by Shneor Sherman
I arrived at about 7:40 p.m. and set up. The area was mostly clear of dog turds, but there are 3 very active and large antholes. (The Fiddletown cat also put in a brief appearance.) I spend considerable time and effort in collimation (need to get the crosshairs for the Cheshire!).
| Equipment | 18" f/4.5 dob on a platform 30mm Widescan II+Teleview Visual Paracorr 13mm Nagler 5-8mm Speers-Waler zoom |
|---|---|
| Conditions | Transparency - 5.5 to 6.5 Seeing - 6 Clear except for early clouds to the west and southwest |
I observed a few new-to-me objects last night.
NGC6541, a globular in (I think) Scorpius (could be in Corona australis) bright center, dimmer shell, could not resolve stars at 260x.
NGC6946, a (as listed) bright galaxy in Cephues. This is listed at mag 8.8 or so, but it was reminiscent of M101 in terms of distributed light. Still I saw hints of pudgy arms in a large relatively dim form.
NGC6939, an open cluster, rather pretty, elongated with a few brighter stars, also in Cepheus.
NGC6181, an oval-shaped galaxy in Hercules, slightly brighter core.
Also viewed old favorites in Ursa Major, Saggitarius, Scorpios, Leo, Lyra and Cygnus.
Packed up starting at 1 a.m. due to fatigue.