by Alvin Huey
Fiddletown site. I arrived with Shneor Sherman at about 7:15PM on 6/23/01. Steve Gottleib, Chuck S., Rashad among about five others where already there. I've decided to hunt down some URSA Minor galaxies and ended up spending the whole night there. At the end I ended up viewing the traditional favorites. Note, this is my first time up there and it is a good site, especially it is about 45 minutes from my house. I've left early, as I have a 2 week old baby.
16" f/4.5 dob. LM: about 5.5, transparency is fair.
Here they are.
| NGC 5323 | bright; slightly elongated, about 2:1, PA:0; even surface brightness |
|---|---|
| NGC 5452 | very faint; round; even surface brightness. Seen only with averted vision. |
| NGC 5547 | considerably bright; 3:2 elongated, PA:110; even surface brightness |
| NGC 5836 | bright; round, stellar nucleus; a mag 15 star embedded in the north part. Slightly mottled |
| NGC 5412 | faint; slightly elongated 3:2, PA:90; even surface brightness |
| NGC 6068 | bright; 3:2 elongation, PA 135; even surface brightness, 6068A nearby to the SE |
| NGC 6068A | considerably bright, elongated 2:1, PA:70 |
| NGC 6217 | bright; west spiral arm seen with averted vision at 366x, eastern arm suspected, very stellar in appearance. Stellar nucleus. |
| NGC 6251 | bright; 3:2 elongation, PA:90, NGC 6252 to the north. Even surface brightness. |
| NGC 6252 | faint; 3:2 elongation, PA:90; even surface brightness |
| NGC 6048 | bright; 2:1 elongation, PA:135; even surface brightness |
| NGC 6071 | faint; slightly elongated 4:3, PA:90. IC1187 to the west |
| IC 1187 | appears equal in surface brightness to NGC 6071, even surface brightness |
| NGC 6079 | bright; even surface brightness; 2:1 elongated, PA:100. IC 1201 to the SW |
| IC 1201 | bright; elongated 3:1, PA 110; even surface brightness |
Last interesting object; Steve showed us the nebulosity to the west of NGC 6543, maybe about 5 to 10 acrminutes. This is the brightest part of the inital "explosion" of the plantary nebula, NGC 6543. This is not commonly seen in photos of the Cat's Eye. I'll attach a photo to the files section titled NGC6543.jpg and note the pointed nebulosity. Thanks Steve for a new way to look at the Cat's Eye.