In a message dated 3/28/01 6:22:52 PM Pacific Standard Time, Mark Wagner writes:
Absolute vivid green (okay, gray/green) around the Trap, and the upper wing had plenty of warm hues of brown/red showing. Stunning. If I get a chance, I'll write up my notes.
Yes, very obvious color. That alone was worth the price of admission.
I too promised an observing report from the 17th and haven't had the time to do it. I wish I had spent the night, instead of assuming I would get a full night on new moon/Messy marathon night. :-(
Phooey, here's the short story.
On the 17th from Dinosaur Point I took my 12.5" dob for some long awaited observing. I've been spending time lately with my TV101 and working on photos, so it'd been awhile since I just had fun observing.
I managed 33 objects, not counting the usual Messiers which probably was at least another 10 objects. 30 of the 33 were from the Herschel 400 list. Again, the open clusters were driving me crazy, especially the ones in Monoceros where there are few bright guide stars. Still, I managed 15 open cluster from the list. Other than NGC 2169 (the '37' cluster) which I had actually observed before, none of these open clusters were particularly interesting or unique to me. Maybe I was just in a bad mood. :-)
There were a few standout galaxies though. NGC 2903 in Leo was a beauty. Bright, large and extended with a brighter core. NGC 2683 in Lynx at mag 12.5 was long, narrow with a bright center. NGC 2841 in Ursa Major (mag 10.5) was another pleasant find. Very extended, the usual brighter core and a bunch of mag 11 stars in the field.
Those were my favorites of the night, but like those bumper stickers that say "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work," I had a great time observing and truly enjoyed observing everything, even those pesky open clusters.
On the ill fated Messier Marathon night, I logged 2 Herschel 400 galaxies in Leo. NGC's 3226/3227 were an intriguing interacting pair. I was using Prof. Plum, my 8" f/7 homebrew scope that night. At mag 12.5 they weren't bright, and 3227 was not at first obvious to me. Of course Wagner spotted it right away. I went over to Mark's 18" dob (hey Mark, can I borrow your scope for a sec?) and found this pair. It's an easy find by the way, just an eyepiece field away from Algieba, one of the neck stars in the head of Leo. The pair was very obvious and bears returning in the future.
I also found NGC 2286 in Monoceros, an open cluster, with the TV 101 that I had brought for photography.
Well, that's the quick version, and about all you're gonna get this month!