 = NPM1G +02.0486
21 13 24.6 +02 46 11
Mag 14.7 (CGCG), Size 0.7x0.4; PA = 135d
17.5": faint, small, round, small slightly brighter core. Located 2.6' NW of mag 9.2 SAO 126626. A mag 8 star lies 6.5' WNW and a mag 7 star is 12' SW. IC 1367 lies 18' NE and IC 1365 is 15' SE.
IC 1365 = M+00-54-007 = Z375-015 = II Zw 108 = VV 508
21 13 55.7 +02 33 55
V = 13.6; Size 1.7x1.1; SB = 14.1; PA = 135d
17.5": very faint, extremely small, round, almost stellar but there is a faint extension to the W of the core. IC 1564 lies 15' NW and N7046 is 22' NE.
IC 1367 = Z375-019 = NPM1G +02.0489
21 14 09.7 +02 59 37
Mag 15.3 (CGCG), Size 0.3x0.2
17.5": very faint, very small, round, very low even surface brightness. A mag 12 star is 1.0' WNW. Located ~15' NW of N7046 and 18' NE of IC 1364.
N7046 = U11708 = M+00-54-009
21 14 56.0 +02 50 05
V = 13.1; Size 1.9x1.3; SB = 13.9; PA = 115d
17.5": faint, fairly small, slightly elongated ~E-W, very diffuse, weak concentration. Two mag 15 stars are off the N and S edges. IC 1367 is 15' NW and IC 1365 20' SE.
IC 1377 = M+01-54-009 = Z401-021
21 25 26.6 +04 18 52
Size 0.6x0.4
Mag 14.8 (CGCG)
17.5": faint, small, round, 25" diameter, very weak concentration. Forms an obtuse angle with a mag 11 star 4' due S and a mag 10.5 star 5' NE.