Plettstone February 28 and 29, 2008

Albert Highe

It seems that winter skies are clearest on Thursdays and Mondays during New Moon. Thursday afternoon I packed up and visited Michelle up at Plettstone.

The skies were clear and the temperature hit the mid-70's during the drive. I expected wet conditions, so I took the Sky and Tel 13" f/4.5 "grab-and-go" telescope. It is easy to throw the assembled OTA into the van rather than leave it out all night.

As expected, Thursday was sopping wet. Dew formed on my observing table before it even got dark. By 7:30PM, the temperature dropped to 50°F with a relative humidity of 95%. Temperatures didn't drop much more during the night, reaching the mid-40's. There was no wind. Seeing was above-average. Stars were crisp in the 7mm Nagler T6 (212X). I could hold six stars in the Trapezium easily and continuously.

I used a towel to periodically wipe the scope and table down - a losing battle. The dew zapper got frequent use on eyepiece, finder, and secondary. The primary stayed dry. However, seeing was very good. I finally tired of the battle to keep optics dew free and quit about 11:30PM.

In contrast, Friday was surprisingly good. The skies were clear and very dry all day, but some clouds formed on the western horizon at sunset. I observed for about a half hour when a thin veil of haze broke off from the horizon and swept across most of the sky. Interestingly, despite the clouds, it was bone dry with no wind. Temperatures stayed in the mid 50's most of the night, and then dipped into the low 40's later on.

I played around looking at bright stuff through sucker holes. I finally took a break about 8:00PM and went inside to talk to Michelle and Paul. At 9PM, Michelle and I went back outside. Transparency was still off. By 9:30PM, the sky cleared to some of the best conditions I've seen in a long time. Transparency was superb, with very good seeing, no wind, mild temperatures, and no dew. I was bagging faint fuzzies with little trouble. I stopped around 1:30AM when stars disappeared along the horizon and transparency seemed to drop a bit. The next morning, Michelle told me that the sky was enveloped completely by clouds soon thereafter.

Observing highlights

Not much to report. I hunted down mostly mag 13 -15 galaxies, often testing the limits of the 13" aperture. Thursday was slow going and I only bagged about 25 new objects in the short, wet session. I was more productive Friday in the excellent transparent conditions. I bagged 41 new objects in about four hours.

Representative galactic highlights

Gemini

NGC 2486 (mag 13.3, 1.7' x 0.9') Moderate size oval halo with slightly brighter central area.

NGC 2487 (12.5, 2.6' x 2.1') Lies approximately 5' E of N2486. The halo appears larger and more circular. It also has a brighter central area. Both galaxies visible steadily with averted vision.

NGC 2492 (12.7, 1.0' x 1.0') Appeared as small, nearly circular oval with somewhat brighter core. Core just visible with direct vision. Halo visible steadily with averted vision.

NGC 2490 (14.6, 0.5' x 0.4') Lies approximately 4' NW of N2492. Very small and challenging because of its size and brightness, but also because it lies among an asterism of 10-12th magnitude stars. Visible 80% of the time with averted vision.

Cancer

NGC 2535 (12.8, 2.3' x 1.2') Larger and brighter of the two. Oval with near uniform brightness. Visible steadily with averted vision.

NGC 2536 (14.1, 1.0' x 0.5') Much smaller galaxy (oval?) less than 2' SSE of N2535. Small oval with slightly brighter core visible steadily with averted vision.

The Cancer Galaxy Cluster lies approximately 5° WNW of the star cluster M44 and is about the same angular size. Several members were readily visible, but I'll have to return some day with more aperture and DSS charts.

NGC 2563 (12.2, 2.1' x 1.5') Brightest galaxy in the group. Can see the small brighter core with direct vision.

NGC 2562 (12.5, 1.9' x 0.6') Small oval with brighter core visible with direct vision. 4.5' NW of N2563.

NGC 2569 (14.3, 0.6' x 0.5') Very small circular(?) galaxy with small brighter core. Visible steadily with averted vision.

NGC 2570 (14.5, 1.1' x 0.6') Very small elusive oval galaxy. Visible 50% of the time with averted vision. 2.5' S of N2569.

NGC 2557 (13.2, 1.2' x 1.0') Small elongated oval with small, brighter core visible with direct vision.

IC 2293 (14.0, 0.9' x 0.7') 5.5' SSE of N2557 and lower brightness. But appears about the same size. Visible 50% of the time with averted vision.

NGC 2560 (13.3, 1.4' x 0.3') Small elongated oval with brighter oval central area. Just visible with direct vision.

NGC 2553 (13.9, 1.7' x 0.8') Small circular galaxy with small, slighter brighter core, Just visible with direct vision.

NGC 2558 (13.0, 1.7' x 1.3') Moderate size, somewhat elongated oval with bright, small core visible with direct vision.

The skies were completely overcast Saturday morning and the forecast looked uncertain, so I headed home.

It was nice to see Paul and Michelle again.

Albert