by Albert Highe
Friday afternoon I drove up to our property near Angels Camp and set up my tent and scope for a weekend of observing.
The weather was typical of the area and reinforces my opinion of observing in the Sierra Foothills. At Midnight, I was in my t-shirt. Temperatures were still in the low to mid-70's with 25% - 40% RH and little to no wind. Skies were dark and fairly transparent. Seeing was very good, being better Saturday night. Mars could easily support >400X during periods of steady seeing.
By 2AM, the temperature dropped to 68 F, requiring a long sleeve shirt or a light jacket. Bugs were nearly non-existent. Only a few mosquitoes paid a visit.
Saturday afternoon Guillermo Ortiz arrived with his 18" in tow. Sitting in the shade, overlooking the lake, we shared chips and dip, sushi, and beer while we waited for the Sun to set.
| Scope | 12.5" f/5 ultralight |
|---|---|
| Eyepieces | 14mm and 6mm Radian, 9mm Nagler |
I continued my Sky Atlas 2K observing program, finding approximately 40 new objects on page 14. Much of the time I left my 9mm Nagler in the scope. My 80mm finder was well aligned. Most of the time objects would be within the field-of-view once I star-hopped to the intended location. This eyepiece provides almost a half degree field-of-view at a magnification of 176X. The excellent seeing and good transparency offered some excellent high contrast views of faint fuzzies. For brighter galaxies, even the 6mm Radian at 265X worked well.
One of the naked-eye highlights of the night was when a bright meteor did a slow burn across approximately 10 degrees of sky above Sagittarius. The meteor lasted for approximately three seconds. I could see small portions ablate and burn separately from the main body.
My favorite collection of galaxies for the night are located in Virgo in a 1 degree field centered approximately at RA 12h 20m, Dec 5.5 degrees. With the 9mm Nagler, I could see all six of the following galaxies in the same f.o.v.
In particular, I liked the first four galaxies which lie almost in a straight line.
There are numerous other galaxies just outside the f.o.v., such as the difficult NGC4266 (next to a bright star), NGC4324, NGC4300, NGC4264, NGC4261, and NGC4257. I spent quite a while hopping among them while at the eyepiece. Also within this area are four small 14th magnitude galaxies: NGC4282, NGC4287, NGC4252, and NGC4249. I could detect them about 50% of the time with averted vision.
I ended the night cruising the showpiece objects of Sagittarius. I also visited one of my favorite pairs of objects that I discovered last year. It' s a small open cluster, NGC6520, next to a dark nebula, B86. Located in a rich area of the Milky Way, I would normally consider these objects unremarkable by themselves. But I find the juxtaposition of the higher density of stars against the near absence of stars to be fascinating. It is one of those objects I return to every opportunity I get.
Although I was in cruising mode, a quick look at my Sky Atlas 2K indicated a planetary nebula, NGC6565, a couple of degrees away. I hadn't seen it before. With a diameter of 9", I couldn't quite convince myself I could distinguish it from a star at 176X. However, with the 6mm Radian at 265X, it showed up clearly as a hazy disk.
The open cluster, M7, is not one of the showpiece objects I usually observe. It had been years since I had seen it, so I took a look at it. I also checked my Sky Atlas 2K for any interesting objects in the area. There is a small globular cluster, NGC6453, at its edge that I had never seen. Sure enough, it's a tight, bright, little ball of stars. Seeing at that elevation wasn't great, but I could resolve some of its stars at 176X.
I observed about 60 new objects. I started out in Coma Berenices, trying to identify members of Abell1656. The brighter members NGC4889 (11.5, 2.8X2.1) and NGC4874 (11.7, 2.4X2.4) were easy. At 176X I could see a number of smaller, fainter galaxies buzzing around these two. I drew their locations and will have to consult some reference to identify them. The fifty or so galaxies shown in Uranometria in this region are plotted so close together that identification is impossible. Farther out from the swarm, the density is low enough that identification is easier. For example, I could identify NGC's 4961 (13.6, 1.5X1.0), 4957 (13.0, 1.1X0.9), 4944 (12.9, 1.5X0.6), 4931 (13.5, 1.6X0.6), 4934 (14.4, 0.9X0.2), 4929 (13.4, 0.9X0.9), and 4927 (13.7). I don't know if these are part of Abell1656.
I continued my Sky Atlas 2K observing program on page 7.
At about Midnight, I ruined my night vision by observing Mars. At 400X with a 4mm Lanthanum eyepiece, I could see a wealth of detail during periods of steady seeing. These were, by far, the best views of Mars I have ever seen.
I then returned to almost finish the objects on page 7. I have to pick up a few I missed.
At 3:30AM we packed up our eyepieces and headed off to sleep. But before turning in we noticed that a yellow crescent Moon had just risen. It looked like dim light emanating from a crescent-shaped window in a house perched atop the distant Sierra Mountains.