by Rob Hawley
Coe is not where I normally observe due to the San Jose lights. But weather kept me away from Plettstone and indecision from Fremont Peak. Coe proved a good choice.
During the day the forecast had changed and showed a system tracking to the West. That is indeed what happened. The clouds stayed away until about 2 AM. One of the other writers mentioned poor transparency. IMHO the transparency varied depending on the part of the sky. To the east and overhead it was quite good. To the south and west it was pretty crummy. Those are also the directions of the light impact so that amplified any transparency effects.
The evening was surprising warm and dry. Temps remained in the high 50s and low 60s until after 1 AM. The price of that was a rather stiff wind from the central valley.
I brought the SJAA 17 inch scope again. Here are the non eye candy dark sky objects viewed. All were viewed at 139x.
| Object | Type | Mag | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| M 1-10 | Planetary | 11.60 | bright with def central star |
| NGC 2261 | Bright Nebula | Hubble's Variable Nebula eye candy quality object also looked at in 10mm | |
| C/2004 Q2 Machholz | Comet | 5.37 | very bright definite head |
| IC 402 | Galaxy | 13.70 | averted vision |
| NGC 1779 | Galaxy | 12.10 | def e-w elongation moderate easy |
| NGC 1300 | Galaxy | 10.30 | definite size and bright center can not see spiral low with heavy light pollution |
| IC 284 | Galaxy | 12.00 | definite edge on noticeable size not very bright weak direct visibility |
| NGC 1174 | Galaxy | 11.70 | faint glow around star visible because wind is shaking scope |
| NGC 1175 | Galaxy | 12.90 | weak direct visibility |
| NGC 604 | Bright Nebula | easy to see | |
| NGC 7611 | Galaxy | 12.60 | |
| NGC 7619 | Galaxy | 11.10 | bright no distinct shape |
| NGC 7623 | Galaxy | 12.80 | averted vision required |
| NGC 7626 | Galaxy | 11.20 | bright no distinct shape |
| NGC 7631 | Galaxy | 13.10 | averted vision required. |
I also hit some eye candy: M31/32/110, M33, M81/82, M36/37/38, and of course Saturn.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Dec 12, 2004 15:34:42 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.4 Mar 22, 2006 18:02:43 PT
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