by Bob Jardine
The seeing was "the bees knees" on this Wednesday night at MB. That's the sky condition you wish for at MB, since the light domes are normally bad enough that hunting for faint fuzzies is best left for darker sites. The only way it gets any better at MB is when the fog covers up the city lights, leaving it really dark. This was not one of those nights.
I observed with TOBY, a 10-inch, f/6 CPT.
I started out with quick looks at Mercury and Jupiter. Mercury was fuzzy in the 'scope; I could tell that it wasn't circular, but that's about all. The Jovian moon arrangement was unusual and interesting, with two moons very close together and oriented perpendicular to their orbital plane.
At about 7:15, I checked the trap -- 6 stars were rock solid & bright. I don't think I've ever seen the 6th one so easily. So I immediately pushed over to Sirius to try for the Pup. Nothing doing. Behind a diffraction spike? I've tried this several times on nights with good seeing, and I've used several different 'scopes. Never any luck. What's the secret?
Jupiter again. The great pale spot was close to transiting. There were a couple more large light spots in the SEB trailing the pale spot. There was a white spot in the NEB. A very nice view at about 300X. All four moons were nice crisp disks.
| NGC 3242 | speaking of Jupiter, its ghost was pretty good tonight. A bright, circular, medium-size fuzz/glow; it grows a little with AV. Viewed at about 170X and 300X. Some hint of non-uniformity, but nothing I can put my finger on. |
|---|---|
| Mimas | around 9:15, I looked for Mimas for awhile. No luck. Must not be dark enough. |
| NGC 2872 & 2873 | not seen. |
| NGC 2818 | spent some time here. I think I saw it, but not at all obvious. About 1/2 dozen stars, all dim; a pretty poor cluster. But there's some unresolved glow here too -- either many more dimmer stars or some nebulosity. To the West, there is a brighter circular patch of glow -- is this a knot of nebulosity or is it the PN 2818A? This is an object that I need to revisit with more aperture or a darker sky. |
| Gamma Virginis | Peter McKone ambled over at about 10:30 and suggested trying Porrima. The way he said it, and knowing Peter, it was obvious that he had already seen it, and one should not ask questions -- just do it. I was dubious, since we split it last year at FP on a night of legendary seeing, when the separation was well under 1 arcsecond; and the gap would be even closer now (periastron is in 2005). So we figured it might be as close as 3/4 arcsecond. It was a killer split -- no maybe about it. I used about 500 X (a 7.5 Tak LE and a 2.5X Powermate). Two precise dots of light, side-by side, with blackness between 'em. Even with the great seeing, it came and went; but I could hold it quite a bit of the time. Several people confirmed the split. |
Even though it wasn't really the night for it, I turned to a couple of H400 targets.
| NGC 3900 (gal, Leo) | Small, dim, elongated. On one edge of a triangle of three dim stars. This is not the H400 target; it was just in the same area as 3912. |
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| NGC 3912 | Not seen. This was the real target, an H400 galaxy in Leo near NGC 3900. I'll have to try in a darker location. |
| Asteroid (15) Eunomia | in 15X50 IS binoculars, barely seen. In the 'scope at about 90X, easily seen. I sketched the field for later comparison. |
| NGC 3585 (gal, Hydra) | Easy to find near a finder-scope star. Smallish, bright, somewhat elongated; quite a bit brighter center, but not suddenly brighter. Viewed at 170X. |
| NGC 3872 (gal, Leo) | Nothing to write home about. Another small, dim smudge. 170X. |
Jupiter again. Then packed up just prior to 1AM. I hated to leave on such a nice night, but that was all I could cope with on a weeknight.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Apr 06, 2004 23:09:04 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 10, 2004 14:04:46 PT