Near the end of the Friday night report I mentioned an observation of Mars.
My observation started at about 3:45 am until about 4:15 am. After which I happily turn in for the night.
The planets detail, even though sky conditions had weakened and the planet was rather low in the sky, (minus 20 degrees) was remarkably good. At 200x through Tobor the Great, I was greeted with a fine view of the Syrtis Major Region.
The much darker area of Syrtis Major Planum contrasted nicely with the regions Arabia Terra and Elysium Planitia on either side, during moments of good seeing the northern polar cap was glimpsed.
Mars will make a fine target during our annual trips to Lassen and Cal-Star.
Saturday night began much the same Friday had gone with even better sky conditions. I spent allot of time on the Gas Giants and the Moon, much of it at 500x. Suffice it to say, the views were great. But my need was for Galaxies!
With that bright thingy sill hanging rather high I had no choice but to go after brighter objects than I really wanted, but as I was to discover all over again, great fun can be had going after the bright stuff.
I started in Leo, right under the Lion's chin with NGC 2903 this fine object revealed itself nicely in the 8" and majestically in the 12.5" scope. The dark curving dusk lane was vivid and what I took to be foreground stars might have been H II regions. I intend to get a better look at this through one of our groups larger scopes soon.
I then move on to NGC 3190. Because the moon was so bright I was using the Norton Star Atlas as my celestial guide for the bright stuff. Norton's only shows 3190 in that area, so it was a nice surprise to fine 3 galaxies in the eyepiece. 3190 sat between NGC 3193 and 3185. I sat looking intently and suddenly realized that I was looking at four galaxies not three! The fourth was NGC 3187, a 13.4 magnitude galaxy that I was seeing with an 8" SCT. I trained Blondie on them. With her wide field and larger aperture a fifth galaxy NGC 3221 14 mag. popped into view. Needless to say, I was having fun! It was also time to pull out a celestial guide that would take me deeper, so out came NSOG.
I flipped to the section for Leo and saw, on page 233 a photo of the field I now had under scrutiny, it assured me that my imagination was not getting the better of me.
I enjoy seeing a bunch of galaxies in the field of view of an eyepiece, so off I went in search of more. I traveled south to see if Blondie would be able to pick out another faint group. NGC 3016, 3019, 3020 and 3024 With magnitudes of 12.9, 14.0, 11.9 and 12.8. All of these objects were readily accessible in the 12.5" and with Tobor the Great all but 3019 came into view but 3024 was with averted vision. NGC 3067 is a nice edge on that is surprisingly bright for it's m12.1 rating.
I left Leo and headed to my favorite part of the night sky "Galaxy Central", the area bounded by Virgo, Coma and Canes Venatici. I played in that part of the sky for about two hours until my excitement was tempered by the onset of high and not so thin cloud bands approaching from the NW 30 minutes after moonset. 8^(
They moved in quickly so I spent the next 30 min. using binoculars, just relaxing in my chair an enjoying the summer Milky Way. All in all, it was a worthwhile two nights, a trip I will not soon forget.