I thought I'd share my observing report from a two-day trip to the Sierras. I am not methodical about documenting my observations, but I would *like* to start keeping a record. I used The Sky software as my star chart, started with the Cat's Eye nebulae in Draco and started working the galaxies in the area. I moved over to Hercules since it was well placed, and ended up around Cetus. I used The Sky's log function to keep a record of my Saturday/Sunday observations and added my own comments, silly though they are. I hope I can make myself continue to work in this way.

The observing site gave us incredibly dark, transparent and steady skies, although it was breezy the second night. The first night I was working with Mark Wagner and his continuing quest with the Herschel list. He also enjoys using The Sky as an observing aid. He was using a 14.5 inch dob with a superior mirror (and skill!) and I had my 10.1" red Coulter dob with Lumicon DSC's. I felt a bit like a Chihuahua trying to keep up with a Great Dane. The DSC's are great, but I do enjoy star hopping too. I was going to try and star hop first, and then use the DSC's to confirm my postion. The best of both worlds! In order to use the Luicon DSC's, you must first level the tube in relation to the rocker box, a step you don't need with the Sky Commander DSC's. At home I carefully leveled the scope in one axis, then leveled the tube, and screwed in a piece of wood to act as a stop. This should have made the leveling process instantaneous. The only problem was, I should have leveled the rocker box in two axis, so the DSC's were unreliable, although they generally got me with an eyepiece field or two.

In any case, Mark would tell me the next NGC number, find it on TheSky, and we would compare descriptions between the software and the DSC's. A few times as I was pushing the buttons on the DSC's to locate an object, I'd hear Mark yell "Got it!" Dang, Mark's organic DSC's are better than my computerized ones! This Chihuahua couldn't keep up with the Great Dane. Many of the objects we were hunting were obvious in the 14.5" and invisible in my 10.1". It was still fun though, and was a good test of my star hopping skills.

At the same time I was also taking piggy-back shots with my 8 inch SCT, so I was hopping back and forth observing and composing and guiding photos. I got a couple of nice shots. Hopefully I'll get them posted one of these days. Around 1, Jupiter was high enough to make a good tarket. I used the SCT and was treated to an incredible view of Jupiter! I'd never seen anything like this in my SCT before. What detail! I just kept saying "Wow!" I finally dragged a few people over to observe with their left eye and they too were entranced.

Saturday night Mark was going to try out Ray Gralack's computer program "Guide" as an observing tool, so I decided to work some of the brighter ngc's on my own. It was breezy, so astrophotos were out with my light mount. I used a combination of star hopping technique and the DSC's and had a great time. I've included my observing log for the night here with my comments.

This was my most enjoyable observing week-end ever. I wish I could have shared it with more of my friends.

NGC 6543
Planetary nebula disc with central star.
Hubble pic is more spectacular.

NGC6690
Very elongated galaxy.Other ID: NGC6689
Not too dim.

NGC6503
Elongated galaxy dusty.Other ID: UGC11012
Very nice! Bright and easy!

NGC6395
Elongated galaxy.Other ID: UGC10876
Very dim, next to two brighter stars

NGC6340
Round galaxy brightest in group.Other ID: UGC10762
Set in pretty star field, very distinct.

NGC 6236
Elongated galaxy brightest in group.
Very dim, averted vision in 10.1" dob.

NGC 6654
Round galaxy with bright core.
Nice. Near very bright star.

NGC6643
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: UGC11218
Very nice! Bright, find this one again sometime. Kewl.

NGC 6412
Round galaxy.
Large dim glow above third in a line of bright stars.

NGC6217
Round galaxy with bright core.Other ID: UGC10470
Easy star hop. Bright and large glow.

NGC 5832
Elongated galaxy.
Diffuse glow near bright star.

NGC 6229
Globular cluster mottled.
Nicely mottled glob. Pretty.

NGC6239
Shape evident. Half circle of dim stars on one side.

NGC 6341
Globular cluster highly resolved.
Size (mins) 11.2

NGC6207
Very elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: UGC10521
Easy from this dark sky site!

NGC6181
Elongated galaxy dusty.Other ID: UGC10439
Easy star hop near bright star.

NGC 6210
Planetary nebula disc.
DSC - Another little planetary, who cares?

NGC 246
Planetary nebula ring.
COOL! Huge planetary and small galaxy (ngc 255) in the same field!

NGC210
Round galaxy with bright core
Small

NGC178
Elongated galaxy.Other ID: IC39
Very dim in 10.1 dob.

NGC151
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: NGC153
DSC - fairly dim, sparse star field.

NGC157
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: MCG-2-2-56
I like this one. Big and bright between two bright stars. Reminds me of M1.

NGC50
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: MCG-1-1-58
Dim with two close bright stars in the field.

NGC309
Round galaxy.Other ID: MCG-2-3-50
Needed averted vision. Next to dim star.

NGC270
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: MCG-2-3-27
DSC - REALLY Dim! Almost averted imagination.

NGC274
Round galaxy close companion.Other ID: MCG-1-3-21
DSC - Obvious. Looked like structure at first, ended up being a close galaxy!

NGC337
Elongated galaxy.Other ID: MCG-1-3-53
DSC - Another big and bright one. Pretty star field.

NGC357
Round galaxy brightest in group.Other ID: MCG-1-3-81
Fairly dim, sparse star field. What seemed like structure was at least one other galaxy.

NGC352
Elongated galaxy.Other ID: MCG-1-3-71
DSC - Pretty dim, elongation obvious.

NGC271
Elongated galaxy with bright core.Other ID: UGC519
DSC - next to brightest star in field with 10.5.

NGC245
Round galaxy.Other ID: UGC476
Obvioius with a few bright stars at the bottom of the field.