by Nilesh Shah
Here's my report for June 24, 2000 observing at Fremont Peak SW lot.
I continued my work on Herschel 400 list. Towards being more disciplined, I had designed a logging mechanism using Microsoft Access. My wife had already entered names, Constellation, object types etc. of Herschel 400 objects in the database. I would go by Constellation, pick up the objects and complete the logs for them by entering Hop, description and other details.
The highlight of the night was seeing Pluto for the first time. As I was going through the Constellation Ophiuchus, I noticed on The Sky that Pluto is easy to locate from 13-Zeta Ophiuchi. So I landed in to the star field where it should have been. Enabled all the GSC star catalogs and star density to high, I magnified the field on The Sky and rotated the view to match the one in the eyepiece. I could identify most of the star patterns in the field and hence Pluto in the field. There was no way I could tell if it actually is Pluto or a small star, but for identifying the entire star field. I believe I saw it, although I can't confirm it by observing it's movement over a few days. I wish I had a house with a good backyard!
Other highlight was observing two mag 13(V magnitude, of course) Planetary Nebulae NGC 6369 (the little ghost) and NGC 6445. I could easily see them at mag 140x.
Here's my observing report.
I'm still learning about observing and estimating size and other characteristics of objects,but it's a starting point.
- Nilesh
| Instrument | Alfani, the 6" f8 PLD |
| Eyepieces | Meade 20 mm RG, Meade 12.4 mm RG and Celestron 7.5 mm Plossl |
| Location | Fremont Peak State Park, CA |
| Date | June 24, 2000 |
| Object | Other Names | Type | Hop | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bootes (The Herdsman) | ||||
| H I 34 | NGC 5248 | Galaxy | extending a line from 8-eta bootis & 5-Upsilon Bootis upto the level of 93 tau virginis(at left), this galaxy is right there | bright elongated galaxy, visible with direct vision. W-E elongation. Size appeared to be about 8-9arc min. on elongation and 5-6 arc minutes in other direction. |
| Ophiuchus (The Serpent Holder) | ||||
| H I 44 | NGC 6401 | Globular Cluster | from 44 Ophiuchi to 51 Ophiuchi. From there about one and half degrees eastward is this globular cluster | faint, small, appeared loose. Could see a star involved in it. Couldn't see individual stars even in 12.4 mm RG |
| H IV 11 | NGC 6369, Little Ghost. | Planetary Nebula | from 44 Ophiuchi about 60 arc minutes north east is this faint planetary nebula | very faint, but could see it with direct vision in 20 mm, 12.4 mm. But the best id came in the 7.5 mm Plossl. Could see faint ring. Pretty small (The Sky says 1.1 arc minutes). This is the faintest object I've seen in this scope. |
| H I 48 | NGC 6356 | Globular Cluster | from sabik(35-Eta Ophiuchi) and 40-Xi Ophiuchi, three globulars - M9, NGC 6356 and NGC 6342 are easy to find. Got 6356 first, tried M9 from there and got that too. | dense core, couldn't resolve it. Size about 8 arc minutes (The Sky says 7.2 arc minutes) |
| H I 46 | NGC 6355 | Globular Cluster | from 42-Theta Ophiuchi about 1 degree south east is this globular cluster | very faint, large, round, but couldn't resolve it. Size about 6 arc minutes(The Sky says 5 arc minutes) |
| H I 149 | NGC 6342 | Globular Cluster | from M9, it's one field south and east. | Very small, not dense core and couldn't resolve it. The Sky says 3 arc minutes |
| H VI 40 | NGC 6171,M 107 | Globular Cluster | on a line joining 13-Zeta Ophiuchi and 8-Phi Ophiuchi, go @ 35% from the former, the globular cluster is right there | bright, easily resolvable. About 8-9 arc minutes (The Sky says 10 arc minutes) |
| Sagittarius (The Archer) | ||||
| H II 586 | NGC 6445 | Planetary Nebula | from 55-Xi Serpentis to M23 to NGC 6440 using 20 mm RG, then used 7.5 mm to go about 20-30 arc minutes north | this small planetary nebula couldn't be seen in 20 mm. But with 7.5 mm, could id it with two star patterns involving GSC6257:283. Could easily see this with direct vision, although the nebula appeared little irregular in shape. |
| H I 150 | NGC 6440 | Globular Cluster | from 55-Xi Serpentis to M23 to this globular cluster | appeared very small in 20 mm. In 7.5 mm, appeared unresolved but bright. Couldn't see any star |
| Scorpius (The Scorpion) | ||||
| H VI 10 | NGC 6144 | Globular Cluster | Get Antares in the center and this globular cluster is almost in the same field, just a bit to the west and north. | A faint globular, couldn't resolve it, but could see one star in it. It appears faint, although it is mag 9.1, may be the surface brightness is low. The size appeared to be about 6 arc minutes.(The Sky says it's 9.3 arc minutes) |