IHOP - 5/27/06

by Shneor Sherman

I arrived at IHOP at 7:20 p.m., and was disappointed by the number of clouds. I even called home to say that I might be home early. But I was mindful that CSC called for clear skies in the 8-to-9 p.m. hour, and decided to wait at least until 8:30. Bill Porte soon arrived, and we watched the skies clear, just as predicted. It was soon cold (25 was the forecast) and occasionally quite damp. But conditions were very good. Judging by stars in the Little Dipper, we were at least at mag 6.5. Despite the skyglow from Sacramento, it was very dark, and I accidentally knocked over my observing chari at least once during the evening. The sky was very transparent at times, less so at others. However, seeing was excellent, which allowed the constant use of my 4.8mmm Nagler, which is an excellent eyepiece and gives a magnification of 467x in my 22". I took a number of shortcuts during setup which ended up costing me additional setup time - I can see that I was just out of practice!

I began the evening - before it was dark - with a view of Jupiter. I used my 30mm Widescen mounted in a Visual Paracorr, and the image was stunning and very detailed. Tiny whorls were visible in a brownish belt, and quite a few belts were visible. I turned to Leo, and had a good view of N3628 with my 4.8mm. The dust lane was prominent. I noticed that Vega was up, and turned to a perennial favorite, the Ring Nebula, viewed with a 24mm Panoptic and 9mm Expanse. I turned back to Virgo, to view Markarian's chain - that first view of 7 galaxies is always stunning, and I viewed here with the 24 Pan. (I bought a pair of these for my binoviewer, but I'm finding that it's an excellent, high-contrast and sharp eyepiece used on it's own.) I moved to the Siamese Twins, and a number of other galaxies in the region. I next looked at NGC4565. OUtstanding view in the 24 Pan and 9mm Expanse, with the core just popping out and the dust lane like a black line. The 4.8mm just cut off too much of this galaxy. However, the 4.8mm gave a magnificent view of the Sombrero shortly thereafter - again, a clear, stunning image, prominent dyst lane and classic core. M51, viewed near the zenith, was also spectacular in the 4.8mm.

In the south, later on, the Bug Nebula was pretty in the 24mm, as was the Swan (with an NPB filter). Saw the Veil (can't resist looking at this) and the Cocoon Nebula was ghostly and pretty in the 24 Pan. So, too, was that mini-Ring, NGC6894, in Cygnus. And lots od detail in M82 with the 4.8mm. Hickson 68 - must be the prettiest Hickson of all - was quietly splendid in the 9mm Expanse.

Bill and I had a good time viewing, but I did have to use my hair dryer occasionally to clear the dew off my eyepieces, and my secondary once - and even a short space on the edge of my primary. Bill let a bit before 2, and shortly after he left, the eastern sky lost contrast. My car had frosted over and I decided to call it a night. I pulled out of IHOP just afte 3.

An excellent night, despite the cold. Incidentally, there was quite a bit of traffic until 11 or so.

Posted on tac-sac May 29, 2006 10:01:45 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.4 Jul 19, 2006 11:40:21 PT

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