Finally got a nice night out to a dark sky site with members of our local TAC South group. I splintered off from the crowd at the observatory campground with my observing buddy Paul LeFevre to observe from a roadside turnout with better horizons. This report is a largely unedited dump directly from my laptop observing log. A bit rough and lacking some crucial info but hopefully still enjoyable to peruse.
| Observer | Curt Wittenberg (with Paul LeFevre) |
|---|---|
| Location | Palomar Mountain Turnout on S6 toward Lake Henshaw |
| Date/Time | 6/16-6/17 9PM-2:45AM Local Time (6/17 5:00-11:00 UT) |
| Seeing | 6/10-8/10 (some areas and times of sub arc second seeing). |
| Limiting Mag | about 6.5 |
| Equipment | 12.5" f/5, 32 Russell Konig, 22 Panoptic, 13 Russell SWA, 8 mm Radian, (15 Panoptic and 18 Radian from Paul) 1.8 and 2.5 Televue Barlows |
More testing of MacDobs DSCs (one failed alignment, two successful) and Observation List
Wrapped up at 2:40 AM after loosing alignment and having several failures and getting poor alignment (more than 1 deg off) several times.
| Omega Centauri | Centaurus | Globular cluster | +3.70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picked as a third alignment star after aligning on Vega and Regulus. Reticle idnšt realign to position when choosen. Amazingly very easy to pick out in south western skyglow from Palomar turnout. About 80 % of 22 Pan. Resolved stars. | |||
| M57 (Ring Nebula) | Lyra | Planetary nebula | +9.50 |
| Nice alignment. Very clear ring with cloudy opening. Spent time attempting to resolve filamentation with and without OIII. OIII darkened field significantly but not substantially increased resolution or extent. No central star. Seeing could handle up to 380X fairly well. 8mm w/1.8 X | |||
| NGC 6369, Little Ghost Nebula | Ophiuchus | Planetary nebula | +12.90 |
| Picked from Best of NGC. NGC 6369. Annular planetary, clearlly see ring. Brightening at bottom right in eyepiece (North). Fuzzy star in 22 Pan at 70X, clear ring at 199 in 8mm and some detail at 360X. NSOG says 30" diameter. | |||
| NGC 6572 | Ophiuchus | Planetary nebula | +9.30 |
| Indistinguishable from other stars in 22 Pan at 71X except strikingly blue (almost turquoise. Wasnšt sure about star field but figured it must be it because bluest object I have seen. Seemed to lose color with mag like 6210 did. 8mm showed little color wheras paulšs 15 Pan was about half way in between. At 360X no discernable detail. | |||
| NGC 6210 | Hercules | Planetary nebula | +9.30 |
| Reexamined 6210. Not as blue as 6572 but obviously blue in 22. Tried 18 Radian, 13 Russell (thought I saw annulus here but not sure), 8 Radian with and without Barlow. Like previous session thought I could see less color with mag (none at 200X). Not sure about annulus but bit of texture at 360X. | |||
| M7, Ptolemy's Cluster | Scorpius | Open cluster | +3.00 |
| Pretty open cluster Bright even field stars of similar white color | |||
| M6, Butterfly Cluster | Scorpius | Open cluster | +4.00 |
| Pretty tapestry of stars, less bright but denser than M7. | |||
| M11, Wild Duck Cluster | Scutum | Open cluster | +5.79 |
| Very pretty OC. Appears almost as globular. Beautifully framed in 22 Pan. Sandy field with many 8 mag and one white 6 mag in center. Significant contrast in color. | |||
| Mars | Ophiuchus | Planet | -2.35 |
| Image virtually identical to image on SNP for 12:20 AM 6/16. Mars Previewer on Paulšs PC didnšt show view we were seeing. Need to cross reference these observations with chart. Syrtis major, hellas and other two white regions visible. Hellas against limb. Creamy white. Small dark regions along central portion of the planet easily visible at times of good seeing. 360X no problem. Floaters and seeing limitation at 500X with 2.5X barlow | |||
| NGC 6144 | Scorpius | Globular cluster | +9.0 |
| Faint but large globular in same field of 22 Pan with Antares. Noticed on way to M4. | |||
| Izar | Boötes | , Multiple | +2.34 |
| Easily split at times of good seeing. Light yellow mag 5 and white mag 2. | |||
| Albireo | Cygnus | , Multiple | +3.03 |
| Creamy gold and lightt blue. Beautiful wide split in 22 pan | |||
| M3 | Canes Venatici | Globular cluster | +7.00 |
| Great glob. Very dense and sandy with smooth transition toward outer regions. 13 mm Russell and barlowed 22 pan compare well. Pan Flatter. Fill central 1/3 of field. Less satisfying in 8mm where none of the bright field stars are visible. | |||
Also observed a number of other objects including Eta Cas, M4, regions of Pelican and North American Nebulae without and with OIII filter (dramatic improvement seen), M17, and others but didnšt take any notes on those.