by Albert Highe
I decided to take advantage of the break in the rain to drive down to Dinosaur Point Tuesday afternoon. The sky was a beautiful clear blue containing no clouds. The temperature was about 70F when I arrived. Only two of the many windmill sentinels lining the nearby ridge were turning lazily. The rest were standing motionless. It had been too long since I felt the warm Sun on my face. But the goal wasn't to get a tan, but to catch some ancient rays after nightfall.
About six TACo's showed up by sunset. As usual, a few boaters came up the ramp as dusk approached and drove off. That would be all the traffic we would see. The ranger did not swing by - no fees collected.
James Turley lit a barbecue and shared his generous portions of ribs and hot dogs with those present. A few other observers arrived later under the cover of darkness. Apparently they were held up by traffic or waited for the Moon to set. I would guess we had 8-10 scopes at the peak.
By 7:00PM, the temperature dropped to 53F with 60% RH. The conditions were more typical of Summer viewing. The temperature stayed around 50F. There was no danger of dew. The air became dryer throughout the night, dropping below 50%RH by Midnight. The wind would occasionally rise to a few miles an hour, and then subside. Because it was so warm and dry, we were quite comfortable.
The four-day old Moon cast strong shadows, but it didn't diminish the hunt for faint fuzzies too much. Transparency seemed quite good with the dry air. After the Moon set, the sky got darker, but not as dark as I've experienced at Dino. Seeing was quite soft. I didn't even bother to look at the planets with the degree that stars were twinkling.
Instrument: 12.5" f/5 ultralight dobsonian. Most observations are with a 14mm Radian (113X).
I concentrated on finishing off some loose ends on page 12 of Sky Atlas 2K.
Near M44. Easy. Looks like a small circular fuzz ball. Brighter core whose intensity falls off slowly going outward,
Small oval. Bright nucleus. Can also see another galaxy in f.o.v. Uranometria identifies this as:
Although Uranometria lists as the same magnitude, it appears fainter than above. Looks oval with a bright nucleus. Appears about half the diameter of 2713.
Near the base of an equilateral triangle of equal-magnitude stars.
12.8, >37" Looks slightly fan-shaped next to a fairly bright star.
In the neighborhood, so I had to stop and look at one of my favorites.
Easy and unmistakable. Each looks elongated and joined along one end, forming an "L".
Open cluster. Obvious in 80mm finder. Rich cluster in scope with lots of resolved moderately bright stars.
Open cluster. Barely detect in finder. Smaller and fewer stars than Mel 71.
Small. Almost looks like an oval-shaped planetary.
Fairly small and faint. Can just resolve some stars. With averted vision, cluster appears larger and nebulous.
Diffuse patch with embedded star.
Can see brighter areas directly at 113X. Use 2" 32mm wide-field Erfle with OIII filter to fill the f.o.v. Can see complete structure. One side of the large oval is clearly fatter than the other - a lopsided donut.
Because its near a bright star, its quite difficult to see.
Bright and distinct broad fan. There is a nice blue and yellow double star nearby that is just below the Cone Nebula.
Couldn't see. Does anyone have any notes about equipment and observing conditions?
Small diffuse patch with a few stars resolved. I can resolve quite a few more stars by bumping up the magnification to 176X with my 9mm Nagler. Seeing doesn't allow the best view.
2245 is the brightest of these three and fan-shaped. Mag 11 star is embedded. 2247 has an embedded mag 8.5 star. I think I can also detect nearby nebulae IC2167 and IC2169.
Small and fairly faint diffuse ball. Had to use Uranometria to pinpoint location.
Embedded mag 9.3 star, appears off-center. Fairly bright to see this easily and this low in the sky.
Faint oval. Pops out nicely with averted vision.
Medium-sized oval with very bright nucleus.
Fairly small oval with bright central region.
Easy, with a few other galaxies nearby. NGC2914 (13.2) and NGC2919 (12.8) are about the same brightness and dimmer and smaller than 2911. All are oval. NGC2912 (?) appears to be a very small faint galaxy between 2911 and 2914.
Good size, but low surface brightness. Comes out well with averted vision.
Fairly bright ball - looks circular. Rich galaxy area. Spent a lot of time here identifying faint galaxies listed in Uranometria. In order of difficulty seeing
Except for the Cone Nebula, I have now observed everything on page 12 of Sky Atlas 2K.
After such intense star-hopping and observing, I like to unwind on some easy targets before I pack up. I spent the rest of the night in Leo looking at a few Messier galaxies (M105, M95, M96, M65, and M66), and objects in their vicinity. Its amazing how bright and rich with details these galaxies are after studying much fainter objects.
I was packed up and on the road home at about 1:30AM. February's demand for ancient photons had been satisfied nicely. A few TACos were still enjoying the clear, dark, and (relatively) warm night. Apparently, their photon needs were greater than mine and took longer to satisfy.