I recently attended the California Star Party at Lake San Antonio California.
There were over 80 scopes present along with their attendant owners. This was the first CalStar, and I hope there will be many more to come. Daytime temperatures ran into the high 90's, but the evenings were cool with only a jacket needed for warmth. Seeing was variable throughout the night ranging from a bit soft to very good. Saturdays skies were better than Fridays. Although I didn't do a limiting magitude test, for my eyes I would estimate mag 6.5.
I brought a 12.5" Meade dob and a Celestron WF102 f/5 refractor. The refractor was mounted on a Bogen 3046 heavy-duty tripod. I had stunning views of the entire Veil Nebula and the North American nebula with the WF102 and a 35 Panoptic with 2" UHC filter. Views of the open clusters in Auriga as well as the Double Cluster were also excellent. M16 and M17 both fit in the same field as did the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas. This scope is a real winner!
My daughter and I arrived late on Friday night so I only set up the dob and worked with the newer version of Sky Atlas 2000 mostly finding galaxies in Pegasus. I'm used to working with my laptop and The Sky software. Using the paper charts made it much harder for me to find objects. I'm used to having a zoom feature and a lot more stars to guide me to my spot. New objects for me were few this night, but I spent time during the night visiting friends and their scopes. With the long drive after a day at work, my energy level wasn't at it's highest.
NGC 7753 and 7752 were difficult objects for me. They aren't even listed in the Night Sky Observers Guide. The Sky software lists 7753 at Mag 13 and 7752 at mag 14. No wonder I was having trouble!
NGC 7741 was also difficult. Even though it's listed magnitude is 11.4, it is large and spread out.
NGC's 7769/7770/7771 was a nice grouping. It's always a pleasure to find a galaxy grouping in the eyepiece. The brightest member, 7769, is listed at mag. 12.
NGC 7817 is another faint, large galaxy listed at mag. 12. NGC 7798, a round galaxy, was my last new object for the night. At mag 13, it's smallish compact structure made it easier to see.
Saturday night was much more productive for me. I continued my way through the Herschel 400 list, and made myself find and observe some of those darned open clusters.
NGC 7160 OC in Cepheus was small and sparse.
NGC 7142 OC in Cepheus was also small and sparse
NGC 6866 OC in Cygnus had many bright members and was actually a pleasure to observe.
NGC 6910 OC in Cygnus was sparse, but it's members were right and they made nice chains of stars.
NGC 7000, the North American nebula was a marvel in the WF 102. Clearly define with the Pelican nebula also visible. One of the highlights of the trip!
NGC 1444 OC in Perseus. My notes just say 'boring.' Sorry open cluster fans.
NGC 1023 is a mag 9.5 galaxy (hurray!) in Perseus. Big and bright. I love 'em.
NGC 157 in Cetus is a nice bright galaxy situated between two bright stars. Mag 10.4 This is what I'm talkin' about!
NGC 247 a rather dim galaxy is fairly diffuse at mag. 8.9. Must be pretty big.
NGC 246 is a very nice planetary nebula in Cetus. There are four stars involved with this planetary. Although I found this object without a filter, the view improved with a little magnification and a UHC filter.
NGC 253 in Sculptor is a showcase galaxy and one I've viewed before. I don't get tired of beauties like this. Magnitude 7.1. This should be on everyone's must see list. NGCs 584/586/596 was an interesting group. 584 and 596 were bright, but 586 was a challenge for me at magnitude 14.1.
NGC 615, also in Cetus is a small galaxy next to a bright star. This galaxy is an eyepiece field away from 584.
NGC 720 was bright and elongated.
NGC 779 was a long, thin extended galaxy shining at magnitude 11.
NGC 488 brought me over to Pisces. This magnitude 11.8 galaxy was fairly bright and round.
NGCs 524 and 523 were my last new objects for the evening. 524 was bright and round, and at magnitude 14, 523 was dim and elongated.
I finished the evening observing Jupiter and Saturn with my Lumicon bino-viewer and dob. The seeing had steadied and I had some awesome views of these beautiful planets. My daughter helped me earlier in the evening to get a great collimation, and this really paid off as there was an incredible wealth of detail to be seen. The brownish reds of Jupiter were particularly striking and obvious this evening. Don't let anyone tell you only refractors are good for satisfying planetary views!