Coe, December 20: Short observing session/longest night

by William G. Schultz


I've had it with work for this year. I truly had to get away and immerse myself in starlight. Weather reports for Friday, Dec 21, weren't at all promising. After dinner I stepped out on the back deck. It was cool, and the SJ light domes didn't look promising. Humidity was high and it looked as though my backyard observing area would be washed out before long. I packed up and headed for the hills.

As I drove up to Coe, the temperature at the lake was about 41 degrees. As I passed Parker Ranch I saw the temperature begin to rise, showing what I hoped to be a significant inversion.

I arrived at the parking lot at Coe at about 10:30. It was positively warm and dry. 54 degrees with 32% RH. The sky began steady and transparent. Down in the valley there were signs of haze but no opaque fog. Thursday would be no dark night.

I set up the C11 in about 20 minutes. A month has passed since I observed, and on my last outing I had issues with clutches on my G-11 mount. My alignment was careful, and I touched up collimation.

My first view of Jupiter made the trip and effort worthwhile. I've not seen so much detail as during last night. The GRS was transiting and I could clearly resolve details in the surrounding eddies. What impressed me more was the spherical shape detail. For once I wasn't seeing a flat appearing disc. Saturn was likewise impressive, but this isn't a shallow-sky report.

Racking Sirius out of focus showed the air to be still. Focused the star became a blinding and steady pinpoint + Airy disk. Conditions began to degrade a bit after midnight.

At my arrival I was midway through the Herschel 400, and I needed to bag available targets, concentrating on those lower than my in-town horizons. I can bag most high targets from home if and when a good night occurs.

DSOs for the night:

NGC# R.A. Dec. Mag. Typ Con Time logged
2419 07:38.0 38 53 11.5 GCl Lyn 23:00
N of Castor in Mon; by 2 star grouping; ft blur in finder scope; components resolved over 160X.
2655 08:55.578 13 11.5 Gal Cam 23:55
Very high in sky for EQ mt; close to Polaris; quite a nice obj!; paired with 2715; elongated
2775 09:10.37 02 11.5 Gal Cnc 00:20
Fairly bright elliptical core but elongated halo; WNW of 16 zeta Hya
2548 08:13.8-5 48 5.5 OCl Hya 00:30
Messier 48; finder scope object; min mag, V-fine, but better appearing in finder than in f10 SCT.
2811 09:16.2 -16 1913 Gal Hya 01:18
Small; faint, circular appearing; S of 24 Hya (~8 deg)
2903 09:32.2 21 30 10 Gal Leo 01:27
Rather bright; fairly large; 80 - 160 X; S of 4 lambda Leo
2964 09:42.9 31 51 12.5Gal Leo 01:47
Very faint; paired w. 2968 at 80X
2859 09:24.2 34 31 12 Gal Lmi 02:00
Faint; smallish at 165X; E of 40 Lynx
2506 08:00.2 -10 478.5 OCl Mon 02:28
Multi-textured with bright and faint stars; ESE of 26 Mon Interesting OCl.
2509 08:00.6 -19 049.5 OCl Pup 02:41
Rich & fairly concentrated
2527 08:05.3 -28 10 8 OCl Pup 02:47
Easily spotted as bright haze in finderscope; large object
2539 08:10.6 -12 50 8 OCl Pup 02:49
NW of 19 Pup; Bright; irregular
2567 08:18.6 -30 38 8.5OCl Pup 02:58
Not at all compact; two halves sewn together with bright star stitches
2571 08:18.8 -29 44 7.5OCl Pup 03:01
Bright; N & slightly E of 2567; ok at 108X.
2613 08:33.4 -22 58 11 Gal Pyx 03:14
Faint,, elongated; NW of gamma Pyx; seeing deteriorating!
2627 08:37.2 -29 57 8.5OCl Pyx 03:24
Faintish, rich; SW of zeta Pyx
2974 09:42.5 -3 42 12.5Gal Sex 03:30
Very faint; E and N of 6 Sex, 100X; moonrise!