by Tom Campbell
| Observer | Tom Campbell |
|---|---|
| Location | The Pasture (Long: 95W 12' Lat: 37N 48') |
| Equipment | 8" Discovery DHQ dob |
| Eyepieces | 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (49x), 15mm (81x), 10mm (122x), 6.5mm (188x), 4mm (305x) |
| Filters | Lumicon O-III |
| Time | 7:00pm - 9:30pm CST |
| Transparency | Very Clear (9/10) |
| Seeing | Stable (8/10) |
| Weather | Temperatures steadily falling throughout the evening. There was little or no wind. |
Boy, it sure does get dark early now! After a quick bite of supper, I drove out into the country to meet up with a friend and fellow observer. Twilight was nearly over by the time I made it to the site. His 20" StarMaster was cooling down and he had his pickup truck lights on so I would see the entrance to the correct pasture.
Once I had set up my 8", we doused all the non-red lights and began our separate observing sessions. Mike was working on some galactic triplets. I, on the other hand, soon realized that in my haste, had forgotten to grab my observing list. Doh! At least I had my star charts. I picked an area of sky I wanted to start working in, looked up the appropriate chart, and began.
| Uranus | Capricornus | Planet | 7:00pm CDT |
|---|---|---|---|
| RA: 2134.3 | Dec: -1512 | Mag: 5.8 | |
| At 188x, the disk is clearly visible and appears to be light grey. Moving the planet out of focus slightly reveals the bluish-green tint. No surface details were visible (nor were any expected to be). It could be mistaken for a planetary nebula, except for the fact that the edges are sharply defined. | |||
| M 75 | Sagittarius | Globular Cluster | 7:10pm CST |
| NGC 6864 | RA: 2006.1 | Dec: -2155 | Mag: 8.6 |
| At low power, this cluster looks more like a tailless comet than anything else. No stars could be resolved, even at high magnification. It has a bright central glow which rapidly fades away. | |||
| M 74 | Pisces | Spiral Galaxy | 7:15pm CST |
| NGC 628 | RA: 0136.7 | Dec: +1547 | Mag: 9.2 |
| This galaxy is extremely faint but rather large. At 49x, it could barely be detected as I swept past this region of sky. The core is nearly stellar with a patch of haze surrounding it. Little if any structure could be noted. | |||
| M 33 | Triangulum | Spiral Galaxy | 7:25pm CST |
| NGC 598 | RA: 0133.9 | Dec: +3039 | Mag: 5.7 |
| This is a large galaxy and fit nicely into the field at 49x. It is fairly faint, but not too bad for its size. This galaxy has a bright, non-stellar core and the overall shape of the galaxy is somewhat oval. No real spiral detail could be observed with direct vision, but perhaps a little started to show up with averted vision. | |||
| Eastern Veil Nebula | Cygnus | Supernova Remnant | 7:30pm CST |
| NGC 6992 | RA: 2056.2 | Dec: +3104 | Mag: ? |
| Without any filters, this supernova remnant is obvious in the eyepiece at
49x. With the O-III filter and my 51.5mm eyepiece, the nebulosity just jumps
out and becomes alive, with tendrils and strands loosely tied together. In
my mind's eye, I could almost see the initial explosion.
With the O-III filter and my 25mm (49x) eyepiece, the nebulosity appeared slightly brighter compared to the background sky, but much of its glory was lost because of the limited field of view. | |||
| M 30 | Capricornus | Globular Cluster | 8:10pm CST |
| NGC 7099 | RA: 2140.4 | Dec: -2311 | Mag: 6.9 |
| This globular is a little larger than M75, as well as a little brighter. At 122x, the stars begin to resolve. At one end, two little strings of stars seem to stick out like antennas or rabbit ears. At 188x, the cluster begins to take on a mottled appearance, with a few more edge stars becoming resolved. | |||
| Helical Nebula | Aquarius | Planetary Nebula | 8:30pm CST |
| NGC 7293 | RA: 2229.6 | Dec: -2050 | Mag: 7.6 |
| This is an extremely large planetary. It is slightly oval and irregular in
shape. At 81x, it fits into the field of view comfortably. It has a lot less
nebulosity in the center than it does around the edges. This gives it the
appearance similar to that of M57, except the Helical Nebula is much larger
and has less contrast between the inner and outer portions.
At 49x with the O-III filter, the outer edges become much more sharply defined. The ringlike structure disappears as the middle portions of the nebula are filled with varying intensities of nebulosity. A triangle of stars frames this nebula. | |||
| NGC 253 | Sculptor | Spiral Galaxy | 8:50pm CST |
| RA: 0047.6 | Dec: -2517 | Mag: 8.0 | |
| This is a really nice cigar-shaped spiral galaxy. At 49x, it takes up about
2/3 of the field of view along the major axis. One arm of the galaxy appears
brighter than the other, and 3 or 4 "stars" appear superimposed over parts
of the core region. Perhaps they really are foreground stars, or maybe some
hot and dense regions of the galaxy.
Some brighter stars are both above and below the galactic plane. Increasing the magnification allowed me to see the superimposed stars easier. This is a real treat to view. | |||
| NGC 288 | Sculptor | Globular Cluster | 9:00pm CST |
| RA: 0052.8 | Dec: -2635 | Mag: 8.1 | |
| At 81x, it is a somewhat faint but large cluster. It is fairly spread out and many stars are resolved. 122x didn't seem to bring out many more stars. The cluster appears fairly symmetrical. The stars seem to be at about the resolution limit of my telescope, so averted vision makes the globular look much better than direct vision does. If this one was a little higher in the sky, it would probably be a favorite. | |||
Having just gotten over an illness and with the temperature rapidly cooling down, I decided to pack it in for the evening.