from Willow Springs into Grus and Norma

by Jamie Dillon

I caught my first DSO's in Grus and Norma. Exotic enough from these parts. The OTA of the scope was pretty much horizontal for those objects, but hey, these necks of the woods don't show up every day. The one object in Norma was a cheap shot, a big OC around a naked eye star, 6169, right on the border with Scorpius. Then picked up some galaxies along the feet of the Crane. Missed looking for a couple of galaxies off DeepMap in Grus, that were easier and farther north, sheesh. Did catch a first peek at the Grus Cluster, a bunch of galaxies close together, which has got to be interesting from an observing spot farther south. Caught two of those, ngc 7582 and 7590.

People were fun, too. Rob and Craig and Bob Ayers dropped by to chat and mooch. Andy Pierce, Sarah E and a friend, were visible, and there were other people there I didn't meet up with, including an eminent TAC-ALista, Bill Parkhurst.

Conditions were great all night, way clear by 10. Limiting magnitude was 6.1, got to 6.4 over in the East after midnight. Seeing was excellent, 5/5. I was using my 11" Dobs, Felix, with optics made by Discovery Telescopes. Was using a 22 Pan, 16mm UO Koenig, 10mm and 6mm Radians, with a Lumicon OIII.

Got two projects for this summer, one to focus on objects I haven't seen that are on Gottlieb's DeepMap. Have about 70 left, all thru the sky. Each and every one of those has turned out to be real interesting in the telescope. The other thing I'm working on is to go after new planetary nebulae. What had long seemed like an acquired taste is finally turning into a fascination. I must be maturing. One of these, on DeepMap as well, is 6563, just east of M7. Showed a round even glow at 210x. Charlie offered a comparison view in his 20" later on. At the same magnification, could see a ring in the outer perimeter of the thing, along with filamentary structure throughout. Finally understanding why someone like Doug Hudgins would build a really big scope then use it mostly to hunt PN's.

A lot of the night I was picking up OC's in Scorpius and Sagittarius off DeepMap, all of 'em pretty. One esp fetching one is 6242, just north of the False Comet in the tail of Scorpius. Why I hadn't seen this one before I can't tell you. Showed the shape of a right triangle, with over 50 stars of varying brightness. Has a bright red star in the short edge, to the West. Right on the western end there's a set of stars that are an exact miniature of the Circlet in Pisces.

Great night, music from the crickets and peepers was esp excellent. Fun talking with Charlie, who would just as soon laugh as breathe. Willow Springs is going to see a lot of me. Thanks again to Bob, and to Rob and Craig for all their work.

Clear skies,
Jamie