Sierra Buttes 7/23-7/27

by Bill Cone

When viewed through Steve's 18", he pointed out that the moons were resolving into discs, which I hadn't thought about until he mentioned it. You could clearly see a clean disc of Ganymede. Something I had read about, but not seen before. Back at my 10" I could not see that effect at 285x.

On one other night, probably Wednesday 7/26, I recall the southern equatorial belt had separated into 3 distinct dark bands separated by lighter zones. Radically different looking than a few nights before. What a dynamic object for observing.

Here's a list of some of the objects viewed over the course of the week with some brief notes. I was NOT a good note taker at this class, I'll admit.

M27: I looked at this repeatedly during the week. Under dark skies, this was easy in the finderscope, and quite a treat at the eyepiece. An OIII filter expands the form of this object, giving it more of a football shape. The brightest masses are the northern and southern lobes, the southern lobe being slightly brighter. I found I could hold the central star steadily with averted vision. The northern lobe has a bright field star in it, and there is an even brighter field star on the southwest corner of the southern lobe. I had also observed this object at Shingletown at about 3 am, with Bill Cherrington muttering in low tones how you should be able to see color in it. Having someone telling you that at 3 in the morning while you're at the eyepiece is quite compelling, but I can't say I percieved any color in this object at the Buttes.

ngc 6522, 6528: These are 2 GC's visible in a very rich star field, just north of the Teapot spout of Saggitarius. 6522 is slightly larger and brighter than its companion, to my eyes.

ngc 5981, 5982, 5985: Galaxy trio in Draco. I had seen this at Shingletown through Paul Alsing's 25" scope, and wanted to find and view it through my own scope. At 127x, I could clearly see all 3 galaxies in one field, with the edge on, 5981, being the faintest, on the western edge of the field. 5982, the elliptical at the center was the brightest, with a very distinct stellar core. 5985, sits on the eastern edge of the field, large and oval, but fairly dim. A great smorgasbord of galaxy types in one view.

ngc 6822: Barnard's Galaxy in Saggitarius. Already seen in larger aperture, but a first for me finding it in my own scope. The night before I found it, Steve Gottlieb had showed me some faint H2 regions in this galaxy through his 18", visible as dim extended objects adjacent to 2 stars in the field. My memory of the view I had through Alsing's 25" at Shingletown was of the boxy nature of the glowing form of the whole galaxy. Through my 10" scope I could discern a faint elongated glow within a brighter irregular outline of stars that helped define a rectangle form around it.

ngc 6818: Planetary nebula, Saggitarius. This is a pretty, small, bright aqua disc just about .5 degrees N of 6822. A good guidepost to navigate to Barnard's galaxy. If you're in the neighborhood, check 'em both out!

ngc 7662: Planetary Nebula, Andromeda. You want color in a DSO? This one is for you! Large, bright, rich thalo blue/green colored disc. Easy to spot in the finder as it is about 10' west of a prominent 8th or 9th mag. star in the field.

ngc 6058: Planetary nebula, Hercules. I had to search for this one for awhile, as it was larger, but much fainter than I figured on. No blue snowball here. Grey and dim. Sits inside the western side of an eq. triangle formed by 3 faint stars in the field. At 163x, the central star was visible.

B143, B142: Dark nebula, Aquila. Recommended by Steve G., and worth the trip. Large, distinct, dark interruptions of the Milky Way glow. B143 looks a bit like the 'pi' symbol, or a post and lintel type of shape, a thick slab running north and south, with 2 thinner extensions to the west. B142 sits just to the south of this form, slightly larger, an elongated form running east and west, fatter on the western end.

ngc 6939, 6946: Open cluster and galaxy, Cepheus. I do like multiple objects in a field. Not only aesthetically interesting, but it gives one a compare and contrast context. To me, these 2 have a wonderful contrasting texture, 6939 being a brillo pad of noisy star patterns, and 6946 a soft glow, like steam on a window pane.

Mu Cephei: Herschel's Garnet Star, Cepheus. Yellow orange color. With an OIII filter I could detect some faint nebulosity around it, the only area of the IC 1396 region that I was able to see nebulosity, even though photos show a wealth of it. There is, however, a beautiful, tight, triple star in the center of the IC 1396 region on the charts: Struve 2816.

M15: Globular Cluster, Pegasus. One of the more elegant and beautiful of the Messier Globs. The gradient of stars building up to the center mass grows at a rate where there is always room for more as you approach the core. M13, by comparison, is 'fat', with star chains extended from a big ball of stars.

M72: Globular Cluster, Aquarius. Anemic! Much fainter than I imagined a Messier glob would be. Not all Messiers are eye candy, ah well.

The great parade of Messiers that run from Scutum down into Saggittarius and Scorpius was viewed repeatedly all through the week just for the sheer pleasure of it, as were some of the big and bright galaxies, M51, M33, M81/82 (with ngc 3077 snuck into a widefield view), M31 and companions, 4565

Great views in other scopes:
ngc 6826: Blinking Planetary, Cygnus. Through Martin's 18". Large planetary that, with direct vision, did a slow fade away, leaving a stellar core with a slight halo, then popped back to full strength with averted.

Veil Nebula: Supernova remnant, Cygnus. I had the opportunity to view all 3 sections with an OIII filter through the 18" scopes. One could sweep up and down, observing vascular subtleties within a larger form. Mysterious, subtle, beautiful. Like viewing a faintly phosphorescent, exposed tree root on a dark night.

Neptune and it's moon, Triton. A real blue planet! No wonder planetary nebula have such a designation. Viewed late in the evening through Steve's 18", Neptune showed a nice blue disc, with Triton close by, small, gold, stellar.

ngc 891: Galaxy, Andromeda. Big and faint edge on. Dust lane is more centered than 4565. Field stars interrupt the view of this one, making it harder to read the full extension of the object.

Objects that eluded me:
M73: I've since learned this is one of those obscure objects, perhaps only an asterism. I saw an open cluster designation on the chart, and was sweeping around expecting something perhaps faint, but grander, and saw nothing of the sort. I'm sure I went right by it numerous times without realizing it.
Saturn Nebula: hello?
Palomar 11: I realized I had no patience for something like this without a field chart for a specific magnification, so I could be sure of the correct field. Then, I would be willing to try to and sense it's presence.
B72: Snake Nebula: I was certain I was in the field, but couldn't identify it. It may be much smaller than I was figuring on. I have to do better prep to track down these objects.

A note on the dim stuff. Steve at one point showed me a very faint glob, perhaps IC 1257?
My first impression was that it reminded me of some of my earliest views of clusters in my 80mm refractor from the middle of San Francisco: Extremely low contrast glow with no apparent detail! So the quality of the image was quite familiar to me, even if this was a true challenge object.