by Jamie Dillon
Liam and I just had one night at Lake San Antonio, was good fun. My main job was chasing globulars around southern Ophiuchus before they ducked into the trees. There were 8 of 'em I was hunting in the neighborhoods of M19, M62 and M9 a bit farther north, had found 3 at the Peak on 18 August, got 5 more Saturday night. They keep popping out of the woodwork, so in that area of southern Oph I still have two to find off SkyAtlas, 6287 and 6235; this time the trees beat me to them. The prize of the evening, going back there from 18 Aug, was NGC 6293, a knockout, with bright core, swirls, some dust lanes.
Swung over to Capricornus to check on outer planets. Knowing from the charts how far Uranus and Neptune have moved, and seeing the change in the sky, are very different. Neptune still has that very electric blue.
Visiting a friend, NGC 253 in Sculptor, even though the sky to the South was no great shakes, was impressive as ever. Some galaxy. Saw 247 for the first time, just north of 253, looked tattered, diffuse. It looked to be close by, and yes where 253 is some 11 mly away (only some 5x farther away than M31), 247 is some 8 mly distant, similar distance as M81 and M82, the showpieces in UMa.
Add to this finding some OC's in the North that've been sitting on the go-see list, and lots of fun conversation and banter, again mention seeing the Perseus Cluster in Albert's 12.5, a night with highlights. Transparency was ca 5.5 most of the night, with seeing good, 4/5, better than most of our yards. Had M42 for dessert, only 2nd time this fall. What a sight.
This was all with Felix, a Celestron 11" f/4.5 Dobs with a primary made by Discovery. Was using a 22 Pan, 16mm UO Koenig, 10mm and 6mm Radians.
Thanks from here also to Wagner and Koop, and to Bartolini and Hudgins for the inspiration. Superb gathering.