Big changes have been afoot at Unfrozen Caveman World Headquarters, but in the summer of 2023, that was all still in the future.
The June dark cycle found me tinkering with the idea of a new project, one that I’d skirted around in past summers but had only been confident of in more-recent times: the observation of all of the bright (read: at least 16th-magnitude) galaxies that lie within the figure of the Summer Triangle. There are ulterior motives for this—it wasn’t like I was lacking for projects, with all of the Astronomical League lists I was working on—and so it was a good time to strike on this spark of inspiration. Besides, other than the AL Planetary Nebula project, I didn’t have much other program “work” to do for the summer; the flat galaxies of spring were already past their prime, and the autumn galaxy fields were not yet fully ascendant.
I also had a new bit of equipment that needed testing out: a Sony digital voice recorder, one which would alleviate the burden of serving as both note recorder and Sky Safari/TriAtlas delivery system from my phone. This would be additionally useful in protecting my night vision from the bright opening screen of the Voice Recorder app—even with a sheet of Rubylith over the screen, the phone shifted to red tint, and the screen brightness turned down to minimum, the app’s recording screen was still aggravatingly glareful (?) whenever it was opened. Having the Sony would mitigate the need for the phone to serve double or triple duty, and with a lavalier microphone added, it also gave me better control over the recording quality. This first dark cycle, I would use both phone and recorder to take notes, while I figured out not only the operation of the Sony but how far I could trust it with the precious records of my observations.
I. The first night of the June dark run was to be a short one, with astronomical twilight at 10:31 PM and Moonrise just over three hours later. It also featured the debut of the recorder, as well as the first opportunity to get a feel for the exacting nature of my Summer Triangle task. Complicating matters, the forecast called for the possibility of clouds during the Moon-dark hours. Still, a 1.5-hour round trip was worth it for three possible hours of good observing, and every clear night was one to be savored.
Jerry, Dan, and Colleen ventured up to the crag with me; I arrived as Dan and Colleen were setting up, with Jerry soon after. The accursed secondary mirror on the Obsession took additional time and Jerry’s help (as always, it seemed) to get squared up to the primary, and I was, as usual, the last one in the group ready to capture well-figured starlight. The Obsession made me appreciate Bob the Dob—truly a Stradivarius among Dobsonians—even more than usual, although this observing challenge truly needed the extra grasp of the otherwise excellent Obsession.
Daylight gradually yielded to starry, starry night; the searing temperatures of the day gave way to the relative chill of the twilight air. Overhead, the guardian nighthawks—symbol and mascot of EAS—yielded the sky to nearly-silent bats. Blue became orange became purple became charcoal grey. Science-fiction writers and biomedical engineers and factory workers became the chroniclers of the night, hunters of quarry only a relative handful of humans had ever seen, gatherers of photons from distant, lost corners of the cosmos.
The constellation Lyra lies just to the west of the densest band of the northern Milky Way. It’s only natural, then, that the highest percentage of my Summer Triangle galaxies would reside in the “Vega Corner” of the triangle, and indeed, I spent far more time there than in any other part of the Milky Way for this project. I’d also spent no small amount of time exploring the “Vega Chain” of galaxies, as written about on the Deep Sky Forum nine years past, although the galaxies of that group lay just west of the actual boundaries of the Summer Triangle itself. I’d considered adding them to the project if I had a hard time coming up with enough suitable targets, but for now that didn’t seem to be necessary.
06/10-11/23
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:23 PM
MOON: 24 days (rose at 1:46 AM; 36% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.46 (Bootes); 21.5 (DB, same place) (1:30 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: cool; slight breeze; light dew; temps to mid 50s
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DB, CH (Colleen)
All observations: 20″ f/4.5 Obsession Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos (181x, 0.39˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted
11:29
UGC 11380 (Lyr): Starting off my Summer Triangle project with UGC 11380, which is surprisingly bright and immediately obvious when I first noted its presence in the field. The galaxy is 0.75’ x 0.3’ and elongated very close to due N-S. It lies 10’ N somewhat P an extremely-irritating 6.5-magnitude star, one that’s making it more difficult than it should be to observe the galaxy. In averted vision, there does seem to be some central brightening to the galaxy that’s not quite as apparent in direct vision, although this brightening seems offset a little bit to the S. As with (I suspect) most of these little Milky Way-area galaxies, it’s surrounded by a number of faint stars. 5.5’ N of the galaxy is the middle star and brightest in an arc of three; the arc is 0.67’ long and the three stars are pretty evenly spaced; the middle star, the one that I measured to, is 11.5 magnitude and has a 12.5-magnitude star F very very slightly S by 0.3’; P that middle star by 0.3’ is a 12th-magnitude star. N slightly P the galaxy by 3.5’ is a [mosquito buzzing in my ear] 13th-magnitude star that has another 13th-magnitude star 0.3’ S of it; and then 1.5’ S of the galaxy and very slightly F is a 13.5-magnitude star that has a 14th-magnitude star P very slightly N of it by 0.5’. SF the galaxy by 3’ is an 11th-magnitude star; 2.75’ P very slightly N of the galaxy is a 13th-magnitude star. I think I’m gonna go grab the 7mm Nagler here and give that a spin… this may be too much magnification. We’ve succeeded in removing the annoying 6.5-magnitude star from the field, though. The galaxy is a little more diffuse (it was actually really well defined in the 14mm Delos); here there’s definitely a small elongated core that’s aligned N-S along the major axis, but again, the N end of the galaxy is a lot less defined than the S end. I’m still not picking up a nucleus. That series of faint stars encircling the galaxy is particularly notable on the N and F sides; those are mostly in the 15th-magnitude range. This is a terrific little galaxy for “barely being there”—I could look at these all day/night long.
In the background, Dan was explaining to Colleen how I had left a polarizing Moon filter in the eyepiece at an outreach event at Sheldon High School; I tried showing people Mars in the midst of the Beehive Cluster with the filter in, while wondering why the view was so poor. Not one of my bright shining moments in outreach.
I had started the Sony recorder after the phone’s Recorder app, making sure that I had everything working well enough before beginning my dictation. Getting used to the little recorder was going to take some time, at least as far as using it in the dark. I also needed to find somewhere to keep it while I was dictating. Putting it in my upper coat pocket, where I keep my phone during the same task, seemed dangerous—I tend to lean against the upper edge of my ladder tray when possible, and this might put undue pressure on the fragile-seeming recorder. I kept the lavalier mic clipped to my coat lapel, though, and a listen back (from the comfort of my desk at night’s end) to the recordings I made demonstrated that the entire setup was a purchase that was well worth it.
