Another Willow Springs OR

by Richard Navarrete

I was lucky enough to be able to make the trek to Willow Springs last month. I caravaned with Mark Wagner. Other people have written about the nice drive, so I won't say much about it other than to say it was a nice drive. I was directed to a lower area that they said was the flattest. In the end there were about eight of us down there. I don't think that spot could have comfortably fit any more folks. I was observing with an 18" Obsession and a variety of old Nagler eyepieces. Also used a telrad, and an 11x70 finder. Love that finder. I spend the entire evening observing in Libra. I'm making my way throught the Herschel II list, and all I've got left are spring objects. Given the weather we've had over the past few years, that's probably not a big surprise. Either my star hopping skills have really deteriorated, or I was looking for difficult objects. I managed eleven new objects for the night, when I usually get eleven new objects in an hour. I still had fun. Here's what I observed. Objects with two astericks are on the Herschel II list.

NGC 5605 Libra Galaxy 13
Round diffuse glow, faint, fairly large.

NGC 4728 Libra Galaxy 11.3
Obvious, but not bright. Edge-on with very much brighter core.

NGC 5597 Libra Galaxy 12.6
Round, large, faint glow. In field with 5595.

NGC 5595 Libra Galaxy 12.7
(didn't write a description for some reason)

NGC 5812 Libra Galaxy 11.2
Small, round, bright with brighter core.

NGC 5861 Libra Galaxy 12
Large, round faint glow. NGC 5872 Libra Galaxy 14.5 Small, very faint, round, next to dim star.

NGC 5858 Libra Galaxy 13.7
Small, very faint.

IC 1091 Libra Galaxy 14.5
Extremely faint. Observed with averted vision.

NGC 5878 Libra Galaxy 11.5
Bright, elongated.

NGC 5791 Libra Galaxy 13
Small, faint, a bit elongated.

Nothing spectacular, but what a great way to spend a night.

Richard Navarrete