Psc gal 383: elusive prey falls

by Carl Larson

I had the opportunity to do some very rare mid-week observing this past Wednesday night. I headed off to Coyote with my 9.25" pipe mount newtonian. I realize I should name my scopes but on this, my creativity fails. I'm open to suggestions.

Arrived just at sunset and it was immediately apparent how much cooler it would be than just two nights earlier. As twilight moved to darkness I noticed the seeing was much worse than on Sunday night but that the transparency appeared to similar. Both nights were much better than on Saturday, the night of the public star party.

When the last boater left I was completely alone in the lot. Ranger Julie checked on me twice but other than that it was me and various critters occasionally making me jump.

BTW, Julie said that when she made the rounds in the campgound on Sunday she recieved many enthusiastic reports from people who had attended the public night. Some wanted to know when a public night would happen again so they could plan their camp trips accordingly. Nice to hear.

I only had one goal in mind - try to find NGC383. I was already frustrated having tried to find it two nights earlier and failing despite finding other fainter galaxies. When Jamie said in effect, "race ya" it was more that I could take :)

I hit a few new objects - galaxies in Peg but the real showdown was in Pisces.

Around 11pm I aimed for the prey - NGC383. Followed the same path I took earlier in the week. Mirach (beta And) and NGC404 to start. Then about 1.5deg due south to a obvious 4 star circlet of mag 7-8. Nudge the scope a fraction eyepiece field east and then only another 45' due south to NGC410 (his parter NGC407 was visible with averted vis so I was encouraged about my chances for 383).

Now, move 45' west (I equatorial mounts - makes all this so much easier IMHO) and for the final move just about the same amount due south and ... bingo. No idea why I couldn't find it two nights earlier. Rack up the power to 125x to see if I could see any of 383's neighbors. I was able to pick out 379, and 380 just to the north of 383 and the limit was NGC 385 just to the south. The latter was averted vision maybe 30% of the time.

Spent maybe 30 minutes on the field to enjoy the "catch". The wind started to pick up and my eyes started to tear which pretty much made staring for long pretty difficult. So I packed up and left just after midnight.

I've still got Jeff G.'s OR to take with me to CalStar so I can nab the fainter 383 area objects with the 18" (another nameless scope). There is lots to do in the neighborhood. I did discover after getting home that NGC385(mag 13 NSOG) has a very similar sized, slightly fainter companion NGC 384 (mag 13.1 NSOG). I don't know if what I saw in my 9.25" scope was just 385 or more likely both 385 and 384 as the faint whisp moved in and out of detection. All very cool.

A very enjoyable evening, alone, with a quest. I'd sure like to know why all the critters make so much more noise and seem to creep so much closer when you are alone than when you are with your observing friends :)

Maybe Coyote tonight - more likely Coyote or the Peak on Saturday.