12:13
UGC 11397 (Lyr): UGC 11397 is quite difficult. This is a small galaxy, no more than 0.75’ x 0.3’. It has a star of 14th magnitude N very very slightly P it, just outside the halo. The galaxy is elongated almost due P-F. It’s quite difficult, yet unmistakably there—when you know it’s there, you definitely see it. It’s visibly irregular in brightness; at times it seems as if there’s a very faint stellar nucleus, but then it also appears that there is a star of 15.5 magnitude just S of it, and that star may be blurring together with the appearance of the galaxy. S of the galaxy is an irregular jumble of (mostly) 13th-magnitude stars; this is 2’ in diameter and about 2’ S (and a little bit slightly F) from the center of the galaxy. 2.75’ almost due F the galaxy is an 11.5 magnitude star; the brightest star in the immediate field is S somewhat P the galaxy by 9’ and is 10th magnitude. In the 7mm, the galaxy has a definite core that is very slightly brighter than the surrounding halo, which itself seems a little broader at this magnification. That star to the S is still mucking up the view, but there may also be a very very faint stellar nucleus visible to the galaxy. This is not an easy observation compared to the others I’ve done in Lyra.
The predicted/possible clouds became definite and certain, drifting through the sky here and there, but they remained sporadic and almost unobtrusive… at least for the region of sky I was sifting through. I’d been wearing my coat since shortly after sunset, but now felt the need to actually zip it up, as the conditions that brought us a relatively-mild day had also given us a night in the mid 50s.
I’d started off the evening by starhopping from Delta Lyrae (and its broad, attendant star cluster Stephenson 1); my next target used the beautiful globular cluster M56 as its leaping-off point. I paused—as one does—to admire the fine globular (a glorious showpiece sight in the 20” scope and 14mm Delos) before trekking northwest to my actual quarry.
12:39
UGC 11428 (Lyr): I starhopped from M 56 to get to this one, the quite obvious but very diffuse and poorly-defined UGC 11428: one of those galaxies that shows right away when it enters the field, despite fading away into the background. It’s 0.75’ in diameter; at 14mm it doesn’t seem to have any real obvious central concentration, although it does appear irregularly bright; it’s very difficult to say if any of that is a definable core. There’s certainly not a nucleus visible at this power. (I don’t want to keep using the word “ghostly,” but it fits, and is less writerly than “phantasmic.”) 2’ SP the galaxy is a 14th-magnitude star that has a 12th-magnitude star 1.5’ S somewhat F it; that star is about 2.75’ S slightly P the galaxy. P somewhat N of the galaxy by 7’ is the brightest star in the field, which is 9.5 magnitude and has P and SP it a semi-ellipse of stars whose major axis runs 2.5’ P-F; analogically, the asterism looks kind of like Zwicky’s Necklace, and it’s as if that 9.5-magnitude star is the “branching” galaxy from the ring of Zwicky’s Necklace in relation to that ellipse. 4.75’ F very slightly S of the galaxy is an 11th-magnitude star, with a 12th-magnitude star S of it by 0.5’; the former also has 1’ N slightly F it the brighter of a close pair, which is 13.5 magnitude; the fainter is N very slightly F it by 7” and is 14.5 magnitude. I suspect the 7mm is going to make this one basically disappear, because it’s so diffuse, but we’re looking for details and we’re gonna get them however we can…. I’m still not picking up any real detail in the galaxy at 363x; I note that we do have some clouds going through every now and then, just as Danko predicted. If the galaxy has a nucleus, I can’t see it. The halo seems more extensive here, perhaps 1.0’ in diameter with the extra magnification and contrast.
With Dan and Jerry there, I felt no shame in making a Star Trek reference— “drinking the Delosian [Scalosian] water.” Neither of my recorders caught their reactions, although eyerolls are usually silent in any case. I did notice that I had leaned my full weight on the pocket with the recorder in it; a quick check revealed that it was not only okay, but had recorded the previous notes without a hitch.
Back to M56 and then southwest to the fifth-magnitude star HD 178233, a naked-eye speck of light that served as a signpost for my next galaxy.
1:02
UGC 11404 (Lyr): Here at UGC 11404; this is S of the parallelogram of the constellation and is the easiest of the galaxies that I’ve done so far. It’s 0.67’ round, although it has a stellar nucleus that’s so much brighter than the rest of it that all you see at first is the nucleus, so the galaxy appears as a fuzzy star even though the halo is pretty apparent. The nucleus actually overpowers any core that might be visible in it, and the halo is very diffuse and not well defined; in fact, in a lot of ways, the whole galaxy could almost pass as a planetary nebula with a very bright central star. (It may be that the nucleus is an embedded star.) The galaxy is N of a fishhook-like asterism that’s 6’ long, and has its two brightest stars on its P end; the star on the very P end is the brightest in the field and is 10th magnitude; it has one very slightly fainter 1.5’ F slightly S of it, and those lie along the major axis of that fishhook; the asterism runs F slightly S from there and then turns N and then SP: it runs F slightly S for seven stars, hooks N for four, and then curves P from the N-most star. 0.5’ F somewhat N of the galaxy is a 12.5-magnitude star; 1.5’ N somewhat P of the galaxy is a 10.5-magnitude star; there’s a 10th-magnitude star 5’ N somewhat F the galaxy that has an 11th-magnitude star due S of it by 8”; it’s obviously a double star [Milburn 468]. Between the double and the 10.5-magnitude star is a 2.5’ line of faint (15th- or 16th-magnitude) stars that runs N very slightly P-S very slightly F; on its S end it bifurcates, branching SP and SF. This is a galaxy that will definitely take the higher magnification well…. With the 7mm, the galaxy’s halo definitely becomes more noticeable; if I didn’t know better I would almost be inclined to say that’s a star embedded right on top of the galaxy [it is]; it’s so much brighter than the rest of the galaxy that it if it’s a nucleus then it could very well be a very active one. There might be a tiny core there around it, but perhaps the nucleus is drowning it out. There might also be a star just off to the side of the galaxy, off center, because in some moments I’m getting a glimpse that it has due P it a small faint core; I’m going to withhold judgment on that until I can see a picture, but regardless this is the nicest of the UGCs that I’ve done so far this evening.
With Moonrise soon to end the evening, and its imminence already likely to be affecting the observing conditions, it was time to grab one more object, very near to UGC 11404. This was a good thing, as my feet (particularly the unreconstructed left one) were starting to feel the strain of hours on the ladder. NGC 6740 was only 1.3 degrees away; it took less time to starhop to it than to actually spot it in the field.
1:25
NGC 6740 (Lyr): The surprisingly difficult NGC 6740, in the middle of a stream of stars that runs P somewhat S-F somewhat N, and at times this galaxy is even more difficult than any of the UGCs that I’ve looked at so far tonight—the galaxy is very diffuse and poorly defined, and really almost needs averted vision for a decent look. It does have a very slightly brighter but ill-defined core region, and even in the 14mm might show a slightly substellar nucleus. (Getting the really bright star out of the field there will help verify this one way or the other.) I do think there’s a nucleus visible there, although I wouldn’t bet on it. The galaxy is roundish; it’s 0.5’ across, although the halo fades out so gradually that it could be considerably larger. The offending star I referred to lies P somewhat S of the galaxy by about 10’, and is the brightest in the field at 8th magnitude; it has a 10.5 magnitude star 1’ S somewhat F it. The stream of stars that the galaxy lies among extends P somewhat S-F somewhat N for about 8’, and then at its P end, it hooks NP for 3.5’. The galaxy has due P it by 1’ a 13.5-magnitude star that has a 14.5-magnitude star S of it by another 0.5’. F somewhat N of the galaxy by another 1.25’ is a P-F double separated by 5”, and those are 13.5 and 14.5 magnitude, with the brighter one the F-most; that star serves as the P end of the major axis of a little diamond that is situated along that stream of stars; the diamond’s major axis is 2’, minor axis 0.75’, and the two stars along the minor axis are much the brighter (11.5/12th magnitudes) among the diamond’s stars. There almost looks to be another galaxy N slightly P NGC 6740 by 3’, but it’s actually a clump of 15th/15.5-magnitude stars that could also pass as a cluster at second glance; it has its brightest stars on the P side and is roughly triangular; it’s about 1.25’ on a side. In the 7mm, the galaxy definitely has a slightly-brighter core; but doesn’t appear to have a nucleus… actually, there might be a sporadic flicker of a stellar nucleus there. The galaxy’s a little better defined at this magnification, but still one of the more difficult NGCs I’ve observed in a while.
