I left my daughter's house Friday morning and headed to Plettstone sans food. I thought I would pick up my food there, but I hit all the wrong grocery stores in Mariposa and ended up with tuna and crackers. Thank God for Mark's plentiful cooler. The temps maxed out at 105 deg. on Friday and I managed to survive by spraying myself with water. But these temps made observing that night wonderful--T-shirt and shorts! I spent most of the day buried in my atlas and NGC 2500 list.
My best accomplishment was NGC 6814 in Aquila on Friday night. I went from star-hopping with binoculars to a 50mm eyepiece (rechecking with the binoculars), and finally nailing it with the 16mm Nag. It took a while, but it was really fun! I don't see the fainter stars all that well like some of you can, so I had to be creative to figure out where I was going by using lots of tools. ;-)
My worst accomplishment was Saturday night with NGC 5698. I was sharing Mark's The Sky on his computer and found the exact spot where the galaxy should have been in my scope. No question! It is among a group of stars that look like a mouse (head and body). I stared, I blinked and stared some more. Finally I called Mark over to look and he said, "Sure, it's there." I thought he was being a wise#@$ so I called Bob over. He said right away, "Oh yeah, there it is." I was getting frustrated at their ease of seeing it. Then Michelle came over and said, "Oh this must be NGC 5698." Not only did she see it, but she called the number right off the bat!!! I was about to quit this hobby with all these wise guys. I went back to the scope and with more staring, I could finally make out a phantom galaxy. I don't like this galaxy.
Question: Saturday night I found NGC 5590 in Bootes. There should have been just that one galaxy, but there were two side by side. I couldn't find a name for the other. Anyone know what the other one was?
Great time, Michelle and Paul! You always make me feel at home and the company is always fun. I can't wait for Lassen. These two days gave me 28 objects, so I'm hoping Lassen will give me 100! I already have my list prepared.