by Mark Wagner
I am still recovering. Four trips to and from Fremont Peak over five days, late nights observing on each trip. It was a whirlwind of observing activity resulting from incessant cloud cover over the winter months. I am tired, but my appetite has just be en whetted.
Tuesday, April 13, my daughter Mimi was on spring break from school, and I had promised to take her observing once the weather improved. This was a great opportunity to do so. Rashad Al-Mansour had plans to do two nights of observing if the skies looked good, and when I looked outside that morning, I knew I and probably a few other observers would be joining Rashad by the ranger's house at the Peak, at least for one night. I would do two, but not until I was reasonably certain of the second night would not be a bust.
When we arrived at the Peak, only one other observer was there. We set up just east of the observatory. I took out my 20" F/5 and my Cassiopeia, my daughter's 10" f/4.5. You can read about my daughter's two nights of observing in The Messier Monster in TAC's observing report archives at http://www.seds.org/TAC ... but I will concentrate on my experiences in this report.
Once the setup was complete, we had dinner and watched as the fog rolled in to the north and south. Mimi and I headed over to the western ridge of the park to watch the sunset. Over there, too, the fog was streaming in, low, but thick, over the cities and hills that frame Monterey Bay. The smokestacks of the Moss Landing power station were buried under a blanket of gray-white, the only indication of their location being a billow of fog thermally risen above the rest of the spreading blanket. This cert ainly looked like a promising night.
The sun dropped, as Mimi and I talked to a lone observer, his 18" Dob set up along Coulter Row. We headed back to the observatory side, and our observing group.
As the twilight changed to astronomical dark, it became clearly obvious to me that we were in for a dark night at Fremont Peak. There were but a few clouds on the horizon, but they would not intrude on our evening. After helping my daughter observing, I settled down to hunting the Herschel list in Leo and Ursa Major about 11 p.m. or so.
As the night wore on, I came to realize this was a particularly special one. The fog laid in sufficiently to totally remove the lights of Soledad, Salinas and Hollister. San Jose and the cities to the north were nothing more than a soft, muted glow low on the horizon. I could not recognize faces. The sky above looked black rather than gray-tone. There was little evidence of dew, there was no breeze. We were on an observing island, removed, separate from the rest of the 6 million people under the blanket of fog, in and around the bay area. What a great night it would be.... like days of old at Fremont Peak!
When I finally did get to my own observing program, I logged 28 new objects. The sky was so dark, compared to the usual nights at Fremont Peak, I could not help but linger on many of my finds, using what I had learned over the years to try picking out as much from each object as possible. It would be a relaxed observing session, I think I am over the "rush" to find things. Here are those new objects I was able to view on this first exceptional night of 1999:
Other description | Elongated galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Faint, small, little extended, very little brighter middle. |
Magnitude | 12.8 |
RA | 11h 09m 54.0s |
Dec | +10°43'00" (Epoch 2000) |
Size | 2.0' x 0.8' |
Other description | Round galaxy. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Bright, pretty small, round, pretty gradually much brighter middle. |
Magnitude | 11.9 |
RA | 11h 15m 21.8s |
Dec | +18°07'15" |
Size | 0.6' |
Other description | Round galaxy in group. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Bright, pretty large, round, pretty abruptly brighter middle, 3rd of 3. |
Magnitude | 11.0 |
RA | 11h 16m 57.9s |
Dec | +18°09'15" |
Size | 1.4' x 1.0' |
Position Angle | 74.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy brightest in group. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Very bright, large, round, very much brighter middle, 2nd of 3. |
Magnitude | 10.0 |
RA | 11h 16m 51.9s |
Dec | +18°03'15" |
Size | 1.8' x 1.3' |
Position Angle | 120.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy close companion. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Faint, small, round, southwest of 3. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 11h 16m 45.9s |
Dec | +18°01'15" |
Size | 1.4' x 0.8' |
Position Angle | 16.0 |
Other ID | MCG3-29-21 |
---|---|
Other ID | CGCG96-20 |
Other ID | PGC34419 |
Magnitude | 14.5 |
RA | 11h 16m 48.9s |
Dec | +17°48'19" |
Size | 1.2' x 0.4' |
Position Angle | 166.0 |
Other ID | PGC34493 |
---|---|
Magnitude | 13.4 |
RA | 11h 17m 37.9s |
Dec | +17°49'36" (Epoch 2000) |
Size | 1.8' |
Other description | Round galaxy. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Considerably faint, large, round, very gradually very little brighter middle. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 11h 20m 27.8s |
Dec | +26°58'17" |
Size | 1.9' x 1.5' |
