That Magical Light

The transition to summer observing, with its planetary nebulae and globular star clusters in abundance, accompanied several changes at ground level for me and the others in the EAS Irregulars. Being generally exhausted from work, I had time only to observe on the weekends; with sunsets being so late in the summer, observing couldn’t even really begin until 11 PM, and I needed to be awake for work by 5:30 to monitor the conditions of my digestive tract before spending the day at an injection press. This meant that at best, I got four nights a month to observe. So many targets, so little time.

The bigger transition was one of convenience. The great old Caveman-Mobile, which had served me so well for the last eight years in hauling telescopes up mountains and families cross country, had finally developed a chronic-but-incurable ailment; having put several hundred more dollars into replacing nearly everything on the dear old thing that could be replaced, we could no longer justify another $600 repair. It was time to retire the poor beast from active service while its dignity remained intact.

Enter the new Caveman-Mobile, a 2011 Ford Flex—an odd-looking beast that nonetheless somehow had room for the 20” Obsession and all of its paraphernalia and still drove like a luxury vehicle. Mrs. Caveman and her father tracked the monster down near Seattle and flew up to get it, taking it for a high-speed sojourn on the way home. Although I was somewhat dubious of this vaguely station-wagon-looking thing being an adequate replacement—-it seemed too pristine for the kind of heavy lifting needed to get to our sites of night-sky communion—there was no real turning back.

The Flex’s first excursion to an observing site actually occurred during the day, checking out a site that Dan B had been monitoring for some time. We had been searching for a site closer to town that could serve as a short-night site (i.e. one that we could conveniently use for a couple of hours, as opposed to hauling everything out to Linslaw for a full night’s work), and Dan had found this one—on rural Fisk Road—that appeared to pass muster. It was like a closer, mostly-paved Eagle’s Ridge, an intersection of a couple of gravel roads with a convenient widening to the side of the intersection where several telescopes could be set up. There were a few trees partially blocking the southern view, and the full light-pollution dome of Eugene/Springfield would be mostly visible, but the site seemed adequate for nights when we didn’t want the full drive time to and from Linslaw.

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Two panoramas of the new Fisk site, directions added.

The weekend after our initial recon of the Fisk site, we headed there for a christening of sorts. With (waning gibbous) Moonrise coming shortly after astronomical darkness, we made it a casual evening; Dan and Alesha, Loren and Donna, and Jerry and Kathy and Dan R joined Mrs. Caveman and I for an on-site potluck to kick off the late May-early June Moondark phase. It was also a night for trying out a couple of recently-donated telescopes: a 130mm Celestron something-or-other that wasn’t a dreaded Bird-Jones-type scope, but was actually rather fine optically, and a really old (1976 vintage) 8” Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain with the classic orange tube and all original accessories. I brought along my own black-tube 8” Celestron—my first telescope—to give it some dark-sky time.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, with no expectations of serious observing to be done, but lots of high-spirited talk and telescope evaluation. (The 130mm Celestron has since been introduced into the EAS telescope-lending library, while the orange-tube classic 8” still needs some adjustments and fine tuning.) We left after Moonrise, with surprisingly strong winds howling up the road and plans to return the next night for somewhat more serious observing.

I. Jerry, Dan, and I arrived at Fisk well before sunset; Dan and I got there first and did some more exploring of the site, including climbing over one of the berms and checking out a large open field (which was slightly overgrown in patches) that lay beyond the accessible road. We’d never be able to haul larger scopes over the berm, but it was certainly a tempting possibility.

Jerry arrived a bit later, bringing with him one of his latest projects: a homemade electric guitar. He and Dan exchanged a few songs (Jerry had an amplifier running off of one of his 12-volt batteries), no doubt annoying some of the neighbors; I had visions of some of the nearby rustics trying to figure out where that rock-n-roll was coming from in the middle of the woods.

Dan B in concert. No Stairway!

The wind howled all night, apparently funneled up the road by the trees. Huddled into a corner of the clearing that was blocked from the brunt of the wind, we still had to deal with its effects, often hanging onto telescopes to prevent them from being buffeted about. The roaring of the wind made my audio recordings a chore to transcribe; in some ways it was fortunate that I only had three sets of notes from the evening. Conditions otherwise weren’t great, either; several intruding waves of cirrus caused temporary havoc as they passed through, and the seeing was particularly poor until after midnight.

In addition to working on the AL Planetary Nebula program, I’ve also undertaken to take notes on all of the 2450 objects that William Herschel catalogued during his spectacular and unequaled career. With the Herschel 400 and Herschel II programs already under by belt, and a number of others beyond those, I had at least 900 of Herschel’s discoveries in my repertoire. What was particularly welcome about the remainder of Herschel’s objects was that there were hundreds in every season; if I was stuck on another program, or didn’t have the motivation for, say, a list of flat galaxies on a given night, there were always more Herschels to dig into.

Tonight’s agenda consisted of both “the remaining 1600” of Herschel’s galaxies, clusters, and nebulae, and several of the planetaries on the Astronomical League’s program list. But I spent the first part of the night (and some time between Herschel objects and waiting for some of the needed planetary nebulae to rise) observing globular clusters, enjoying views of M13, M92, and NGC 6229 in Hercules, along with NGC 5634 in Virgo, M80 in Scorpius, and M71 in Sagitta. When all else is exhausted, globular clusters-—my first and ultimately foremost favorite type of deep-sky object— are a source of unending wonder and cosmic glory.

05/30-31/21
FISK ROAD
SUNSET: 8:47 PM
MOON: 20 days (rose at 12:44 AM; 71% illuminated)
SEEING: 4, 6
TRANSPARENCY: 5, 6
SQM: 21.33
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to mid-50s; no dew due to strong winds; some cirrus waves throughout the night
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DB

All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:55
NGCs 5468, 5472 (Vir):This is a Herschel object, while I’m waiting for planetaries to rise in Cygnus, Aquila, Lyra, and Draco; this is NGC 5468 in Virgo, seen in very variable transparency and strong wind. The galaxy is extremely diffuse; there’s no core to speak of, although in averted vision there’s a substellar nucleus that pops into view every now and then (or possibly a very tiny core). The galaxy is round, about 2.0’ diameter, very diffuse and poorly defined. It’s unevenly bright; the interior of the glow is kind of irregular; it appears that there may be a bar or something in it that’s just a touch brighter than the rest of it, oriented almost P-F; it’s hard to hold this for certain, but it’s always the same direction. NF the galaxy by 2’ is a threshold (14.5-magnitude) star. The brightest star in the field is only 4.25’ S slightly F the galaxy and is 8.5 magnitude. Due F the galaxy by 5.5’ is a 13th-magnitude star that has just P it by a couple of arcseconds a tiny faint glow (NGC 5472) that comes and goes with the variable transparency. It’s hard to get a fix on it; it may have a stellar nucleus, as there’s a hint of another stellar object there. From the star just F that galaxy, NP by 0.75’ is a 14.5-mag star. S very slightly F the 8.5/9th-magnitude star by 8’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; then S very very slightly P that star by 4.5’ is an 11.5-magnitude star that has a 14th-magnitude star 0.75’ S very slightly P it. From the 11.5-magnitude star P very slightly N by 6.5’ is an 11th-magnitude star.

11:07
NGCs 5427, 5426 (Vir): This is a really fine interacting pair in the back end of Virgo, NGCs 5427 and 5426, with -27 being due N and considerably larger; there’s a very faint (14th magnitude?) star right between the two of them. NGC 5427 is quite diffuse and not really well defined; it does have a distinctly brighter interior. It’s roughly round, with maybe a tiny bit of P-F elongation; this is indeterminate enough that I’m not going to say anything beyond the fact that it’s 1.67’ round. It’s roughly the same size as NGC 5468, actually, but considerably brighter. As with 5468, there is some inner irregularity to the brightness, if not outright mottling; there’s a very, very slightly brighter core that’s also very small; this is obviously a face-on galaxy. I’m actually going to say this is 1.75’ x 1.67’, very slightly elongated P-F. Every so often, there’s a flicker of a tiny, faint nucleus. (Immediately due S of the galaxy, exactly between the two galaxies, is a 14th-magnitude star that distracts from whether either galaxy has a visible nucleus, but I think they both do.) NGC 5426 is elongated N-S and has a brighter core that’s also elongated N-S within a 1.5’ x 0.75’ halo. The outer edges are pretty unevenly defined, but appear better defined to the S. It almost appears as if the two galaxy’s haloes are trailing slightly to the P, as if they’ve had material pulled off of them in that direction, but this is just an impression and I wouldn’t say anything about it with certainty. This would be a stunning pair in the 20”! At moments, with 5427, I get a feeling like the F edge has a little better definition, or a little more brightness, like there’s a subthreshold spiral arm on the F edge. 5426 also has the occasional flash of a nucleus. The core is 18” long (i.e. between 0.25’ and 0.3’). There is dark space between the two galaxies where the star lies, so they’re two distinct and discrete objects. Some very faint stars lie to the S; there’s a 14th-magnitude star S very slightly F 5426 by 7’; S very very slightly F 5426 by 7’ is another 14th-magnitude star. NF the pair, 11’ from 5427, is a 12th-magnitude star. SP 5427 by 12’ is an 11.5-magnitude star that’s the NP of a very thin flat scalene triangle, with a 12.5-magnitude star F somewhat S by 1.75’; from that star S very very slightly F by 1’ is a 13.5-magnitude star. There’s a very flat isosceles triangle F very very slightly S of 5426, actually a diamond, with the NF vertex very faint compared to the others; the point star in the isosceles triangle, the “roof-top” star, is a very close pair.

We took SQM readings about midnight, and were surprised to get 21.33s (on average) between us. The sky didn’t really seem quite that dark, due in large part to the unshielded light dome from the cities taking up most of the eastern half of the sky. The trees to the south weren’t a dealbreaker, at least.

With Cygnus and the higher-declination summer constellations well above the trees to the east now, I stopped by the Veil Nebula, the Dumbbell (which I’d already taken notes on), and the Ring Nebula (which I hadn’t, but I wasn’t willing to take notes on it in less than excellent conditions, as befitting its showpiece status). I also skipped taking notes on NGC 7027 in Cygnus, as it looked somewhat diminished from even my previous observations of it from the Giant City State Park visitor center parking lot. I didn’t want to go home empty-handed on the planetary-nebula front, though, so I revisited an object that I’d recently observed from The Oxbow. It, too, was diminished from its previous apparition, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, I pressed on with the observation.

12:09
NGC 6742 (Abell 50; Dra): After a huge amount of searching (it was a tough starhop from 16 Lyrae), this is the difficult (more difficult than it needed to be anyway) NGC 6742. I had found this previously at the Oxbow under apparently much better conditions, because here it’s a difficult object, really requiring averted vision to pick out at first, and that was not the case at the Oxbow when I saw the first time. It’s about 0.3’ across, round, just on the border between direct and averted vision (depending on the moment-to-moment sky conditions). It’s mostly just above the averted vision threshold, so it is visible in direct, but it’s not easy. It’s just a very round, very faint nebula with no obvious annularity, although the S rim in good moments looks to be a fair bit sharper than the rest. In the moments of much better seeing and transparency that we’re getting through here, the nebula looks substantially bigger; it might be 0.5’. There’s no central star, but it does have a faint star F slightly N of it by 0.75’; that star really interferes with the nebula, and is 13.5 magnitude. Also distracting from the nebula is the 8.5-magnitude star SP it by 3.5’; that star is the N end of a small zigzag of fainter stars; this zigzag is about 3.67’ long and has its second-brightest star (which is 11th magnitude) at the S end. There are a number of brightish stars in the field but the 8.5 to the SP is the brightest. N of the nebula by 9’ is the S end of another asterism of somewhat brighter stars, including a couple in the 9th/10th-magnitude range. With the UHC, the nebula is substantially “better” but pretty small, more like 0.3’ again (how does that work?). It’s significantly brighter now, a solidly direct-vision object. There’s still no annularity, but the S rim definitely seems a little brighter than the rest; it almost seems like the brighter part of the rim lies slightly inside the nebula and there’s some fringe around the S edge. The O-III filter really brings out the nebula! There’s a dramatic difference between the view in the two filters: now, the nebula’s substantially brighter again than in the UHC, which I didn’t expect based on the previous work I’ve done on the AL planetaries. The impression that the S end of the rim is brighter isn’t seen in this filter. Again, the nebula is distinctly round, and still 0.3’ diameter. The seeing’s gone to crap again, but I’ll throw in the 7mm Nagler anyway. Seeing is terrible at this magnification, but the nebula still pops right into view. I’m constantly amazed at how much just increasing the magnification is better than just adding a filter to the 14mm. With the 7mm, I’m still not getting a central star, but the nebula’s yet again much brighter. Adding the O-III makes the nebula almost unviewable in combination with the 7mm. Back to the UHC: it’s at least observable with this filter in the 7mm. The S rim still looks slightly more obvious and brighter than the rest; it’s obviously a UHC feature, and not merely a figment of my imagination. This is not a bad little nebula with the right combo; the 7mm and the UHC work pretty well.

Several times during the observation, a curiously warm (almost hot) breeze blew through, wiping out the seeing, drowning out my voice on my notes, and feeling as if—in Dan B’s words—we had “waded into someone’s pee spot in a swimming pool.”

About halfway through my notes on NGC 6742, Dan witnessed a brilliant fireball traveling west from Scorpius. As so often happens (to most of us!) during an observing session, Jerry and I were looking in the opposite sides of the sky, missing the meteor entirely.

The Moon crested the horizon, washing out the Milky Way entirely, completing the job the Eugene/Springfield light-pollution dome had started. We packed up our scopes, unsure of the long-term viability of the site due to the persistent winds, biding our time until weekend nights, Moonless hours, and clear skies coincided again.

II. The next weekend provided a better opportunity for observing, at least on the eastern side of the Valley (i.e. the Eagle’s Rest amphitheater, the only one of our Eagle’s sites that I was willing to drive to). Oddly, only Robert was willing to join me for observing; Jerry had his Friday book club, and Dan and Loren also had other plans.  On this particular night, having some extra comrades would’ve likely made a big difference in how the night turned out.

The “amphitheater” was a roadside pullout big enough for perhaps four cars. Until two years ago, it had been hemmed in by trees to the north and west, and by hills to the east; only the southern horizon—the direction of greatest astronomical interest—was clear, overlooking a steep drop into the valley. Now, though, timber and real estate interests had combined to clear-cut the entire northern quadrant, exposing stargazers to the glare of the double city. In place of the trees, some company had installed a large metal gate, for keeping out anyone who might venture past the roadside and into the clearings they had made. Wind frequently blew from the north and through the gate, adding to the nuisance of the light pollution; to remedy this, we often (as tonight) parked near the fence and parallel to the road, using our vehicles as simultaneous windbreaks and light blockers.

My agenda was the same as the previous session: Herschels (mostly galaxies) until target planetaries rose. Most of the Herschels were chosen from Alvin Huey’s guide to the Herschel III list, an unofficial list compiled by Thom Lorenzin from the best of the remaining 1600+ objects not included in the Herschel 400 or Herschel II programs. The sky was a cirrusy mess, but was clearing fairly quickly. And exactly two hours after sunset, I got started with my notetaking.

