Lake Sonoma, Nov 26 2003

by Steve Gottlieb

On Wednesday I took advantage of just a half-day at work to rush over to Lake Sonoma. Actually it turned out to be more of a crawl in the afternoon commute up 101 to Santa Rosa. But once I exited at Canyon Road near Geyserville it was all deep blue clear skies, rolling green hills and gorgeous purple Sonoma County vineyards. After setting up at Lone Rock, Rob Mackie pulled in and set up his 16-inch. Some bands of cirrus passed through at times and seeing was only fair but we had a very pleasant event chasing clusters and galaxies. For the first hour and a half I focused on some open clusters in Cassiopeia. A number of these had been last observed in the mid-80's, so I figured it was time for a revisit. I usually post galaxy observations, so here's a change of pace...

King 16 = OCL-306 = Lund 26 = C 0040+639	00 43 46 +64 10.7	V = 10.3; Size 4
18" (11/26/03): about two dozen stars in a 3.5' group at 160x. Five brighter mag 10-12 stars from a small "Y" asterism in the center with the northern star a nice mag 11/12 double at 10". The brightest cluster member is a mag 10.5 star at the E end of the "Y". Most of the other stars are richly sprinkled around this "Y" and are mag 13.5 and fainter. A faint stream of stars extends out the core towards the N. Berkeley 4 lies 15' NNE.
Berkeley 4 = OCL-307 = Lund 29 = C 0042+641	00 45 13 +64 23.5	V = 10.6; Size 4
18" (11/26/03): this is an interesting cluster of ~10 stars in a central 2' clump including mag 9.5 SAO 11367 with two fairly close mag 10.5 companions at 11" and 30". Another mag 11.5 star is 45" NE. This clump is partially enclosed by a semi-circle of mostly mag 13-14 stars running from W to E around the south side which may also be part of the cluster. Finally, there is distinctive "V" shaped asterism of 8 mag 10.5-12 stars with the vertex facing east about 5' following the main group. King 16 lies 16' SSW.
Berkeley 62 = OCL-314 = Lund 35 = C 0057+636	01 01 12 +63 56.5	V = 9.3; Size 6
18" (11/26/03): at 160x, ~20 stars mag 11 and fainter are in a scattered group, ~5'x3'. Most of the stars are arrange in two parallel rows aligned WNW-ESE, with more of the stars in the northern row.
Stock 3 = OCL-318 = Lund 39 = C 0109+620	01 12 03 +62 16.4	Size 5
18" (11/26/03): small group of only 6 mag 13 stars in a small 1.5' wedge shape. Detached in field but very unimpressive.
King 4 = OCL-361 = Lund 87 = C 0232+587	02 36 02 +59 01.0	V = 10.5; Size 5
18" (11/26/03): at 257x this is a rich group of approximately two dozen stars mag 13-15 in a 4'-5' region. Several of the mag 13.5 stars are arranged in a N-S string which extends through the cluster and bends towards the NW beyond the group.
Cz 13 = OCL-356 = Lund 93 = C 0240+621	02 44 27 +62 19.5	V = 10.4; Size 5
18" (11/26/03): at 161x, ~20 stars mag 13 and fainter are visible in a 5'x3' region elongated SW-NE over some unresolved background haze. Located just 4' N of mag 7.8 SAO 12419 which detracts from viewing.
N7788 = OCL-275 = Cr 459 = Lund 1052 = C 2354+611	23 56 46 +61 24.0	Size 9
18" (11/26/03): fairly small, 4' rich clump of roughly two dozen stars. Includes a mag 9.7 star (SAO 20947) on the west side. Several other mag 10 stars are scattered nearby but the cluster still stands out fairly well in a rich milky way star field. N7790 is situated 16' SE.
N7790 = Cr 461 = OCL-276 = Lund 1054 = C 2355+609	23 58 24 +61 12.5	V = 8.5; Size 17
18" (11/26/03): ~30 stars resolved in a 4.5'x2.5' region, fairly rich. Three mag 11 stars are along the west side of the cluster and a slightly brighter mag 10 star is ~4' SE of the main group. This cluster is slightly larger than N7788 ~16' NW.