Monte Bello, 14 Jul 07

by Bill Parkwright

About 5 or 6 other cars at MB. It took a while to get dark so I didn't look at my first deep sky object until 21:45. Before then, I looked at all three planets, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter. Drew pictures. Great views of Jupiter and its Moons. A moon shadow was transiting and clearly visible. Saw too many different cloud bands to count during moments of clarity. Saw at least 4 tan/brown bands around middle, most of the time. Some times, could see two darker oval spots in two different tan bands. Probably spent almost an hour looking at Jupiter. I tried lots of magnification and several filter, but wasn't happy with the results. Spent most of the time looking at Jupiter at 190X (6.3mm).

I had some charts for objects in Ophiuchus, so I spent a couple hours looking for faint, small glob clusters. One OC and one PN, but otherwise just GCs. I got so distracted trying to star hop to faint fuzzies that I forgot to watch the Iridium flare at 23:00.

Everyone was looking at the comet 2006 Linear VZ13. I waited until late so the Big Dipper was lower in the sky and somewhat rotated away from the northern light dome. I only had low resolution, hard to use, finder charts from the web. But the comet was easily found in the finder scope. Large, round, gray, glow. No tail noted. Packed up a little after midnight.

Nice night. No fog. I thought we might get low fog covering the city lights but leaving MB in the clear above the fog. But there was no fog on West side of the valley when I drove down the hill. Looked like light, patchy fog against the Eastern hills. Wonder what Coyote and Coe were like? Did not get any of the inversion heat waves at MB last night. Sweatshirt weather. Almost put on jacket when several breeze gusts came through but they didn't last. Seeing seemed pretty soft. I couldn't see anything past mag 11. I didn't bring any of my naked eye limiting mag sheets, but based on star charts, I'd say NELM was not quite 5.

Observed with 10 inch Dobs reflector, with 9X50 finder scope.

M4 - GC - (Sco) Easily seen in Finder. Lots and lots of stars resolved. Looked like spilt sugar grains. Stars resolved throughout. Not round - irregular shape. Triangular V shape. Viewed at 48X, 120X and 190X.

NGC 6144 - GC - (Sco) Found glob cluster (between M4 and Antares) in 25mm eyepiece (48X). Very faint and small. One star resolved.

Noticed Milky Way about 21:55. Did not extend past zenith due to northern light dome.

NGC 6118 - Gal - (Ser) Could not see galaxy at 48X or 120X. Check for correct location using star charts. Nothing visible with averted vision.

M62 - GC - (Oph) Found in Finder. Viewed at 48X and 190X. Started resolving stars at 190X. Not round. Boxy shape with diffuse edges. Two brighter edge stars at 4 and 7 o'clock positions.

NGC 6369 - PN - (Oph) Little Ghost Planetary Nebula. Small, tiny. Non-stellar, round object with gray color. Blinked in and out of view at 48X.

NGC 6401 - GC - (Oph) Star hopped using 25mm eyepiece. Small, faint glob. Viewed at 48X - blurry, no stars resolved. Also viewed at 190X and 120X. Point-like middle in cluster.

Barnard 59+ - Neb - (Oph) Looked at Pipe dark nebula using 9X50 Finder scope. Big area void of stars. Elbow shaped. Did not appear darker - just did not have any stars.

NGC 6293 - GC - (Oph) Small, diffuse edge, round. Bright point core. Viewed at 48X.

NGC 6316 - GC - (Oph) Used 48X and 120X. Small, round fuzzy. Located right next to a mag 11 star. No stars resolved in cluster. Same contrast throughout object.

NGC 6304 - GC - (Oph) Easily found in 25mm eyepiece. Viewed with 10mm eyepiece also. Small, fuzzy object. No stars resolved. Gradually brighter to middle.

M19 - GC - (Oph) Large object. Sugary texture with stars resolved throughout. Oval shape. Diffuse edge. Two bright edge stars at 5 and 8 o'clock positions.

NGC 6284 - GC - (Oph) Very small, round fuzzy when viewed at 48X. Glob appeared mottled at 190X.

NGC 6287 - GC - (Oph) Small, round fuzzy with uniform brightness at 48X. View at 120X had more of a diffuse edge to glob.

NGC 6235 - GC - (Oph) Very, very faint object. Viewed at 48X and 120X. Small, ghostly glow.

NGC 6517 - GC - (Oph) Very, very, very faint/diffuse glow at 48X. Better view at 120X with brighter middle. Glob is next to, and between two mag 10 stars.

NGC 6633 - OC - (Oph) Big, open cluster. Spanned at least one degree. Cluster obvious in Finder. Lots of bright stars. Lots of pairs, and several chains of stars. Lazy, sinusoidal shape. Drew picture of about 30 stars.

NGC 6426 - GC - (Oph) Ghostly faint glow. Could not discern any real shape to glob. Viewed at 48X.

IC 4665 - OC - (Oph) Rambling pattern of about 12 stars near star Beta Oph.

M14 - GC - (Oph) Seen in Finder. Large, even, gray ball. Same contrast throughout glob. No stars resolved.

C/2006 VZ13 Linear - Comet - (UMa) Easily found in the finder scope. Only had low resolution, hard to use finder charts from web. Large, round, gray, glow. No tail noted. Viewed at 48X. Drew picture of star pattern near comet.

Bill.