06/04-05/21
EAGLE’S REST (amphitheatre)
SUNSET: 8:52 PM
MOON: 26 days (rose at 3:22 AM; 20% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.26
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to upper 50s; no dew; mild breeze; cool but not particularly cold; considerable haze at sunset which cleared off by 11:30
OTHERS PRESENT: RA
All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:52
NGC 5690 (Vir): While waiting for some of my planetaries to get into a good observing position, we’re looking at some Herschel IIIs in the meantime; this one is NGC 5690 in Virgo, a nice edge-on spiral– not really a flat galaxy because it doesn’t have the right dimensional ratio; it’s about 2.5’ long and 0.67’ wide, elongated due NP-SF (so about 135˚ position angle) and has a very faint (I’m going to say 14.5 magnitude) star on the SF end inside the halo. Observing the galaxy is very difficult because it has a 6.5-magnitude star 3.25’ due P that’s hugely disruptive to the observing. I can’t really get that star outside the field enough to get a good eye on the details here; I can’t tell if the galaxy is mottled and irregularly bright along the length of it, or if it appears that way because it has that threshold star on the end. It’s a pretty fine galaxy, with a pretty well-defined halo. NP the galaxy by 7’ is a 10.5-magnitude star that’s also 5.5’ N slightly P the 6.5-magnitude star. Due SF the galaxy by another 6.5’ is the right-angle vertex of a small triangle; that star is 12th magnitude and has N slightly F it by 1.5’ an 11.5-magnitude star; and then F somewhat S of the right-angle vertex by 2’ is a 13.5-magnitude star. N slightly F the galaxy by another 6.5’ (so almost forming an equilateral triangle with the galaxy and the 10.5-magnitude star) is a 12.5-magnitude star; and F the galaxy by another 7’ is another 12.5-magnitude star that has 0.5’ due P it a 14th-magnitude star.

11:07
NGC 5792 (Lib): NGC 5792 is apparently in Libra, but it’s actually very, very close to the Virgo border; it’s also in the very close vicinity of a distractingly bright star which happens to be P very slightly N of the galaxy by 1.0’. The galaxy is elongated P-F; it’s about 2.0’ x 1.0’, and has a much brighter core region that’s 0.67’ across; every so often there’s a very very brief flash of an extremely faint substellar nucleus. The P-F extensions of the galaxy are very poorly defined and diffuse; they are revealed primarily with averted vision. That core region is pretty bright, though. The star that’s P very slightly N of the galaxy is 9.5 magnitude; there’s another 9.5-magnitude star NF the galaxy by 6’, and that star has a 13.5-magnitude star N very slightly F it by 0.3’, and also has NP it by 1.5’ an 11th-magnitude star. 3.25’ NP the galaxy (so between the galaxy and the 9.5-magnitude star) is a 14th-magnitude star. Also NF the galaxy by 12’ is a 9th-mag star. N slightly F the galaxy by 14’ is a 10th-magnitude star.

As I was observing NGC 5792, I watched a pair of brightish satellites cross the field, both on the exact same trajectory—most likely some of Elon’s Folly.

11:28
NGC 5921 (SerCap): This is our third Herschel III object while we’re waiting for Aquila and the tail of Scorpius to rise; this is NGC 5921 in Serpens, and it is definitely a more interesting galaxy than should be limited to the 14 mm; I tried the 7mm Nagler, but the sky’s just not good enough for it really; I think this one needs a bigger aperture for a good look. It’s in a pretty crowded field; there is an arc of four stars to the south of it, and the galaxy is also bracketed on the P very slightly N and F very slightly S by stars almost equidistant from the galaxy. The galaxy itself is elongated S very very slightly P-N very very slightly F, about 1.75’ x 1.0’. It has a brightish stellar nucleus and a core somewhat brighter than the halo; the core is extended N-S… I don’t want to say that that’s a bar, but (especially in averted vision) there are definitely hints that that’s the case. The halo is reasonably bright and fairly well defined, and that inner region here is fairly complex; this is one that really would deserve a good look with the 20-inch. (They all do, really.) The number of bright stars in the area of the galaxy makes it a little bit harder to get a focus on it as well: here in the 7mm, the brightest of those stars in the galaxy’s immediate vicinity is F very slightly S of the galaxy by 2.75’ and is 10th magnitude; there’s a 12.5-magnitude star the same distance P very very slightly N of the galaxy, and that star also has between it and the galaxy (so about 0.75’ F very very very slightly S of the star) is a 14th-magnitude star. The arc of four S of the galaxy begins due S of the galaxy by 4’ with an 11th-magnitude star; NP that star by 1’ is a 13th-magnitude star; N very very very slightly P that star by 1.67’ is a 12.5-magnitude star; from the 12.5 magnitude star NF by 1.3’ is a 12th-magnitude star; and that 12th-magnitude star is halfway between the previous star and the galaxy, in a perfect line with those. The brightest star in the field is SP the galaxy by 12’ and is 8.5 magnitude.

12:03
NGC 5962 (SerCap): NGC 5962 in Serpens Cauda is a bright little galaxy, and a pretty impressive one as these things go. It’s elongated P very slightly N-F very slightly S (about 100 degrees position angle) and spans 1.5’ x 1.0’. This one is actually more diffuse than most of the ones I’ve looked at tonight, at least halo-wise, and not particularly well-defined, but it does have a fairly small (0.67’) but gradually much brighter core to it and more than just a hint of a stellar nucleus—in averted vision, anyway; it’s not easy to lock it down, as it’s quite faint. The galaxy lies within a pretty attractive starfield, featuring a wide magnitude range. Due N of the galaxy by 3’ is a 12th-magnitude star; there’s a 13th-magnitude star 4.5’ N somewhat F the galaxy and a 10th-magnitude star 13’ NF. 11’ S slightly P the galaxy is a 10.5-magnitude star, and then F slightly S of the galaxy by 16’ is a 7th-magnitude star that’s kind of in the middle of a N-S oriented asterism; this asterism is about 12’ long and vaguely rectangular. 6.25’ P very very slightly N of the galaxy is the more S of a pair; that star is 11.5 magnitude, and it has a 12th-magnitude star almost due N of it by 1’. This is kind of a nice little galaxy to be relegated to the “other” 1600 Herschel objects.

By the time I finished with NGC 5962, Scorpius and Sagittarius had risen into a decent position for working through the remainder of their planetary nebulae. I had seen my target planetaries in those constellations numerous times before—especially the Bug Nebula, one of Scorpius’ showpiece objects—but either had no notes on them, or had notes that were inadequate for the fulfillment of the AL program. Whatever the case, it certainly wasn’t a chore to reobserve them (even though I had to be sitting on the ground at the roadside in order to catch them). The only negative was their extremely low declination; the Bug Nebula was only 6˚ or 7° off the horizon, and the two I had on my list after that were of similar declinations. The lousy seeing that low made the observation a challenge, but there was little chance of being able to do better at a future date; I could always observe them again if the seeing in the deep south was better at Linslaw, where we planned to be on Saturday night. Getting these low objects would enable me to work on the several I had remaining in Cygnus the next night. And I didn’t have much time for the Bug anyway, as it would be disappearing into a bank of trees in less than an hour.

Robert left just before I started taking notes on the Bug.

12:59
NGC 6302 (Sco): This is a difficult look way down low at the Bug Nebula, NGC 6302 in Scorpius, down here in the really poor seeing close to the horizon. The nebula is 1.75’ P-F by not quite 0.67’ N-S. It looks very much like a galaxy with a bright core that’s about the central 0.3’ and what looks like a central star visible as a nucleus in the galaxy analogy. The central star is hard to tweeze out from the rest of the brighter central region. The nebula’s very indistinct on the ends; on the P end it looks as if there’s something of a slightly brighter knot present. There’s no color to the nebulosity. SP the nebula by 10’ is what seems to be—it’s truly hard to tell because of the inevitable atmospheric extinction—a 9th-magnitude star. Due N of the nebula by 4.75’ is the N-most vertex of a scalene triangle composed of 12th-magnitude stars; there’s another SP the first by 1.25’ and a third 2.67’ due P from that first vertex. SF the nebula by 3.25’ is yet another 12th-magnitude star, and P somewhat N of the nebula by 2.5’ is an 11.5-magnitude star. Let’s try the UHC; I don’t know that the 7mm is going to be much use down here with the seeing, but we’re eventually going to try it anyway; I want to start with the UHC. The UHC really brightens the nebula. The supposed “central star” seems to be just a point in the brightness of the nebulosity, because it’s very, very bright now in the filter, and that shouldn’t be the case if it’s merely a star. The filter also helped to define the diffuse ends of the nebula: the P end has much better definition now; it’s much more distinct and tendril-like, while the F side is a little more diffuse and doesn’t really come to a distinct “sharpening” like the P side does. In fact, the P side seems a little bit longer, more extended, so the central region is kind of offset to the F. It really does look like a galaxy in this seeing. I think the view with the O-III filter is going to be roughly the same as in the UHC, given how low we are in the sky. With the O-III, the bright tendril on the P end twists N-ward a tiny bit; but the filter really brings out the F side too, the diffuse end which kind of fans out a bit, almost like a guppy’s tail. Again, that central region is almost glaringly bright, but that would imply that there’s not a central star that’s the visual driver of that, because it wouldn’t have brightened that much. So we’re gonna try the 7mm Nagler here. In the 7mm Nagler, that impression that the tendrils on the P end hook N-ward is well enhanced at this magnification. Adding the UHC first to the 7mm, that tendril to the P still gives that impression that there’s a tiny brighter knot at the end of it. It almost reminds me of NGC 772 in Aries, the way the one arm sweeps out, because that’s really dramatic how much more it is on the P than the F. In the O-III, the impression that I had in the UHC that there is more N-S depth along the middle, like there’s a vertical “stripe” there along the middle, is a little enhanced, but it’s really hard to get a focus on anything here. There also seems to be (and I noticed this earlier, both in the 14mm and the 7mm with the UHC) from the bright center NF, there’s just a tiny jut of brighter material out the top of the nebula heading NF, just a couple of arcseconds long; it’s not perfectly P-F and confined to that axis; it’s heading a little bit NF from there. That is a really fantastic planetary, even though the seeing’s not very good for it!

I wasn’t a fan of the amphitheater site as a lone observer. There was too much potential for an encounter with the locals; I was generally not afraid of observing alone, but close encounters of the two-legged kind always made me a bit leery, especially out in the hinterlands like this.

I had previously observed NGC 6563 at the Brothers Star Party in 2017, under much better conditions. Here, again, I had to sit on the ground in order to observe my target, while staring through the densest part of the atmosphere as seen from my vantage point.

1:25           
NGC 6563 (Sgr): This one is right in the Teapot spout, and it is NGC 6563, a.k.a. the Southern Ring, although in the 14mm and this low in the sky, there is no real annularity to be had; certainly not in this seeing. (I should say, though, that the seeing really steadies down well, and when it does, even this low, it definitely makes a difference.) The nebula is about 0.67’ round… well, it’s elongated a little bit P-F, so 0.75’ x 0.67’, just a very very slight bit of elongation roughly P-F. Knowing that this is an annular nebula, I’m surprised at how evenly illuminated it is; it’s not like the Cheerio or anything… there may be a a very very very faint rim around the periphery; it’s very hard to hold that impression steady. There’s no central star, no color, but it’s an obvious nebula when you hit the field. A couple of very bright stars are in the field: about 12’ due S is a 7th-magnitude star, while 15’ P somewhat N is a 6th-magnitude star, and from the 6th-magnitude star due SP by 8’ is another 7th-magnitude star—

The galloping happened before the crash; I didn’t have enough time to get to my feet before something smashed into the metal gate with a loud CLANG. It was a full two seconds before I was able to focus enough to yell at whatever it was, which was my usual tactic when confronted by unwelcome wildlife (skunks aside; I usually just whistle when I know skunks are nearby… for obvious reasons). With the new Caveman-Mobile between me and the gate, I couldn’t see what had collided with the gate, or if it was still there… it seemed to have run off, but what if it hadn’t? It sounded large—bigger than me, anyway—and its footfalls had sounded more than a little like hooves. Perhaps a deer or an elk. But (as Jerry noted after I shared the incident with the other Irregulars) if it was indeed some sort of local ungulate, what had spooked it enough to cause it to run into the gate? Nor did I know, with the Flex in the way, which side of the gate said animal had run into.

Rattled by the incident, I lost both focus and interest in NGC 6563. I had no plans to leave, but I certainly wasn’t going to put myself at the disadvantage of sitting on the ground if the same creature—or its pursuer, had there been one—came back for a second engagement. I scrolled through my list via Sky Safari until I found a target that would keep me off the ground, one in good observing position and in an area of sky where the seeing was much better… an object that had bedeviled me the last couple of times I’d searched for it.

1:46
NGC 6807 (Aql): Here we have the utterly-stellar-and-completely-indistinguishable-from-a-star NGC 6807 which, at least in the 14mm at 112x, gives no hint whatsoever as to its identity; you have to really stare at this thing in order to realize it’s not a star, and in a crowded field like this there’s no way you would. It’s roughly the equivalent of a 12th-magnitude star, maybe 11.5, with very, very little to look at; it has just the tiniest bit—I mean, almost imperceptible—of non-stellarness; I had to flicker with the O-III filter in order to make anything out of it. It has a 10th-magnitude star N very slightly F it by 1.5’; there’s an 8.5-magnitude star F somewhat N by 11’. 18’ SP the nebula is the brightest star in the field, which is 6.5 magnitude, and F somewhat S by 20’ are a couple of clumps that could possibly be open clusters; I’m not gonna really do much with those, because I’m here with the nebula and I don’t want to lose it. So let’s go with the UHC, although I don’t think filters are going to have much effect other than brightening it, because it’s so tiny. So with the filter, the nebula is now the equivalent of the 10th-magnitude star N of it, but that’s it; there’s no fringe, no central star, anything, just a faint tiny stellar point. With the O-III, the nebula’s now brighter, considerably brighter, than the star N of it. So upward we go, to the 7mm Nagler, to see if there’s any detail or any improvement in size or anything to distinguish this planetary from a star. With the 7mm, focus is still really problematic; there’s still no distinct means of identifying this as a nebula; it’s just stellar. So we add the O-III… still nothing; still no identifying features; I can’t really focus it sharp enough to tell if there is a disk visible, but it’s now considerably brighter than the star next to it… but that’s all I get with the O-III in the 7mm.

My stomach rumbled while I was taking notes on NGC 6807. Or perhaps it was a cougar or a ravenous Bugblatter Beast or a sandworm or something. (It was loud enough to register on my audio notes.) Whatever the case, I was distracted enough by the earlier incident that further observing had lost its appeal.

I packed up earlier than I’d intended, leaving my agenda for the evening only half-finished.

III.  I don’t recall (at this remove) why only Dan and I went out to Linslaw the next night; it might have been that the others went out to the amphitheater, or perhaps they just stayed home. Whatever the case, I needed to get out again, if only to put the previous night’s events behind me.

Linslaw was the perfect place to do so. I had no qualms about observing there alone, if need be; the sandstone crag at Linslaw was the only one of our active sites that was unlikely to be encroached on by other people during the night, and we had yet to encounter any wildlife there aside from the tiny, scampering lizards whose scamperings we heard but never saw (and the occasional bat, nighthawk, or owl). Dan was there, anyway, although I also knew that should a Smilodon or some such apex predator choose to add astronomer to its diet, Dan could outrun me by a substantial margin.

