I've had it with work for this year. I truly had to get away and immerse myself in starlight. Weather reports for Friday, Dec 21, weren't at all promising. After dinner I stepped out on the back deck. It was cool, and the SJ light domes didn't look promising. Humidity was high and it looked as though my backyard observing area would be washed out before long. I packed up and headed for the hills.
As I drove up to Coe, the temperature at the lake was about 41 degrees. As I passed Parker Ranch I saw the temperature begin to rise, showing what I hoped to be a significant inversion.
I arrived at the parking lot at Coe at about 10:30. It was positively warm and dry. 54 degrees with 32% RH. The sky began steady and transparent. Down in the valley there were signs of haze but no opaque fog. Thursday would be no dark night.
I set up the C11 in about 20 minutes. A month has passed since I observed, and on my last outing I had issues with clutches on my G-11 mount. My alignment was careful, and I touched up collimation.
My first view of Jupiter made the trip and effort worthwhile. I've not seen so much detail as during last night. The GRS was transiting and I could clearly resolve details in the surrounding eddies. What impressed me more was the spherical shape detail. For once I wasn't seeing a flat appearing disc. Saturn was likewise impressive, but this isn't a shallow-sky report.
Racking Sirius out of focus showed the air to be still. Focused the star became a blinding and steady pinpoint + Airy disk. Conditions began to degrade a bit after midnight.
At my arrival I was midway through the Herschel 400, and I needed to bag available targets, concentrating on those lower than my in-town horizons. I can bag most high targets from home if and when a good night occurs.
DSOs for the night:
| NGC# | R.A. | Dec. | Mag. | Typ | Con | Time logged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2419 | 07:38.0 | 38 53 | 11.5 | GCl | Lyn | 23:00 |
| N of Castor in Mon; by 2 star grouping; ft blur in finder scope; components resolved over 160X. | ||||||
| 2655 | 08:55.5 | 78 13 | 11.5 | Gal | Cam | 23:55 |
| Very high in sky for EQ mt; close to Polaris; quite a nice obj!; paired with 2715; elongated | ||||||
| 2775 | 09:10.3 | 7 02 | 11.5 | Gal | Cnc | 00:20 |
| Fairly bright elliptical core but elongated halo; WNW of 16 zeta Hya | ||||||
| 2548 | 08:13.8 | -5 48 | 5.5 | OCl | Hya | 00:30 |
| Messier 48; finder scope object; min mag, V-fine, but better appearing in finder than in f10 SCT. | ||||||
| 2811 | 09:16.2 | -16 19 | 13 | Gal | Hya | 01:18 |
| Small; faint, circular appearing; S of 24 Hya (~8 deg) | ||||||
| 2903 | 09:32.2 | 21 30 | 10 | Gal | Leo | 01:27 |
| Rather bright; fairly large; 80 - 160 X; S of 4 lambda Leo | ||||||
| 2964 | 09:42.9 | 31 51 | 12.5 | Gal | Leo | 01:47 |
| Very faint; paired w. 2968 at 80X | ||||||
| 2859 | 09:24.2 | 34 31 | 12 | Gal | Lmi | 02:00 |
| Faint; smallish at 165X; E of 40 Lynx | ||||||
| 2506 | 08:00.2 | -10 47 | 8.5 | OCl | Mon | 02:28 |
| Multi-textured with bright and faint stars; ESE of 26 Mon Interesting OCl. | ||||||
| 2509 | 08:00.6 | -19 04 | 9.5 | OCl | Pup | 02:41 |
| Rich & fairly concentrated | ||||||
| 2527 | 08:05.3 | -28 10 | 8 | OCl | Pup | 02:47 |
| Easily spotted as bright haze in finderscope; large object | ||||||
| 2539 | 08:10.6 | -12 50 | 8 | OCl | Pup | 02:49 |
| NW of 19 Pup; Bright; irregular | ||||||
| 2567 | 08:18.6 | -30 38 | 8.5 | OCl | Pup | 02:58 |
| Not at all compact; two halves sewn together with bright star stitches | ||||||
| 2571 | 08:18.8 | -29 44 | 7.5 | OCl | Pup | 03:01 |
| Bright; N & slightly E of 2567; ok at 108X. | ||||||
| 2613 | 08:33.4 | -22 58 | 11 | Gal | Pyx | 03:14 |
| Faint,, elongated; NW of gamma Pyx; seeing deteriorating! | ||||||
| 2627 | 08:37.2 | -29 57 | 8.5 | OCl | Pyx | 03:24 |
| Faintish, rich; SW of zeta Pyx | ||||||
| 2974 | 09:42.5 | -3 42 | 12.5 | Gal | Sex | 03:30 |
| Very faint; E and N of 6 Sex, 100X; moonrise! | ||||||