I wondered if there might be some extra sky-crud diminishing the view of the galaxy, or if the imminent moonrise was already playing havoc with it. In photographs, however, NGC 6740 simply seems to be a fairly-difficult object, one whose NGC designation belies its difficulty, among a region of other difficult galaxies. It’s a testament to Albert Marth, the galaxy’s discoverer, that he was able to coax this galaxy from the star-rich backdrop without the benefit of modern equipment.
Although the Moon had already risen, the crag blocked its light well enough, for the time being, that I could gather one last object on which to end the night. I chose another NGC—there were very few NGC galaxies to be found among the borders of the Triangle—one that I’d already taken notes on with Bob the Dob, but one that had a great amount of detail to offer a larger-aperture scope. It was at the opposite end of Lyra, but I’d found it once already….
2:00
NGC 6745 (Lyr): I’ve observed NGC 6745 (the Bird-Head Galaxy) before in the 12.5” scope, so this is a revisit with larger aperture, more magnification, and a purpose. It’s an unusual, almost banana-shaped galaxy, with the “stem” to the N; it curves N-ward, starting SP and then proceeding F and N; just N of the galaxy is a little triangle of 13th-magnitude stars. The galaxy has a brighter central region that runs along the length of it as opposed to a notable core; there’s no nucleus visible (not surprising given that this is a composite of several interacting galaxies, probably a late-stage merger) although there is a “stellaring” (a la Luginbuhl and Skiff) in the N end of it. The object fans out on the SP end; on the whole it’s 1.25’ long, 0.5’ wide on the S end, and tapers to a point at the N end. The overall shape is well-defined except at the S end, where it’s kinda ragged. F very very slightly S of the galaxy by 5’ is a 9th-magnitude star; there’s another 11’ S very very slightly P the galaxy; 2.5’ S slightly P that first 9th-magnitude star is the brighter of a pair, which is 12th magnitude and has a 13th-magnitude star NP it by 10”. We’re gonna go ahead with the 7mm Nagler here; I think it’ll provide a good view. (As I was looking at this area on Sky Safari, I noticed an interesting group P somewhat N of it [PGC 62664] that we’ll take a look at, although I’m not sure how well they’ll show.) At this magnification, that 9th-magnitude star is a real pain in the arse while observing NGC 6745. The object is lumpy at 363x, and definitely has a couple of stellarings in the N half that sporadically flash out. There seem to be three identifiable components: the larger one in the middle F and then the other two, one to the N and one to the S, which are considerably smaller. [PGC 200361, the tiny galaxy just N of the beak, is disappointingly not visible.] This is a fascinating object; in some ways, it resembles Hubble’s Variable Nebula. There are definitely some darker/less-illuminated striations in the central region that are indicators of the multi-galaxy nature of the object, but these are pretty indistinct and difficult to hold steady in the average transparency.
I did manage to spot the PGC 62664 group, but so fleetingly that I didn’t bother taking notes on it; whether from the Moon-brightened sky or its own inherent difficulty, I felt it better to return to the scene for another look than to take notes on it whole it was barely visible. (Of course, I haven’t yet been able to return to the group; perhaps this coming summer…?)
With moonlight soon to take over the night, I clambered down from the ladder, put the Preciosi and the Nagler back in their bolt cases (to be aired out at home, of course), and began the half-hour disassembly and stowage of the massive scope and its requisite accessories and sundries. But with my project well underway, the drive home seemed to go by in a welter of racing thoughts, and it was several hours yet before I was able to sleep.
II. The next night saw us at the Oxbow, which had a better forecast and (as it turned out) a much larger group of observers. It was a longer drive on a night with a slightly-longer delay in Moonrise—and before a full work day—but starlight was a necessity, and had to be taken when conditions permitted.
I was somehow the first to arrive there at the paved road pullout. Dan and Colleen, Loren, and Jerry arrived in short order, followed by Dale and his brother-in-law Mike, with Robert eking out a space between the other vehicles on his near-twilight arrival. We might’ve had room for one more vehicle, had we needed it, but this was already the busiest I’d ever seen the Oxbow site in terms of cars and telescopes.
Surprisingly, this evening’s setup didn’t require help with collimation—not that the secondary was anything near close to alignment, just that it fell into place more easily and accurately than I was expecting. That accomplished, the rest of setup went quickly, if somewhat sprawlingly: table off the passenger side of the Flex, covered with eyepiece case, toolkit, and winter coat; chair positioned by scope for early-evening showpiece observing; ladder ten feet away out of the swing radius of the scope. More often than not, I used up more room at a given site than the others, although much of this was due to not operating out of the back of my vehicle. (My rabies-phobia kept me from leaving the tailgate of the Flex open for bats to fly into—yes, I know it’s irrational, but a rabid Australopithecus is not a pretty sight. Idea: get a large piece of fabric to use as a curtain over the open tailgate; this would also prevent the Flex headlights from coming on should I need to open a door. [Cartoon Guinness Guys: “Brilliant!”])
My agenda was already set for the summer, and already underway as of the previous night. All that remained was for darkness to overtake us.
I spent the early evening on (as usual) a few of the summer showpieces while waiting for astronomical twilight to end. Unlike some previous sessions, my iPhone apps seemed to be working at the Oxbow this night, which meant that I didn’t really need my iPad (which I always brought along to the Oxbow after having two bad experiences with the phone there). I also had a PDF that I’d made with images of all of the night’s intended targets; because I had no internet access at the Oxbow, I couldn’t access the POSS images from Sky Safari. For observing such obscure targets among the starry reaches of the Milky Way, the POSS images were useful in identifying nearby asterisms in order to locate the actual galaxies I sought (as well as any nearby galaxies I might miss, especially the very faint ones I didn’t expect to see).
But the first part of the evening was something of a failure in terms of finding my quarry—it was valuable in weeding out those targets that were too faint for the 20”, but not so much for actually seeing anything. By the time I actually had a positive sighting, half the night had passed. It didn’t help that conditions were particularly variable throughout the night; Danko had, of course, called this on the money (and Linslaw was expected to be even worse, hence the choice of Oxbow as observing site), but they were still decent enough for what I’d hoped to accomplish. The wind was problematic, though, making it necessary to hold onto the big scope when changing eyepieces, and bringing with it wild fluctuations in the seeing. (I did note afterward that the Sony’s recording had far less wind rumble than that of the iPhone—this might turn out to be a game changer in my transcriptions.)
