by Paul Sterngold
It had been cooling rapidly in Alameda so the girls and I had brought our complete cold weather outfits. How ridiculous that turned out to be. It was shorts-and-tee-shirt warm until midnight.
There was a moderate haze surrounding us but more so when looking down into the valley. Despite this and the crescent moon, the Milky Way soon became apparent in Sagittarius and Cygnus. The seeing seemed very good, as the stars down to 30 degrees or better had that steady, intense look to them. When the moon set later, the Milky Way was clear and distinct all the way from near the southern horizon, up and over to Casseiopeia. Better yet, the dark rifts in Cygnus and near Aquila were obvious, and directly overhead you could see that grainy texture. This was one of the best nights I think I recall at DV. I wished I'd brought a scope.
We probably saw between 6-12 Perseids an hour, with a smattering of "sporadics" (hope that's the correct term) as well. The best two of the evening came before midnight. One bright, fairly slow fireball shot from Cygnus through Lyra early in the evening, before 10:30pm. It was quite yellow and left a yellow trail for a few seconds. A similar but faster one jetted further east, about an hour later. There were plenty of less bright ones all night, although the rate seemed actually to taper off after midnight. Still, the girls enjoyed them greatly, quickly pointing one way or the other when they spied a shooter.
I set up my 16x60 binoculars on a tripod and scanned around a bit. The girls enjoyed the binoculars and found several nebulae and clusters on their own, just by scanning. After midnight, I continued working on my binocular Messier survey and bagged 7 new M's (report below). Howard and I also cruised to some showpiece objects and enjoyed the views: Andromeda, the Double Cluster, M81/M82, M51 (surprisingly dim), M101 (surprisingly bright), the Lagoon, the Swan, etc.
After midnight, the girls laid out some blankets on the ground and watched for a while form this position, but it wasn't long before we heard their snoring.
Despite the midges which seemed to get worse later in the night, this was one of the best nights I've ever spent at DV and overall a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying evening.
Observing Report:
12-Aug-2002: Observations from Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore. Seeing seemed very good although I didn't have a scope to check, but the summer Milky Way in Cygnus seemed almost grainy and the stars shone solid and bright without any flickering or pulsing until you got down below 30 degrees from the horizon. Transparency pretty good although a slight haze, but the limiting mag may have been the best I've ever seen at DV, with the Milky Way distinct all the way from Sagittarius through Cass, and the dark rifts near Cygnus and Aquila clear and distinct. Observations made with my new Pentax 16x60 binoculars:
| 8/13/02, 12:00 AM |
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Open Cluster Wild Duck Cluster M11 NGC 6705 Other description: Open cluster dense. Constellation: Sct Dreyer description: Remarkable!, cluster, very bright, large, irregularly round, rich in stars, 9th magnitude star, stars of magnitude 11 and fainter; = M11. Magnitude: 5.8 RA: 18h 51m 14.5s Dec: -06°15'47" RA: 18h 51m 06.0s Dec: -06°16'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 208°16'15" Alt: +39°39'46" Rise: 16:48 Transit: 22:29 Set: 04:14 Size:14.0' Hour angle: 01h 26m 04.4s Air mass: 1.57 |
| Easy to find at the end of an arc of stars running down and to the right from eta aquilae. also a distinctive trapezoid immediately to the right. the cluster itself is impressive, with a distinct fan-shape running with the point on the left and the fan to the right.the point is quite bright, there seems to be a brighter star there than in the other parts of the cluster. a bright star to the left does not seem to be involved in the cluster. |
| 8/13/02, 12:10 AM |
Star M26 NGC 6694 Other description: Open cluster rich. Constellation: Sct Dreyer description: Cluster, considerably large, westward rich in stars, westward compressed, stars of magnitude 12 to 15; = M26. Magnitude: 8.0 RA: 18h 45m 20.6s Dec: -09°23'49" RA: 18h 45m 12.0s Dec: -09°24'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 212°42'56" Alt: +34°44'38" Rise: 16:53 Transit: 22:23 Set: 03:58 Size:15.0' Hour angle: 01h 47m 00.7s Air mass: 1.75 |
| DV, warm night, probably in the sixties. fairly dark for dv, south and zenith are great. seeing seems quite good though i don't have a scope to check it. pentax 16x60 binoculars. this cluster seems small, especially compared to the wild duck which i just saw. dimmer as well. seems to "flare" up (north) with brighter point to the south. |
| 8/13/02, 12:40 AM |
Globular Cluster M75 NGC 6864 Other description: Globular cluster unresolved. Constellation: Sgr Dreyer description: Globular cluster, bright, pretty large, round, very much brighter middle bright nucleus, partially resolved; = M75. Magnitude: 8.6 RA: 20h 06m 15.5s Dec: -21°54'34" RA: 20h 06m 06.0s Dec: -21°55'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 194°36'20" Alt: +26°43'07" Rise: 19:00 Transit: 23:44 Set: 04:32 Size: 6.0' Hour angle: 00h 56m 11.8s Air mass: 2.22 |
