Montebello July 26, 2008 Observing room only

Mark Johnston

Last night up at Montebello we had about the largest croud I can recall from my last 2 years. Perhaps up to 20 scopes. Montebello standards such as James Turley and Marek as well as distant traveler Greg LaFlamme and too many more to mention.

It was a welcome break from the recent smoke and the skies yieleded a fine Montebello night with fair seeing considering recent fires that were aided by no jet stream above. SQM meter (GregLF) around 20.0x which is fairly dark by Montebello standards. No cloud cover to note except in north but there it was below 10 degrees and light. Little to no wind. Single sweatshirt type night up to late. For some reason, almost no mosquito attacks. Also no Mt. Lion attacks ...

Detailed OR below was to cover assorted DeepMap targets from the south as well as to take better observations of assorted Messier targets. Thanks here to Greg LaFlame for stepping aside for several minutes so I could nab some very low open clusters (yes they were sit-on-your-behind type of objects but even they were looking fairly clean as the deep south was great). Montebello best skies are to the south and south-west. I have noted that my glob observed sizes are often too small perhaps because the globs can tend to fade away to light stars that get lost in the background.

Lots of chatter and 'party' as well as lots of observing. Very nice time.

Below are my own OR details if desired.

Take Care, Mark.

Montebello July 26, 2008. 10pm-1am observe. 20.03 vert at 12:00am (via GregLF)

Scope: 18" f3.7 Starmaster
Observers: Marek, Sarah, James Turley, Greg LaFlamme, Scott Baker, Bo, HUGE croud, perhaps 20 scopes.
Conditions: Very nice nite for this site. Minimal fire smoke. No breeze, some valley clouds. Moonrise Projects: South DeepMap targets and re-observe as many Messier as I get around to viewing

NGC 6204 Cr 312
Open 8.2 5.0' 45 9.6 I 3 m LYN 16 46 08.7 -47 01 10
10:15pm About 20 stars. Seems to be a sort of 'j' asturism to the side of this object.

NGC 6200 Cr 311 DM600
Open 7.4 12.0' 40 9.2 II 2 m LYN 16 44 12.0 -47 28 00
10:20pm < 50 starts, very open, about 5 bright main stars form long trapazoid.

NGC 6193 Cr 310 DM600
Open 5.2 14.0' 14 5.7 II 3 p n LYN 16 41 20.4 -48 45 45
10:25pm About 20 stars, 3 central stars form core, one brightest. Rectangular shapes

NGC 6167 Cr 305 MISSED IT, HIT THE TREES DM600

B88 11pm Unable to detect in these conditions. Only bright core(s) of M8 seen.

B89 11pm Unable to detect in these conditions Only bright core(s) of M8 seen.

M 27 NGC 6853 Henize 2-452 PK 60-3.1 PNG 60.8-3.6
Plan 7.6p 6.7' 13.9 3+2 STE 19 59 36.1 +22 43 13
10:28pm Apple core 5' long N-S main shape with south end slightly brighter E-W size 8' but much dimmer than core. Using 9mm with OIII filter. Small but obvious star on S-W lower side of apple core.

NGC 6541 DM600
Glob 6.3 15.0' 12.1 15.3 --- --- BAA 18 08 02.2 -43 42 20
10:44pm Non-stellar core. 4' dia at most. Even SYM, not high concentration.

NGC 6723 DM600
Glob 6.8 13.0' 12.8 15.5 --- --- BAA 18 59 33.2 -36 37 54
10:47pm No distinct core. Low concentration, gradual fading. Even SYM.

NGC 6726 NGC 6727 DM600
BrtN 5.0' R SKY 19 01 42.0 -36 53 00
11:00pm Nebulous around 2 equal mag 1' spaced stars. 4'x 2-3' total neb area.

NGC 6729 NOLIST
BrtN 1.0' E+R SKY 19 01 55.1 -36 57 21
11:05pm E-W nebula appeara as 2x1 elongated like galaxy. Same 9mm fov at 6726

M 22 NGC 6656
Glob 5.2 32.0' 10.7 14.2 --- --- BAA 18 36 24.2 -23 54 12
11:07pm About 25' dia. > 200 star Assorted mags, now real bright members. Non-stellar core. Even mass of central stars 6-7' dia. Even fading.

NGC 6760
Glob 9.0 9.6' 15.6 17.5 --- --- BAA 19 11 12.1 +01 01 50
11:15pm Very even distribution, even fading. 2-3' dia, almost like gal

NGC 6960 Veil neb, witches broom.
SNR 60.0x 9.0' E SKY 20 45 54.0 +30 43 00
11:30pm 32mm PanOp with OIII. Great structure and detail. Lots of fine detail.

NGC 6992 NGC 6995 IC 1340 Veil East.
SNR 80.0x26.0' E SKY 20 57 00.0 +31 30 00
11:30pm 32mm PanOp with OIII. Great structure and detail. Lots of fine detail.

M 4 NGC 6121
Glob 5.4 30.0' 10.8 13.4 --- --- BAA 16 23 35.5 -26 31 31
12:12am 10' obvious size, may be larger. Mild concentration with core obvious. Central line of stars 5' long N-W to S-E.

M 80 NGC 6093
Glob 7.3 10.0' 12.5 16.2 --- --- BAA 16 17 02.5 -22 58 30
12:17am Slightly stellar core. 4' across, 1' dia core. Even to edges. mid-High concentration. Even SYM.

M 62 NGC 6266
Glob 6.4 15.0' 13.2 16.3 --- --- BAA 17 01 12.6 -30 06 44
12:20am Slightly stellar core, mid concentration. 4' max Dia. Even SYM. Similar to M80

M 14 NGC 6402
Glob 7.6 11.0' 14.0 17.2 --- --- BAA 17 37 36.1 -03 14 45
12:24am Even non-stellar core. 4' dia. Even SYM. Mostly same mag stars few brighter.

M 6 NGC 6405 Cr 341
Open 4.2 30.0' 80 5.5 II 3 r LYN 17 40 17.0 -32 16 00
12:27am 25' dia. Very open in center. Similar mags. Bright yellow star to N-E edge. Appears to have 3 7' dark circles outlinned touching with central star marking middle.

M 23 NGC 6494 Cr 356
Open 5.5 27.0' 150 10.0 II 2 r LYN 17 56 54.0 -19 01 00
12:57 Huge 25-30' dia. 100-130 stars. Fairly const mag stars. Very open. No 'jewel' stars.

M 5 NGC 5904
Glob 5.7 23.0' 12.2 15.0 --- --- BAA 15 18 33.8 +02 04 58
01:00am Close to stellar core. High concentration. 17mm nag needed. 8' in dense core.

M 107 NGC 6171
Glob 7.8 13.0' 13.0 15.6 --- --- BAA 16 32 31.9 -13 03 13
01:03am Uniform core, non stellar. 4' dia. Washed out as it's low.

M 10 NGC 6254 FAVORITE Twin to M12
Glob 6.6 20.0' 12.0 15.1 --- --- BAA 16 57 08.9 -04 05 58
01:06am Non-stellar. 10' dia Some lines of stars out from center (fg stars?)

POST OR Note: Size is much larger, perhaps from outer stars fade to backdrop. M 12 NGC 6218 FAVORITE Twin to M10
Glob 6.1 16.0' 12.0 14.7 --- --- BAA 16 47 14.5 -01 56 52
01:07am 8' across. Even concentration, very gradual fade. May be larger. POST OR Note: Size is much larger, perhaps from outer stars fade to backdrop.