06/11-12/23
THE OXBOW
SUNSET: 8:24 PM
MOON: 25 days (rose at 2:21 AM; 26% illuminated)
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.48; 21.51 (Dan; Bootes) (12 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: cool; windy; temps to low 50s
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, LR, DB, CH (Colleen), RA, DF (Dale), MD (Mike)
All observations: 20″ f/4.5 Obsession Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos (181x, 0.39˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted
12:13
ICs 1302, 1303; UGC 11448 (Cyg): Starting tonight in Cygnus, with the IC 1302 trio. IC 1302 is a little fuzzy spot with some slight central concentration visible. The galaxy spans 0.67’ x 0.5’ and is elongated P somewhat S-F somewhat N, with a very slightly brighter core region but no visible nucleus. It has a 12.5-magnitude star on the halo’s edge due S of it and a 14th-magnitude star just outside the N edge of the halo. 4’ P IC 1302 is a smaller galaxy [UGC 11448], which also appears to have a couple of stars bracketing it and possibly a visible nucleus. This smaller galaxy spans 0.3’ x 0.25’ and is not as well defined as 1302; just outside its NF and SF edges are a pair of 15.5-magnitude stars. 9.5’ F somewhat N IC 1302 is a much larger, more diffuse galaxy [IC 1303] that has a 14th-magnitude star on its P somewhat S edge. This one is 0.75’ round and much more diffuse, without much in the way of central concentration. P very slightly N of it by 1.25’ is a tiny triangle of 13.5-15th magnitude stars, and then due N of that little triangle there’s also a pair whose brighter lies 1.75’ from the galaxy; those are 13.5 and 14th magnitudes, with the brighter one closer to the galaxy and the fainter one 0.25’ P somewhat N of it. IC 1302 is the brightest of these three galaxies, despite not being the largest. 3.67’ SF IC1302 is the brightest star in the field, which is 9th magnitude. N very very slightly P the galaxy by 9’ is a 9.5-magnitude star with a 12th-magnitude star SF it by 0.3’; N of the galaxy by 1.5’ is a 12th-magnitude star. [UGC 11448] has a 13th-magnitude star S very slightly P of it by 2.3’ and a 12.5-magnitude star 1’ S very slightly F. [IC 1303] has a small wedge of six stars 4’ S slightly P it; this covers 1.25’ P-F and 1’ N-S; the brightest star in that wedge is 11th magnitude. Swapping out to the 7mm Nagler (I hate doing this because the wind may well blow the scope off target): IC 1302 is much better defined at this magnification but still does not have a nucleus visible. [UGC 11448] looks somewhat irregular in shape; it’s definitely got either a faint little core or a substellar nucleus, and a couple of 16th-magnitude stars on its NP and SP (to go with the 15th-magnitude stars to the NF and SF). [IC 1303] isn’t really any better at the higher magnification; it’s just kind of diffuse and hard to “dial in.” IC 1302 is probably the “best” of the trio visually. This is an interesting little group up in Cygnus!
With work the next day, and conditions still somewhat deteriorating, I decided to call it a night. I waited until a couple of the others started packing up, so as not to be the only one disrupting the darkness. It was disappointing to have only gotten one set of notes, but one was better than none, and the camaraderie and the starry night—subpar as it may have been by our (unsustainably?) lofty standards—justified the hour-long drive and the exhaustion during an eight-hour shift.
III. It was ten days—the other side of New Moon—before free time and fine sky conditions coincided, by which time we were champing at the bit to get in some starlight. The forecast for Linslaw was a good one; Loren and Dan were game for an observing session; Jerry was wiped out after a day of house painting and errand running.
And yet as we closed on the road up to the crag, a text came from Dan: the guy in the ratty RV was back at our spot, parked right across the area where we normally set up.
Much swearing ensued. Loren pulled up as we weighed our options: drive back to the Oxbow, possibly using the shortcut that we’d seen on the map but had never tried (always an iffy proposition in the dark, which it would be by the time we were underway), use the lower Linslaw site, which was rougher and somewhat lesser to observe from, or go home. We dismissed the latter idea quickly, settling for the lower site–-which Loren and I had never been to.
It may have been our disappointment with the squatter; it might have been any number of factors, but Loren and I spent a frustrating half-hour driving around looking for the road to the lower site. I’m sure we probably passed it a couple of times, dismissing it as too treed-in or too rocky to be the road Dan had described. Finally, as we were ready to give up, and with sunset well past, we spotted Dan’s murdered-out Subaru at the entrance to the road and followed him down to where he’d started setting up.
We were all in a foul mood at having our plans disrupted and our site usurped. It wasn’t just that the guy had made the site unusable for the night—it was that he didn’t respect it the way we did (we had evidence of this), and that there were other sites in the area he could have used for solitude (if that was what he was really after). The crag was uniquely suited to our purposes; he knew he was preventing us from using it. So here we were, at the bottom of a natural bowl, setting up expensive hardware on precariously-rocky ground strewn with the debris of nature-defiling civilization, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Was it somewhat arrogant on our part? Yes. Were we the best caretakers of the crag among those who used it? Abso-f*cking-lutely.
Somewhat fortuitously, I had brought Bob the Dob rather than the Obsession—the bigger scope (and ladder) would’ve been much harder to use on the uneven ground at the lower site. There would be no sitting on the ground here, as there could be at the crag; the sharp debris and rocks would make doing so extremely unpleasant. So I would be saving several of my intended targets for another night, making do with those I could catch at a decent altitude. This was less of a problem than it might’ve been, as I had the remaining Herschels (after the H400 and Herschel II lists) that I could work on, as well as the two higher-declination Messiers that I could finish. In amateur astronomy, flexibility is a necessary quality (both mentally and physically, as the night would demonstrate).
Having spent much of the sunset hour determining a plan of action and driving toward it, we got to work as quickly as we could set up. Naked-eye stars twinkled dramatically; Antares sparkled with every shade of the spectrum. Seeing was… not good. We plowed ahead, refusing to give up, dealing with conditions that were still better than much of the astronomy community would ever have.
06/21-22/23
LINSLAW (Lower site)
SUNSET: 8:27 PM
MOON: 4 days (set at 11:25 PM; 14% illuminated)
SEEING: 5, 6
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.38 (Corona/Hercules; 1:30 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: cool, calm; some dew; temps to low 60s
OTHERS PRESENT: DB, LR
All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos eyepiece (113x, 0.62˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted
11:06
NGC 6000 (Sco): First target of the night from our first experience here from the lower side at Linslaw. This is a real neck-wrecker right here; I’m down as low as I can go, with NGC 6000 in Scorpius, which is difficult (but not totally impossible) at this latitude. The galaxy is elongated N-S; it’s 1.25’ x 0.67’ and definitely has a brighter core; at moments in the 14mm, I suspect a substellar nucleus; this is also confusing due to having a threshold-magnitude star (I suspect it’s brighter than that but we’re also dealing with extinction down this low) just outside the NP edge of the galaxy; it’s a little better than threshold, so I’ll say 14.5 magnitude. There’s a 9th-magnitude star SP the galaxy by 3.25’ that has a 13th-magnitude star P somewhat N of it by 1.25’; then 6’ F somewhat S of the galaxy is a 9.5-magnitude star that has a 9th-magnitude star F very very slightly N of it by 2’. There’s a 13th-magnitude star 2’ F the galaxy, and then the brightest star in the field is 14’ P slightly S of the galaxy and 8th magnitude.
