Fiddletown Last Night

by Jane Smith

Great night at Fiddletown. Temperatures must have dropped below freezing because I had ice on my EP case when I packed up at 11pm. However, it seemed much warmer than it actually, although I did need to pop some heat packs in my boots. Gloves were not required and I was able to comfortably observe without them all evening. Nor did I need to wear my Mad Bomber's Hat. The fleece balaclava was enough. A down parka, bibs, fleece pullover, fleece pants, and some REI medium-weight poly underwear (top and bottoms) finished my attire. I wasn't cold at all.

Dew was a slight problem for me early in the evening, but only on my eyepieces. Warming them in my pockets did the trick. The others didn't have a problem with dew. Seeing was soft until around 8pm, then it improved significantly. Bill was able to see 6 stars in the trapesium in his 12.5" Portaball around 10pm. There was a very slight breeze after 8pm which helped dry things out. Transparency was excellent. The light dome to the southwest appears to have worsened since I was last at Fiddletown, however the east and north are still excellent. The light from the new house on the hill wasn't a problem for Steve, Bill and I who were set up on the east side of the observatory. Renato, setting up on the west side, had to move his scope to avoid the light.

I started the evening by taking a look at a the lovely Venus crescent. Then I was off to grab a couple of globs out of Aquila, now low in the west, for my AL project. Despite the horrible light dome from Sacramento, I had partial success. I was able to see, but not resolve, NGC 6760, a mag 8.9 globular which was fairly large and quite sparse. My other target, NGC 6749 at mag 12.4, was not to be found, however it should be doable under better conditions.

Then, tired of working in light polluted skies, I moved to Andromeda which was approaching zenith to look for NGC404, a mag 10.3 galaxy. The galaxy's close proximity to Beta Andromeda makes it difficult, but I was able to see it by increasing magnification with my 9mm Nagler and situating the field such that the bright star was mostly out of view. In comparison to the GC I'd just seen in the western muck, this galaxy looked very bright, but small.

I then went after a couple of OCs in Taurus, rising nicely in the east. While looking at the chart, I noted the object folks on TAC were discussing earlier in the week, SH2-240 (Simeis 147). Did I try to see it? You bet! Silly girl, huh. ;) Needless to say, I had a bit more success with NGC1647 and NGC1747, two rather pretty open clusters nearby. While in Taurus I also stopped to take yet another look at that famous supernova remnant, M1, the Crab Nebula. It never fails to please.

Following the Crab, I was off to Perseus to see what I could see of the California Nebula. Lacking an H-Beta filter, I didn't see much, but Steve was most kind to point his 18" Starmaster, sporting an h-beta-ized 31 Nagler, at several portions of this huge nebula. The nebulosity was easy to see running horizontally through the eyepiece. What a giant object! Before leaving Perseus I had a look at NGC1528, a rather striking and fairly large open cluster.

By this time Orion had risen to where I could get a good look at M42. I spent quite some time cruising around the nebula, noticing the extent of its nebulosity. It seems to go on forever. Bill was talking "horsehead", so once again Steve showed us the sights in his 18" and Bill and I had a great look at the Horsehead.

I packed it in at 11pm and headed for home with Bill in tow. Steve and Renato were still going strong when we left.

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Posted on tac-sac Dec 04, 2005 14:19:52 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 16, 2006 22:13:26 PT