Tax Day 2001
Those that decided to head up the hill to Henry Coe State Park had a fairly good evening. Observing attendees included Marsha Robinson, Bob Czerwinski and myself.
Observing conditions were considerably improved over Saturday's (at Dino and I suspect at Coe as well). I saw hints of actual blue sky before dusk, so the air borne dust from Mongolia is abating.
Temps started in the high 40s and fell. Humidity started at 75% and increased to ~90% with no dew forming on the optics. Wind was fairly calm: just a slight breeze from time to time.
Seeing was at times pretty soft. On the 1 - 10 scale, seeing varied between a 4 and 7. I chose not to go much above 165X.
OTAs of 10 & 11 inch diameter were pulling in objects of mag 12 and maybe slightly higher, which was better than down in the valleys. The San Jose light domes were hardly a problem.
I was able to log 14 objects, completing my Herschel 400-1 listing. My last object logged was a globular cluster, 5897, in Libra. The tough target of the night was 5556 in Hydra. I found that my Orion SkyGlow filter helped me extract the object from the from the triangle by the trapezoidal asterism. My favorite object of the evening bears my birthdate: 5746. This edge-on galaxy is superb! The dust lane was quite evident and the overall texture of the object appeared granular through the C-11.
I began the Herschels in earnest back on June 24 at Fremont Peak where I logged all of three objects with my 7" diameter OTA.
The H400-1 list has definitely improved my observing skills. Now, I must decide on a new target list. The obvious choice is H400-2, but I suspect that will be more of the same. If I go much fainter than I'll need a larger OTA than the C-11 that I acquired during the year. Maybe I should start the HCGs, so I can justify a still more respectable diameter OTA.
The listening part of the evening was amusing, and at times chilling. Coe's chorus of critters is constantly changing, and currently, the porcine equivalent of a rut must be in full swing. We heard squeals, grunts and growls for most of the evening. I'm sure it sounded just great to the large group of feral pigs.
And when the parking lot gets quiet, there's always the owl in the oak to keep me company.
It surely beats barking dogs and loud car stereos in my 'hood.