But none of that intruded on the evening as much as the mediocre conditions. By the time astronomical twilight officially ended and the “real” observing began, the SQM was reading a surprising 21.33 (better than the sky appeared), but the transparency and seeing were only passable. The air was cool and damp and clammy. And the sky was lousy with satellites, both to the naked eye and in the eyepiece, as I prowled among the early summer showpiece objects, waiting for darkness to finish falling.

Little matter, though—galaxies awaited.

06/5-6/21
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:52 PM
MOON: 27 days (rose at 3:42 AM; 9% illuminated)
SEEING: 6-8
TRANSPARENCY: 6-4
SQM: 21.33-21.54
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to mid-40s; heavy dew; air still; cold and clammy
OTHERS PRESENT: DB
All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:58
NGC 5669; PGC 51945 (Böo): I’m working on Herschel IIIs for the time that we have available to us tonight, because I don’t think the conditions are great for doing “serious” stuff; I’m currently looking at NGC 5669 in southern Böotes, which is a large diffuse round glow of irregular brightness. The galaxy’s really poorly defined and large, at about 2.5’ diameter. It has just the barest hint of a core, which is largish but just slightly brighter than the halo; no nucleus is present, but there’s some SP-NF glow in the interior of the galaxy that could be a bar; there could be spiral structure here. The galaxy isn’t bright, certainly, but I’ve been tracking it for a while, and we’re about still about 10-15 minutes from full astronomical darkness; it showed up identifiably fairly early on and I’ve just been following it since then. It’s bracketed to the N somewhat P and due NF by field stars; the star on the N somewhat P is somewhat brighter at 11.5 magnitude and is about 6’ from the galaxy; the one to the NF is about 12.5 magnitude and is 7’ NF the galaxy, and is also the N-most vertex in a small right triangle: the right angle vertex is P somewhat S of that star by 1’ and the third vertex is about 1.3’ almost due S of the first; the right-angle vertex is 14th magnitude; the third vertex is also of 14th magnitude. NF the galaxy by 15’ is a 10.5-magnitude star; there’s also a 10.5-magnitude star P somewhat S of the galaxy by 17’. This galaxy is an impressive sight; I’ll have to re-observe it with the 20 inch. I had an impression that there’s another galaxy [PGC 51945], a really small one, SP of the star to the N slightly P the galaxy by 3.75’ and P somewhat N of 5669 by 6; there’s just a very very very difficult diffuse spot, and that’s really all it is; it’s just a spot that really comes and goes. Averted vision really helps bring it out; I thought I’d seen it early on, but I kind of dismissed it because I couldn’t replicate it, but now it definitely seems like there’s something there.

In planning for the evening, I had flipped through Alvin Huey’s free PDF guide to the Herschel III objects, a subset of the brightest Herschel objects remaining after the Herschel 400 and Herschel II programs. Due to the unpredictability of the lower altitudes at Linslaw, I planned to stay higher in the sky; this led to wandering the galaxy fields of Boötes and Canes Venatici for the night, rather than trying immediately to finish my planetary-nebula wanderings in the lower reaches of the sky.

My next target, although I had forgotten so until I actually had it in the eyepiece, was popularly known as the Heron Galaxy, due to its obvious appearance on photographs.

11:34
NGCs 5394, 5395 (CVn): I’ve gone off the path a little bit, because my SkySafari doesn’t have the entire Herschel III in it, but this is the interesting interacting pair NGC 5394 and 5395; 5395 is kind of dominant here because of its size and brightness compared to 5394. This is a really excellent pair of interacting galaxies this has got to be an Arp [Arp 84]. I’ve discovered that a lot of these Herschel IIIs are really kind of crying out for the 20” Obsession to do a little more investigating on them. NGC 5395 is a long N-S slash that’s pretty well defined and has a 13.5-magnitude star just off the S end; it’s about 2.0’ x 0.75’, with a long streak of central brightening down the major axis. There’s nothing really resembling a standard core or nucleus, though. It seems as though the F side is a little better defined than the rest; it’s not a poorly-defined galaxy, but the F edge seems a little sharper, and it’s more diffuse on the P. The central brightening seems offset to the F edge as well. NGC 5394 is 1.75’ N slightly P from the center of NGC 5395. 5394 has a much more concentrated, very small core and a probable substellar nucleus. It’s only 0.3’ diameter. I don’t see actual contact between the galaxies, although I suspect it’s there, just out of reach in the 12.5”. (All field-star distances are from NGC 5395.) N somewhat P NGC 5395 by 10’ is a 10.5-magnitude star; there’s another almost due N of the galaxies, 15’ from NGC 5395. SP the galaxy by 17’ is another 10.5-magnitude star; there’s a 9.5-magnitude star SF the galaxy by 18’. SP the galaxy by 5.75’ is an 11th-magnitude star. S very slightly P the galaxy by 11’ is the N-most of a line of three; that star is 11th magnitude and has an 11.5-magnitude star S very very slightly F it by 0.75’, and then from the 11.5-magnitude star S slightly F by 2’ is a 12th-magnitude star.

I should’ve observed this one with the 7mm Nagler, or at least the 10mm Delos (the best eyepiece I own), but didn’t do so; the excuse I gave myself was that the transparency wasn’t good enough. What really wasn’t good enough was my list of excuses.

I stayed in Canes Venatici the rest of the night. The seeing improved even as the humidity—an infrequent problem up on the crag—increased; the stars shone with a rare steadiness through a visibly-apparent haze.

12:04
NGCs 5112, 5107 (CVn): NGC 5112 is another very diffuse, large, probably close to face-on spiral. (There’re probably a lot of unknown extra galaxies up there in that region that didn’t make it in the Herschel 400 or the Herschel II.) This is a big one, but still fairly bright; it’s elongated F somewhat N-F somewhat S and covers 2.25’ x 1.25’, with a very very diffuse halo and a somewhat-brighter core but no nucleus. It is brighter along the minor axis as well, but in a much more diffuse manner, which is odd for a face-on or inclined spiral and may mean there’s a bar there. (Right now, the seeing’s sharp as a tack.) The galaxy is really poorly defined; its light just falls away into space with no clear boundary to it. The galaxy has a distracting star about 1.75’ S slightly F the center, and that star is 13th magnitude; there are a number of other bright stars in the field that are difficult on the observing. F very very slightly N of the galaxy by 6.5’ is a 9th-magnitude star that has a 10.5-magnitude star F very very slightly N of it by 2.25’ and a 12.5-magnitude star S slightly F the 9th-magnitude star by 3’, and that star has NF of it by 1.5’ a 13.5-magnitude star. N slightly P the galaxy by 10’ is a yellowish 7th-magnitude star that has P very very slightly S of it by 6’ a 10th-magnitude star. P very very slightly S of the galaxy by 17’ is a 9th-magnitude star. Almost due S of the galaxy by 12’ is a 13th-magnitude star, and due P that 13th-magnitude star by 4’ is another galaxy [NGC 5107] which has almost the same orientation as NGC 5112 but is much smaller and somewhat more concentrated; it’s 1.25’ x 0.25’, oriented P slightly N-F slightly S, a thin little short streak of a galaxy. This smaller galaxy is much better defined and fairly faint but still reasonably obvious; it’s well-defined and fairly even in brightness. The 13th-magnitude star that’s due F the second galaxy also has a 13.5-magnitude star F it by 2.75’.

With the transparency failing, I checked the SQM, expecting no better than a 21.2. The 21.52 it registered was far beyond both what I expected and what the sky appeared to show. I then shone a red light on my scope’s secondary mirror, expecting it to be covered with dew; that too exceeded my expectations by being perfectly clear.

The sky was clearly diminished from its usually summer clarity, and even from the level it had been as it got dark. I flipped through Huey’s Herschel III guide for another—likely final—target in the vicinity of NGC 5112, something to close out my notetaking for this Moon-dark phase, finding several to choose from and picking the best of the lot.

12:35
NGC 5301 (CVn): This is the interesting not-quite-flat galaxy NGC 5301, which I saw in Alvin Huey’s guide to the Herschel III and assumed would be super easy, but it’s surprisingly… it’s relatively easy, but it’s not quite as impressive as one would expect from the photograph, which kind of gives the lie to the idea of photographs as good indicators, although it’s still a fine sight. The galaxy’s elongated N slightly P-S slightly F, about 2.5’ x 0.75’, so pretty much an edge-on galaxy, but not quite flat; based on the strict definition of a flat galaxy, I don’t think it qualifies. But it’s reasonably bright; there’s no straining to see it. The galaxy is a little brighter on the N end than the S. It’s well defined and not at all diffuse; it has just a strip of central brightening, with a faint substellar nucleus but no core. Due S of the galaxy by 2.75’ is a 12.5-magnitude star; there’s an 11.5-magnitude star SF the galaxy by about 2.5’. The S and slightly brighter of a pair lies NF the galaxy by 4.25’; that star is 12th magnitude and has a 13th-magnitude star N of it by 0.75’. There’s also a 14.5-magnitude star NP the galaxy by 2.67’. The brightest star in the field is 18’ F somewhat N of the galaxy and is 9th magnitude, and it has a 10th-magnitude star due P it by 2.75’. There’s a bright isosceles triangle P the galaxy: P somewhat S of the galaxy by 9’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; there’s a 10th-magnitude star P somewhat S of that star by 5’, and those two form the base of the triangle, and then from the first star NP by 6’ is another 10th-magnitude star; that one’s maybe just a touch fainter than the others.

I checked in on some of the summer globulars, then tore down my gear. Dan was already loaded up, starting down the mountain. I followed a few moments later, the galaxies still wheeling above, their feeble light crossing the vast expanse of space to fall unseen on the sandstone crag.

The Purest Sky, A Half-Light

May came and went in an unexpected wash of rain and general grey cloudiness, in keeping with a year in which the weather patterns (and indeed, nearly everything else) made little or no sense. Usually, we could count on the skies of May being mostly free of nearly every kind of astronomy-preventing condition save forest fire smoke, yet it wasn’t until mid-June—nearly two months to the day since our last observing session—that we were able to return to our explorations of the universe.

COVID aside, we had another major headache to deal with. Due to the inability of our local yee-haw 2nd-Amendment worshippers to keep from damaging life and property down at Eureka Ridge, the Bureau of Land Management had slammed the door (or, more specifically, the newly-installed gate) on our access road to Eureka. This closed us out of our favorite (and nearest) observing site, pretty much permanently. Jerry had put in some queries to the timber company that owned the land, but had heard nothing back from them as yet. Without their permission, we’d done our last stargazing from Eureka.

In a moment of synchronicity, Loren had recently discovered another potential new site, in roughly the same direction as Eureka Ridge, but another 50% more distant. This was a turnout in a very winding section of road, not far from the site Mrs. Caveman and I had explored in April. It had a number of positive qualities: the road was paved all the way to the site, the site itself was paved but overlaid with gravel, there was room for at least eight vehicles, and it promised to be very dark indeed. The southern horizon was better than Eagle’s but not a clear as Eureka or Linslaw Point; the west and east were more than adequate, but the north was (just as Linslaw) mostly blocked by a rocky hillside. The drive was somewhat difficult, but somewhat less so than the Eagle’s region.

I. Our chance to give the new site—which we discovered was called Oxbow Summit, and we shortened to “the Oxbow”—a test run was on the 18th of June, well into the Moon-dark phase. Our last time out had been on April 19th. Conditions weren’t as good as we would’ve hoped, and not a totally fair test of the site, but they were good enough for traveling along the Milky Way.

I’d hoped to bring the 20″ Obsession, but hadn’t had the time to load it up. So it was up to Bob the Dob to inaugurate the new site for me, along with Jerry and Kathy’s 20″ Mel-scope and Loren’s 18″ Obsession. I’d already planned to work on open clusters and planetary nebulae for the AL programs on each, but I left a few flat galaxies on my observing list as well, despite generally reserving those for the Obsession. 

06/18/20 
THE OXBOW
SUNSET: 8:59 PM
MOON: 27 days (set at 6:39 PM; 9% illuminated)
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.44
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to low 50s; slight dew; air still

OTHERS PRESENT: JO, KO (20” TriDob), LR (18”)

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted 

11:04
NGC 5496 (Vir): We’re flat galaxy-ing at Loren’s new spot, The Oxbow; rather than using the 20” as I’d planned for the Flat Galaxy program, I’m using the 12.5” (I’d intended to do mostly planetary nebulae and open clusters here, but this target is a good one for the “smaller” scope). This particular galaxy is oriented 175-170˚ PA and about 3.5’ x 0.3’, a little “beefier” than many of the flat galaxies I’ve done. It’s quite ghostly and faint; I overlooked it the first time through the field, several minutes ago, but as the sky darkens more, the galaxy becomes more visible (funny how that works). Its halo is almost mottled or irregularly bright, with a few specific sections of interior brightening; one of these is more toward the N end [a threshold star?], then there’s a gap, then a very very weak core. The S end of the galaxy is more diffuse and harder to trace, less well defined. No nucleus is visible. A number of 13th/14th-magnitude stars lie in the vicinity; one is N very slightly F the galaxy by 6’ from the galaxy’s center and is 14th magnitude, and there’s a star of 13.5 magnitude NF the galaxy by 10’; between those two, 2.75’ F very very slightly S of the first star, is a 14.5-magnitude star. The brightest star in the field is F very slightly S of the galaxy by 18’ and is 10.5 magnitude. S very very slightly P the galaxy by 11’ is the more N of a faint pair, which is 13th magnitude and has a 13.5-magnitude star S very very slightly P it by 0.5’.

Target two was a fun departure from both thin galaxies and NGC open clusters. I’d long planned to trawl through the 90+ objects in the Berkeley catalogue of open clusters, and the placement of Aquila in the sky gave me an opportunity for one of the more notable entries.

12:28
Berkeley 80 (Aql): A very intriguing open cluster outside the NGC/IC realm. It’s pretty small, no more than 2.5’ x 1.0’ P-F, with a powdery, almost nebulous appearance. On the P edge of the cluster’s main “body” is a 14th-magnitude star; 1’ P slightly N of that star is one of equal magnitude, at the end of a P-ward “extension” from the main mass of the cluster. At this magnification, the majority of the cluster is not readily resolvable. 3.75’ S of the star on the main cluster’s P edge is a 10th-magnitude star that’s the middle of an arc of three; 3.67’ P somewhat S of that star is an 8.5-magnitude star; there’s one of 9.5 magnitude F very very slightly S of the first star, which is the F-most in arc, by 4.5’. Almost due N of the cluster by 11’ is a 9^th-magnitude star. With the 7mm Nagler (and waves of transparency-killing crap rolling in): a couple of individual stars are visible in the middle and on the due F edge of the cluster and some granulation of the overall glow is apparent, but that P-ward extension is just dust, still not well resolvable. Four or five stars are suggested over the top of the cluster but nothing else is resolved; the whole seems just on the edge of resolution, with some very small background glow behind it. The cluster is surprisingly-well detached and unified, but it’s hard to decide its level of richness, (probably great); the mag range is considerable, with 14th-magnitude stars and many unresolved.

