by Bob Jardine
(also 22 January at Montebello)
I went to Coyote Lake on Tuesday, because the weather was predicted to turn sour on Wednesday, possibly all the way through the new moon weekend. So it might well have been the last chance for this Lunation. Due to traffic, I didn’t leave home until 7:00, so I got a late start. Kevin S., Peter N., and another gentleman that I didn’t know (Steve?) were already set up.
Conditions looked good right away. I was worried about wind, since some was predicted in Gilroy, but it was dead calm at the boat dock parking lot. And it was much warmer than it had been the last couple of times I was out. Quite dry, as well, and completly clear the whole evening.
Early on I repeated observations of several asteroids that I had observed at Montebello two nights earlier. While doing the asteroids, I also split a few double stars that were in the field of view or the “hop path”. Later, I switched to Herschel-2 objects once Leo was up reasonably high. I went for Leo, even though I have a few H-2 targets left in Monoceros and Puppis, because the sky is best to the East at C.L.
At 10:30, I did a limiting mag check in the Gemini triangle. Got 10 stars most of the counts and or occasionally 11 (5.7 to 5.9). Peter was getting better than mag 6 higher up in Taurus. Transparency was quite good, as the light domes were not diminished, and this is about the best LM I’ve ever seen at Coyote. Seeing was only fair down low (6 stars in the trap only occasionally), but must have been pretty good overhead, because I split a 1.0 arcsec double at one point.
We all packed up between about 11:30 and 12:30. It was a very nice night.
Observations with 12.5” Mag1 Portaball, f/5.
| 47 Aglaja | asteroid, Gem -- estimated magnitude about 12+. Moved a couple of minutes of RA almost due West since Sunday’s observation at MB. Used 176x. |
|---|---|
| STT 186 | double star, Gem -- this is a nasty Otto Struve double that I noticed on the chart right in the same (wide) FOV as the asteroid. (AKA HIP 39401 and TYC something.) I didn’t know how close it was, so I just kept bumping the power up. Finally suspected a split at 226x (7mm Nagler) and confirmed it at 317x (5mm Tak LE). I could see a gap about 25% of the time at this mag. The two companions are about equal magnitude. When I got home, I looked it up -- 1.0 arcsecs. (There was another double in the same field that I failed to notice -- STF 1177; well, there’s always another day.) |
| NGC 2420 | OC, Gem -- I found this OC in the low-power (35 Pan) field of view while hopping to the next Asteroid. At 176x: Fairly large and bright. About 1 dozen brighter stars in the outline of a heart and another 1/2 dozen or more dimmer ones scattered around, many of them in the right “chamber” of the heart interior. Nice. |
| 111 Ate | asteroid, Gem -- not too far from Aglaja was another asteroid. Estimated mag about 10.5 to 11.0. Moved a couple of minutes of RA almost due West since Sunday at MB. Used 176x. |
| STF 1124 | double star, Gem -- same low-power field as Ate. Easy split at low power. |
| 96 Aegle | asteroid, Per -- located between Perseus and Auriga. Estimated mag about 12.5. Moved about 15 arcmin South since Sunday at MB. 93x. |
| STF 552 | double star, Per -- obvious double star on the way to Aegle. Splits cleanly at 45x. |
| NGC 2903 | gal, Leo -- First observations in Leo this year for me. Why not start with the eye candy? Large and bright. Elongated 3:1 or so, roughly N/S. Brighter center, slightly elongated center with same orientation as the extent. 176x. |
| NGC 2916 | gal, Leo -- Near 2903; smaller and dimmer, but then what isn’t? Also elongated about the same PA as 2903. Elongated about 2:1. Only slightly brighter center and broadly so. |
| NGC 3107 | gal, Leo -- DNF. Maybe getting tired. |
| NGCs 3185, 3190, 3193 | gals, Leo -- 3 obvious galaxies in same FOV (9mm Nagler). The middle one (3190) is quite a bit brighter than the other two. Elongated with brighter center. It is visible at 93x, studied at 176x. The other two are dimmer. 3193 is near a pretty bright star. 3185 is farther away. Did not see 3187, also plotted in the same area. |
| NGC 3177 | gal, Leo -- DNF. |
| NGC 3162 | gal, Leo -- Easy location near Zeta Leonis. Set almost within a triangle of stars within a larger, brighter triangle of stars. Medium size and dim -- low SB. Uncertain shape, maybe slightly elongated. Not much brighter center. 176x. |
| NGCs 3222, 3226, 3227 | gals, Leo -- two obvious galaxies and a dimmer one all in same FOV (9mm Nagler). Located just a couple of degrees E of Algieba. The two bright ones are quite close together and are elongated at a relative PA of about 45 degrees. The dimmer one (3222) is a bit farther away. 3226 and 3227 are small, pretty bright, elongated about 2:1 or more and have brighter centers. The shape of 3222 is not certain, and it does not have a brighter center, but it is about the same size as the two others. |
| NGC 3301 | gal, Leo -- small but bright, pretty elongated, bright center. Adjacent to a right triangle of 3 equally bright stars. 176x. |
| NGC 3287 | gal, Leo -- galaxy near 3301. Much dimmer, but large. Low SB. 176x. |
| NGC 3596 | gal, Leo -- Fairly large, low SB, shape not certain, but not obviously elongated. Not brighter center. Not much to look at. Just SE of Theta Leonis. |
| Trio in Leo | gals, Leo -- Wrapped up with more eye candy. Wow! 3628, the non-M poor cousin, is huge and elongated! I had forgotten how nice this trio is. |
Also observed Sunday 22 Jan at Montebello.
It was cold and a little breezy. Typical MB light domes. But it was clear.
| NGC 2192 | OC, Aur -- Not really a target; just “collateral damage” -- got in the way while I was hunting for an asteroid. Just a dim glow at 93x. Switched to 176x -- medium small, quite dim. About 1/2 dozen stars on edge of resolution and some more unresolved glow. Roughly rectangular shape. Probably not half bad from a darker site. |
|---|---|
| 134 Sophrosyne | asteroid, Aur -- estimated magnitude about 12. In among a little arc of mag 12+ stars and near an 8.3 star and an obvious double (see below). 176x. |
| STF 883 | triple star, Aur -- easy split of a double star in the same FOV as Sophrosyne. Failed to note the third companion (didn’t notice it was a triple until after the fact -- the third member is mag 10 and quite far away from the two brighter components). |
Posted on sf-bay-tac Jan 29, 2006 12:09:22 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 05, 2006 20:27:01 PT