by Tom Campbell
| Observer | Tom Campbell |
|---|---|
| Location | Iola, Kansas (Long: 95 30' W Lat: 37 55' N) |
| Equipment | 8" Discovery DHQ dob |
| Eyepieces | 1.25" Plössls (25mm, 15mm, 10mm, 6.5mm, 4mm) |
| Time | 10:00pm - 11:50pm CDT |
| Transparency | Mostly Clear |
| Seeing | Stable |
| Weather | Temperature in 60s. There was little to no wind. |
Yesterday was clear, and around sunset, I set up my telescope and waited for twilight to end. However, by about 10:00pm, just as the sky was really getting dark, a bank of clouds started rolling in. So after only cursory glimpses through the telescope, I packed it in.
It turned out that we got over a quarter inch of rain during the night. Today was just the opposite. It started out overcast, but by sunset it had started clearing off. I waited until about 9:00pm and the skies continued to get clearer, so I set up the telescope outside to let it cool down.
My neighbor, bless her heart, saw that I was outside, so kept her porch light turned off. Therefore, I was able to hide the glare of the surrounding porchlights with my shed, and actually was able to get some fairly dark skies. I decided to put my darker skies to the test and look at some galaxies in Leo.
| NGC-3193 (Galaxy) [Leo] - 10:00pm CDT |
|---|
| At 49x, I could just barely make out this galaxy with averted vision. With direct vision, it completely disappears. Obviously, not much in the way of details could be seen, other than the fact that it was a nearly edge-on galaxy, right in the middle of a small group of fairly bright stars. |
| M105 & NGC-3384 (Galaxy) [Leo] - 10:05pm CDT |
|
Even at 81x, these two galaxies both appear to be fuzzy stars. They have
stellar cores with hints of fuzz around them. Both seem to be nearly
identical in size, shape, and brightness. I couldn't detect the fainter
NGC-3389, which should have been in the same field of view.
As an interesting side note, there is a sickle-shaped asterism of field stars in the same field of view as these two galaxies. If one was to make a miniature Leo constellation, then M105 would be approximately where Denebola is, and NGC-3384 would be about where M95/M96 are. This Leo-Within-Leo asterism makes this an easy pair of galaxies to identify. |
| M96 (Galaxy) [Leo] - 10:15pm CDT |
| This galaxy also has a stellar core, quickly dropping off in brightness around the edges. There is just a hint of shape and direction to it. It is fairly easy to spot, as it is placed in a section of the sky that is rather devoid of stars. 81x seemed to offer the best view. |
| M95 (Galaxy) [Leo] - 10:20pm CDT |
|
This galaxy does have a couple of field stars nearby. One is significantly
brighter than M95's core, and the other one is either the same brightness or
perhaps only slightly brighter. The galaxy forms a lopsided triangle with
these two stars.
This galaxy is best viewed with averted vision. With direct vision, only the stellar core is seen. It is difficult to really determine the exact shape of the galaxy. |
| M53 (Globular Cluster) [Coma Berenices] - 10:30pm CDT |
| This globular cluster is fairly small, compared to the other Messier globulars. The seeing conditions tonight weren't great, due to some dewing, so about the best view was at 122x. At this magnification, the outer edges of the cluster were just barely starting to resolve. To complicate matters, there appear to be a couple of field stars really close to the edge of the cluster, making it difficult to determine exactly how well the edges are being resolved. |
| M13 (Globular Cluster) [Hercules] - 10:45pm CDT |
| I never tire of viewing this globular, so thought I'd drop in on it again tonight. The resolvable stars in this cluster remind me of a pinwheel, spiraling out from the center. At 188x, hundreds of stars seem to jump out at you, all the way into the middle of the cluster. At this meagnification, the globular also fits nicely into the field of view. |
| M92 (Globular Cluster) [Hercules] - 10:50pm CDT |
|
Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to drop in on this little
globular as well. Although quite a bit smaller than nearby M13, it is
beautiful in its own right. 8" of aperture just isn't quite enough to bring
out its true beauty. At 305x, dozens of stars can be seen, but the central
core is still just a smudge.
Tonight, I had an unexpected treat. I saw a fire-breathing dragon! At 10:54pm CDT, a meteor streaked from near the head of Draco towards Hercules. It only lasted a second or two, and then disappeared near the head of Hercules. It was bright, probably around magnitude 0-1, and appeared to be mostly white with a touch of green. Hercules appeared to have survived the dragon's onslaught unharmed. I wonder what the ancient Greeks would have made of that! |
| M102 (Galaxy) [Draco] - 11:05pm CDT |
| This galaxy appears fairly elongated, but you can definitely see a rounded hump of a core. The galaxy is fairly small and faint for a Messier. |
| M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula) [Lyra] - 11:25pm CDT |
|
Lyra had just risen about the housetops and trees, and made for a tempting
target. Even at 49x, the smoke-ring shape was clearly discernable by using
averted vision. Increasing the magnification to 122x revealed a bright grey
outer ring with a dark grey interior and a small black center.
The dew was really getting bad at this point. My Telrad was dewing up quicker than I could wipe it off. But before calling it a night, I decided to take a peek at a couple of more objects in Lyra (since I was already there). |
| Epsilon Lyr (Double Double) (Double Star) [Lyra] - 11:30pm CDT |
| At 81x, both of the main components appeared elongated, and elongated in opposite directions, but the companions really couldn't be discerned. At 122x, both pairs can just barely be split. There isn't really any black space between them, due to the diffraction, but you could definitely make out two stars in each pair. By jumping up the magnification to 188X, the splits are much easier to detect. |
| M56 (Globular Cluster) [Lyra] - 11:45pm CDT |
|
This globular is pretty faint. Even though it is still pretty low in the
sky, I was expecting to see more detail. Except for it's general shape, the
structure had no detail, other than being brighter in the middle and
gradually decreasing in brightness all around the core. No individual stars
could be resolved.
This kind of reminds me of what most of the Messier globulars look like in my 60mm refractor. It also helps to explain why I was never able to find this cluster with my little telescope. |