I make my way up to Lake Sonoma, arriving shortly before 6PM, withstanding the traffic through Santa Rosa is probably the worst part of the trip, and adds about 20-30 minutes to the usual hour long journey.
Since a storm had brushed over us a couple of days before, I was unsure what conditions would be like, and there is a gentle breeze blowing. However my doubts were groundless, as conditions prove excellent through the night, except for a short gusty spell.
Transparency and darkness are great, even at 6 many of the brighter stars are already visible, including all the bright stars in Orion. The early waxing moon shows a full sphere with reflected earthlight illuminating, and Venus pairs nicely. Mercury is supposed to be visible, but is lost in the treeline of the western horizon at Grey Pine Flat.
| Observer | Robert Leyland |
|---|---|
| Date | 29 Jan 2001 |
| Time | 1900 - 0100 (UT -8, or 0300-0900 30 Jan 2001 UT) |
| Location | Lake Sonoma CA, 38°43'N 123°02'W Elev ~1300 (Grey Pine Flat) |
| Weather | 3-7°C Temp 70-77% Humidity |
| Seeing | LM ~6.5, transparency 9/10 |
| Equipment | 8" F6 Dob, Telrad + 7x50 finder scope, Pentax XL EPs 15x70 Bear binoculars |
I am hoping to complete Cassiopeia, at least with my current telescope, and then continuing with my constellation survey; but Cassiopeia is a busy place so packed with treats, deep in the milky way.
I begin the evening about 1845 PST visiting some favourite objects to get a handle on the conditions, the almost first-quarter moon is bright, but the "Flame Nebula" is visible next to Zeta Ori, pushing the star to the edge of the FOV, and using averted vision shows the dark lane and some structure clearly. The trapezium is nice, with E and F stars visible. E is easy but F takes a little work as it is awfully close to the bright star C. Transparency is fabulous and the atmosphere is steady, traversing to Cassiopeia I notice lots of "Lumpy Darkness" near Beta Cas, looks really nice.
Next to Phi Cas, a neat little double star (wide separation), forms the edge of open cluster NGC 457, two wings of stars spread out on either side of the cluster and give it the look of an F/A-18 on afterburners, with Phi Cas being the engines. (45x)
Ahead of 457 (in the direction the plane is flying :-), is NGC 436 a small knot of stars. going to higher magnification (85x) shows numerous fainter stars in the core area, returning to 457 at this same power show many double stars inside the cluster. Maybe NGC 436 is the "target" of 457.
Eta Cas is a pretty double star, nice with a large bright primary and easily separated smaller component. A third, much dimmer, star about 5x further away, on the opposite side, is almost co-linear.
Open cluster NGC7789 is very nice this evening, easily seen in the 15x70 binoculars, it is stunning in the 8" at 45x mag, even with the quarter moon.
Emission Nebula NGC 7635 is hard to see. I got to it by hopping from the brightest star in M52, and from that side looking for a small triple star (equilateral triangle asterism) and project out to a wider pair. An O-II filter (thanks Duane) show nebulosity around the star. With averted vision you can just see it without a filter, but the pair of stars are bright relative to the nebula so it is hard to see. Going to a higher power (170x) allowed me to move the brighter star out of the FOV making it easier to see.
The breeze picks up briefly. and there is some high thin cloud low, turning the moon and Venus into into nebulae, but it stays low and doesn't interfere wit observing.
A bit of hunting and star hopping from Zeta Cas finds elliptical galaxy NGC 185, it is a faint oval glow with no real core. A little further out from the "three stars in a row" asterism is another faint glow, galaxy NGC 147, this is quite a bit dimmer and really needs averted vision to see well. It is smaller and rounder than 185.
I spent a good bit of time looking for IC-59 and IC-63, these are small faint emission/reflection nebula next to Gamma Cas. Without the photo in NSOG (fig 10-15, p118), and the instructions (use a UHC filter and move Gamme Cas out of the FOV), I wouldn't have been able to find these. As it was they are very faint, needing averted vision, and "bumping" the view to see, with the result that no shape is discernable, just a pair of fuzzy globs. [As I type this I wonder why I was trying to see these, NSOG gives them a low rating, and recommends a 12" telescope, so you never know until you try.]
In the same area as the two ICs there are several (more) open clusters, most quite small and/or faint. The easiest to see is NGC 381, with NGC 358 and 366 forming a nice pair of small clusters (projecting off the pair of stars adjacent to the ICs previous). There appears to be a third tiny cluster between 358 and 381, altogether they look like cats paw prints leading to 381. Perhaps that is the saucer of milk?
Near Alpha Cas, as the fourth point of a diamond formed by Alpha Cas, Eta Cas and a two star asterism, is a fuzzy patch in the finder. This is NGC 281, and open cluster. It's a loose assortment of stars, but a little averted vision shows a bit a glow around the brightest star in the group. Using an O-III filter the nebulosity, IC-1590 a misty irregular patch, is quite clear. NSOG describes it as a maple leaf, I don't see that shape, but there are definite dark inroads into the mistiness making it interesting to view. (Note: a UHC filter doesn't help the view much, as the nebula looks larger, but the contrast is lower and the shapes less apparent).
It is now well after moonset, and the limiting mag. is better. The milky way is visible across the entire sweep of the sky, many more constellations are easily recogniseable, Canis Major, Lepus etc. and the brighter constellations are crowded with "extra" stars. Hydra and Cancer can be recognised, and M44 is naked (err, unaided) eye visible, and simply awesome in the binoculars.
I revisit NGC 185 and 147 now that the moon has gone, but they are much lower in the sky and still hard to pick out. In NGC 147 there seems to be some bright points, perhaps stars between us and the galaxy, one is more central in the fuzziness, and maybe the core of the galaxy.
Starting at the double cluster in Perseus (NGC 869/884), and sweeping north towards Cassiopeia is Stock-2 open cluster, easily visible in the finder, and huge even at 45x in the eyepiece. In this same area, there are numerous objects, and using the photo in NSOG (fig 10-30, p127), I try to recognise as many as I can.
Open cluster Bas-10 is easy to find, but unremarkable is this crowded field. Melotte 15, easily seen in the finder, a looses smatter of stars with a central "ring" of stars, and of irregular brightness (45x), using an O-II filter some mistiness is visible, which is probably IC-1805; NSOG says I shouldn't be able to see it, but the effect is noticeable as a central cloud in a sickle (or question-mark) shape. NGC 1027 is a nice cluster adjacent to Mel-15, with lots of lumpy darkness behind . As I view it, a satellite floats right through (11:32PM). NGC 896 is a fuzzy patch in the O-II filter between Mel-14 and Epsilon Cas. This might be NGC 1795 instead.Stock 23 (in Camelopardelis) at the edge of Cassiopeia is a nice tight cluster in the finder, and spreads to a smattering at 45x, with a very nice double star prominent. It has equal magnitude components, and is quite close.
Next up is IC 289, a planetary nebula. It's closing in on 1 AM, and as tired as I am, it escapes a concerted effort at detection.
I've been observing for 5 hours with only a couple of short breaks, one to make friends with a little feral cat, which happily meowed, sheltered under my car, and ate anything I offered it, provided I didn't get closer than about two feet, where is would hiss at me.
It took five sessions to go through Cassiopeia, this last one was the most productive, and it is clear that Cassiopeia has more to offer. I plan on revisiting it next year, perhaps with a larger telescope.