2004-May-14/15 - Q4

by Jeff Gortatowsky

My goals after six months away from the eyepiece were to 'get back in the swing of things' and make sure all was ready for the Shingletown Star Party. I drove through the newly minted moonscape that is CA routes 79 and 371 on my way to the OCA site all the while listening to classical music. I must tell you, I ¡Vdo- believe in inhumane punishment for those that act in an inhumane fashion. And if the fire that created the moonscape I drove through was started on purpose, or a result of blatant negligence... let¡¦s just leave it at that... nuff said.

After almost six months of neglect, I spent a good 3 hours raking and pulling weeds from my observing pad. Sore, hot, and tired I packed out two bags of weeds. I could have done 6. Then I turned my attention to setting up the 45cm f/4.5 Litebox dobsonian. To my delight, unless I don¡¦t know what I am doing, the big dob required just a minor tweak to the collimation to set it right.

The sky was not as dark as could be at the Orange County Astronomers private site. There was no June Gloom (marine layer) to speak of. June Gloom acts as a light-lock on the coastal plain's light pollution. When we get June Gloom, we get observer's heaven inland. It must be very disheartening to the founders of the OCA and those that run Palomar to think they had set up shop far enough out of urban areas only to see the stupidity of men and women expand and ruin the night sky. Of course Palomar operates by filtering out the LPS lights. We observers really can¡¦t do the same effectively.

Conditions without the marine layer mean the passing high clouds reflected light from Temecula, Escondido, and Palm Springs. That is what made the night ¡¥less than dark¡¦ in certain directions. par of the course at the OCA site. Even so, I'd guess the LM at zenith around 5.5. The northwest was useless, the southwest not much better, and northeast was spotty. But zenith, south, southeast, and due north were fine.

As the Sun set Comet 2001/Q4 did not disappoint. What a gem. My life was in far too much flux to care about astronomy in 1996 and 1997. Therefore I basically missed Hale-Bopp and Hyakatuke. So I was thrilled to finally see in my 12x60 Visioneer binoculars a comet that looked like a real comet. It was not some dim fuzzy fan fluff, but a real live, ¡¥honest to goodness¡¦ comet. It was obvious to me the best view was in the 12x60. Yes, the 45cm dob showed a striking nucleus with a huge extended coma and a pinpoint core. But even the 1 degree FOV of the 31mm ¡¥terminagler¡¦ was no match for the claimed 5.7 degree field of view of the Visioneers.

With the binoculars being handheld against the truck, I could trace the comet¡¦s tail(s) to a length of some 3 degrees. And if I lied to myself a bit, I could convince myself it was maybe even 4 or 5 degrees. It certainly swept dramatically under the Beehive (M44) and was apparently stirring the little buggers into quite a frenzy. When M44 was viewed in the 12x60s it was not a tight compact cluster, but instead a large roiling jumble of bees some one degree or more in size! Obvious they were not happy. Or perhaps they were delighted. No matter, obviously the comet was the buzz of the hive. ƒº

I popped the 22mm Panoptic into the 80mm f/5 which provides a 3.5 degree FOV at 18x. Just a perfect FOV to fit in both the buzzing bees, and the streaking invader. A view that to me seemed surreal. It was as if it was a high quality drawing instead of a live view. I must admit I soaked in the view for several minutes. I can only guess how much better the bright comets of 1996 and 1997 must have been.

After a while, I realized that this solar system stuff is nice, but I needed some DSO photons. I decided I had had my fill of Q4 and moved to gander at some southern eye-candy. Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) was skirting the ridgeline and was easy to see in the 12x60 binoculars as a huge fuzzy spot with ill-defined edges that faded to black. Once oriented, I could spot this granddaddy of globulars naked eye without effort. The 45cm dob was ill placed on my pad to see this object and I was not going to drag it on the concrete, so I settled for views in the 80mm using the 22mm Panoptic. That was no good. Not for trying to resolve it. So I tried a 15mm, a 9mm, and then a 6mm Orion Expanse eyepiece. Only the 6mm yeilding a degree FOV at 66x did this magnificent ball of stars start to hint at the edge of resolution. The core would have to wait for more aperture on another night. No worries¡K I have seen it from a higher observing pad at the same site in the 45cm. So I am aware of it¡¦s ¡§charms¡¨.

For the rest of the night I would spend my time tracking down about 14 H400 galaxies in the Virgo/Coma Berenices area with the 45cm Lite bucket. There are some real gems in the few objects I tracked down. Of course the actual count of objects was much larger (well okay maybe 10 more objects). You¡¦d have to be ¡Vreally- focused in on H400 only objects to ignore all the galaxies that appeared in the 31mm Nagler¡¦s FOV as you observe the H400 galaxies. I often find, upon switching windows in Sky Map Pro from H400 only objects, to a window with the full database, that I had missed some dim nearby companions. (Try that with a printed atlas! ƒº ) Unfortunately I am totally incapable of passing over these ¡¥weeds¡¦. Not sticking strictly with H400 objects really cuts down on the ole productivity. So you printed atlas guys and gals do have that difference as a blessing. No side trips into the ¡§DSO weeds¡¨. The PGC broadleaf variety so-to-speak. LOL!

