Dino point 8 Dec 2007

Mark Johnston

Temps down to 38degF with some light breeze. SQM 21.0x area at best. A 6.0 range at best sky was measured by a George Feliz count. SQM 21.0x area at best. Obvious clouds gradually faded away by 7 to leave only thin clouding from time to time so we ended up with a very nice early winter sky with non-ideal but acceptable viewing.

About 20% social with several walk-abouts and the rest shared with many objects. A very large croud of at least 15 scopes including 1st light for Bo's 12" and I think PeterS scope as well. Thank you to Gatekeeper(s) for last and this week at Dino (include Albert and JamieD). I am sorry to tell you gatekeepers that Sigourney Weaver will not be paying you guys a visit any time soon ... (per PeterS comment) BUT if this should ever happen, the correct answer is 'yes'.

Highlights are first for a quick overview followed by a rather long set of specific targets coming from SAC110 and DeepMap lists for any interested folks.

Horsehead (B33) was jumping out from several scopes this night. To me, a horsehead 'noob', it seems to me the better view was when one 'steps back' when viewing this object so as to see the broad nebulous area that is the horsehead's pasture.

Flame nebula, Ngc2024, showed it's dark lanes well and shared that area near zeta Orion.

While on a few walk-abouts GregLF had an interesting object which was an interacting set of galaxies he called a peanut. These were Ngc274/275 off of theta Cetus. He was fairly magged up and only later did I see from charts Ngc273 is 10' north (but mag 14)

M47/M46 area: A nice cluster hop and a favorite planitary are back again this year. Good to see Canis Major back again with M47 as striking as usual and in the same FOV with wider fields 1/2 degree south-east is a small but distinct cluster Ngc2425 and then 1/2 degree to the north is Ngc2423 which was a distinct cluster in it's own right with a bright central star. The real treat was 2.4 degrees north of M47 was Mel 71 (or Cr155) which was a very rich cluster of lower mag stars that I enjoyed. M46 a tad east stands in contrast to M47 as M46 shows its broad wealth of medium mag nicely distributed stars among which is a favorite, and bright, planitary nebula Ngc2438.

NGC 835 area galaxy group (Arp 318 Hickson 16A) MltG 12.1v 1.4x 1.1' 7 SAB(r)ab: pec RC3 02 09 24.5 -10 08 09
9:30pm 835 and 833 are the closely spaced galaxies Jamie just discussed last week so I thought to take a peek, it was worth it. There was indeed separation between 835 and 833 and together with 838 and 839 was a nice tight group. 848 is the odd-man-out but still only 10' SE and showed it's elongation. I don't think that sounded very proper but I am refering to galaxies here ...

NGC 1052 Trio along with 1035 and 1042. Glxy 10.4v 3.0x 2.4' 118 E4 RC3 02 41 04.9 -08 15 22
This trio of 3 different flavors of galaxies was mentioned by JamieD and GeorgeF and so taking a peek proved a treet. Observed at 10:56pm 1052 bright and eliptic. 1042 broad with even surface brightness. 1038 very thin 4x elongation.

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Detailed Observations follow with MegaStar observing list format where the RA and then DEC coordinates appear near the end of the second line for each entry. My comments follow. Observations with 11" F/10 SCT

SAC110 List: Spread through the night as I was in the area and several were from DeepMap list.

NGC 2261 MON 'Hubble's Nebula' LBN 920 BrtN 2.0x 1.7' E+R LBN 06 39 09.5 +08 44 52
SAC110 #69: MON 11:40pm Distinct wedge shape apparent. Brightness cuts off quickly on the edges of the sides of the V shape.

NGC 2359 CMA (also NGC 2361 is used for part of it) 'Duck Nebula' LBN 1041 Gum 4 BrtN 13.0x11.0' E LBN 07 18 31.0 -13 14 00
SAC110 #25: CMA 12:02 Very irregular shape with at least 1 or 2 of the arms branching out from a central core. Rather large area with nebulosity faint but present all around.