Between targets on my list, I did a fair amount of browsing, checking out the usual summer suspects from the new site. M22, M28, M80, M4, M8, M17, M20…. It made for a relaxed evening between the new objects on my list. Such as the next one, an easily-located planetary I’d sought many years ago, but hadn’t found (then, using my 8″ scope from Cincinnati). It was easy from the Oxbow with the superb 12.5″ scope.

1:11
NGC 6751 (6748) (Aql): This smallish planetary nebula lies just east of the Eagle’s head; SkySafari 5 uses 6748 as its NGC number. It’s a small, fairly dense-centered nebula, bracketed very closely to the P and F by very faint stars just outside the halo; the halo is a thin envelope around a much-brighter central region. The nebula spans 0.3’ x 0.25’ and seems elongated P-F, but some of that elongation may be due to the presence of those 14.5-magnitude stars in those directions. The central star is visible among all the interior brightness. The planetary marks the SP-most vertex of an almost-isosceles right triangle with two faintish stars as the other vertices; the right-angle vertex is a 12th-magnitude star F very very slightly N of the nebula by 2’; the third vertex is a 13th-magnitude star 2.3’ N very very slightly P the right-angle vertex. From the nebula SP by 14’ is a double star or pair, the brighter component of which is 14’ from the nebula and is 10th magnitude, and it has SF it by 0.3’ a 13th-magnitude star. 18’ due P the nebula is a 9.5-magnitude star. S of the nebula by 5’ is a small (1’) knot of 7 stars. With the 7mm: the extra magnification blows the two stars (the ones P-F very very slightly N) way out; the star to the P may be double, with a faint companion P very slightly N of the primary. This is a nice little nebula. With the OIII, the field is way too dark! Using that filter with this eyepiece is a non-starter, at least for this object. Using the OIII with the 14mm, the nebula’s edges are crisper, like the halo has either “strengthened” or has completely disappeared, and the central region is now much brighter.

Others began the process of tearing down, and though I felt like I was just getting started, I also knew that the drive home was going to be challenging. The wind had also picked up, and my audio notes were a mess of wind rumble and ambient sound beyond that of my voice. I searched my list for a suitable object to close on, and found it in one that I’d observed quite literally hundreds of times without ever taking the time to take notes on.

1:41
Messier 11 (Sct): Not wanting to end yet, although we were all packing up, so one more for the road. I’ve been hesitant to take notes on this one. Words fail; this is the premier open cluster in the sky in impressiveness, detachment, richness, etc. Just F center is the cluster lucida, which is of 8th magnitude. The cluster is roughly diamond- or square-shaped, with corners to the NP, NF, SP, and SF. The cluster is roughly 7’ in main body and has outliers extending out to 9’ x 12’, with a S slightly P-N slightly F axis major axis. Off the N end, 5’ from the lucida, is an arc running NP-SF for 7’ that is a separate detached portion of the cluster. M11 is incredibly rich (200+) and very well detached, even in the dense Scutum Star Cloud. The majority of cluster stars are in the 11.5-13th magnitude range. The cluster also has numerous dark voids within it, and there are a lot of dark nebulae in the area around it; the darkest and largest void is on the cluster’s NF edge between the NF edge of square and the arc to the N, kind of an apple-core shaped void that’s pinched at the middle and is 2.3’ P-F by 1.5’ N-S. The square body of the cluster itself contains four voids, of which two run together. There’s also a triangular void P the lucida on the P corner of the square, which is the least-dense void, roughly equilateral and 1’ on a side. To the S and SF and sweeping around the cluster is another large void that wipes out that edge of cluster, especially on the S; there are a few stars on the F edge of the last void that help make up the right angle on that side of the square, but the void blows out the area due S of the lucida, which is completely barren of stars starting 1’ S of the lucida and stretching further S; so there’s a 1’ area S of lucida with stars and then none, and then the remainder of that corner of the cluster. 1’ F the lucida and stretching SF is another dark nebula. SF the lucida by 4.5’ is the more S of a pair of 9th-magnitude stars separated N-S by 0.75’, with the N of the pair the brighter. On the extreme NF corner of the square of cluster is a very tiny, almost planetary nebula-looking 9” knot of unresolved stars. The dark void S of the lucida also extends much farther to the SP and fans out from there, but is somewhat less opaque with some background glow there—a dark slash through the cluster and beyond the square. A magnificent object!

And an excellent way to end our first observing session in eight weeks. The nights ahead looked promising for astronomy, despite how deep into the Moon-dark phase we already were, and I used my concentration on the drive home to plot out my observing plan for the rest of June.

Verdict on the new site: physically, it’s an excellent spot (we’ve been back several times since). The sky conditions weren’t really good enough to make a fair assessment, so we’ll have to catch it on an excellent night to see just how dark it can get; light-pollution maps show it as having the potential to reach 21.8 on the SQM, so in theory it should get as dark as Linslaw. The southern horizon is a bit compromised, but not as much as at Eagle’s Ridge, and there are no trees to interfere in that direction. There’s also a smaller site just up the road, if we want to observe anything in the north.

II. Several nights later, we reconvened at the newly-enlarged “amphitheatre” area along Eagle’s Rest Road, the site that won the evening’s lottery in the sky-conditions-and-drivability categories. This time I did have the 20″ Obsession along, intent on making a last plow-through of the late-spring flat galaxies before the galaxy fields (Ginsburg’s Buddhafields?) yielded the sky to the great double-slash of the Milky Way’s summer arms.

There were four of us there, and four vehicles—perhaps the comfortable limit at the amphitheater. Jerry was there, Trackball already waiting for dusk; Bill M had made a fairly-rare appearance on the observing field with his 9.25″ SCT, and Robert A was there with his 3D-printed binocular scope, his daughter in tow.

Having done some minor maintenance work to the 20″, I’d gotten it to a point where one person could conceivably set it up alone. It wasn’t fun to do so, but it was possible. I managed to do it with a minimum of swearing, and in a fairly-timely manner, as well. Nothing to do, then, but to wait for the dark to finish falling.

My first look of the night went to UGC 10227, a flat galaxy in Corona Borealis—an easy one to find, but a difficult one to observe, simply due to the immediate presence of 4th-magnitude Tau CrB, only 7.25′ due S of the galaxy. I’d observed this one before with the 18″ and had seen it vaguely in the 12.5″; alas, it wasn’t on the Flat Galaxy Program list for the AL, so I hadn’t taken notes on it. (I should be doing so regardless of an object’s status, but the sad truth is that I don’t always do so.). But then we were off, to a nearby galaxy trio (also a set of targets in demand, but for the Galaxy Groups & Clusters program). Technically, astronomical twilight still hadn’t ended, but the galaxies were calling.

06/21/20 
EAGLE’S REST AMPHITHEATRE
SUNSET: 8:59 PM
MOON: 1 day (set at 9:45 PM; 0.5% illuminated)
SEEING: 8
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.48
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to low 50s; some dew; air still

OTHERS PRESENT: JO, BILL M, RA (and his daughter, planting trees) 

All observations: 20″ f/5 Obsession Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (181x, 0.452˚ TFOV) or 7mm Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted 

11:08
NGCs 5490, 5490C; IC 982, 983 (Boo): It’s been a good start to the session; I’ve already had a faint look at UGC 10227. This is a small group here in Boötes, but it’s hard to observe because two of the galaxies are very close to a 9th-magnitude star. NGC 5490A is reasonably bright, small, maybe 1.0’ round; it has a quite diffuse halo and a brighter small core that it comes quickly to (rather than a smooth gradient) and a substellar nucleus. NGC 5490A forms a right triangle as the right-angle vertex, with an 11.5-magnitude star 3’ S very slightly F and a 13th-magnitude star 3.75’ due F. The galaxy has P it by 1.25’ a 14th-magnitude star that has one of 13.5 magnitude NP it by 1.5’. N very slightly F the galaxy by 11’ is a 9th-magnitude star; that star has SP it by 2.75’ another galaxy [IC 982], which is more diffuse and fainter and only about half the size of 5490A: maybe 0.5’, with a core that’s only slightly brighter and a very faint stellar nucleus. From the 9th-magnitude star 1.5’ P somewhat N is a third galaxy [IC 983/Arp117], which happens to be 2.5’ NF the previous galaxy; this one is no more than 0.75’ in diameter, with a very faint halo but a considerably brighter core and a stellar nucleus [I missed most of the halo due to the presence of the bright star]. From 5490A, not quite halfway between that and the 9th-magnitude star, 5’ N slightly F 5490A, is a very diffuse glow [5490C/Arp 79]: 0.5’ round, with very, very little central concentration. The halo is exceedingly diffuse, and the galaxy much easier to pick out in averted vision than to try to hold steady in direct. This is a nice field, although the glare from the star overpowers everything else in it. [I missed 5490B.]

Robert’s daughter was planting tree branches as trees, to help replant the amphitheatre.

11:28
UGC 9249 (Boo): A flat galaxy in Boötes, and a difficult one, hard to hold steady with direct vision even in the 20” Obsession.  [A satellite goes through it N-S.] 90˚ PA? The galaxy is 1.25’ x perhaps 0.25’, with just a very very slight bit of central concentration; it’s otherwise evenly illuminated. I wouldn’t pick this as a flat galaxy, as it seems “beefier.” [I just described a galaxy as “beefier.”] There’s no core or nucleus visible, just a faint halo glow that may have a threshold star off the F end. There are several really faint (16th-magnitude) stars nearby that are distracting to the overall view. A 15th-magnitude star lies S very very slightly F the galaxy by 2.5’ and a bright (10th-magnitude) star N of the galaxy by 2.75’; 3.25’ N of that star is one of 12th magnitude; from the 10th-magnitude star P slightly S by 0.75’ is a 15th-magnitude star. From the galaxy P very very slightly N by 3.25’ is a 13.5-magnitude star, and SP galaxy by 4.25’ is a 12.5-magnitude star.

The next galaxy had been something of a bete noire for me as far as flat galaxies went—I’d tried for it each of the last few summers and had come up empty each time. With the blunderbuss 20″, though, and some decent sky placement, the big-game hunter emerged triumphant.

11:46
UGC 9169 (Boo): This is another “faint but there” galaxy, certainly a brighter one than the previous. I’ve looked for this one many times (dating all the way back to our Champion Saddletrip), so all I can say is—finally! It’s much larger than 9249 and better holdable in direct vision, with a very, very fleeting trace of a nucleus but no core. Elongation is SP-NF, PA 50˚. The galaxy spans 2.0’ x 0.25’ and is well defined, but the tips of the spiral arms are hard to see, fading out as they do into nothingness. The galaxy is positioned between two stars, to the N and S; the star to the N is 3.5’ N very very slightly P and is 13.5 magnitude; also NF the galaxy by 4’ a 12.5-magnitude star; the star to the S is 7’ S and is 13^th magnitude, and there’s also a 14^th-magnitude star that is 3’ F slightly S of the galaxy. The brightest star in the field is N very very slightly F galaxy by 12’ and is 11^th magnitude; it’s the P-most of a group of similarly-bright to slightly-fainter stars that trail to the F from there. This is a nice galaxy, even though it’s faint!

12:00
UGC 9841; NGC 5928 (Ser): The best flat galaxy of the night so far, this one almost jumps out when swept into the field; it shares this field with a considerably-bright star and a considerably-bright small galaxy. It’s another 50˚ PA flat galaxy, elongated 1.75’ x 0.3’. It’s not uniformly bright; there’s obvious central concentration along the major axis and a faint stellar nucleus that’s a direct-vision object but only holdable 70% of the time. The galaxy seems to have a very very slightly brighter bit on the F end. It’s in an active field, with stars of a wide range of mags, including a number of single-digit-magnitude stars; P very very slightly N of the galaxy is a 12th-magnitude star that’s the brightest in a fishhook asterism that stretches to the P; that star is 2’ from the nucleus. SF the galaxy by 11’ is an 8th-magnitude star that has S very very slightly P it by 6’ a pretty bright small galaxy [NGC 5928] that has a diffuse but not well-defined 1.0’ halo; it has a quite brighter core and substellar nucleus.

12:45
UGC 10043; Hickson 77 (Ser): This is a really tricky one, UGC 10043 in Serpens Caput, and it is considerably difficult, due in large part to being very very very thin. (It has a 14th-magnitude star 1’ SP it that also makes the observation a bit difficult.) The galaxy is elongated (and it’s surprisingly easy to tell its orientation) in PA 165˚; so N somewhat P-S somewhat F. The galaxy is easy to lose as it’s so difficult. In averted vision, there’s definitely a central bulge to it; the galaxy is 1.5’ x 0.3’, but if taking away the bulge—it’s really difficult to hold!—it’s a lot thinner. The plane of the galaxy itself is well less than 0.25’… maybe 0.125’. It almost looks like a nucleus appears on a few occasions in the central bulge. There’s another 14th-magnitude star SF the galaxy by 2.75’; the brightest star in the field is S somewhat P the galaxy by 13’ and is 9.5 magnitude. But then F the galaxy by 9’ is Hickson 77, which is a lumpy glow of 1’ length, elongated roughly N-S; it has 15th-mag stars F very slightly N and F slightly S. A distinct object; no doubt about it. I probably wouldn’t have known it was more than one galaxy without having read about it before. (And knowing it was a Hickson, which means it has to have at least four component members.) It does appear, even at this low magnification, in averted vision, like there are multiple discrete cores to it. The Hickson group has S slightly F it by 6’ a 10.5-magnitude star that’s causing an issue, and P slightly S and SP it (by 3’ and 3.25’ respectively) are a couple of 14th-magnitude stars. With the 7mm Nagler, that is still a really tight knot; it’s “stringable out” N-S with difficulty; there’s at least two separable there—what looks like two distinct nuclei, one at the S end and one N very very slightly P that one, but no other real detail there to be gleaned. Maybe on a better night?

The galaxy fields had by now sunk behind the stand of trees remaining on the west side of the amphitheatre and into the edges of the Eugene light-muck, necessitating a change of plan; I wasn’t going to be pulling threshold-magnitude galaxies from the skyglow and tree branches.

One of the requirements for the Astronomical League’s Planetary Nebula program is that the observer use as many magnifications as possible in observing each nebula. I had a slightly-different idea; I intended to observe each planetary with the 14mm and 7mm eyepieces in both the 12.5″ and 20″ scopes. That would yield 112 and 224x in the 12.5″ and 181 and 363x in the 20″—not just a good range of magnifications, but an excuse to use multiple apertures. (Under rare occasions, I could use even higher magnification, but the sky conditions would have to be quite stable for doing so.) So I turned the big mirror onto a planetary I’d never before observed, one that was much better placed than the flat galaxies I had remaining.

