Bonny Doon Aug 23 2008 - More fun above the fog

Mark Johnston

Although a short night due to the moon crashing the party at 11:40 it was the darkest skies I have seen yet at Bonny Doon. Have only been there 4 times or so and this time Santa Cruz light dome was greatly diminished to leave behind sqm reading of 21.08. Seeing was not incredible but was darn good compared to other visits.

Quite a crowd considering that many of the Santa Cruz club members were in Yosemite. Bonny Doon regulars that I ran into included Paul Duncan, John Pierce, Mark Buxbaum and Eric. There were 9 or more cars for a very strong show of scopes up there. As always the Santa Cruz guys were great and it was well worth the trip. Logged 25 plus new objects and observed several eye candy treats as assorted folks filtered by to catch views. A good and fun time.

A favorite set of targets to run across was the cluster of galaxies with NGC7385 and NGC7386 as the brightest members.

A 13mm Nagler type 6 had arrived Friday via AstroMart buy

Was squeezing out mag 15 plus galaxies as my limits in some cluster hunting before the moon dropped in. Even after the moon came up the search for planitaries went well. I ended up not spending much time down near M7 due to the rush against the moon and other goals and that is a small regret but will correct that over time. Need even darker skies for some of the dark nebulas anyway.

Below is a full OR for the site records and curious readers. (I have found TAC to be a great way to backup my ORs)

Clear Skies,
MarkJ

Bonny Doon Airport Sat Aug 23, 2008 Moonrise at 11:39pm. 21.08 Mag/ArcSec2

Summary: Some targets from Astronomy May 'best 100', couple gal clusters Scope: 18" f/3.7 Starmaster mostly with NO PARACOR unless stated.
Observers: Paul Duncan, John Pierce, Mark Buxbaum, Eric, and more with about 9 cars.
Conditions: Great skies with 21.08 Mag/ArcSec2 for about 2 hours

M 16 NGC 6611 Cr 375 Eagle Nebula (cluster) Open 6.0 6.0' 543 11.0 II 3 m n LYN 18 18 43.0 -13 48 00 10:00pm 13mmNagO3
Cluster of less than 50 stars. Wide range of mags, very open, nonSym look. Two central stars eq mag are at the center of the 'wings' in the body and form an eq triangle with a fainter member to the west. Brightest members are W-NW with a small arc of stars goes from west arcing towards south near main hot stars.

IC 4703 Eagle Nebula (nebula) BrtN 28.0x17.0' E UNK 18 18 50.0 -13 50 00 10:00pm 13mmNagO3
Nebula part of M16. Wings fill 30' mostly N-S. Body len 20' or so. South wing very strong and obvious and gradual fade. North wing fainter but extends about as far.

M 54 NGC 6715 Glob 7.7 12.0' 15.2 18.2 --- --- BAA 18 55 03.3 -30 28 42 10:09pm 9mmNagNpc
2' dia. Maybe fewer stars on north. No resolution, fairly sym.

NGC 7538 SH2 -158 LBN 542 SW71.3 BrtN 9.7x 6.1' E LBN 23 13 42.0 +61 31 09 10:23pm
4'x3' Must use Lum deepsky filter. 2 close stars eq mag in center.

NGC 7635 SH2 -162 LBN 548 Bubble Nebula. SW71 BrtN 16.0x 6.0' E LBN 23 20 40.0 +61 12 00 10:30pm 9mmNag
LumDeepSky filter. Nebula obvious but bubble is only half present. Main neb fades off evenly. Central section may have seen bit of the arc

SH2 -159 BrtN 7.0' SH2 23 15 47.6 +61 07 41 10:32pm 9mmNag
Reported this with averted only and could not make out what it was.

NGC 6453 Glob by M7 Glob 10.2 7.6' 14.3 17.5 --- --- BAA 17 50 51.8 -34 35 55 10:45pm 9mmNag 1.3' dia
Low concentration, dim. Slightly non symetrical

NGC 6444 Open 12.0' 8 11.0 IV 1 p LYN 17 49 30.0 -34 48 00 11:16pm 13mmNag 13' dia.
Broad open cluster. mostly Const mag stars.

NGC 7383 CGCG 430-12 MCG +2-58-14 PGC 69809 Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 13.7v 0.9x 0.8' 170 SB0 RC3 22 49 35.7 +11 33 23 11:35pm
Western member. Half size of 7385 and dimmer, 2nd tier bright.

NGC 7384 PGC 69819 In 7385 apparent cluster Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 0.7x 0.4' 60 PGC 22 49 46.0 +11 33 09 11:40pm
Western member. 1/4 size of 7386 and very dim, 3nd tier bright.