A few highlights from the H400 objects. Here are the raw reports of some of the objects. (PA¡¦s, directions, and observations are ¡Vunchecked- against reality)

NGC 4762 is a wonderful gorgeous edge-on galaxy in the 31mm Nagler at 64x. NGC 4754 is nearby. NGC 4762 is an obvious slash of light with what appears to be a large central bulge. Four stars on west, southeast, and east partially ring the galaxy. At this low magnification I¡¦d guess that it has a PA of perhaps 35 or 40. Also in the same FOV to the south-southwest is NGC 4733. Not as bright as the other two, but obvious nonetheless. An H400 ¡¥weed¡¦.

With the 12mm Nagler at 166x NGC 4762 is a wonderful needle thin galaxy surrounded on the East, Southeast, and west with a cradle of field stars that it appears ready to pierce. It appears elongated 5 or 6 to 1. An obvious bright stellar like core with extensions on either side of the core that are equal in size and brightness. Beautiful! There may be a hint of a dust lane??? Nah¡K????

NGC 4866 is another fascinating edge-on that is elongated about 4 to 1. At 64x in the 31mm Nagler it has a mottled and contorted looking appearance. That may be caused by field stars. The western half either is either brighter or has field stars giving that appearance. About a 1/4 of a degree NE is a double star easily split at this low magnification with two white components and a PA of close to 180. Both stars are roughly white.

NGC 4866 at 166x (12mm Nagler T4). There are indeed a few field stars in the western extent. Or perhaps the one towards the center could instead be a stellar core. The western most bright spot is certainly a field star, but the one nearer the center may be the core. It definitely gives an overall impression of being mottled or contorted. Maybe it is bowed slightly towards the south a bit. A PA of the galaxy of almost exactly 90.

NGC 4866 at 221x (9mm Nagler T1) I'll go out on a limb and say the eastern most stellar object is the core (that which is nearer the center). At this higher magnification with a black towel draped over me, it also gives the impression of being a spiral, not edge on. Instead perhaps it is tilted at a shallow angle towards or away from us. Maybe that¡¦s what I thought of as ¡¥bowed¡¦. Of course only a trip to the online DSS or someone else's notes will lead me to the light.

At magnitude 15.3 photographic, and ¡¦prolly 14.3 visual PGC 42710 was the dimmest weed I¡¦d wind up in of the night. While logging the H400 object NGC 4654, I went off into the weeds with NGC 4639. Well that led to another weed, PGC 42710. See I thought PGC 42710 was directly west of NGC 4639. At least so it seemed when looking at the computer screen. However the window on the screen was rotate in Alt/Az directions. If I had looked at the compass on the screen I would have noticed that. Most of the time I keep SkyMap Pro in ¡¥Alt/Az scrolling mode¡¦ instead of ¡¥RA/Dec mode¡¦. That is so if I invert the maps and make sure the time is correct, the maps match the view in the dob exactly. When I went to see if I could see PGC 42710, I saw nothing directly west of NGC 4639 as it drifted across the 12mm Nagler¡¦s FOV. I did see a faint background glow ¡Vnorthwest- of NGC 4639 not to the west. Well that works as a test for me! LOL! It was indeed northwest of NGC 4639 as was clearly shown when I clicked the RA/Dec mode button which places North at the top of the screen. Well done.

The biggest waste of time tonight was M5. I just love it even though it¡¦s a waste of dark observing time. LOL! To me it¡¦s the most 3D globular of all those in the northern hemisphere. It is an easy find as well! Just draw a line east from Tau Virginis to 109 Virginis to 110 Virginis and then to 5 Serpentis. These stars line up almost due east to west. If you put the Telerad on 5 Serpentis you are there. Pop in a wide field ocular and it should be there. If 5 Serpentis is hard to see (mag 5), just go 1.5 telrad fields due east of 110 Virginis which is magnitude 4. Tonight M5 looked to me like a monochromatic fiber optic flower. I could swear I could see the dark fibers crisscrossing and the little lit ends making an open flower. Drugs¡K I know. LOL!

With the scorpion being chased by the pot of boiling water (that should have been a Lobster right?!), I took a quick tour through the Scutum star cloud with the 12x60¡¦s and then packed it all in for the night.

It was still dark as I drove home passing through the moonscape that used to be desert flora and brush. Good thing too. It looked far better in the dark than in the light of day. It will recover from the wounds we foisted upon it. Probably it will come back better than ever. Personally, I would not wish those that set it ablaze the same.

Ah well¡K I have boxes to move¡K

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Posted on sf-bay-tac May 16, 2004 20:35:41 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 11, 2004 19:19:00 PT