1:17
NGC 6309 (Oph): The Box Nebula, a considerably-bright planetary, which is clearly not round even at low power. The nebula has very very close on the N a 12th-magnitude star. The nebula is elongated NP-SF and is 0.5’ x 0.25’ in the central region; there’s a lot of fringe to the P and F that makes the nebula seem a little more roundish, but none on the N and S. It has 1.5’ NP it a 13th-magnitude star, and due F the nebula by 1’ is a 15th-magnitude star. Every now and then a central star is very very very faintly visible; the fringe to the P side (especially the SP) is a bit brighter than on the F side, like it flares out to the SP. With the O-III: this is an almost Saturn Nebula type, with bright extensions to the N and S along the major axis and a bright “core” with a lot of internal detail. The 7mm Nagler (with no filter) really makes a difference, although the seeing’s a bit mucky at this magnification. There’s a very very faint star (16th magnitude?) to the due P, very close to the edge of the halo, which gives an impression that the nebula is extended that direction more than it actually is. The nebula’s internal structure is ‘S’-shaped within its outer fringe, and there’s definitely a brightening on the very S tip of the nebula; there are numerous dark striations in it as well. With the 7mm and O-III, the field is again too dark: the nebula has irregularity in its interior, but there’s no easy description for it as it’s hard to bring to focus. The impression of something brighter on the S tip is much stronger at this magnification. The fringe is clearly more prominent on the SP—it’s not just an illusion, and not because the threshold star is there. This is quite an impressive little nebula!

Bill and Robert had left by this point, and Jerry was ready to start packing up. I had taken a few moments to observe the two globular clusters in Delphinus—NGCs 6934 and 7006—for a program I was giving to EAS via Zoom at the July meeting, and decided I needed to make one more stop in the constellation before beginning the long process of teardown with the 20″.

1:52
NGCs 6928, 6927, 6930; UGC 11590 (Del): The Delphinus Trio, and the first time I’m seeing all three for certain. NGC 6928 is unmistakable: it’s elongated 1.5’ x 0.3’ P very very slightly S-F very very slightly N, and has a 14th-magnitude star just on the N very slightly F from center, on the outside edge of the halo, that’s distracting from the interior of the galaxy (where there’s a brightish core and a faint stellar nucleus). The outer edge of the halo is diffuse and poorly defined; the interior of the halo is irregular in brightness. 7’ NP 6928 is a 9th-magnitude star with one of 9.5 magnitude 1’ N of it. With a great deal of difficulty, I can pick up NGC 6927: it’s much more apparent than any time I’ve seen the group, even when I’ve seen the galaxy itself. 6927 lies 3’ P somewhat S of 6928; it’s very very small (less than 0.25’ in diameter) and has a little bit of central brightening and maybe even a tiny faint stellar nucleus that may be better visible in averted vision. SF 6928 by 3.75’ is NGC 6930: this galaxy is also hampered by having a star just outside its halo, although this one a bit further than the one obscuring the view of NGC 6928; the star is 1.25’ S very slightly P of the center of 6930, which is elongated N-S, 1.25’ x 0.3’ There’s a very very faint bit of major axis brightening in 6930, plus a slightly-visible core. The detached piece at the N end (UGC 11590) is hinted at, while the star on the S end is 12.5 magnitude. Even farther S, 4.5’ from the galaxy, is a real distraction: an 8.5-magnitude star. F somewhat S and SF 6930 by 2.3’ each are a pair: the more S of the two is 10th magnitude and the more N is 11th. With 6930 roughly centered in the eyepiece, just outside the N slightly F edge of the field is a 6.5-magnitude star. With the 7mm: I wouldn’t be surprised if the secondary is dewy; there’s a loss of contrast, but there doesn’t really seem to be anything on the secondary itself. NGC 6927 really jumps out at this magnification: it’s elongated a little more obviously N-S and still not easy, but more visible. NGC 6928 is an impressive little galaxy, and there’s definitely core brightening in 6930; the little spot on the N end is definitely very slightly visible. This is a really great trio!

The drive home from the amphitheatre site was just over half as long as that to the top of the Ridge—that last nine miles took twenty of the forty-five minutes from my house. With the closing-off of Eureka Ridge, the amphitheatre had become our nearest observing site; it was certainly adequate for the job, but its exposure to the dew coming up the valley, and to the yahoos driving past looking for cheap (usually high-caliber) thrills, meant that it was better as a part-time site than a permanent one. Still, the easier drive home was a welcome relief from some of the longer hauls we made, and it was a decent alternative when the Clear Sky Chart showed issues at Linslaw.

III. I left the 20″ in the Caveman-Mobile that night and the next day, taking inside only the eyepieces and whatever other items shouldn’t be left in the van during the day and making sure to roll down the windows and open the back flaps to keep the air as cool as possible (so the mirror needed less cool-down time, more than anything). And then it was off to Linslaw Point, where I hadn’t been since a very windy February night when the Herschel objects of Puppis and Canis Major had beckoned.

Mark W was there already, getting his imaging setup ready for the night; Loren was right behind with the 18″ Obsession he’d bought in southern Illinois. And it was back to flat galaxies, with no trees to interfere and the glow from Eugene/Springfield largely hidden behind the sandstone crag.

It was late in the season already to be digging galaxies out of Libra, but my first few targets were there anyway; there was no sense in abandoning them until next spring.

06/22/20 
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:59 PM
MOON: 2 days (set at 10:37 PM; 3% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.58
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to low 50s; NO dew; slight breeze (little bit of wind rumble)

OTHERS PRESENT: LR, MW

All observations: 20″ f/5 Obsession Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (181x, 0.452˚ TFOV) or 7mm Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted 

11:14
UGCA 394; Burnham 346 (Lib): SP Zubenelgenubi—and just P a striking Burnham double of equal color but not quite equal magnitude—lies this striking but irregularly-bright flat galaxy. (The seeing down here isn’t great.) It’s a big one—2.5’ x 0.3’—and oriented in PA 170˚? (175˚?). The galaxy is visible in direct vision but averted makes it much more apparent, and the irregularity of its brightness is much more evident in averted vision; there’s not anything definable as a core or nucleus, though. It’s surrounded, especially on the N, by a number of 13th/15th-magnitude stars; on the N end, there are three pairs which are also roughly oriented N-S (the P-most pair is NP-SF oriented). It also doesn’t help the observation that the galaxy has some brightish stars off to the F side that are distracting: 1.25’ due F is a star of 14.5 magnitude; 1.75’ due F that star is a 12th-magnitude star; there’s another of 12.5 magnitude F very slightly S of that star by 2.25’. N of the galaxy are the three pairs: of the P-most, the S star is NP the galaxy by 2.5’ and has NP it by 0.5’ the second star; both are 14.5 magnitude. N slightly P the galaxy by 1.75’ is the S-most of the second pair, which has N of it by 0.75’ a nearly-equal star (both are 14th magnitude); the third pair consists of two 13.5-magnitude stars NF the galaxy by 2.25’; the S-most has the second 0.3’ due N of it. 18’ F very very slightly N of the galaxy is the Burnham star (Burnham 346): this is an excellent double that looks a lot like Gamma Ari, save for the greater magnitude range; both stars are whitish, and are separated with the brighter F very very slightly S of the dimmer by 3”; these are 7th and 8th magnitude.

11:33
NGCs 5915, 5916, 5916A (Lib): A fine trio down here in Libra—quite impressive! These are not showpiece galaxies but the three of them are a fine sight in the eyepiece. NGC 5915 is the brightest of the three, but not the largest. It has obvious interaction distortion; it’s elongated NP-SF, but also at its F end, it stretches toward the S with a diffuse hook toward a faint (14.5-magnitude) star just outside the halo. Overall, the galaxy spans 1.25’ x 0.5’, plus the 0.3’ hook S at the F end. It also has a fairly diffuse but pretty well-defined halo, and a smallish, bright core extended along the major axis (which accounts for most of major axis) and a stellar nucleus. 5’ S very very slightly F is NGC 5916, which is more diffuse and much less well-concentrated but slightly longer (1.5’ x 0.5’) than NGC 5915. Its S end may be a bit more diffuse than the N end, and there may be some central brightening along the major axis; the galaxy has no real core but does have a faint stellar nucleus. It’s not well defined in the halo, especially on the N end. Almost due P 5915 by 5’ is a 12th-magnitude star that’s the right-angle vertex of a small faint right triangle; there’s an 11.5-magnitude star due S of it by 2.25’ and a 14th-magnitude star due P by 1.3’; there’s another faint (maybe 14.5-magnitude) star due F the right-angle vertex by 1.5’. The right-angle vertex also has immediately due F it NGC 5916A: a NP-SF elongated 0.67’ x 0.25’ glow, with a faint diffuse halo and the weakest of central concentration [transparency issues down here?]. NGC 5915 has N very very slightly F it by 2’ an 11.5-magnitude star which has F it by 0.75’ a 14th-magnitude star. The brightest star in the field is N very very slightly P 5915 by 12’ and is 10th magnitude.

Back into Boötes, then. For a constellation largely thought to be devoid of interesting objects, it’s certainly worth digging deep into.

12:06
UGC 9242 (Boo): A nice flat galaxy, up by Seginus (Gamma Boötis); it’s a pretty obvious and very, very long thin streak with a 13th-mag star SF it very closely, 1.25’ SF the galaxy. The galaxy is no less than 3.0’ x 0.3’, elongated PA 60˚, and quite faint but unmistakable when passing over it in the field; it’s a nice one to watch drift through. The galaxy has no core, no nucleus, but the halo is pretty well defined and has a little more presence/is less ghostly than many of the UGC flat galaxies; it can be held pretty well in direct vision. The galaxy seems to have on the N side every now and then a couple of really threshold stars just N of the galaxy. UGC 9242 lies almost halfway between two 11th-magnitude stars; one to the SF and one to the NP; the one to the SF is 11’ from the galaxy and the one NP 9’. A third 9th-magnitude star lies due F the galaxy by 12’. With the 7mm Nagler, there’s definitely another faint star on the N edge of the galaxy, toward the F end. The halo is not evenly illuminated at this magnification.

I spent a fair amount of time scouring the northern reaches of Boötes for several of my other targets, but had little luck (for whatever reason). Sometimes objects just don’t make themselves apparent, and it’s better to leave them for another night than to waste a whole night (or the remainder of one) trying to track them down. So I moved further east, to some slightly more-familiar territory.

12:54
UGC 10297 (Her): I didn’t have luck finding some of the others in Boötes tonight, so I’ve moved over to Hercules. This is much smaller and fainter than the others I’ve taken notes on tonight, and is overall considerably more difficult. It’s 0.75’ (maybe 1.0’) x 0.125’, but it’s really hard to tell because 16 Her (at magnitude 5.5) is nearby, screwing up the view of the field. The galaxy is elongated almost exactly 180˚ PA, with 16 Her due S by 5.5’; I have to get 16 Her out of the field to observe the galaxy. Switching to the 7mm doesn’t help that much, unless the star is just outside the field. At neither magnification is there any sense of central brightening, a nucleus, etc., just a very, very thin pretty-well defined low surface brightness glow. NP off the galaxy’s NP tip by 1’ is a very faint star, perhaps 15.5 magnitude; 8’ due F the galaxy is a somewhat-bright star (magnitude 11.5).

And one more before the lengthy tear-down that came with a huge scope like the 20″ f/5….

1:33
IC 1197 (Ser): A really lovely flat specimen, although it’s not as bright as I expected—compared to the UGCs, it’s not that much brighter. It’s still large and rather obvious in direct vision. The galaxy is elongated 2.25’ x 0.3’ in PA 45-50˚, and is somewhat irregular in brightness; it has a 14.5-magnitude star off the NF end just outside the halo and a tiny bit S; 0.75’ along that same axis (parallel to the galaxy) from that star is a 16th-magnitude star. Due P the galaxy by 3.5’ is a 12th-magnitude star that has another of 12th magnitude due N of it by 2.5’, and that star has a 13th-magnitude star F very very slightly N of it by 1’. From the galaxy SP by 6.5’ is a 12th-magnitude star with one of 10th magnitude P very very slightly S of it by 1.25’. The galaxy has a very, very little central brightening to it, almost a core; I don’t see a nucleus. With the 7mm, the galaxy almost disappears; still no nucleus [though the seeing’s gone to pot somewhat]; at moments of great steadiness there might be a tiny faint suggestion of a nucleus there… maybe substellar, if there?

IV. We had a schism on the final night of the June run; half of us wanted to return to Linslaw; the other half opted for the amphitheatre or Eagle’s Ridge proper. Jerry (from the Ridge itself) suggested we do an SQM comparison between the sites. This turned the evening into the largest collection of data points we had between the two sites; as I suspected, Linslaw came out on top (although we later determined that the two SQMs also had significant variation between them).

I still had the 20″ with me; during the hours between sunset and Moonset, I used the monster to sweep through the globular-rich region of southern Ophiuchus and northern Sagittarius, picking up thirty or so clusters amid the dark tendrils of silicate dust and the dense clouds of innumerable stars along the Milky Way. A substantial breeze drove me into my winter coat even as I got started on “serious” observing at Moonset.

06/25-06/26/20 
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:59 PM
MOON: 5 days (set at 12:31 AM; 35% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.66-21.73
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to low 50s; slight, insignificant dew; strong breeze that kicked up approx 1 AM for an hour
OTHERS PRESENT: DB (+Ruby and Alesha), MW (JO and others at Eagle’s—SQM battle)

All observations: 20″f/5 Obsession Dob, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (181x, 0.452˚ TFOV) or 7mm Nagler (363x, 0.21˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

1:02
NGCs 5714, 5717, 5722, 5721; PGCs 2284110, 2283980/2283962 (Boo): A fine flat galaxy, with three or four other galaxies in the field. NGC 5714 is elongated in PA 75˚, maybe 80˚, not quite P-F. The galaxy is fainter than I expected but still moderately bright, and spans 2.75’ x 0.3’; it appears to be irregularly bright and mottled, particularly brighter (wider?) on the P end. There’s not really a core but there is some brightness in the middle, and no nucleus is visible. The galaxy is surrounded by four stars making a triangle: 2.5’ NP the galaxy is a 12.5-magnitude star; there’s one of 13th magnitude S somewhat P of the galaxy by 2’, and N very slightly F the galaxy by 1’ is the brightest of the four at 12th magnitude; 0.75’ due F that last star is a 13.5-magnitude star. There’s also a 15.5-magnitude star SF the galaxy by 1.75’. 4.75’ F the galaxy and very very slightly N is a small, roundish galaxy (5717) with a brightish nucleus and slightly-brighter core inside a fairly diffuse, not well-defined halo that is 0.5’ around; 3’ F that galaxy is another smaller and even more diffuse one (5722) that looks to have a very faint substellar nucleus. This galaxy is 0.3’ around; it also may have a threshold star very near the N edge of its halo that pops into view every now and then in averted (this is actually another galaxy, NGC 5721). I had another galaxy earlier but can’t it find now… but there’s another galaxy (PGC 2284110) P very very slightly S of 5714 by 6’; it’s just S of a 14th-magnitude star; just a very fuzzy small unconcentrated spot; in averted, it may have a small brighter core. 5714 is pretty-well defined, not very diffuse except on the ends of its halo. I still think I had more galaxies; I clearly need more power. With the 7mm: the little galaxy P 5714, just S of the faint star, doesn’t have much central concentration. 5714 is thinner on the P end than the F end. 4’ S very very slightly F the second of the three galaxies is another (PGCs 2283980/2283962); there’s a faint star nearby to the P throwing off the observing. This little galaxy is a small diffuse unconcentrated patch that comes and goes in direct vision no more than 25% of the time. I can see the star near this galaxy in the 14mm, but the galaxy itself is not steady even in averted vision.