NGC 7385 UGC 12207 CGCG 430-15 MCG +2-58-17 Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 12.0v 2.5x 2.0' 53 E pec: RC3 22 49 54.6 +11 36 31 11:35pm
1 of brightest pair in cluster. Eliptical

NGC 7386 UGC 12209 CGCG 430-16 MCG +2-58-18 Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 12.3v 2.6x 1.8' 134 SA0: RC3 22 50 02.1 +11 41 55 11:35pm
1 of brightest pair in cluster. Eliptical

NGC 7387 CGCG 430-19 MCG +2-58-22 PGC 69834 Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 15.0b 1.1x 0.6' 47 S0-: RC3 22 50 17.6 +11 38 15 11:38pm
Southern member. Half size of 7386 and very dimmer, 3nd tier bright.

NGC 7389 CGCG 430-18 MCG +2-58-19 PGC 69836 Zwicky 2247.3+11 cluster Glxy 14.8p 1.5x 0.8' 148 SB0 RC3 22 50 16.1 +11 33 59 11:38pm
S-E member. Half size of 7386 and very dimmer, 3nd tier bright.

NGC 7765 CGCG 477-15 MCG +4-56-15 PGC 72596 Abell 2666 cluster Glxy 15.5p 0.7x 0.7' -- SB? RC3 23 50 52.4 +27 09 58 11:58pm
Very faint member with 20% averted visibility

NGC 7766 CGCG 477-18 MCG +4-56-17 PGC 72611 Abell 2666 cluster Glxy 15.8 0.7x 0.3' 34 S? PGC 23 50 55.9 +27 07 34 12:00pm
Very faint member with 20% averted visibility

NGC 7767 IC 1511 UGC 12805 CGCG 477-17 MCG +4-56-16 Abell 2666 cluster Glxy 14.5p 1.2x 0.3' 142 S0/a RC3 23 50 56.4 +27 05 13 12:04am
Elongated. Spot only 10% averted. Comes and goes with seeing.

NGC 7768 UGC 12806 CGCG 477-19 MCG +4-56-18 Abell 2666 cluster Glxy 12.2v 1.4x 1.0' 65 E RC3 23 50 58.7 +27 08 54 12:45pm 9mmNag
Brightest and easy 100% spot. Mostly spherical.

NGC 6217 UGC 10470 CGCG 355-14 Arp 185 SW50.1 Glxy 11.b 3.0x 2.4' 165 (R)SB(rs)bc RC3 16 32 38.7 +78 11 56 12:20am 9mmNag.
2' max len, slight bar. 2:1 el. Stelar elongated core. Irreglar outer

NGC 6340 UGC 10762 CGCG 339-31 MCG +12-16-23 SW50.2 Glxy 11.9b 3.2x 2.9' 120 SA(s)0/a RC3 17 10 24.8 +72 18 16 12:31am 9mmNag 2' dia.
Spherical. Even fading.

IC 1254 UGC 10769 CGCG 339-32 MCG +12-16-24 Glxy 15.0b 1.5x 0.6' 32 Sb? pec RC3 17 11 34.0 +72 24 10 12:33am 9mmNag
Detected along with 6340. Averted 100%

IC 1251 UGC 10757 CGCG 339-29 MCG +12-16-21 Glxy 14.2p 1.4x 0.9' 70 Scd: RC3 17 10 12.8 +72 24 37 12:33am 9mmNag
Detected along with 6340. Present with averted 100%

NGC 6781 PK 41-2.1 PNG 41.8-2.9 Plan 11.8p 1.8' 16.7 3+3 STE 19 18 28.2 +06 32 15 1:04am 9mmNagO3 2' dia.
Disk, faily even. May be some darker spot in middle. No Doughnut

NGC 6804 PK 45-4.1 PNG 45.7-4.5 Plan 12.2p 35.0" 14.3 4+2 STE 19 31 35.2 +09 13 31 1:12am 9mmNagO3 1' at most.
Spherical disk, Non-distinct edges. No molting.

NGC 6772 Sanduleak 2-384 PK 33-6.1 PNG 33.1-6.3 Plan 14.2p 84.0" 18.6 3b+2 STE 19 14 36.4 -02 42 27 1:15am 9mmNagO3
Round, even disk. No molting. Very faint. 1' dia

NGC 6741 Sanduleak 2-380 Jonckheere 475 PK 33-2.1 PNG 33.8-2.6 Plan 10.8p 8.0" 20.3 4 STE 19 02 37.1 -00 26 57 1:20am 9mmNagO3
Super-small, stellar. Blinks. No detail. Even mini-disk DblStar 15' S.

NGC 6735 Open 8.0' 35 12.0 BAA 19 00 45.3 -00 27 00 1:20am 9mmNagO3 5' dia.
Ring in center with 'jewel' orange bright star to N. Near 6741. Many Mags. Bright orange star to N.