by Albert Highe
I apologize for the delay in posting my observing report for Lake San Antonio. However, I wanted to get my pictures from the Eagle Boat Tour developed and scanned. You can see a few of the images at:
http://ultralightscopes.com/LSAI01.htm
As my wife and I drove down on Friday afternoon, the sky was still gray. We also passed through a few light showers. However, my hopes were high since the forecast and satellite images looked promising. At the very least, we should see partly clear skies for the eagle tour.
After we checked into our cabin at about 4PM, we took a drive around. It was my wife's first trip and I wanted to show her where we observed (actually I wanted to check out the field conditions) and the rest of the park. It wasn' t raining, but it was still overcast. The field didn't have any standing water, but was quite damp. The roads had some standing water and the tires dug into the mud in a few places. We saw deer, some large birds flying overhead, and a few feral pigs. We returned to our cabin at dusk.
I was quite tired after dinner and I took a long nap. When I woke up at about 8:30PM (I told you it was long), for grins, I thought I would poke my head outside and see what the sky looked like. Imagine my surprise when I saw a wonderfully dark clear sky filled with bright stars! I just had to set up. Since it was already late, and I didn't know if anyone was out observing, I just set up my 12.5" f/5 ultralight outside our cabin. It was very damp so I didn't pull out any charts. I was only out for an hour or so because I had to clear my eyepieces and diagonal fairly often and the lights on the nearby boat dock were a bit annoying.
I was checking out familiar Messier's and trying to repeat some observations I made at Dinosaur Point recently in Camelopardalis. While these observations were still fresh in my mind, I wanted to compare what they looked like at LSA. I stumbled upon an asterism that I hadn't seen in a few years. Its called Kemble's Cascade, but it doesn't show up on any atlas' I have. I learned about it from an article in Sky & Telescope that appeared in the November, 1991 issue. It is worth a look. The best views are in large binoculars or in wide-field refractors. It is described as a waterfall of dozens of 9th and 10th magnitude stars spanning about 3 degrees. It's a great sight. I also like to cruise this line of stars directly in my scope. To find it, go to the open cluster NGC1502. It appears as a waterfall of stars splashing into the base of NGC1502.
The consensus for Saturday night was to set up in the Harris Creek Campground parking lot. It's a very large, almost level asphalt surface that has no bothersome bright lights. The nearby flush toilets are well lit, but they sit down a steep flight of stairs and their light is effectively shielded. They cast a small light dome in that direction.
I think I counted eight TAC observers. A few TAC members showed up after dark, but didn't set up.
At 5:30PM the temperature was 48 F and the RH was 66%. Looking good. As it grew darker, a race developed to spot Mercury. Paul LeFevre used his GOTO mount to find it first. Once we saw where he was pointed, we all were able to see it, first with our optics, then directly with our eyes. Funny what we do to pass the time. A half hour later it was bright and obvious. We wondered what the big deal was to see it as a faint speck.
At 6:23PM the temperature had dropped to 43F, RH 77%. Looked like a wet night approaching. After picking off some nebula in Taurus that I had overlooked, I (star-) hopped over the border into Perseus in hunt for the planetary nebula IC2003. I could detect it at 113X, but it was more apparent at 200X. Even at this magnification it was still quite small, but relatively bright. Nearby planetary IC351 looked very similar. Both are disks with approximate diameters of 7" and approximately mag 12. They are easy targets from LSA without a filter.
Jamie Dillon had mentioned his difficulty finding a few faint galaxies in Ursa Major along the Draco border. He had planned to be at LSA, but didn't make it. Nevertheless, I went back to the area to confirm my impressions and pretended he was alongside (missed you Jamie). NGC2985 (mag 10.4) appears as a bright slightly out of round oval. About a degree away is a close galaxy pair NGC3065/3066. They appear as small disks about 7' apart. Although they are faint (mag 12.5 and 12.9), they aren't too difficult to see because of their relatively high surface brightness. To me they appear almost identical in size, shape, and brightness. Their diameters are about half of NGC2985. The galaxy NGC3027 that lies between NGC2985 and the NGC3065/3066 pair should be easy at mag 11.8. However, it appears to me to have fairly low uniform surface brightness due to its diameter being about twice that of NGC2985. It was a bit of a challenge with my 12.5". However, the longer I studied the area, the easier it became to see. These observations were made at 113X with my 14mm Radian. This is my favorite eyepiece and magnification for hunting faint galaxies.
I then turned to Orion to hunt for some faint nebula near M78. I've seen NGC2071 before. However, I had tried to find NGC2064 and NGC2067 recently at Dinosaur Point and couldn't convince myself that I could see them. Sure enough, M78 and NGC2071 were the best I have ever seen and the other two nebula were confirmed. Coincidentally, I heard Bob Czerwinski say something about this region. He was observing this area as well and we traded views. The nebula were slightly brighter in his 14.5" (I think that is the size of mirror). He then said that he was heading down to look at the Horsehead. That was next on my list as well. We both thought we might be able to just make out a darkening in a barely noticeable nebula. However, it wasn't easy to confirm. Fortunately, James Turley was alongside me and I borrowed his H-beta filter. With the H-beta on my 18mm Radian (88X) the nebula IC434 showed up quite well with a thin brighter region. And unmistakably the Horsehead was a dark intrusion into the nebula. Quite a few people came by for a view.
At 8:48PM the temperature was 37.8 F with an RH of 90%. I started to use my heat gun to remove dew from my diagonal periodically. I think this may have had something to do with my difficulty finding other faint nebula in Orion. I couldn't convince myself that I saw IC431, IC432, IC423, IC424, and IC426. Anyone have any comments about what aperture and conditions they have used to see these?
Denny Whooligan was nearby and we talked about M33. I mistakenly pointed out the wrong naked eye object (sorry Denny). However, it had been a while since I looked at this object, and never with my 12.5" from dark skies, so I decided to take a closer look. I was surprised and impressed by the detail that I saw! I could see the galaxy extend farther out than I had ever seen before. And in addition, I think I could begin to make out some of the spiral structure. I could identify at least four of the brighter knots known as the stellar associations NGC588, 592, 595, and 604. In particular NGC604 was very bright, looking almost like an 11-12th magnitude galaxy.
Those were some of the highlights for a night that, for me, ended early at 10:15PM. The temperature was 36F with an RH of 94%. I stopped because my charts and observing table were soaked. However, I still got in a few great hours.