I took a new set of SQM reading every hour on the hour; Linslaw consistently came out 0.1 mag/arcsec^2 higher than Eagle’s Ridge. (Oh, how we gloated.) Although I’d taken only one set of notes so far, my feet were already starting to ache from standing on the ladder. The next galaxy made the pain worth it.

2:01
NGC 5907 (Dra): A stunner! One of the great flat galaxies, along with NGC 4565 and NGC 891. It’s at least 12’ x 0.75’ in PA 170˚ and very bright, with a brighter central “core” of 2.5’, but I’m not really getting a nucleus. The ends of the halo are very tenuous and fade out into the background, and the core region seems a little irregular in shape and brightness (the dust lane is quite obviously crossing here on the P side); the diffuseness of the halo is more shaggy on the S end. 1’ due P the middle of the galaxy is a 14.5-magnitude star; 0.5’ following the N tip of the galaxy is another of 14.5 magnitude. There’s a 16th-magnitude star P the N end of the galaxy by 2’. From the center of the galaxy NF is a 13.5-magnitude star that has another of the same magnitude 1’ due F it; also from the center of the galaxy P somewhat N by 7’ is an 11.5-magnitude star that has one of 11th magnitude N very slightly P it by 5’. From the 14.5-magnitude star due P the galaxy S slightly P by 2.25’ is a 15.5-magnitude star. Due P the S tip of the galaxy by 3.5’ is another 14.5-magnitude star. P the galaxy by 7’ is a 12th-magnitude star. NP the galaxy by 13’ is a 13.5-magnitude star with another of 13.5 magnitude F it by 0.5’; NF that star by 1’ is a 13th-magnitude star.

My next target was of the most-obscure I’ve ever tracked down; I hadn’t even heard of it until the morning. But it’s hard to resist these super-unknown ones, especially when they’re at extreme distances.

2:40
Sancho’s Object (MAC 1510+5810, MAC 1510+5810A; PGC 3136298; Dra): This object was the featured Object of the Week on the Deep Sky Forum for June 21^st, 2020, so I added it to my observing list among the flat galaxies. It’s difficult but surprisingly obvious. With the 14mm Explore: the galaxy pairing is very small and very faint; the elongated galaxy isn’t separable from the glow of the larger at this power (that’s hardly surprising). The galaxy—and I’m only seeing one, although there’s a hint of irregular shape—has a tiny core or very faint substellar nucleus. The whole thing is no more than 0.3’ across. It has due P it by 0.67’ a 12.5-magnitude star. 3.25’ due S is an 11th-magnitude star that has another of 11th magnitude due F by 2.3’. The star due P the galaxy has P it by 0.75’ a 15.5-magnitude star. With the 7mm Nagler, there’s definitely an irregularity of shape and the larger galaxy definitely has a visible nucleus. It’s really really hard to tell the other galaxy’s shape; at moments, it may seem like two total separate galaxies, but this impression is fleeting [seeing went to shit, too]. There’s a glimpse of a nucleus in the “second” galaxy every now and then, like a star detached from the first galaxy; the edge-on is the F-most of the two? I’m glad I went after this even though I don’t have a great view of it; it’s nearly a half-billion light-years away!

With dawn’s break imminent—one of the major drawbacks of summer, along with the late fall of darkness—I had time for one more object in June. So it was back to flat galaxies for perhaps the last time until the autumn constellations took the stage at dusk.

3:01
NGC 5777 (Dra): Last one for the night! This is a nice, brightish flat galaxy, elongated 2.5’ x 0.3’ in 140˚ PA. It has a much-brighter central region and a fairly-obvious core that’s elongated very slightly along the major axis; there’s a substellar nucleus in there, too, and the halo is pretty well defined. In averted vision, it seems like the N half of the galaxy is a little brighter than the S. The galaxy has just off its N end, almost in contact with the halo, a 15th-magnitude star; there’s a 15.5-magnitude star due F of the galaxy by 2.75’. Due N of the galaxy by 11’ is a 9th-magnitude star; 7’ S very very slightly F the galaxy is a 10.5-magnitude star. NP the galaxy by 5’ is a 13th-magnitude star with a 12th-magnitude star N of it by 1.5’.

And so June ended and the astronomers returned home to await another Moon-dark phase, one hopefully free of the clouds and rain that had plagued 2020 so extensively so far.

New Falls Yet Unborn

I. It was a full month before we again had conditions conducive for astronomy in the Willamette Valley. My last excursion had included a long-overdue observation of Messier 101, which included two of its nebulae among the Herschel lists, but that was at the beginning of June; now, at the beginning of July, we were finally seeing some clearing in the skies that would allow us to observe what lay beyond the atmosphere.

July 3rd and 4th found us at Eagle’s Ridge, on the spur road. With a temporary hiatus in Herschel hunting enforced by the arrival of the summer constellations (which I had already swept for all of their Herschel 400/HII objects), I chose to make some headway on the Astronomical League’s double-star observing program, using my 70mm TeleVue Pronto instead of my trusted 12.5″ scope, Bob the Dob. This also allowed me to take some time to put the Pronto through its paces on deep-sky objects, from globular clusters to large-scale nebulae.

On the 4th, Jerry brought up his homemade beer-can rocket, and we launched it a number of times before observing (including one launch that nearly ended up on the roof of Frank’s van). As it got darker, we trained our scopes on the light glow of Eugene and Springfield, watching the 4th of July fireworks of the twin cities from our perch a mile above.

Those couple of nights were the extent of our observing during the June/July moon-dark phase.  As with so much of the summer, clouds and unseasonal weather wiped out most of the rest.  But astronomy doesn’t simply stop when the sky isn’t cooperative, or when the Moon is too obtrusive; there are a number of other ways to keep the hobby alive when observing isn’t possible.

Among these is the search for new, possibly-better sites to observe from, and this is pretty much an ongoing concern—even though we liked our present lineup of observing locations, none was 100% perfect, and there was no reason that they couldn’t be replaced by something better. Eagle’s Ridge had the terrible rough gravel road for the last half-mile and was gradually losing its sky darkness; the Eagle’s Rest gravel pit was too often used by the timber companies or that special type of citizen who used his cache of overpowered weapons to fill the area with broken glass and porcelain and things that burned or blew up when struck by bullets; Eureka Ridge wasn’t quite as dark as we’d like and suffered from overly-dewy conditions too often; Champion Saddle was a treacherous, longer drive that was difficult to drive home from without enough sleep.

So the search for the perfect site was endless, and during the week of the waxing gibbous Moon, while studying local Clear Sky Charts, I stumbled across the CSC for Cascadia State Park. The chart indicated the site to be a Bortle 3/2 transition zone—slightly darker than Eagle’s Ridge—and a cursory scan of Google Earth turned up a large meadow in the middle of the park, one which might be usable by a dozen or so amateur astronomers to plumb the depths of space from its confines. So on a mid-month Saturday Mrs. Caveman and I made the 75-minute drive to the park (eager dogs in tow) to check its suitability.

We were somewhat impressed. Although the meadow was near the edge of the South Santiam River, and was likely to attract dew from the river to its grassy surface, there was as much usable sky as at the gravel pit, with none of the broken glass and occasionally-smoldering fires that we found at the pit (and no lumber trucks, such as had recently taken up parking at the pit). As a bonus, the staff seemed amenable to us using the site. On the downside, we’d have to share the park with any overnight campers that might cross the line from curiosity into rudeness, if only just using flashlights or car/truck headlights; the possibility of light trespass from the permanent existing facilities was also a high one. The next step, we all agreed on, was to actually observe there on a night around Third-Quarter Moon, when we’d have some dark sky but not so much that we’d feel we’d wasted a night if the site turned out to not be suitable.

It was in the ensuing e-mail list chatter that another possibility arose. Mark W had a site he’d been using between Walton and Mapleton—west of Eugene—when working on his astrophotography; he’d mentioned it before at an EAS meeting, and it had seemed then to be too far a drive for last-minute observing sessions. But I made a note to check it out anyway, intrigued by Mark’s description, and even as Jerry and I were making arrangements to observe from Cascadia, I took the opportunity to check out Mark’s site near Linslaw County Park.

To say I was sold on Mark’s site at first glance wouldn’t be an exaggeration. The site was spectacular, even in the daytime. It was somewhat tricky to get to, requiring either a left turn from the highway’s left-hand passing lane to get to the gravel road to the site, or pulling off at a roadside rest stop/boat-loading dock and then heading eastbound for a quarter-mile before making a right onto the gravel.

The gravel was really well maintained—unlike the awful final stretch to Eagle’s Ridge, and even better than the improved gravel road to Eureka. The worst part was (again!) the last half-mile, which was in good shape but very steep. The Caveman-Mobile managed it with ease, however, and I immediately felt eager to bring a scope out to the place. (We also stopped to check out the secondary site about 2/3 of the way up; it too was a good site, although the horizons were more compromised.)

Panoramic views of Linslaw Point. The small sandstone bluff blocks the view low to the northeast—thus shielding the observers from much of the Eugene/Springfield light dome.

View roughly to the south from the observing site.

I posted several pictures of the site (including the ones above) to the EAS e-mail list, and we pledged that the next clear night would be an audition for the new site. Loren, too, drove up to the site to check it out and proclaimed it a winner. It took little convincing, on the night of the 23rd, to forego our existing sites for the new one, quickly dubbed Linslaw Point.

We arrived there well before sunset on the 23rd, including several of us who had not yet been there (I recall Jerry, Mark, Loren, and possibly Dan B being there). The daytime view got a universal thumbs-up. Alas, the clouds and haze arrived shortly after we did, and before long, the sky was well and thoroughly covered.

I had been tracking down the Libra galaxy NGC 5791, the lone Herschel object of summer  I was missing (aside from NGC 6543, The Cat’s Eye Nebula, which is circumpolar and observable nearly any time of year) when the clouds swamped everything. Had it been a half-hour later, I could’ve taken notes on the galaxy and moved on. As it was, I had at least memorized a useful route to the galaxy that I could use on the next night up.

Despite the crummy skies, the site had already given more than a hint about its potential, and the next night’s forecast looked considerably better. So out I went the next night, armed with the club’s brand-new Sky Quality Meter for measuring the sky darkness (given that Jerry wasn’t able to make it that night with his own SQM), hoping to get good readings myself. But before I took any readings of the sky darkness, I made sure to capture the notes I needed for NGC 5791. Only Jeff L was willing and able to make the trip up, but I was greatly appreciative to have someone to vouch for the night’s stunning skies.

We started with a fine transit of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede at 9:19, when I first turned my scope upon it (in order to align my Telrad finder to the optical axis of the scope itself).

07/24-07/25/19
LINSLAW POINT (43 58’ 48” N. 123 42’ 4” W)
SUNSET: 8:45 PM
MOON: 23 days (rose at 12:47 AM; 39%  illuminated)
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.69 (10:45); 21.73 (11:15); 21.70 (12:15, west); 21.46 (12:15, east)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps low 50s, some breeze, no dew, mosquitoes
OTHERS PRESENT: Jeff L

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:19
NGC 5791, IC 1081 (Lib): I originally missed this one because it wasn’t on the version of the HII list I’d been using; I only caught it in a cross-check. It was therefore not an ideal observation due to the galaxy being past the meridian and moving into the muck near the horizon. It’s also still not totally dark, but I’ve been following the galaxy for 20 minutes as the sky darkens, waiting for it to be prominent enough to take acceptable notes–last night, I had similarly locked on to the galaxy, but clouds had washed it out before I could take notes on it. (I actually found it tonight by remembering the field from last night.) It’s fairly small, 0.75’ x 0.3’, and elongated N-S. It has a very diffuse halo, but that may be a function of the sky conditions. The poorly-defined halo comes very suddenly to a small brighter core and a mostly-stellar nucleus. The galaxy is NP a large right triangle of brighter stars in the 8th/9th magnitude range. S slightly F the galaxy by 4.75’ is a 9.5-magnitude star that’s the closest (to the galaxy) vertex of the right triangle; the RA vertex is due SF the galaxy by 12’, and is 8.5 magnitude; the third (and brightest at 8th magnitude) vertex is F very slightly S the galaxy by 14’; the triangle spans 7’ x 8.5’ x 12’. F very slightly S of the galaxy by 3’ is a 12.5-magnitude star; forming an almost-equilateral triangle with the galaxy and the 12.5-magnitude star is another galaxy (IC 1081) which is NF 5791: this galaxy is very very difficult and primarily an averted-vision object, although every now and again it shows steadily in direct vision. It’s very hard to tell the galaxy’s orientation or size but there’s definitely something there that’s smaller than 5791 and much dimmer.

Having caught NGC 5791—one of my primary goals for the evening—I decided it was time to break out the SQM. Standard procedure was to aim the device’s lens toward an area of the sky free of the Milky Way or a number of brighter stars; at this time of year, that usually was best done in the constellation Corona Borealis. I took six readings—three at 10:45 and three a half-hour later. The 10:45 results were 21.73, 21.69, and 21.69; the 11:15 results were 21.76, 21.73, 21.74. (The numbers here indicate the number of magnitudes per square arcsecond; the higher the number, the darker the sky.) As the first result of each set was usually somewhat discrepant, this led to averages of 21.69 and 21.74. These readings were substantially better than those at Eagle’s Ridge and Eureka Ridge, which averaged 21.5 and 21.3, respectively. Evidence, then, that Linslaw was quantitatively better than either of our other sites!

After one forgotten Herschel, I turned the scope toward one that I’d been avoiding for some time; with no others above the horizon until Auriga rose, I decided to tackle this final necessary summer target.

11:54
NGC 6543, IC 4677, NGC 6552 (Dra): The Cat’s Eye Nebula! I’ve skipped this one a lot over the years of doing this Herschel project, but I’m going to do it now because I have no other Herschels in the summer. This is one of the brightest of all planetary nebulae. It spans 0.3’ x 0.25’ and is oriented N very very slightly F-S very very slightly P. There’s a definite annulus or darker region around the 12th-magnitude central star, which is somewhat drowned in the brightness of the nebula. The nebula itself is definitely irregularly-illuminated internally, even at this magnification. A ghostly fringe around the perimeter of the nebula extends its size by a few arcseconds, but blurs into the annulus in moments of poorer seeing. P very slightly N of the nebula by 2.75’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; N very very slightly P the nebula by 2.25’ is a 13th-magnitude star. NF the nebula by 5.5’ is an 11th-magnitude star, and also NF by 12’ is a 10.5-magnitude star; these are in a line with the nebula. Almost due F the nebula by 8.5’ is an 11.5-magnitude star that is the third in an arc from SP-NF, but the arc itself isn’t important; F slightly S of that star by 2.5’ is a little fuzzy spot, a galaxy (NGC 6552): it’s elongated P very very slightly N-F very very slightly S, 0.75’ x 0.3’. The galaxy has a very very faint nucleus that pops out more in averted, but not much visible core. The halo is quite diffuse. The galaxy forms an almost-equilateral triangle with the star P it and a star SF that star by 2.25’; the second star is [bright satellite thru the field!] 13th magnitude. The brightest star in the field is 20’ S very slightly P the nebula and is 9th magnitude; it has a 12th-magnitude companion 0.75’ N very slightly F it [another, very very slow satellite wanders through the field!]; there’s also a 9.5-magnitude star 24’ NP the nebula. With the OIII filter in place, the nebula swells to just over 1.0’ in diameter. I’m trying to spot the “detached” or brighter section of the halo but the magnification is probably too low. Lots of cottony outer texture; the inner region is “overexposed” looking. In averted vision, I think I’m getting the detached piece (IC 4677); it lies halfway between the nebula and the star P very very slightly N–really tough!! It’s now definite in averted; it seems elongated a bit P-F, 0.3’ long, but hard to hold at this magnification/aperture; the best view in averted is toward the bright star to the south. In the 6mm Radian (262x, 0.2˚ TFOV) the detached piece is still visible, but not with OIII in (the filter renders the field too dark).

