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 - 1:30am CDT |
| Transparency | Clear |
| Seeing | Fairly Stable |
| Weather | Temperature in the upper 60s. There was a 5mph breeze. |
In contrast to yesterday's thunderstorms, today the weather was absolutely gorgeous. By sunset, there still wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was comfortably warm with a soft cool breeze.
I didn't want to go to my dark-sky site, because I was afraid of carrying my telescope and other equipment over several yards of muddy ground. So I set my telescope up in my driveway. However, one of my neighbors was finishing up building a patio and had several lights on.
But the night was too good to waste. I pointed my telescope toward the East (away from the neighbor's lights), and began my observing session.
| Kappa | Double Star | Hercules | 10:05pm CDT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | RA: 16 08.1 | Dec: +17 03 | Mag: 5.3, 6.5 |
| This is a nice, pretty double at 49X. Both stars are bright yellow, with the companion being about a magnitude dimmer. | |||
| M 12 | Globular Cluster | Ophiuchus | 10:15pm CDT |
| NGC 6218 | RA: 16 47.2 | Dec: -01 57 | Mag: 6.6 |
| For a Messier globular, this one is fairly faint. At 188X, it was partially resolved. Little patches of stars could be seen amongst a fuzzy background. This globular had a somewhat irregular shape to it. Several fairly bright field stars surrounded the cluster. | |||
| M 10 | Globular Cluster | Ophiuchus | 10:20pm CDT |
| NGC 6254 | RA: 16 57.1 | Dec: -04 06 | Mag: 6.6 |
| This globular appears slightly brighter than M12. At 188X, stars can be resolved about 2/3 of the way in toward the center. Even though this one is also a little faint, at higher powers, it really begins to come into its own. | |||
| 70 | Double Star | Ophiuchus | 10:30pm CDT |
| RA: 18 05.5 | Dec: +02 30 | Mag: 4.2, 6.0 | |
| This is a pretty tight double. At 81X, you can barely split it, but 188X makes a much nicer view. The primary is pretty white, and the secondary is fainter and yellow in color. | |||
| M 5 | Globular Cluster | Serpens | 10:45pm CDT |
| NGC 5904 | RA: 15 18.6 | Dec: +02 05 | Mag: 5.8 |
| This is a really nice globular. The best view tonight was at 188X. Hundreds of stars were visible and the core was a diffuse glow. There are several stars surrounding the cluster, that make it difficult to tell exactly where the cluster's boundaries are. | |||
| M 14 | Globular Cluster | Ophiuchus | 11:00pm CDT |
| NGC 6402 | RA: 17 37.6 | Dec: -03 15 | Mag: 7.6 |
|
This cluster was pretty easy to find. It's about the same size and
brightness as M 10 and M 12, but I wes unable to resolve it. Despite various
magnifications, it appeared as nothing more than a fuzzy gray circle of
light.
About this time, the neighbors had finished with the patio project. They saw that I was using my telescope, so they promptly doused their lights. My neighbor's boy came over and asked if he could set up his small Bushnell refractor next to me. Of course, I told him it was okay. I showed him a few highlights in the sky, and helped him to locate the same ones in his own telescope. He was really excited about seeing Mars. In his telescope, it was a small, featureless disk. In mine, the image shimmered pretty badly, but a few features were visible in moments of good seeing. By combining my red and yellow filters, the contrast improved and made the details more obvious. At this point, he decided to just point his telescope at random to spots in the sky and see what was there. I told him that the richest regions of the sky would be along the Cygnus and Aquila regions of the sky (where the Milky Way was). He seemed to be content at doing this, so I decided to pick out a few more gems of my own. | |||
| Dumbbell (M 27) | Planetary Nebula | Vulpecula | 11:35pm CDT |
| NGC 6853 | RA: 19 59.6 | Dec: +22 43 | Mag: 8.1 |
| About the best view was at 81X. It was definitely apple-core or hourglass shaped. The nebula appeared to be of a pretty even brightness throughout, but faded quickly around the edges. | |||
| M 71 | Globular Cluster | Sagitta | 11:40pm CDT |
| NGC 6838 | RA: 19 53.8 | Dec: +18 47 | Mag: 8.3 |
| This is a faint, diffuse globular. After looking at it with my 8" reflector, I can definitely see why I couldn't find it with my 2.4" refractor. At 81X, the oblong, irregular shape of the cluster is obvious and a few stars are resolved. My best view was at 122X, where about 15-20 stars are visible with direct vision. | |||
| NGC 6712 | Globular Cluster | Scutum | 12:55am CDT |
| RA: 18 53.1 | Dec: -08 42 | Mag: 8.1 | |
| I came across this globular while panning my telescope through the Milky Way. It is smaller and much dimmer than nearby M 11. Even at 188X, I really couldn't resolve the cluster. Like M 14 it is a featureless gray circle of light. | |||