by Robert Leyland
Work has been pretty hectic lately, leaving me with less time to plan, but more desire to attend, observing sessions. I had completed a survey of Aquila last month, and was thinking of where to go next. In July I had spent some time in Lyrae, picking up most of the major objects, but I had missed a few, ands since there are plenty of thing to look at in Lyrae, it was time for a revisit.
This trip was the second this weekend, Saturday night had been more about socializing, than observing. e had a lot of fun, comparing eyepieces with David Windstrom, and chasing a few objects here and there. (also dark adaption was hard to maintain with the volume of people, traffic etc. on the holiday weekend).
Sunday night was quieter, a smaller group, and each more intently focused on looking.
Both nights were really warm, short sleeve shirts all night, and clear skies.
| Observer | Robert Leyland |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 Sep 2002 |
| Time | 2200-0230 PDT (UT -7, or 0500-0930 8 Jul 2002 UT) |
| Location | Lake Sonoma CA, 38°43'N 123°02'W Elev ~1400 (Lone Rock Flat) |
| Weather | 27° - 21°C Temp, 25% Humidity |
| Seeing | LM 6, transparency 8/10, steadiness 8/10, sporadic gentle breeze late |
| Moon | third quarter moon |
| Equipment | 17.5" F5 Dob, 9x50 finder scope, Pentax XL EPs |
Early in the evening Lyrae is still hidden in "Dobson's Hole" so I picked up on an earlier attempt at Pease I, aka PK65-27.1) a planetary nebulae inside M15. Once it got truly dark I started looking at 210x and 320x, blinking the eyepiece lens with a 2" OIII filter. This drops the brightness of M15 down considerably, and leaves a few spots still glowing. Most of these are field stars, but a little patch to the N of the core of M15 stayed brighter than the surrounding stars in the cluster. Most likely this is Pease I, nothing else in the field fits my understanding of PN.
We had a short visit by a couple of campers, and one of the observing groups had serious trouble with their GM-8 mount, so I gave an impromptu bright object tour, getting nice "oohs" of appreciation on Alberio, M15, the double cluster, and M31.
On to Lyrae...
Beta LYR, is surrounded by an interesting star pattern, including one or more components of a multiple star system. I used high power on Beta, but did not seriously expect to split it, as it is a spectroscopic binary, and a prototype case study of close interacting binary stars. I remembered this from a video game on the old Atari 800 system: "The Tail of beta Lyrae", I don't remember much about the game (it was a "Defender" style shooter), but the story line, and graphics had a lot to do with the interaction of close binary stars.
I revisited galaxies NGC 6695, 6685, 6675 and 6646 all near Vega. Once again I could see fainter patches near NGC 6646 (See 7-July-2002 report), and looking in Uranometria I was able to match IC 1288, and would give IC 1289 a probable.
Also on the reprise list 6745, 6700, 6702, 6703, 6688 (including UGC 11325) more galaxies, along with open cluster 6791, and planetary nebula PK 64+15.1. On this last object I could just detect a pinprick stellar source at the E edge of the nebula disc. It's a nice planetary, no color but a flat disc easily distinguishable as non-stellar without filters.
NGC 6792 is a modest galaxy tucked up in a corner of Lyra by Cygnus. It appears to be about a 3:1 ratio oval, with a granular surface visible at 210x. Averted vision shows a hint of a stellar core, with an adjacent bright star providing a nice focal point.
I looked for RR Lyrae, another prototypical variable star. I believe I had the field correct but was unsure of the magnitude, hence listing this as a probable.
Dropping back to the parallelogram, it is worth noting that each of the corner stars provide interesting views. Zeta LYR is a wide double, with a pastel blue primary, and pastel yellow secondary. Delta LYR is set amidst a nice cluster of stars, the two brightest are a brilliant yellow, and an actinic blue, plus a scattering of dimmers stars.
It would be hard to view in Lyra without looking at M57 the Ring nebula, simply put it is a fantastic object. Tonight I can see a pinprick center star with averted vision at 210x. The central region is diffuse grey, with the ring showing a bi-layered structure.
While "on the way" to visiting oft-overlooked M56, I picked up NGC 6765, a nice planetary nebula. It is circular, but with a bright band running across it N to S, very noticeable at 210x with an OIII filter.
At the S end of Lyra, adjacent to Hercules, I picked up NGC 6710, a faint galaxy, just a small soft slightly oval glow, with no discernable core, a bit challenging.
This completes my NSOG directed view of Lyra, next time around I'll use Uranometria as a guide. Lyra has plenty to offer scopes of all sizes, from Epsilon and M56, M57, down to some faint PN and galaxies it's a fun place to visit.