by Bob Jardine
Mark has already covered the who, what, where, when in an earlier OR.
It was nice -- shirtsleeves weather for about the first hour of observing, then just had to add one light layer after a cool light breeze came up. Skies were nice: The crud that we had seen in the East and South during the drive down was not a factor -- either it was lower behind the hills or had otherwise disappeared.
SQM readings were 20.17 at 10:00 PM, 20.43 at 10:30, and 20.60 at 11:15. The last reading was probably helped a bit by valley fog forming down in Gilroy and elsewhere. I guess we got just a little bit of what Marek reported: a darker-than-usual night at MB due to fog below.
I was hoping to finish up the H-2 objects in Leo, but it was not to be -- I’m too slow and Leo was moving over into the Western light dome too quickly. So after a few Leo galaxies, I switched to darker skies -- Bootes, Draco, and UMa.
Seeing was pretty good on Saturn at the start of the evening, but softened up -- Izar was split at 226X, but the primary was big and hairy.
Big fun was had by all, I think.
I observed with my 12.5” f/5 Portaball; mostly using a 9mm Nagler. Mostly doing the AL Herschel-2 list.
| NGC 3274 | gal, Leo -- DNF (first one of the evening, maybe not dark enough yet) |
|---|---|
| NGC 3507 | gal, Leo -- smallish, round, dim; difficult due to a pretty bright superimposed star, just off center; shape is difficult to tell. |
| NGC 3501 | gal, Leo -- DNF (not on H-2 list, but I usually also try to observe any other NGC object that I find on the chart near my target; this one should be real near 3507, but I saw nothing) |
| NGC 3605 | gal, Leo -- Three galaxies in same FOV (9mm) -- 3605 (the H-2 target) along with 3607 and 3608 (observed several times in the past). I drew a sketch of the field. 3607 is the biggest and brightest; round with a brighter center; '08 is a little dimmer and smaller than '07; '05 is the dimmest of the three; small and dim, but can hold with direct vision; shape is uncertain; just a tiny bit brighter center. |
| NGC 3599 | gal, Leo -- Just a little bit west of the 3607 group; dimmer than 3605 and a bit larger, but much lower surface brightness; shape difficult to tell; a little triangle asterism SW of 3607 points almost right to 3599. |
(gave up on Leo at this point; altitude is still high enough, but light dome in the West)
| NGC 3682 | gal, Dra -- pretty small and dim, almost can’t hold direct; elongated about 2:1 E/W. Low SB. A little bit brighter center. |
|---|---|
| NGC 5548 | gal, Boo -- pretty small and dim; shape uncertain, but not obviously elongated; slightly brighter center. |
| NGC 5523 | gal, Boo -- DNF. Again, not an H-2 target, but should have been near 5548. |
| Izar | dbl, Boo -- split with 7mm; primary pale yellow, nearly white to my eyes (Peter McK. says it is definitely yellow); secondary is very pale blue; the gap between them comes and goes, and the primary is large and hairy. |
| NGC 5480, 5481 | gals, UMa -- two galaxies in same FOV (9mm), quite close together. The Western one is a little larger and low SB. The East one is smaller and has a bit brighter center. Shapes of both are uncertain, but not obviously elongated. |
| NGC 5448 | gal, UMA -- near 5480/81. My last target of the night; I'm glad I kept going, as this was the best H-2 of the night: a nice edge-on. Elongated 3:1 or so, roughly E/W. A stellar core seems to come and go, like the blinking PN. Fun. |
Posted on sf-bay-tac May 21, 2006 17:25:57 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.4 Jul 19, 2006 11:31:23 PT
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