by Shneor Sherman
| Equipment | 22" f/4 dob on equatorial platform 30mm Widescan II with Visual Paracorr 13mm Nagler Type 1 Speers-Waler 5-8mm zoom (really 4.7-7.9mm) Denkmeier Standard Binoviewer Pair of Meade 26mm Series 4000 Plossls Pair of 15mm Apogee Widescans Lumicon OIII and H-Beta Filters Sirius Optics Neb1 Filter |
|---|---|
| Seeing | varied from 8/10 to 6/10, generally better in the earlier part of the evening. |
| Transparency | varied from 9/10 early on to 5/10 until about 12:15, when clouds over Sacramento washed out the sky. |
| Humidity | No dew whatsoever. |
| Temperature | Generally in the mid-40s. |
| Wind | Very light breeze a couple of times during the evening, no effect on anything. |
I began the evening by using Venus to align my Rigel Quickfinder. Venus was very high in the sky and quite bright, in a liightly gibbous phase. The image was crisp despite the brighness. Shortly thereafter, I turned by attention to M42, an object I returned to several times during the evening. Very soon, 6 stars were visible in the Trapezium, even with my (effectively) 26mm "Widecorr". With the 13mm Nagler, not only were 6 stars easily visible, but the red and blue of E and F were quite distinct.
Even though it was barely high enough to view, I popped my OIII into my Widecorr and got a very nice view of Thor's Helmet (N2359); some of the "beard" was visible and I shared this view with my fellow observers. I removed the OIII and moved to Gemini, where I finally managed to find the Peanut Nebula (N2371-2). The view at 475x with my S-W zoom at was quite stunning as both lobes were seen with some detail, and the central star was distinctly visible. One lobe was visibly less nebulous, with faint arcing "wings" stretching in the direction of the other lobe. This is a very nice object.
During the week I had read about Jay McNeil's discovery of a new nebula near M78 in Orion. Jay is an amateur and discovered the nebula in a CCD image. I had brought a copy of the photo and a description, which I shared with Jim. It was visible in my 22" as a faint small patch, maybe an arcminute or so in diameter, maybe around mag 14, maybe brighter. It was visible, if I remember correctly, in my Widecorr.
I moved back to M42 with the Widecorr, to see the pink and green of the nebula. It was quite stunning, and I shared the view. I then viewed M42 with my Demkmeier Binoviewer with a pair of Meade 26mm Plossls. The view wah stunning - very 3-D, with the pink sections appearing closer than the Trapezium and the green parts of the nebula. viewed this later with the 15mm Widescans, but some of the depth was lost.
Leo was in a good spot by now, and I viewed N3486 and N3344 (a face-on), then a pair of interacting face-on spirals, N3226 and N3227 near Algeiba, followed by quick views of M105, M95 and M96, then M66, M66 and N3628, then NN3190.
I had a quick view of Saturn as it was near the zenith. Quite a crisp view up to 283x, with several bands visible, inclujding a salmon-colored band just south of the plane of the rings and another darker area near the south pole, and a light beige band in between. Cassini's division looked like you could drive a truck through it; the crepe ring was visible and the outer rings looked as though it had lanes in in at the extremes. A number of Saturn's moons were visible.
I moved to the Realm of Galaxies in virgo, beginning with M84, M86, N4387, N4388 and I 3303, moving successively to N4438, N4435, N4461, N4458, N4473 ad N4477 and N4479. I moved back to the beginning, went to the "Eyes" (N4438 and N4435) and moved my telescope down at a right angle to the Markarian's chain direction, to M87 and 4486A, N4478 and N4476. I looked for M87's jet with the S-W but did not see it. I continues for a couple of degrees in the same direction to find the Siamese Twins, a pair of interacting edge-ons (or maybe ellipticals?) thet remind me of the Antennae in Corvus, but are in a better place in the sky. I moved to Coma at some point to vew N4565, whose needle-like shape was not as distinct as I have seen it on other occasions, a sigh the conditions were worsening. I quickly viewed M51, M81 and M82, then moved to N3079, which was very high in the sky at this point. While it is a pretty edge-on, the main reason I looked there was to see the double quasar, which I believe I had has a glimpse of in Jim's 22" earlier in the evening. Indeed, there were the two points, pointed to by the nearby triangle of stars. No color was visible, and the points were steady in the eyepiece at 475x. I then moved to the bowl of the Dipper to view several galaxies near Abell 1377 (which I was unable to see).
At some point during the latter part of the evening, I enjoyed a view of M46 and the pretty nebula N2438 embedded in the Messier. With an OIII at about 250x it appeared annular. I also havd a nice view of N4361, a planetary in Corvus.
Finally, just when the clouds over Sacramento washed out the sky, I viewed Jupiter, near the zenith. As usual a number of bands were visible, but the image did not stand up to high power.
I know I've left some things out, but it was a very rewarding night, even though conditions were not perfect. I could see nothing of Abell 1367, nor Copeland's Septer, both of which I looked for.
I am hoping that the skies will have cleared out by Sunday night. I'm also planning on the 21st.
Posted on tac-sac Fri Feb 13 16:33:52 2004 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.0 Mon Feb 16 17:37:14 2004 PT