Yes an OR for strobe night

by Jamie Dillon

Saturday night there was a small but choice group of observers at Coulter Row on Fremont Peak. Newer TACos should know that Coulter is the primal cradle of TAC. When I came along, almost 4 years ago, the center of action had shifted to the SW lot, but the gang of oddballs that congealed into the ur-TAC met up at Coulter, back in the dim mists of time. Two of this crew are still observing locally, the Beastmaster and the BP.

While getting hit by white light every 2 seconds, we still got some observing in amid the grousing. It was interesting to feel our irises pulsing, also to note our dark adaptation getting reduced in regular frequent beats. I need to get over this.

OK, Jeff Blanchard made a comeback after another long season running rapids on the Colorado. There were Jim Everitt and Steve Sergeant, along with Jim's buddy Mike who now swings big iron, and a new guy for whom this was his first time out of his backyard with his 12" SCT.

Mike at one point caught the Horsehead with an H-beta, and whoa the detail. You could clearly see the hook. Saturn had some fine moments. I counted 6 moons, later finding them even clearer in Jeff's 14.5. So Mimas and Enceladus were showing off, along with the big 4 of Titan, Rhea, Tethys and Dione.

Most interesting was hopping to the Intergalactic Wanderer for the first time, NGC 2419. I'd seen it in other people's scopes, including Albert's 6", and even seen it in Felix last winter at Dino with Albert swinging the scope. Someone here on TAC has mentioned it being an easy hop from Castor, and sure enough I ran it down at 210x in the 6mm eyepiece. Fascinating object, large in the 6mm, ca 25% of the field, i.e., 4' across, uneven edges, roughly round, even glow across, not resolving. Sure enough not resolving at ca 300,000 ly away from here. Harlow Shapley called it the Intergalactic Tramp, an even better name. Apparently its motion is faster than escape velocity for our galaxy, another clue that it's from somewhere else.

Jeff spent the last of his youth looking for Hind's Variable Nebula, NGC 1555, and he was right on the field. I went over the same exact area and also came up empty. Luginbuhl & Skiff say, "visible details in the nebula will change somewhat depending on the time of observation." Right. They also say it's easy in a 6 cm scope. Hmph.

In general it was a night for building character. The company was great, we always laugh a lot, and getting to the IGW was a genuine thrill.

'night, all,