But the highlight of the night was the Milky Way itself. Visible best in truly dark skies, the vast spiral form of the galaxy arched overhead here at Linslaw, a glittering, gossamer buttress holding the firmament aloft. Here and there the galaxy-glow condensed into clouds or tiny star-filled patches, interspersed with inky black blots and streaks composed of silicate dusts and organic molecules. I spent a fair amount of time observing the splendor with the naked eye and some further with my 11 x 80 binoculars; The Pipe Nebula was blatantly obvious to the unaided eye, even with brilliant Jupiter close enough to cause it to lose some contrast; Barnard’s E, near Altair, was huge and opaque in the binoculars; and the Veil Nebula was a scatter of ghostly cobwebs to the binoculars as well.

In the telescope, the big, bright showpiece globular clusters (M4, M22, M13, M5, and M15) were the best I’ve ever seen them; I even caught the small, vaporously-faint galaxy IC 4617 that lurks nearby M13—the first time I’d ever caught it in my own scope. I also tracked down the tricky Local Group galaxy IC 10, a dwarf galaxy in Cassiopeia (although I had seen this one a few times before—although not as clearly as on this night). Perhaps the telescopic highlight, though, was the region around M11, the Wild Duck Cluster; sweeping through this area brought up not only the stunning cluster (and a few others), it also revealed the traceries and clouds of dark nebulosity that littered the region around the cluster itself. After observing M11 more than a hundred times, this was seeing the cluster and its surroundings as if for the first time.

I took final SQM readings at 12:15. In Corona—now just above the muck on the western horizon—these yielded scores of 21.71, 21.70, and 21.67. Out of curiosity, I also took readings on the other side of the summer Milky Way—in the Great Square of Pegasus—getting readings of 21.5, 21.46, and 21.48. Even just above the Eugene light glow, Linslaw was as good as a good night at Eagle’s Ridge. The only seeming drawback was the presence of a not-insignificant amount of fairly-desperate and determined mosquitoes, whose shrill whines were loud enough to pick up on my voice memos from the evening.

This was a big deal. With a darker site available so relatively nearby, there was now no essential reason to have to punish my van with the last treacherous climb to the top of Eagle’s Ridge. While not exactly a stone’s throw away from home, Linslaw was even closer than Eagle’s was. The new site might truly be our Eureka! site, one that we could everyone could agree was the most ideal of all the places we observed from.  There was hardly even any dew to speak of—yet another plus in Linslaw’s favor.

I was elated as I drove home, the thought of never again having to drive up to Eagle’s Ridge to access dark skies keeping me alert along the twisting, construction-filled drive into the Eugene light pollution and home.

II. Two nights later, we found ourselves back at Linslaw for a night’s observing. This time, I decided to bring the heavy artillery, a.k.a. the 18″ Dobsonian that’s the flagship scope of the EAS lending library. I also had a list of targets suitable for the larger aperture, and the intent to have a less-structured, more fun-oriented evening at the site while putting the darker sky and the bigger scope through their paces.

07/26-07/27/19
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:43 PM
MOON: 25 days (rose at 1:46 AM; 20%  illuminated)
SEEING: variable 6-7
TRANSPARENCY: 7+
SQM: 21.72
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps to low 50s, some breeze, no dew; Ursa Major heading into light glow/city lights
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DB, FS, MW

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

I took no notes on the evening, which was something of a mistake—especially given the objects I managed to track down. Most of these were targets I’d never seen before, some of which I’d never even had the chance to observe previously.

These targets included three of the more-northern Terzan globulars (1, 2, and/or 4; I observed two of the three as “just on the verge of visibility; I could tell something was there but couldn’t see them well enough to claim that I’d seen them, and my recap of the night is too uncertain about which two I had observed); the globulars HP1, Palomar 12, and Palomar 6 (more on the latter later); a number of Messier objects (including M55, M13, and a best-ever view of M27, the Dumbbell Nebula); the tiny IC 4617, lurking nearby M13; Aquila’s NGC globulars, NGCs 6749 and 6760; the flat galaxy UGC 10227 in Corona Borealis, just N of the bright variable star Tau CrB (Jerry confirmed this one, as it was still very very difficult); Abell 72, a planetary nebula in Delphinus; and an astounding view of the Helix Nebula in Aquarius.

III. Our yearly Dexter Star Party, held at the Dexter State Recreation Area, took place the next night, on the 27th. This year, EAS made a huge promotional push for the event, and we were rewarded with 300+ attendees from the regional public and probably thirty telescopes among club members and from among the community. The event received raves from the attendees and brought in a number of new members to EAS; I even had a couple of people approach me in the darkness and say that they recognized my voice from the previous year’s star party.

The night after, we returned to Linslaw, hoping to make further use of the forecast and the site’s superior darkness. Many of the regulars weren’t keen to make the trip, after the strenuous night before; Oggie and Leticia made their first trip up to the “summit,” and Mark W was there already before I got there, setting up his gear for a night of astrophotography. With Oggie came a group of his coworkers (about five of them), and he spent the early part of the evening giving them an orientation on the sky and showing them the splendors of Jupiter and Saturn.

I had a list of difficult summer targets for the 12.5″, but as the night fell and the wind picked up—and it certainly made its presence felt—I was less inclined to go after user-faint objects and more in the mood to let my atlas show me things to look for.

07/28-07/29/19
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 8:41 PM
MOON: 27 days (rose at 3:12 AM; 6%  illuminated)
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.7
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps low 50s, cold, windy; wind rumble on audio, slightly dewy
OTHERS PRESENT: OG, Leticia, coworkers, MW

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:26
NGC 6026 (Lup): This is a really difficult target this low, and I’m not totally sure why I chose to include it in my list. The UHC filter barely shows the nebula, but I’m not really keen to throw the OIII in given its threading issues. The nebula spans 0.67’ x 0.5’, and is elongated P-F, almost boxy. There’s just a very very faint trace of a central star visible with the filter in place. SF the nebula by 7.5’ is the brightest star (and right angle vertex) in a small right triangle. With filter still in place, the nebula looks a little brighter on its P end–it’s really just a ghost, at only 5˚ above horizon at best. Without the filter, I can still see the nebula very faintly around the central star, which is 12th magnitude giving an “extinction allowance” for its super-low altitude. The bright star, the RA vertex, is 8th magnitude; SP it by 4’ is the second vertex, which is double (a 10.5-magnitude star and a 12th-magnitude star separated by 0.25’, with the brighter P slightly N the fainter); the third vertex of the right triangle is SF the RA vertex by 6.5’ and is 10.5 magnitude. NP the nebula is a pattern of six main stars which consists of a small isosceles triangle at the F end of an arc of stars that runs P-F; the triangle is an almost perfect triangle; the long P face is 2.5’ and the third star is due F; the three stars are 11/12.5 magnitudes; the triangle’s two sides are 1.75’ long; the P face runs N-S; from the N-most vertex due P by 3.75’ is the F end of the arc, and that star is [a satellite cuts through the field] 11.5 magnitude; there’s another 11.5-magnitude star due P the first by 2.5’, while another of the same brightness is P very very slightly S of the second one by 1.5’.

Oggie’s crew left shortly after this; the chill and the mountain winds had made staying around something of an ordeal. Mark and I pressed on, each of us single-mindedly focused on our goals for the session.

12:43
NGCs 6962, 6964, 6967, 6959 (Aqr): Galaxies abounding here. I’ve seen this group several times, including at OSP ‘16 with the 18” scope. There are four little galaxies here, with 6962 the brightest. It’s located between two fairly bright stars. The galaxy is 0.75’ round and comes very gradually to a smallish brighter core; it appears at moments of good seeing to have a stellar nucleus. It has a very poorly defined halo. NGC 6962 is the brightest of the four galaxies in the field; S slightly F the galaxy by 1.75’ is the second-brightest in the group (6964). This one is smaller and fainter than 6962, elongated N-S, and subtends 0.67’ x 0.5’. It has a very small, also gradually arrived at core and possible stellar nucleus that can’t be held steadily even in averted vision. This second galaxy is poorly-defined as well, somewhat more gossamer than 6962. S slightly F by 0.5’ from the galaxy’s possible nucleus is a 13.5-magnitude star; 9’ due SP 6962 is the second-brightest star in the field (at 9th magnitude); P very very slightly N the galaxy by 5.5’ is an 11.5-magnitude star. P slightly S of the galaxy by 2.25’ is the F-most vertex of a small flat isosceles triangle, the three stars of which are all 11.5/12th magnitude; from the first vertex P very slightly S by 1.25’ is the second vertex; from the second vertex SP by 1.5’ is the third vertex. NF 6962 by 7’ is a 10.5-magnitude star; due P that star by 0.75’ is another galaxy (6967): this one is elongated P-F, 0.67’ x 0.3’, and has a quite diffuse halo and a small somewhat brighter core but no nucleus. NP 6962 by 7.5’ is a small triangle of fainter (12.5/13th magnitude) stars; 1.5’ F the N-most and brightest of these stars is the fourth galaxy (6959), which is N slightly P 6962 by 7.5’ and is the faintest of the four galaxies. It’s 0.3’ x 0.25’, elongated P very slightly S-F very slightly N, and has a small, very slightly brighter core that’s not very distinct; it may also have a possible very very faint stellar nucleus, but I can’t confirm this. The galaxy is F very very slightly N of the N-most vertex of the little triangle. F somewhat S of 6962 by 19’ is the brightest star in the field, which is 7.5 magnitude.

I also spent some of my Aquarius time tracking down the difficult globular NGC 7492, the faintest of the three in the constellation and one of the more difficult of the NGC globulars.  I had seen it from Carbondale, though, so it apparently wasn’t that difficult.

1:43
NGC 7040 (Equ): This galaxy is an unusual choice for observing tonight–it’s the brightest in Equuleus, but not much of a galaxy, really. (Of course, it’s still an entire galaxy, and therefore deserves some study.) It’s a very diffuse, unconcentrated, largely featureless round glow, spanning 0.67’ diameter, maybe slightly less. It may have a little bit of N-S elongation to it, but this is very tenuous. It looks like there’s a threshold star just on the S edge of the halo (this may account for the appearance of elongation). The core is barely brighter than the halo, but it does appear as if there’s a very very faint stellar nucleus. F slightly S of the galaxy by 2.75’ is a 12th-magnitude star; there’s another 12th-magnitude star SsF that star by 1.75’. P slightly S of the galaxy by 20’ is the second-brightest in the field at 8.5 magnitude. A reddish star to the SF is the brightest in the field, 20’ SF the galaxy, and is 7.5 magnitude. (Here the transparency clears a bit.) Due N of the galaxy by 9’ is a 10.5-magnitude star that has 1.5’ NP it a 12th-magnitude star; from the 10.5-magnitude star N by 6’ is another of magnitude 10.5 that also has a 12.5-magnitude star 1.25’ NP it.

Around this point, I started feeling considerably fatigued. It had been a long week already, and the late night at Dexter was taking its toll. But the sky was still outstanding, and despite the cold and the knife-like breeze, I wasn’t yet ready to pack things up.

With Vega still fairly high in the sky—and out of the dreaded “Dob Hole,” the area around the zenith (straight overhead) which is difficult for Dobsonian-mounted scopes to navigate—I turned to an old posting on the Deep Sky Forum for my next few targets; these would carry over to the next couple of trips out.

2:03
NGC 6646, IC 1288 (Lyr): Back in July 2014, one of the Deep Sky Forum “Object of the Week” threads featured a scattering of galaxies north of Vega (see here). I’d also read an article many years ago in Deep Sky Magazine regarding “Galaxies Along the Summer Milky Way” by Ernie Ostuno, and those two sources spurred me on to hunt down the “Vega Chain.” The first of these on my list was NGC 6646. This is a little galaxy, possibly elliptical, possibly spiral based on its appearance in the eyepiece [it’s an Sa spiral]. The galaxy is roundish, 1.0’ across, and pretty impressive for being located in the middle of the Milky Way. The halo is quite diffuse and poorly defined; there’s not much of a brighter core, but there may be a substellar nucleus. The interior/brighter core region looks almost “lumpy” or irregular. The galaxy lies wedged between an 8.5-magnitude star 3.75’ to the N and a 9.5-magnitude star 3.25’ to the SF; there’s also a 9th-magnitude star SP the galaxy by 8’; from this last star SF is a small, faint isosceles triangle of 12th/13th-magnitude stars with its two base stars to the P and its point to the F slightly N; in the middle of the triangle’s S edge is another galaxy (IC 1288). This one’s elongated N-S, 0.5’ x 0.25’. It almost looks like two small galaxies in contact. Averted vision helps tremendously here, as the stars in the triangle make it hard to focus on the galaxy. The more-S of the pair of stars making up the triangle’s base, the SP vertex, is the brightest at 12th magnitude, and the other two are 13th magnitude. The triangle is 0.5’ on the base to the P and then 2’ on the two longer sides. The little galaxy has a fairly diffuse halo and a “double-looking” core but no trace of a nucleus [a threshold star on the N end contributes to the “double” appearance of the core]. The galaxy gives the triangle a nebulous appearance, like nebulosity throughout the stars a la Maffei 1; there are a couple of threshold stars in the immediate area.

2:29
NGC 6675 (Lyr): A little brighter and more visible than NGC 6646, this galaxy has a little elongation NP-SF and spans 0.75’ x 0.3’. Its poorly-defined halo is quite diffuse and the galaxy is very low in central concentration, with a somewhat largish core that’s not much brighter than the halo; no nucleus or other detail is visible. The galaxy has due N of it and due P it a pair of 13th-magnitude stars; the star to the N is 1.25’ from the galaxy, and the star to the P is 2’ from the galaxy. NF the galaxy is a longish asterism of indeterminate shape; this contains a number of 10th/11th-magnitude stars and is 12’ long, comprising fourteen stars in two N-S sections. There may be another galaxy in the field, due F the first by 5.5’… or just a knot of threshold stars?? [According to the POSS plate, it’s the latter.] This galaxy or knot is 0.5’ and roundish; there’s definitely at least one star, and in averted a few others are visible with some nebulous fuzz (?), perhaps a galaxy with a nucleus and a threshold star on it? [no] The brightest star in the region is a 6th-magnitude star 24’ S slightly F the galaxy (just outside field); 26’ [so outside field] due F the galaxy is a 7.5th-magnitude star.

The conditions won out. It had only dropped into the low 50s, but I’d been wearing my winter coat/gloves/hat and multiple other layers for much of the evening and still couldn’t warm up. Having reached a good break point, I called it a night; Mark stayed to continue work on his image(s) of M33. Much as I disliked leaving someone alone at an observing site, I also knew that Mark was closer to home at Linslaw than any of us, and that it was the least likely of all of our sites to attract visitors, four-legged or otherwise.