| challenging star/field hop from beta, to the rho/omicron/eta group, to sigma, then to a small asterism and finally down and to the right to this glob. dim, no detail. along one edge of a triangle of dim stars. no detail. |
| 8/13/02, 12:40 AM |
Globular Cluster M72 NGC 6981 Other description: Globular cluster. Constellation: Aqr Dreyer description: Globular cluster, pretty bright, pretty large, round, gradually much compressed middle, well resolved; = M72. Magnitude: 9.4 RA: 20h 53m 38.9s Dec: -12°31'24" RA: 20h 53m 30.0s Dec: -12°32'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 182°42'31" Alt: +37°26'12" Rise: 19:12 Transit: 00:31 Set: 05:55 Size: 5.9' Hour angle: 00h 08m 48.4s Air mass: 1.64 |
| easy to find coming down from mu/eta, then past a dim triangle. there's a star immediately to the right. more interesting than the previous one, there's a hint of resolved stars and detail but i can't hold it directly. |
| 8/13/02, 12:45 AM |
Open Cluster M73 NGC 6994 Other description: Asterism. Constellation: Aqr Dreyer description: Cluster, extremely sparse in stars, very little compressed, no nebula; = M73. Magnitude: 9.0 RA: 20h 59m 08.9s Dec: -12°37'24" RA: 20h 59m 00.0s Dec: -12°38'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 182°33'37" Alt: +37°20'28" Rise: 19:18 Transit: 00:37 Set: 06:00 Size: 3.0' Hour angle: 00h 08m 20.3s Air mass: 1.65 |
| hmm, if this is it, very small and no detail. unimpressive. |
| 8/13/02, 12:50 AM |
Globular Cluster M30 NGC 7099 Other description: Globular cluster highly resolved. Constellation: Cap Dreyer description: Remarkable!, globular cluster, bright, large, little extended, gradually westward much brighter middle, stars of magnitude 12 to 16; = M30. Magnitude: 7.5 RA: 21h 40m 33.3s Dec: -23°10'17" RA: 21h 40m 24.0s Dec: -23°11'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 172°47'58" Alt: +26°29'28" Rise: 20:40 Transit: 01:18 Set: 06:01 Size:11.0' Hour angle: -00h 28m 02.6s Air mass: 2.24 |
| easy to find by hopping from. pretty bright, there's a dim star immediately to its right, and a much brighter pair further to the left. no detail though. |
| 8/13/02, 12:55 AM |
Star M2 NGC 7089 Other description: Globular cluster highly resolved. Constellation: Aqr Dreyer description: Very remarkable!, globular cluster, bright, very large, gradually westward much brighter middle, well resolved, stars extremely small; = M2. Magnitude: 6.5 RA: 21h 33m 38.4s Dec: -00°48'18" RA: 21h 33m 30.0s Dec: -00°49'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 173°50'49" Alt: +49°01'45" Rise: 19:12 Transit: 01:11 Set: 07:14 Size:12.9' Hour angle: -00h 16m 07.6s Air mass: 1.32 |
| easy star hop up from beta, very bright. large and impressive. big bright core but also large "halo" that hints at resolved individual stars, has a grainy appearance. i like this object. somewhat isolated in the field, there's a dim star nearby to the right but nothing else competing in the field. |
| 8/13/02, 12:55 AM |
Globular Cluster M15 NGC 7078 Other description: Globular cluster highly resolved. Constellation: Peg Dreyer description: Remarkable!, globular cluster, very bright, very large, irregularly round, very abruptly much brighter middle, well resolved, stars very small; = M15. Magnitude: 6.4 RA: 21h 30m 08.0s Dec: +12°10'41" RA: 21h 30m 00.0s Dec: +12°10'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 173°24'52" Alt: +62°02'22" Rise: 18:24 Transit: 01:08 Set: 07:55 Size:12.3' Hour angle: -00h 12m 37.2s Air mass: 1.13 |
| easy star hop from epsilon. similar to above but in a busier field with stars above, below and to the left. brighter, more intense core than above, but with a less distinct "halo". but still quite bright and impressive. |
| 8/13/02, 1:05 AM |
Star M71 NGC 6838 Other description: Globular cluster highly resolved. Constellation: Sge Dreyer description: Cluster, very large, very rich in stars, westward much compressed, stars of magnitude 11 to 16; = M71. Magnitude: 8.3 RA: 19h 53m 55.4s Dec: +18°47'28" RA: 19h 53m 48.0s Dec: +18°47'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 230°21'09" Alt: +60°45'29" Rise: 16:19 Transit: 23:28 Set: 06:40 Size: 7.2' Hour angle: 01h 33m 38.0s Air mass: 1.15 |
| easy to find along the "point" of sagitta. quite bright although buried in a beautiful and busy star field. doesn't have a bright core, seems pretty evenly spread out and large compared to m2 and m15, but no resolved. distinctive line of three stars immediately to the right and slightly below, with graduated brightnesses. |
| 8/13/02, 1:05 AM |
Planetary Nebula Dumbbell Nebula M27 NGC 6853 Other description: Planetary nebula irregular. Constellation: Vul Dreyer description: A magnificent (or otherwise interesting) object!, very bright, very large, binuclear, irregular extended (Dumbbell); = M27. Magnitude: 8.1 RA: 19h 59m 43.3s Dec: +22°43'29" RA: 19h 59m 36.0s Dec: +22°43'00" (Epoch 2000) Azm: 233°38'20" Alt: +64°38'14" Rise: 16:09 Transit: 23:34 Set: 07:02 Size:15.2' Hour angle: 01h 27m 50.2s Air mass: 1.11 |
| very bright, distnictive bone shape with dimmer "ears" at either end. easy to find as the fourth vertice of a rectangle with albireo, gamma and ---. nice field, sits in a trapezoid of somewhat bright stars, with many others in the field. |