Chico, Oct. 28, 2002

by Glenn Talbert

Did anybody see a bright fireball last night (Oct. 29) at 20:25 hrs. PST?

UT time would be Oct. 29 at 04:25

Very bright meteor (brighter than Venus) started high in the eastern sky as it traveled (very fast) it went through the Pleiades and continued towards the eastern horizon. Possibly the brightest fireball I've seen yet. Thought maybe some people in the east saw nighttime turn into day for a few seconds...

Observer	Glenn Talbert
Location	Chico CA. USA (39.46N)
Date/Time	Oct. 26, 2002 / 20:00-24:00 PST Telescope used: C9.25
Transparency	8/10

Objects seen;
Galaxies: NCG 1023
Open Cluster: NGC 1528, NGC 1502
Planetary Nebulae: NGC 6781, NGC 1514

NGC 6781	Planetary Nebula in Aquila (aka Ghost of the Moon Nebula).
Found without using OIII. At 130x Pretty large, round, disk shape, fairly bright with a surface brightness of 12.8, yet dim enough to show it's ghostly transparency. The edges are not very discernible. With the OIII installed, the PN increased in brightness.
NGC 1023	Galaxy in Perseus. The core of this galaxy is very bright,
very large and diffused. Best viewed at 94x, using adverted vision, faint extentions can be seen extending east to west.
NGC 1502	Open Cluster in Camelopardalus. At 94x, (sbr 9.9) this
cluster contains about 25 stars, with two very bright mag 6 stars located in the center of the cluster. Not a very rich cluster, but this was the showpiece of the night. The location of the cluster as seen through the 9x50 finder, an interesting chain of stars that form a shape of a "flying V", on top of the "V" the chain of stars extent curving outwards on each of the opposite sides forming the wings. NGC 1502 is located right on the bottom tip of the "V". Cool! BTW, a nice planetary nebula (ngc 1501) is located directly due south, a little over one fov away. It does not require an OIII filter, large, bright and the round edges are almost discernible.
NGC 1528	Open Cluster in Perseus.
A very rich open cluster that fits nicely in a 130x fov. Inside this cluster are a couple of small patches nebulosity I suspect that are tight gatherings of very faint stars.
NGC 1514	Planetary Nebula in Taurus.
Without using the OIII filter, this PN showed obvious signs of nebulosity surrounding a bright mag. 9 star. With the OIII filter installed improves this PN considerably. A bright circular shape still surounds the bright central star. The star is so bright, I couldn't tell if the PN was ring or disk shape. Taking notes at the eyepiece I included "possible(?) extention on east side". Then looking at the Aladin preview image...It's possible!!! I could use a second opinion though somebody else's obs report.