A new one: my phone-app transcriber changed arcminute to “ark manhunt.” After all these years, I’d have thought the thing would have picked up on the word arcminute eventually….
I poked through the list of remaining Herschel objects in the NGC 5000-6000 range, looking for objects sufficiently bright to show detail in the 12.5-inch and the relatively-poor conditions. (The NGC being arranged by right ascension, the 5000-6000 numbers were currently in the best observing position from the lower Linslaw site.) I had long been interested in NGC 6000, as it had stood out on my original-edition copy of Sky Atlas 2000.0 from the late 80s, so it was a no-brainer as a target. My next one was less obvious but seemingly interesting, based on the POSS image:
11:28
NGC 5729 (Lib): Down in northern Libra with NGC 5729; this is still not a particularly easy spot down here, ergonomically. Like NGC 6000, it’s a roughly N-S streak (N very slightly P-S very slightly F); it’s also showing some central brightening along the length—it’s an edge-on spiral, for sure, and may have a stellar nucleus, a very faint one, but it also appears to have some stellarings on the F side; I can’t tell if those are part of the galaxy or if there are some (just-above) threshold stars embedded there. The galaxy’s pretty well defined, 1.0’ by 0.167’; anything more than that it would be a flat galaxy. 7’ S very very very slightly F it lies a 12th-magnitude star; F somewhat N of it by 11’ is an 11th-magnitude star. 10’ N slightly F the galaxy is a 12.5-magnitude star. This one, I think, is going to require the higher mags; it’s actually, you know… that’s a pretty hefty galaxy now that the seeing has settled down a little bit, maybe 1.25’ x 0.3’. 12’ SP the galaxy is the brightest star in the field, which is 9.5 magnitude. Let’s try the 7mm and see what we can come up with, because there’s something interesting going on with that galaxy….With the 7mm, there are definitely stars, at least two, on the F side of that galaxy; my God that darkens the field. That’s a really interesting galaxy! The 7mm smooths out the brightness gradient in it, though; I’m not seeing the core as distinctly; but there may be three stars on the F side of the galaxy: one just F the middle (that’s the brightest one at 14.5 magnitude), and then one just F the N end and one F the S end.
Loren was busy checking out various eyepiece views of NGC 4565; Dan had his image intensifier working in the focuser of his 20” Explore.
By now, two of my remaining Messier objects had risen into prime observing position. The showpiece objects often filled me with dread, as there was so much detail to describe; these were two of the most detailed of the lot. I tried with both of them to find a “home” position within each object, a point to use as a reference for the distances and directions of all of the other details, but I’m not sure (judging from the scattershot quality of my descriptions) that I succeeded in doing so.
Deep breath… now describe the indescribable.
12:46
M17; NGC 6618 (Sgr): I was not planning to do Messiers tonight, but I’m gonna go ahead because they’ve presented themselves well, and it’s probably as good a time as any…. M17 looks just as beautiful as ever! It’s considerably bigger than I’m used to seeing it; I haven’t looked at it as much as I should from such a dark site. The very bright ray of the Swan’s “body” is elongated P somewhat N-F somewhat S, with the Swan’s head hooking S from the P end. The dominant, brightest segment of the nebula is about 9’ long and variably thick; in the middle, that segment is 1.5’ thick, and it tapers almost to a point on the F end. From the P end (where it’s about 3.25’ thick at its P-most) it hooks SF and then SP from there. The nebulosity is very sharply cut off on the N side of the ray; there’s not much in the way of nebulosity N of the ray at all; it’s mostly S-ward. From the P end of the ray down to the end of the Swan’s head (or where it’s at its S-most extension) is about 5’; there’s actually a bright star there (the Swan’s Eye, 9.5 magnitude SAO 161357), and the measurement there is from the SP-most edge of the ray to the 9.5-magnitude star. There’s a 10th-magnitude star [SAO 161359] along that arc of the Swan’s neck and head, 2.25’ N somewhat F the 9.5-magnitude star, which is on the the S-most extension of the head and neck; that 10th-magnitude star has an 11th-magnitude star P slightly N of it by 0.67’. Those three stars border the dark nebula that helps define the shape of the neck; it is very opaque and obvious right now, and really jumps out as being darker than the rest of the field; that dark nebula is 1.3’ round and has an extension that runs NP along the N edge of the P end of the the ray. The nebula also has an 11.5-magnitude star 1.5’ S of the 9.5-magnitude star; the 11.5-magnitude star has a 0.75’-diameter patch of nebulosity surrounding it; that patch is slightly separated from the main “mass” of the nebula. The fainter nebulosity streams F somewhat S from the neck region of the Swan, along the S edge of the ray, and then continues out for another 9’; there’s a brighter, S slightly P-N slightly F line of nebulosity between two pairs of stars well off the F end of the ray, to the F slightly S—there’s a 7.5-magnitude star about 15’ roughly along the major axis of the ray from the F end of the ray, and about halfway between that star and the F end of the ray is where that brighter extension (the loop of the “horseshoe” that it used to be called?) runs; it’s kind of a milkier, more-gossamer piece of nebulosity about 6’ long, and (again) has a pair of stars at each end; in both of those pairs, the P-most star is the brighter: the S pair (10.5 and 11.5 magnitudes) is separated by 0.75’ and the N pair (10th and 11.5 magnitudes) separated by 1’, and those pairs are oriented roughly the same: they’re P very slightly N-F very slightly S to each other, and the brighter members of the pairs are about 6.5’ apart. The texture of the ray is pretty impressive; there’s a lot of “crosshatching” in it, and a number of brighter discrete patches, especially one 2’ in from the P end that runs NP-SF and is about 1.25’ x 10”.
With the UHC added… wow! The extension off the F end, the loop of the “horseshoe” in the nebula, just really pops right out now. From the N end of that extension, it curls about 4.5’ P-ward. N of the middle of the ray, there’s another somewhat-detached piece of nebulosity running roughly parallel to the ray; it’s about 3.5’ by 2.5’,with its major axis parallel to the ray, and it has a number of stars embedded in it, five of them in the 10th/11th-magnitude range. The little tuft that is just S of the swan’s head is also much more obvious also now, and then there’s a very slight gap P that 9.5-magnitude star [SAO 161357], and then more of that loop of nebulosity on the P and SP edges of the dark nebula that mark the end of the head or beak. Dark nebulosity runs from the Swan’s neck NP, and then due N from there it spreads out; N-S, it’s about 12’ x 10’. This is a really large, not completely-opaque patch, maybe about 4 opacity (vs. about 5 or 6 for the small patch in the Swan’s head). There is now visible nebulosity N of the ray here, which is at least 18’ end-to-end from the ray all the way F. That’s a real knockout! N of the F end of the ray—and running parallel to it— there’s also an elongated dark nebula that’s particularly obvious; it’s about 6’ long and variably thick (3.5’ on average). I can’t get over how dark that dark nebulosity on the P end is. Wow! that is really something. No matter how many times you look at this nebula you never see it the same way. The cirrussy texture in the ray is especially notable with the UHC.