NGC 2403 UGC 3918 CGCG 309-40 CGCG 310-3 MCG +11-10-7 Kara 197 IRAS 7321+6543 PGC 21396 Glxy 8.9b 22.1x12.4' 127 Sc RC3 07 36 51.6 +65 36 10
SAC110 #10: CAM Broad but low surface brightness. Couple stars in foreground

NGC 2655 UGC 4637 CGCG 349-33 CGCG 350-7 Arp 225 MCG +13-7-10 IRAS 8491+7824 PGC 25069 Glxy 11.0b 6.6x 4.8' -- SAB(s)0/a RC3 08 55 38.7 +78 13 28
SAC110 #11: CAM 11pm E-W elongation with thin core brighter and more obvious

DeepMap objects

NGC 7184 AQR UGCA 425 ESO 601-9 MCG -4-52-9 IRAS 21599-2103 PGC 67904 Glxy 11.7b 6.0x 1.4' 62 SB(r)c RC3 22 02 39.7 -20 48 50
7:00pm E-W 4x1 el with bit brighter core. Has a star at limits of object to the west. Conditions poor due to light clouding.

NGC 7410 GRU MCG -7-47-2 IRAS 22522-3955 PGC 69994 Glxy 11.2b 5.2x 1.6' 41 SB(s)a RC3 22 55 00.8 -39 39 41
7:17pm 45deg 5x1 EL edge on. This was WAY deep south and just off the hilltop so a bit mucky. Was pleased to even be able to detect this objects basic shape at this low in the sky.

IC 1459 GRU IC 5265 ESO 406-30 MCG -6-50-16 IRAS 22544-3643 PGC 70090 Glxy 11.0b 5.2x 3.7' 40 E3-4 RC3 22 57 10.3 -36 27 49
8pm: IC1459 dimmer as it fades to near circular eliptical. Made a finder from DSS earlier. Unable to see the other two dim edge-on object ngc7418 face on is at limits of my 11" sct but was just detectable. 17mm ngc7421 was a bit more distinct. Slightly brighter core.

NGC 7507 SCL ESO 469-19 MCG -5-54-22 PGC 70676 Glxy 11.4b 2.7x 2.6' -- E0 RC3 23 12 07.6 -28 32 21
8:28pm Fairly bright core and appears as a spherical regular shape ngc7513 was only a dim glow at limits so detected no detail.

NGC 2345 CMA Cr 129 Mel 61 Open 7.7 12.0' 70 9.0 II 3 r LYN 07 08 19.0 -13 11 36
11:40 (approx) Faint but rich cluster that has some brighter (foreground?) stars forming a parabola shape, 'U'.

NGC 2359 CMA (also NGC 2361 is used for part of it) 'Duck Nebula' LBN 1041 Gum 4 BrtN 13.0x11.0' E LBN 07 18 31.0 -13 14 00
SAC110 #25: CMA 12:02 Very irregular shape with at least 1 or 2 of the arms branching out from a central core. Rather large area with nebulosity faint but present all around.

NGC 2367 CMA Cr 137 Open 7.9 3.5' 30 9.4 II 3 m LYN 07 20 05.0 -21 53 00
12:15 like a arrowhead or V shape. Very bright stars almost asterism like.

NGC 2383 CMA Cr 141 Open 8.4 5.0' 40 9.8 II 3 m LYN 07 24 40.0 -20 56 54
12:40 Very fine grain stars in nice low-mag cluster. Hints of couple spokes out from center

NGC 2384 CMA Cr 143 Open 7.4 2.5' 15 8.6 IV 3 p LYN 07 25 12.0 -21 01 24
12:45 Bright and next to 2383. Brighter star group looks like a number 7 or L shape.

NGC 2423 CMA Cr 153 Mel 70 Open 6.7 19.0' 40 9.0 II 2 m LYN 07 37 07.0 -13 52 18
1am Just 1/2 deg north of M47 a distinct separate cluster of lower mag stars with a brighter central star marking it's center.

NGC 2425 PUP Open 3.3' 30 14.0 II 1 m LYN 07 38 18.0 -14 52 42
1:10am Just 1/2 deg SE of M47. Small cluster of dim stars but stands out. Slightly non-circular in overall shape with low mag stars.

NGC 2439 PUP Cr 158 Mel 74 Open 6.9 10.0' 80 9.0 II 3 r LYN 07 40 46.0 -31 41 30
1:20~ A ring of stars with 1 bright star on 1 edge (these may be foreground) Cluster itself is all inside the ring and beyond a bit.

NGC 2467 PUP Cr 164 Open 7.1 15.0' 50 --- I 3 m n LYN 07 52 30.0 -26 25 48
1:30~ Cluster has some nebulosity around its area. May be fainter nebulous farther out.

Cr 155 Mel 71 PUP Open 7.1 9.0' 80 10.2 II 2 r LYN 07 37 30.0 -12 03 06
1:30 Nice find and easy 2.4 deg N of M47. Great close for this night. Lots of low mag stars and the cluster stands out against the starfield.