Shingletown, 9/7

by Shneor Sherman

Arrived at about 7:15 to find a couple of TAC-Shasta guys; Gregg and Stefan arived shortly afterward, and then another 4 or 5 TAC-Shasta members. Conditions were excellent except that in the south transparency dropped around 11 p.m. (smog from the valley, I'm sure). Had some nice views of classical objects; spent some time in Pegasus and Perseus. Stephan's Quintet looked very good in the same field as NGC7331 with my 30mm Widescan II/Paracorr. Abell 425 was simply magnificent at the zenith, with many galaxies clearly visible. M13 and M15 were both naked-eye during some of the evening.

The Helix also looked good, with stars shining through just like NGC253, which appeared good for a short time, and NGC247, another edge-on just south of Skat. Later in the evening, some us viewed the Veil again. It was spectacular with considerable detail visible. I usually view the Veil at about 80x, but at about 180, it was magnificent - especially the Witch's Broom. (Viewed through Gregg's 25" as well, but I'm sure he'll report on that.) The seeing was good to very good for the night, while transparency varied with the sky - 5 in the south and southeast, 8 or better in much of the remainder of the sky.

It was quite cold, probably in the mid-30s. I finally packed it in at 4. One of the better nights of the year!