Switching filters: the O-III really brings out the nebulosity N of the ray, and from the F end of the ray it “solidifies” the nebulosity out to that N-ward extension. (It’s oriented N slightly F-S slightly P, but we’re just gonna call it the N-ward extension.) The dark nebulosity at the P end is seems much more opaque. Whereas before with the unfiltered view, the ray was kind of the N end of the nebulosity, here it’s almost in the middle, because those bits that the UHC brought out on the N end are much more concrete in the O-III. The nebulosity F the Swan’s head streams out all the way past the F end of the ray. The ray itself is much fatter here, at least 2’ thick all the way along, but (interestingly), its shape is less defined here in this filter; the quality of “rayness” is less distinctive, because the rest of the nebulosity is that much brighter. The portions to the N are still fairly faint, but the stuff trailing F behind the Swan’s head is a lot brighter, and the little tuft S of the Swan’s head is a lot brighter too; in fact, it’s more distinct and more detached from the rest of it.
An incredible object—the best nebula visible from the Northern Hemisphere after the Orion Nebula!
Loren had moved on from 4565, and had gone back to his planetary-nebula list; while I was still describing the Swan sans filter, he was looking at NGC 5620. (“Another one of those stellar pieces of sh!t.”) He followed up with the Trifid Nebula, wanting something more worthwhile than a tiny stellar planetary. Much conversation (and quoting) of Star Trek’s “The Alternative Factor” ensued, for reasons obvious to anyone familiar with that muddled mess of an episode. (Dan somehow found a connection between that and the oft-quoted “Space Madness” episode of Ren & Stimpy. Well done!)
I took a five-minute breather before heading back into Messier notetaking hell; the next one was more difficult to describe simply because the object was more abstract. (OK, it wasn’t “hell,” but it certainly was more demanding than M17. Here, my notes are even confusing, perhaps as a consequence of interpreting them almost six months after recording them.)
1:20
M16 (NGC 6611; SerCau): Northward to the Eagle Nebula and the cluster NGC 6611. The nebulosity, as always, is hazy and almost indistinct, but is much brighter on the NP end, especially in the area of the cluster and SF, where it runs P very slightly S-F very slightly N. The cluster is triangular in shape, pointing roughly N, with a very striking pair of stars on the middle of the P side; the brighter of that pair is S very slightly F the fainter by 0.5’; nebulosity extinction notwithstanding, those are 8th and 9th magnitude; the 8th-magnitude star also has 10” NF it an 11.5-magnitude star; the more-N of the pair also has a 12th-magnitude star 9” F it. 2.5’ N slightly F the fainter of the pair, the 9th-magnitude star, is a 9.5-magnitude star that serves as the N-most vertex of the cluster; halfway between and just F the 9th- and 9.5-magnitude stars is the P end of an arc of five stars that get brighter as they trail F-wise, with the brightest star (of 10th magnitude) on the F end; that arc spans 2’. SP the 8th/9th-magnitude pair is a scalene triangle of three stars whose two on the S end are both 10th magnitude (the third, to the NF, is 10.5); those two stars are 6’ from the 9.5-magnitude star; the P edge of the cluster runs S somewhat P-N somewhat F up to that N-most star [which isn’t really the N-most star in the cluster, as there’s another due P it by 1.75’; I’m sticking with that appellation simply because that’s how I referred to it in my notes], and then runs SF from that N-most star down to a 9th-magnitude star 5’ from the N-most, and 1.5’ SP that star is another 9.5-magnitude star. The F side of the cluster is the richer, with that arc of five on the N end; between that and those two 10th-magnitude stars on the SP end is the richest region of the cluster. There’s also a little knot of stars 2’ F that bright (8th/9th-magnitude) pair on the P edge. From the N-most star in the cluster 7’ F very slightly N is a small not-quite-equilateral triangle, a nice little isosceles triangle whose stars are all 11th magnitude. And 13’ N very slightly F the N-most star in the cluster is the brightest star in the field, which is 8th magnitude. Perhaps 35 stars are within the cluster, with an overlay of about a dozen stars of mags 8-10 over a bed of fainter ones.
The brightest part of the nebulosity runs about halfway between the N-most star in the cluster and an 8.2-magnitude star that is 15’ S slightly F that N-most star; the nebulosity spans 14’ SP-NF and is 6’-8’ wide along its length. On the S side of that strip of nebulosity, there’s also a right triangle of stars whose long non-hypotenuse side runs parallel to the nebulosity; this triangle includes that 8.2-magnitude star as the short-side vertex. The two S vertices of the triangle are about 7.5’ apart, without much between them—there aren’t a lot of stars along that S edge of the cluster triangle: the two stars on the SP end and the two brighter ones on the SF end are pretty much the entire obvious stellar population there; there are a couple of fainter stars on that side, but little else. From the SP end of the cluster, just S of those two stars on the SP end, is a vague dark patch that bleeds into the brighter background. The nebulosity runs up into the cluster triangle, especially on the S and F sides. There’s also a dark patch off the NF corner where that little arc of five is, and the N-most star; there’s a 3’ round vaguely darker patch, and then P the bright pair, there’s also a patch that’s not quite as dark but is roughly the same size: about 3’ round. Let’s see what we get with the UHC….
Oh, wow! That is a huge difference! The nebulosity really leaps out now; that long strip has (especially on its P end) some vague dark injections in it—on the P end of that nebulosity, especially, there’s a series of abutments into the brighter background. The F side of the triangle is almost completely black between that arc of five and the little triangle there; there’re a couple of fainter stars, and then there’s an almost-triangular jut that roughly follows the F side of the triangle, and then down to the two stars at the S end of that side, and then goes N somewhat F from there, so it’s kind of a triangular bay, with its N side about 4’ wide and narrowing down to a point by the F side of the triangle. There’s also an impression that, 7’ N somewhat P the N-most star in the cluster, there’s some vague very very indistinct brightness there, and the nebulosity also spreads from the N-most star P-ward; those dark round areas (the one P the bright pair and the one F the N-most star) are much more obvious here in contrast; even though the one F the N-most star is part of the aforementioned dark triangle/bay. That’s really standing out in the UHC, especially in averted vision. S of the F side (the two brighter stars on the S end of the F side of the cluster triangle, and particularly the more S of those two stars), there’s an irregularly-round dark patch, maybe 1.75’ P-F by 1.0’ N-S, [so exactly not entirely unlike being round] that is set in contrast to the bright nebulosity; that’s probably the most obvious of all of the dark features there in terms of contrast with the nebulosity [This dark patch is the most obvious part of the Pillars of Creation.]. I’m not seeing anything resembling the Pillars of Creation or anything like that. [Oops!!] The bright strip of nebulosity expands to about 19’ long and then perpendicular-ward to that, it extends up past the N-most star in the cluster, spanning about 14’.
