by Robert Leyland
As it was the temperature stayed around 5°C, so it was not as extreme as the week before. My feet were quite warm the entire time!
| Observer | Robert Leyland |
|---|---|
| Date | 3 December 2005 |
| Time | 1900-22:35 PST (UT -8, or 0100-0435 4 Dec 2005 UT) |
| Location | Lake Sonoma CA, 38°43'N 123°02'W Elev ~1100 (Grey Pine Flat) |
| Weather | 4-5°C Temp, 75% Humidity, occasional breezy gusts |
| Seeing | LM 6.5, transparency 9/10, steadiness 7/10 |
| Moon | just after new moon |
| Equipment | 17.5" F5 Dob, 15x70 binoculars Pentax XL EPs (21mm=100x, 14mm=160x) UHC and H-Beta filters |
Lone Rock was closed again, probably due to the recent rains, but Grey Pine was open, and I was the only attendee. During the course of the evening I think I had three vehicles pull in, sweep around and head back out. I had set up to be shaded somewhat from this, by facing the other way and parking my vehicle to act as a block. Every once in a while the breeze picked up, but Grey Pine is well sheltered, and it scarcely troubled me.
Early evening views of Polaris, Epis Lyrae, and the Ring Nebula had me slightly worried. It was hard to achieve a good focus on the stars, but the sky was very clear. It soon settled down, and I might have just needed a little more patience to let the mirror cool to ambient.
I continued my survey in Perseus, picking up from NSOG, and re-trying the Abell 426 cluster. At 100x I could make out about 8 galaxies, including 3 or 4 quite bright ones. A small pair were tougher, but at 160x over a dozen were easily seen, and the pair of galaxies resolved nicely. The photo chart in NSOG is quite difficult to use at night, and I had trouble identifying all but the brightest 1270, 1275 and 1278. It's a pretty cluster, and good winter time fair, being high in the sky, and an easy star hop from Algol.
IC 284 is a soft, diffuse oval glow, at 160x it looks better, and averted vision shows a small oval core at the heart of the galaxy.
Mel 20, Alpha Per -- A snaking cluster of stars, with Alpha the head, and a stream of ox-bow bends trailing left and right behind, and this was just in the 9x50 finder scope! This is a really nice binocular target.
NGC 1220 -- small tight open cluster, ~10 stars off gamma PER, and next to a 30' triangle.
King 5 -- fainter more diffuse OC with 40+ stars set inside an equilateral triangle, which is set inside a Kite shaped quadrilateral. Very pretty in a geometric way!
NGC 1245 -- an easy find, being several hundred stars in a 10' radius area with two brighter stars at the edge. It is just visible in the 50mm finder, a pretty open cluster, that I would have expected M. Messier to have catalogued.
NGC 1169 -- This galaxy shows as a diffuse weak patch with a bright almost stellar core.
NGC 1348 looks to be a rather nondescript open cluster, in a rather barren field. The stars in the cluster seem to have little commonality, or coherent shape.
NGC 1333 is a faint, almost arc shaped oval glow that was quite hard to find. UHC filter did not help. Dark starless regions (B1+2) nearby do help a little.
NGC 1499, the California Nebula, is huge. I used an H-Beta filter and a low power eyepiece, and simply swept across the region. I could see bands of brightening, and dark lanes as I moved the viewed across the nebula. Quite a cool effect, in that moving very slowly it is hard to pick out the changes since they are gradual. Moving relatively rapidly, the bright and dark lanes are quite noticeable. I also tried to use my 15x70 binoculars on the area, but could not really see the nebula. I have used an H-Beta with smaller binos before, but the filter I have wouldn't fit the objectives, and balancing a filter in front of the eye, along with the large binos was a bit much.
As I write this I remember Steve Gottlieb showing me how to view the Rosette nebula with hand held OIII filter, and I wonder if I could have done the same here. Something to try another time.
Pleiedes Cluster in 15x70 binos looked awesome, I finally saw a little of the nebulosity in the cluster that has always eluded me in the past.
Returning to Perseus, I found NGC 1513, a nifty little open cluster - NSOG says the shape is like the number 9, but from my vantage it was upside down, and thus more like an 'a' from a book typeface. This cluster is also just visible in the finder scope.
NGC 1528 is an awesome open cluster, easily seen in the finder, and once again I wonder how M. Messier could have missed this one. It is a large scattered star field some 25' in diameter.
NGC 1491 is a very pretty reflection nebula, easily seen at 100x and simple amazing at 160x with a UHC filter.
NGC 1496, a cute little open cluster, vaguely 'C' shaped as described.
With my energy level running low and the temperature drifting downwards, I packed up and headed home. Orion had risen nicely, and Leo was poking its head up above the sky glow, companions for the trip home.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Dec 04, 2005 15:30:17 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 16, 2006 22:17:08 PT