Position Angle | 30.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Bright, pretty small, round, brighter middle. |
Magnitude | 11.7 |
RA | 11h 26m 27.9s |
Dec | +16°52'15" |
Size | 3.0' |
Dreyer description | Pretty bright, pretty large, extended, very gradually brighter middle. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC6453 |
Other ID | MCG3-29-50 |
Other ID | CGCG96-47 |
Other ID | PGC35224 |
Magnitude | 12.2 |
RA | 11h 27m 09.0s |
Dec | +17°02'04" |
Size | 3.0' x 2.1' |
Position Angle | 130.0 |
Dreyer description | Pretty bright, large, very little extended, very
gradually brighter middle, resolvable, but mottled. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC6460 |
Other ID | MCG3-29-51 |
Other ID | CGCG96-49 |
Other ID | PGC35268 |
Magnitude | 11.8 |
RA | 11h 27m 42.0s |
Dec | +17°13'40" |
Size | 3.2' x 2.5' |
Position Angle | 14.0 |
Dreyer description | Faint, pretty small, little extended, resolvable, but mottled. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC6464 |
Other ID | MCG3-29-53 |
Other ID | CGCG96-50 |
Other ID | PGC35292 |
Magnitude | 13.4 |
RA | 11h 28m 06.4s |
Dec | +16°55'30" |
Size | 1.4' x 1.0' |
Position Angle | 14.0 |
Constellation | Leo |
---|---|
Dreyer description | Pretty bright, pretty large, little extended, brighter middle. |
Magnitude | 12.3 |
RA | 11h 28m 09.9s |
Dec | +25°40'17" |
Size | 1.3' x 0.9' |
Position Angle | 96.0 |
Other description | Very elongated galaxy close companion. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Faint, pretty small, extended, pretty gradually little brighter middle, resolvable, but mottled, eastward of 2. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 11h 40m 10.0s |
Dec | +15°21'15" |
Size | 1.7' x 0.4' |
Position Angle | 52.0 |
Dreyer description | Considerably faint, round, westward of 2. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC6630 |
Other ID | MCG3-30-37 |
Other ID | CGCG97-47 |
Other ID | PGC36193 |
Magnitude | 14.7 |
RA | 11h 40m 06.8s |
Dec | +15°19'54" |
Size | 0.8' x 0.5' |
Other description | Round galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Bright, small, round, abruptly much brighter middle star. |
Magnitude | 11.7 |
RA | 11h 45m 46.0s |
Dec | +13°46'14" |
Size | 0.8' x 0.6' |
Other description | Round galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Pretty bright, pretty small, extended,
pretty abruptly brighter middle, star involved north. |
Magnitude | 12.0 |
RA | 11h 58m 16.1s |
Dec | +28°12'18" |
Size | 0.6' x 0.4' |
Position Angle | 166.0 |
Other ID | MCG5-28-64 |
---|---|
Other ID | CGCG157-70 |
Other ID | PGC37704 |
Magnitude | 14.1 |
RA | 11h 58m 41.7s |
Dec | +28°17'43" |
Size | 2.8' x 1.0' |
Position Angle | 84.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Very faint, small, round, very abruptly brighter middle 12th magnitude star. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 09h 30m 15.0s |
Dec | +29°32'14" |
Size | 1.0' x 0.8' |
Other description | Elongated galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Very faint, extended, easily resolvable, 2 or 3 stars involved. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 09h 29m 21.4s |
Dec | +07°43'06" |
Size | 1.6' x 0.8' |
Position Angle | 26.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy close companion. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Very faint, small, round, brighter middle nucleus, eastward of 2. |
Magnitude | 13.1 |
RA | 09h 33m 57.4s |
Dec | +10°07'07" |
Size | 0.8' x 0.6' |
Position Angle | 14.0 |
Dreyer description | Faint, pretty large, round, gradually brighter middle, westward of 2. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC5092 |
Other ID | MCG2-25-3 |
Other ID | CGCG63-7 |
Other ID | PGC27159 |
Magnitude | 13.1 |
RA | 09h 33m 43.9s |
Dec | +10°09'16" |
Size | 1.9' x 1.5' |
Position Angle | 140.0 |
Other ID | MCG2-25-4 |
---|---|
Other ID | CGCG63-8 |
Other ID | PGC27175 |
Magnitude | 14.9 |
RA | 09h 33m 56.3s |
Dec | +10°01'45" |
Size | 1.0' x 0.3' |
Position Angle | 152.0 |
Dreyer description | Faint, pretty small. |
---|---|
Other ID | UGC5102 |
Other ID | MCG2-25-7 |
Other ID | CGCG63-13 |
Other ID | PGC27232 |
Magnitude | 13.7 |
RA | 09h 34m 45.2s |
Dec | +10°17'11" |
Size | 1.8' x 0.6' |
Position Angle | 158.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy with bright core. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Very faint, considerably small, round, abruptly brighter middle nucleus. |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 09h 35m 45.0s |
Dec | +31°42'15" |
Size | 0.6' x 0.4' |
Position Angle | 64.0 |
Other description | Round galaxy. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Pretty faint, pretty large, irregularly round, 8th magnitude star, 148°, 112". |
Magnitude | 13.0 |
RA | 10h 03m 15.5s |
Dec | +13°38'10" |
Other description | Round galaxy. |
---|---|
Constellation | Leo |
Dreyer description | Faint, pretty small, little extended, resolvable, but mottled. |
Magnitude | 14.0 |
RA | 11h 28m 09.9s |
Dec | +16°55'15" |
Size | 0.8' x 0.6' |
Position Angle | 14.0 |
I don't think I even felt my head hit the pillow as I crawled into the truck and laid down next to my little girl. Part 2 of this report at a later date...