With the O-III filter in place, that little 1.75’ x 1.0’ dark patch is just the N tip of a darker wedge that juts into the bright nebulosity from the SF; it’s the most-opaque part, and becomes fainter as it extends SF. [Again, the Pillars of Creation.] The visible extent of the nebula is actually smaller in the O-III, than in the UHC; it’s reduced in size but considerably brighter. The NP edge of the nebulosity is also where there are more of the “squiggly” vague dark markings jutting into the brighter nebulosity. I’m not really getting a sense that the O-III filter is actually the best filter for this… I’m actually surprised that there’s less visible extent to this than before; even the dark jut between the N-most star in that little triangle, the dark triangle that juts in from the N, doesn’t seem to have the presence that it did, although the bright nebulosity does loop up toward that little triangle a little bit. I also get a sense that the 1.75’ x 1.0’ bit of dark nebulosity that I mentioned (the one that’s S of the F edge of the cluster) connects up very, very faintly to the dark patch that’s jutting in from the N and NP edge of the bright strip, so that kind of cuts across the bright strip although it’s definitely less opaque in the middle. Although it’s still a little less exciting than I’d hoped, this is a better view of the Eagle than I’ve seen before.
By the time I’d gotten the UHC in place, I commented that “…my arse is starting to become one with the chair.” Oh, the humanity!
At about that same point, Loren and Dan started to tear their gear down. Loren had finished a productive night on his planetary nebula list, despite his annoyance at the more-stellar objects on it. And after finishing a second “major” Messier object in a row (and with work again in the morning) I was ready to call it a night as well.
What had started with anger and frustration had finished with four more objects in the books and the sense of calm exhilaration that came from hours spent peering into the cosmos. We’d made the best of the situation and the sky conditions—which, after all, were still vastly superior to anything I could’ve imagined while observing under the dismal grey night skies of Cincinnati so many years before. The next time out would undoubtedly be under better circumstances, but we would accept what the sky offered to us.
IV. The last night of the June dark-sky run was the following Saturday night. I had somehow survived the work days after the previous night and had rested up enough to make one final journey out before the beginning of another week. This was the last night of the cycle that I would be willing to observe; starting off a new week in a sleep-deprived state wasn’t something I would do (it was unfair to my coworkers, among other reasons).
Mark was already there at the site, getting his astrophotography gear online; Dan arrived somewhat after me. The conditions seemed a bit less than usual, even before it got dark; there was some visible marine layer to the west and south, and traces of wispy cloud splotched the sky here and there. Still, Danko had given assurance that this would be a solid night, and while not perfect, it would probably shape up to be usable for all of our individual agendas.
We had about three hours of darkness between Moonset and dawn breaking. While not much time, it would be sufficient for five or six small Summer Triangle galaxies. After wrestling the secondary collimation into a state of acceptability (and finishing with the easy primary alignment), I sat back and observed the Moon and the visible planets (Saturn, Neptune) for a while, then prepared to strike into the Summer Triangle.
I don’t recall what the issue was at this long remove from that night, but the upper end of the Obsession was heavier than usual. I checked everything I could think of that might cause an imbalance; if I found the reason, I don’t remember it. (I’m quite sure that I did.) Whatever the case, Dan had a solution: a heavy magnet set, adhered to the Obsession’s steel mirror cell. After a moment’s adjustment, the scope moved freely and stayed put when I let it go.
One more crisis arose that was also entirely my fault: while getting the ladder in position to start tracking down my first target, I had forgotten the items in the ladder-top tray. As the ladder’s feet left the ground, I heard something hit the ground with a plastic crunch: my new voice recorder.
The amount of profanity that I’d already used during setup had been Guinness-Book worthy; it escalated to something else altogether as I picked up the recorder from the rocks and dust. No-one who heard it that evening could have been left without a sense of awe at the wonders of the English language; even the father in A Christmas Story would’ve placed his hat over his heart in reverence. This was truly a torrent of verbal filth for the ages, a “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” of the most profane verbiage ever spoken in proximity to science.
I turned the recorder over, brushing it off and checking for breakage. It seemed to be OK; I did a quick test recording, which sounded (without headphones, at least) as if nothing was amiss. At least for the moment, my fears—and the geyser of profanity—appeared to have been unwarranted.
Soon enough, the Moon made contact with the western horizon. I watched it disappear from the ladder, climbed down, repositioned the ladder (checking first that nothing was left at the top!), and set off for my first galaxy of the evening.
06/25/23
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:28 PM
MOON: 7 days (set at 12:38 AM; 48% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.26 (Corona Borealis); 2:30 AM
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: cool; slight breeze; light dew; temps to mid 50s
OTHERS PRESENT: DB, MW
All observations: 20″ f/4.5 Obsession Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos (181x, 0.39˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted
1:48
NGC 6792; UGC 11430 (Lyr): NGC 6792 is probably just outside the Summer Triangle, but it is the largest and most impressive of all the galaxies that I’ve done in that vicinity. The galaxy is oriented S slightly P-N slightly F; it’s about… wow, 1.75’ x 0.75’, with a diffuse but reasonably well-defined halo and a small brighter core; I’m not picking up a nucleus at this magnification. The galaxy is distracted from by a 10.5-magnitude star 1.5’ NP; that star has a 14.5-magnitude star NP it by 0.3’. S slightly P the galaxy by 3.67’ is a tiny triangle of stars, oriented P slightly N-F slightly S, whose N edge consists of three 13th/14th-magnitude stars, of which the brightest is the one in the middle and which only has one other star, which is the SP vertex; the triangle is 0.5’ around (I know it’s a triangle.) The galaxy is definitely the most impressive thing in the field; the 10.5-magnitude star NP it is either the brightest or the second brightest in the field (if it’s second it’s only slightly, to a star that is NF it by 9’). The galaxy also has a 15th-magnitude star along its major axis to the N, 0.67’ from the center. There’s another galaxy [UGC 11430] in the field that is 12’ minutes N of 6792 and is a small, maybe 0.5’ circular spot. It’s a UGC, I know that; it’s quite faint and difficult to observe, because it has a 13.5-magnitude star on its N slightly F side that’s very distracting. This galaxy is diffuse and poorly defined, without much in the way of any central brightening at all, so it is not an easy target. With the 7mm Nagler, there is a very, very faint hint of a nucleus in 6972, but it’s kinda suspicious; I’m not sure it’s real. [Photos show an embedded star just SP the nucleus.]. That is an impressive little galaxy up there, all told. The other galaxy doesn’t really show much else, it’s still just there; that star on the edge of it is a real annoyance, and believe me, I know annoyances. But NGC 6792 is going to be hard to beat for galaxies within the Summer Triangle, I think.
