by Bob Jardine
Twice every year I go with a group of friends from work on a hike in Yosemite. This year's hike was up the Mist trail and the Panorama trail to Glacier Point, then back down the 4-mile trail. The hike was on Sunday last.
Take the telescope along? Doh! Take off work a day early? Double-Doh!
On Friday morning, I did a last minute check of the weather. It looked like the coastal crud that we've been having in the bay area wasn't state-wide, and the CSCs predicted clear for Glacier Point for Friday night. So I was off.
The ugly dark clouds covering most of the area around home gave way to partly cloudy conditions as I got down 101 South, and things looked ever better as I headed over Pacheco pass and East across the Central Valley.
I observed both Friday and Saturday nights from a point near Crane Flat, around 6200 feet. I used TOBY, my 10" f/6 CPT.
Friday night turned out simply beautiful. There were a few puffy white clouds in the sky, but they disappeared shortly after sunset. It started out very cold, with a little breeze, but that also passed, and it warmed up a little bit (still cold, but no longer bitterly so). I used two hats, gloves, four layers on top, three layers on legs, and insulated boots. Dew was not a problem on the optics at all, although I did have to keep the paper covered up to avoid soggy charts and notes. Seeing was very good -- a very clean split of Nu Scorpii later in the night.
At several points, I did LM checks in Bootes (area 11). At one point I got 23 stars pretty reliably. That's mag 6.2, pretty close to my best ever count; to calibrate, you can probably add 0.2 for average folks.
I won't bore you with most of my observing list -- mostly revisiting galaxies from my H400 project that my notes said something to the effect of "gotta try this one from a darker site".
One highlight, however, was revisiting what I have been calling "Crilly's Trio" to myself, but perhaps it would be better called "Crilly's Neapolitan Trio". It is a nice group of galaxies in Draco: NGCs 5982, 5985, and 5981. The cool thing about it is that you get one of each "flavor" in the same field of view: one elliptical, one face-on (or nearly so) spiral, and one edge-on spiral.
I first observed this trio after a post by Jeff Crilly about a year ago (see, for example, /tac.mailing.list/2003/Jun/0653.html). Jeff and I observed it together at SSP in the 30" last Summer, but it wasn't so great because it was an afterthought on the last night and it was already nearly setting. Every time I looked at this trio from the bay area in smaller 'scopes (10", 12.5"), I could see only two of the three galaxies, although occasionally I suspected the third member (5981). So it was on my "revisit at a dark site" list.
Well, Mag 6.2 skies did the trick. With TOBY, for the first time I could see all three galaxies (at both 117X and 169X), although the edge-on was still only barely visible and needed AV to get a good sense of the shape. But there was no longer any doubt. I made a little sketch of the three galaxies and a few of the brightest field stars.
I observed several dozen objects, and time passed quickly. I packed up around 3:00.
Saturday night was similarly wonderful, although I observed only until a little after midnight, since I had to get up Sunday morning at 6:00 AM for the hike. I spent the time cruising around Leo and then Virgo, observing both eye-candy galaxies and everything else that got in my way.
I had vague plans to observe Sunday night, and the weather would have permitted it -- another good one. However, my body wouldn't go for it after the long hike. I collapsed directly after dinner.
Objects observed over the two nights (details on request): Venus, Jupiter, IO shadow transit, comet NEAT, Asteroid 156 Xanthippe, R Leonis Ms: 49, 51, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 65, 66, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 105 NGCs: 3338, 3359, 3367, 3377, 3384, 3389, 3593, 3596, 3607, 3608, 3626, 3628, 4036, 4041, 4085, 4088, 4096 (wow), 4100, 4125 (nice), 4157, 4217, 4220, 4256, 4293, 4387, 4388, 4402, 4413, 4425, 4567/8 (Siamese twins), 4638, 4689, 4710 (wow), 5068, 5084, 5087, 5690, 5701, 5740, 5746 (nice), 5806, 5813, 5981/2/5 (C.N.T.)
Ahhhh. Two days and three nights in paradise. Does it get any better? Yeah, could have had some company; my hiking friends from work are very nice, but they go to bed too early...so, I hope to:
See you all at SSP!
Posted on sf-bay-tac May 27, 2004 19:55:13 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 12, 2004 20:38:35 PT