The POSS plate for NGC 6792 is an interesting one. The 10.5-magnitude star 9’ NF the galaxy is itself bracketed by two small galaxies, to the S and NF; these showed no identifications that I could find in SIMBAD. [I put these two galaxies to the test via the Deep Sky Hunters mailing list; Bruno Alessi identified the larger galaxy as GLADE+ 18101632, while Kenneth Drake discovered them in the Mitchell Anonymous Catalogue as MAC 1921+4313 and MAC 1921+4314. So thanks to Kenneth and Bruno for the research! Although my suspicion is that these are well beyond reach of the 20”, I’ll need to make sure of this myself….]
I wasn’t finished swearing for the night, although much of what followed was under my breath—I spent much of the next forty minutes struggling to find NGC 6819, the Fox Head Cluster, which was the signpost for my next group of galaxies. I’d observed the cluster a number of times, but never as close to zenith as it was now. And to make matters worse, the Obsession suddenly stopped moving, refusing to budge toward the cluster no matter how I tried.
Now what? My portable battery wasn’t the problem; it was in front of the telescope. The cable that ran from it to the dew heater, which kept my eyepieces from steaming up (due to proximity to my eyeball) as I observed, wasn’t taut yet, and would’ve pulled away from the scope in any case, rather than preventing the big scope from going higher in altitude. And my equipment kit was on the ground under the battery, leaving nothing in the way that could’ve prevented the scope from moving.
I could lower the scope to the horizon, but it would stop rising ten degrees before zenith, and did so with an audible clunk.
It was the magnets—the ones we had attached to the mirror cell to counterweight the scope. They were banging into the inside of the rocker box as the scope was aimed zenith-ward.
Off came the magnets; I was pointed high enough that balance wouldn’t be an issue. But I still couldn’t track down NGC 6819. Being stuck in “the Dob hole” (the region around the zenith at which a Dobsonian scope can largely only rotate on its azimuth axis; Mel Bartels has conquered this by making a Dobsonian with three axes of rotation instead of two) made the cluster much more aggravating to maneuver to. So I gave up on it in favor of something attainable, something removed enough from the Dob Hole that I could manage it: a galaxy that I’d already tried for several times already during this dark cycle.
2:55
UGC 11426 (Lyr): After much swearing and being lost, I’m giving up on the galaxies near the FoxHead Cluster, which I incontrovertibly could not find [patience is a virtue, all]. I am instead at UGC 11426 in Lyra, at long last. This is a very small elliptical spot without much in the way of detail. The galaxy is not particularly well defined, but it’s 0.3’ round, with a small, not particularly bright core; there is some weakly-defined core/halo distinction visible. The galaxy, as many of these are, is kind of messed-with by having a 9.5-magnitude star 1.25’ almost due S of it, and that star makes averted vision a definite advantage here in observing the galaxy. 0.75’ N slightly F the galaxy is a 13th-magnitude star; due P the galaxy by 2.75’ is an 11th-magnitude star that has two stars of 14.5-magnitude P slightly S of it, all three of these spaced 0.3’ apart. The galaxy is reasonably obvious when you know it’s there, but you wouldn’t think to look for it in this field. In the 7mm, the galaxy is still largely featureless, but is a little more obvious, even more than it was before; the field darkening provided by the extra magnification helps the galaxy jump out a little more (rather than largely making it disappear, as it’s done with may of these little galaxies). It’s certainly not a bad object by any stretch.
A quick look over toward the east confirmed a nagging suspicion: dawn was beginning to make its presence known, in that vague gegenschein-ish manner that signifies the close of astronomical night. I had time for perhaps one more galaxy and a couple of higher surface brightness objects (star clusters or planetary nebulae) before the sky was washed out by impending sunrise; Jupiter was still close enough to the crag that the Obsession wasn’t in position for observing it. Being unrelentingly stubborn, I backtracked toward the Fox Head Cluster, not only to observe the cluster but to starhop to at least one of my target galaxies in the vicinity. Four galaxies lay within three degrees of the cluster; I chose the two UGCs as potential targets over the two MCGs, given the potential hinted at by their various prefixes (especially as Sky Safari had the MCGs listed by their PGC numbers; I might have changed my “selection calculus” had I known this, but the UGCs were closer to the cluster in any case).
I found the Fox Head (one of the more-beautiful but less-known clusters of the summer sky) almost immediately—aggravating, really, given how much time I wasted looking for it earlier. After a minute of taking in the cluster’s star-flecked beauty, it was off to the extragalactic wilds for one final trip this dark cycle….
3:26
UGC 11459 (Cyg): We’re losing our nighttime now; I think dawn is finally breaking. This is UGC 11459, one of the galaxies I was trying in vain to find earlier by starhopping from the FoxHead Cluster. This little galaxy is quite diffuse; it’s elongated N-S, 1.0’ x 0.5’; the halo is not well-defined and fairly ghostly; there’s not much in the way of central brightening noted at 14mm (181x). 7’ S of it is an 8.5-magnitude star, which has F it a small right triangle, the right-angle vertex of which is about 2.25’ F the 8.5-magnitude star and is itself 11th magnitude. N of the galaxy by 11’ is the brighter of a pair, which is 9th magnitude and has an 11th-magnitude star 0.3’ P it. The galaxy has a little wedge of 12.5-14th magnitude stars S of it, and it also has several very, very faint stars close around it, including a 15th-magnitude star on the N very slightly F edge; of that wedge, the brightest star is 12.5 magnitude and is 1’ SF the galaxy. I’m throwing the 7mm in here really quickly; there’s another galaxy [UGC 11460] nearby and I don’t know that I’m going to have a chance to get to it, simply because we’re losing nighttime and I don’t really want to take notes on it if it’s not going to be “fair” to the galaxy. UGC 11459 is even more diffuse at 7mm; it’s hard to see it— I think it may have just gotten too bright out to identify it.
I don’t recall what I may have observed afterward; I’m sure there were at least a few quick looks at summer showpieces in the brightening sky. The Milky Way was still visible, if somewhat attenuated compared to its full nighttime glory. But nothing left me with a strong-enough impression to add it to my wrap-up notes on the night.
It always took a lot less time to tear the Obsession down than to set it up: there was no collimating, no need to make sure truss poles were appropriately tightened, no Telrad alignment to do. The difficult part of night’s end was always getting things stowed properly in their places—while it took some Tetrising to get everything into the Flex during the daytime, it was trickier after observing, simply due to tiredness and the desire to get home quickly. No matter how rewarding a session was, and how hyperactive my brain was in contemplating all that it had seen, once the telescope was put away, we all wanted the drive home to be over in an instant so that we could decompress from the night. It occurred to me that I hadn’t even remembered or noted any of the conversation we’d had during the night, or even what my friends were working on while we were there. I’d been so into my own trip (in part because so much had gone awry) that all I could think of was the galaxy I was currently working on, and how to get to the next one.
Dan left, then Mark. It was unusual for me to leave after Mark, who usually had his imaging gear running as long as possible. But the sky was bright now, and daybreak afforded me one last look around the crag before driving into the uncertain dawn.
The Unfrozen Caveman Astronomer 