IV. Part of the next day was spent exchanging e-mails with Attila Danko, the creator of the Clear Sky Chart—much the most popular astronomy forecast site and app, the CSC was invaluable for determining where and when to make the trek to observe for a given night. Jerry and I had asked for a chart to be made for the Linslaw site, as we’d decided to make it an “official” EAS observing spot. As he had done for Eureka Ridge a few years earlier, Danko had a CSC made within an hour or so after our first e-mails to him. Now that we had four actual sites on the CSC website, we felt it only appropriate to donate to the site as well, to contribute to the site’s operating fund.  It was the least we could do.

The new CSC showed clear but somewhat hazy skies at Linslaw (and at our other sites), so between the forecast and the fatigue from the past week of observing, we decided to take the night off in favor of the next few nights that looked more promising.

So with a night’s rest, a group of us headed back out to Linslaw for a night of Dobsonian shenanigans: Jerry and Dan R had the 20″ TriDob, Loren had Orion, EAS’ 14.7″ club-built Dob, and Bob A—a retired math professor with a 10″ Trackball scope and a non-stop sense of humor—made his first foray to one of the club’s private observing sessions in quite some time. It made for a lively evening of obscure witticisms and hugely intertextual conversation (the best kind of conversation, actually) in addition to the wonders of deep space as seen from 21.7 skies.

07/30-07/31/19
LINSLAW POINT 
SUNSET: 8:39 PM
MOON: New
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.68
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 50s, cool, windy; loud wind rumble on audio
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DR, LR, Bob A

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

I started out, unsurprisingly, with another vision-straining target.

10:42
Palomar 6 (Sgr): This globular is damn near invisible. It’s one that I’m going to have to sit on the ground to get–down into the dirt for me, and super-low in the sky for the scope. The cluster is almost exactly between and slightly N of a pair of brighter stars (8.5 and 10th magnitudes); it’s a little closer to the 8.5-magnitude star, which is SF the cluster. The globular itself is just an averted-vision glimmer, a phantasm with fleeting moments of direct-vision visibility. (Trying to guess its Shapley-Sawyer class would be an exercise in futility.) It’s 1.25’ across, and lies 6’ NP the 8.5-magnitude star and 8’ F slightly N of the 10th-magnitude star. NF the cluster by 5.5’ is a pair: the more-P star is 11.5 magnitude, and the more-F is 12.5 magnitude (they’re oriented N very very slightly P-S very very slightly F to each other, with the brighter to the N, and separated by 0.75’). The cluster is definitely there but very tough–as difficult as anything I’ve ever confirmed a sighting of. Wow…!

I also re-observed the obscure cluster AL3 in Sagittarius, which I had first observed at the Brothers Star Party back in 2017—exactly two years ago. AL3 was among the easiest objects I would observe on this particular night.

11:54
UGC 10288 (Ser): This exceedingly-difficult flat galaxy is up near NGC 6118, the first Herschel object I took notes on and my starting point for the whole Herschel project. The ghostly galaxy crops up mostly in averted vision but I can just pick it out in direct, and with considerable effort can hold it in direct vision. It’s 1.75’ x super super thin, maybe 0.125’ tops. There’s no internal detail visible whatsoever, no concentration to be noted–I’m lucky to see it at all. It’s bounded by 13th-magnitude and 9th-magnitude stars, with two other 8th-magnitude stars in the field making the galaxy tougher to see; the 13th-magnitude star is 3.75’ SF and the 9th-magnitude 4.75’ NP the galaxy. 12’ SF the galaxy is one of the 8th-magnitude stars; the other is F very slightly S of the galaxy by 9’, and this one is the RA vertex of a large right triangle that includes the two 8th magnitude stars and the 9th-magnitude star; the RA vertex has 3.75’ N very slightly P it an 11.5-magnitude star. This galaxy is almost as tough as Pal 6! SP the galaxy by 9’ is a 10.5-magnitude star that turns the right triangle into a box.

The next pair of objects had caught my eye on the interstellarum atlas charts, and I had followed up with a Sky & Telescope website article about them. They made a fine pair of pleasantly-easy targets on a night when most others were various shades of “ridiculously difficult.”

1:03
NGCs 6835, 6836 (Sgr): NGC 6835 is obviously an edge-on galaxy, spanning 1.25’ x 0.5’ and elongated P-F. It has the faintest amount of central brightening and, just for a moment, a flash of a very very faint stellar nucleus. The halo is quite well-defined, even “sharp” on the edges. F the galaxy to the N and S are a pair: a 13.5-magnitude star just off the F end to the F very slightly S, and a 14th-magnitude star to the NF, just outside the galaxy’s F end. 3.25’ P very slightly N of the galaxy is a 12th-magnitude star; there’s a 10.5-magnitude star N very slightly F by 6’, and that star is the S-most vertex of an isosceles triangle; N very slightly P the 10.5-magnitude star by 7.5’ is an 8.5-magnitude star, and the third vertex is N very very slightly F the first by 5’ and is a double (10th and 11th magnitudes, with the fainter N very very slightly P the brighter by 8”). From the galaxy SP by 10’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; S slightly P that star by 8’ is an 8.5-magnitude star. S of the galaxy by 3.75’ is the N-most vertex of a small triangle of 12.5/13.5-magnitude stars; S of that triangle by 3.75’  (7.5’ S of 6835) is a very diffuse companion galaxy, NGC 6836: this galaxy is 0.75’ across, probably face-on. It’s irregularly bright across its face, but without much central concentration; the halo comes very very gradually to a slightly brighter core, but no nucleus is noted. P this galaxy by 2’ and F very slightly N by 4.75’ are a pair of 12th-magnitude stars that extend the size of the fainter triangle of 12.5/13.5-magnitude stars by a great deal, with the faint triangle “on top” of the larger one.

I did some cursory looking around for the final hour, picking up a number of the usual objects for this time of year: M15, M2, M31 & company, M33, the Double Cluster, NGC 7331/the Deer Lick Group (God, how I hate that nickname) and Stephan’s Quintet… these pretty much get looked at every evening in the fall—along with Uranus and Neptune these years—even if I don’t necessarily explicitly say so. (They’re like the globulars of summer, M11, and the Ring, Lagoon, Veil, and Dumbbell Nebulae in that regard.) Often, these are the final objects of the evening, or are interspersed among the fainter objects so as to give my eyes a break. Tonight, they were the aperitif to an evening of the obscure and the eye-watering… a theme that would continue the rest of the July/August Moon-dark run.

V. The next promising forecast—for a night that I wasn’t overly exhausted—was for two nights later. This time, Eagle’s Ridge was the “site of best forecast,” so despite my reticence at ever making that drive again, I was up for observing there given the predictions for the rest of the week.

Dan B was the only other to make the trek out, and he couldn’t stay long; I chose only a couple of leftover targets from my previous lists and prepared for a short session.

As darkness fell, Dan and I noted that there was… less of it than usual. The sky at the spur road seemed grayer than before. Trees had been cleared along the north ridge, so that the light pollution from Eugene and Springfield was more pervasive; perhaps the air was more saturated or dusty than usual, and these two factors conspired to make the darkness seem less deep. The SQM readings—averaging 21.44—weren’t bad, but were still somewhat below average for the site.

I started off looking for UGC 10362, a flat galaxy in Ophiuchus; I’m pretty sure I saw it, but couldn’t confirm it. (It was a poor choice for the first object of the night, admittedly.)

08/01-08/02/19
EAGLE’S RIDGE (spur road)
SUNSET: 8:36 PM
MOON: 1 day (set at 9:27 PM; 2%  illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6-7
SQM: 21.44
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps mid 50s, air still; some dew and evident forest-fire smoke visible
OTHERS PRESENT: DB 

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:42
NGC 6537 (Sgr): I didn’t expect to take notes tonight, due to the skyglow and smoke and poor-looking transparency. This is the Red Spider Nebula, and I’m using the 10mm Delos for this miniscule planetary. The nebula is just barely distinguishable from a star because of its perimeter fuzziness, and is grey rather than even the slightest tinge reddish (of course). It’s very very small–even with the OIII filter, it’s no more than 5” across. It appears that the central star may just be visible; the nebula comes to a very sharp central point, and the outer fuzz is mostly visible in averted vision. It also, at some moments, seems to be slightly elongated SP-NF. The nebula is the SF vertex of a triangle that includes two 12th-magnitude stars, one of which is P very slightly N of the nebula by 1.5’ and the other which is N very very slightly P that star by 1.5’. Also visible NF the nebula by 0.75’ is a 14th-magnitude star; there’s another 14th-magnitude star NP that star by 1’; the nebula is therefore at the juncture of two triangles. Due N of the nebula by 4.25’ is a double/close pair: the slightly-brighter star is S slightly F the fainter by 0.25’, and these are approximately 13.5 magnitude. Due NF the nebula by 7’ is the brightest star in the field, which is 7th magnitude; F very slightly N of that star by 6’ is a 9th-magnitude star.

The next target was several objects in one, and had been on my list all summer.

11:48
NGCs 6500, 6501, 6495, 6490 (Her): This is an interesting quartet of faint galaxies, consisting of a bright(er) pair of which NGC 6500 is the larger but not necessarily the brighter. 6500 and the galaxy N very very slightly F of it are both fairly obvious and somewhat elongated; 6500 has slight SP-NF elongation, subtending 1.0’ x 0.67’. It has quite a diffuse, not super-well defined halo, with a brighter core and a fairly bright stellar nucleus, and is much more diffuse than the smaller galaxy to the N. The companion galaxy (NGC 6501) 2.25’ to the N very very slightly F is smaller and has a brighter core than 6500 and an obvious stellar nucleus. It too is elongated S slightly P-N slightly F, and spans 0.75’ x 0.5’. NP the galaxy by 1’ is a 14.5-magnitude star; 6500 has P very slightly N of it by 1.5’ a 13.5-magnitude star. F very very slightly S of 6500 by 5.5’ is a beautiful pair of white 8th-magnitude stars that have to be a true double; they’re P-F each other by 4”. N slightly P the double by 2.75’ is the brighter of another pair that could also be double, with the brighter N of the fainter by 0.25’; these are 12th and 13th magnitudes. SF the brighter double by 4’ is the NF and brightest vertex of a tiny RA triangle; that vertex is 10th magnitude, and it has P it by 0.25’ a 13th-magnitude star that’s the RA vertex; there’s another 13th-magnitude star 0.67’ due S of the RA vertex that’s the third in the triangle. (The transparency’s weakening now; I’ve lost the other two galaxies.)…  17’ P NGC 6500 is the F-most of another pair of galaxies (NGC 6495): this galaxy is round and has some presence.  It’s 0.67’ round, pretty well defined and not super diffuse, with a considerably brighter core but no nucleus. F very slightly S of this galaxy by 2.5’ is an 12.5-magnitude star. NP the galaxy by 3’ is a 12.5-magnitude star; NP that star by 1.75’ is a 13th-magnitude star; due P this second star by 0.75’ is a fourth galaxy (6490) which is small, 0.5’ across, with a brighter core and a faint stellar nucleus that at moments is more visible than the rest of the galaxy. The halo is poorly defined and the galaxy is the faintest of the four. S slightly P this galaxy by 0.67’ is a 14.5-magnitude star. From the previous galaxy [6495] S very slightly P by 9’ is the brightest in the second field (i.e. with the second pair centered), which is 8th magnitude and is the S-most vertex of an isosceles triangle whose long side stretches N by 2.5’ to an 11th-magnitude star; SP the 11th-magnitude star by 1.75’ is the 12.5-magnitude third vertex.

I also spent some considerable time looking at the big summer nebulae with my 34mm Meade SWA, using a 2” OIII filter that I borrowed from Dan; these included the Gamma Cygni region, the North America Nebula, IC 1396, the Veil, and the Crescent Nebula, as well as the Helix Nebula. And as always, M15, Stephan’s Quintet and the NGC 7331 group.

The drive home from Linslaw was much more pleasant than the drive from Eagle’s, even with the late-night construction stoppages around Veneta, and I was exhausted by the time I pulled into the driveway.

VI. The night of August 2nd was held for the Veneta Star Party—an event hosted at the Veneta Public Library and primarily attended by kids. Dan B, Loren & Donna, Bob Andersen, and I loaded up scopes and hoped to beat the clouds to Veneta.

We didn’t. The clouds pretty much won out for the night; a couple of kids got to see Jupiter through gaps in the clouds, and I had Arcturus in the 18″ for those willing to climb the ladder to see a single star (an impressively-large number of kids, surprisingly). The best we could do was redirect everyone there to our upcoming First Quarter Friday event in Eugene and hope that it would be clear.

The night after, three of us convened at Linslaw again; the Moon was rapidly encroaching on the deeper hours of the night, and so time was drawing short for observing during this Moon-dark phase. The sky conditions were decidedly inferior to our previous nights at Linslaw, but were still better than we’d have gotten at either of our other sites.

08/03-08/04/19
LINSLAW POINT 
SUNSET: 8:34 PM
MOON: 3 days (set at 10:36 PM; 14% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.54 (west, CrB), 21.42 (Pegasus)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps mid 50s, cool, slight breeze, no dew
OTHERS PRESENT: DB, AG

All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) or 10mm TeleVue Delos (157x, 0.5˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted 

10:48
UGC 10738 (Oph): I had to use the Delos to get much of anything from this exceedingly difficult flat galaxy, as even averted barely showed it in the 14mm; it’s still exceedingly difficult, but definitely there: a very very indistinct streak, elongated SP-NF, 0.75’ x 0.125’ (that’s probably not nearly its full extent). There’s no central concentration to the galaxy whatsoever, just a barely-there glow that was a ridiculous target to start the night with. The galaxy is 2.5’ due S of a 9.5-magnitude star; that star has N of it by 3.5’ a 12.5-magnitude star. P very slightly N of the 9.5-mag by another 2.5’ is a 12.5-magnitude star. [I may be getting the distance and magnitudes off a bit because I’m normally taking notes with the 14mm, which I’ve gotten used to, rather than the Delos, which I haven’t.] As it gets darker it’s very slightly easier to hold the galaxy steady. SP the galaxy by 2.25’ is a very faint smudge of several threshold stars; due P that smudge is a pair of 14.5-magnitude stars separated NP-SF by 0.25’. The most notable point of reference in the field is a slightly-curved line of four roughly-equally spaced 10th/11th-magnitude stars that lie SP the galaxy; the second in from the NP end is closest to the galaxy (P slightly S of the galaxy by 6’) and is 11th magnitude; the brightest (10th magnitude) of the four is SF that star by 1.75’; S of the second star by the exact same distance is another 11th-magnitude star; from the first star (second from the NP) N slightly P by 1.25’ is the faintest of the four (just past 11.5 magnitude). 

My paranoia about somehow damaging the Delos—and my interest in using a single eyepiece for the Herschel project—kept me from using the Delos as much as I should; it’s clearly the best (and most comfortable) eyepiece I own, and it impresses everyone who uses it. And it does indeed make an obvious difference in observing faint objects.

11:14
NGCs 6166, 6166C, 6158; PGCs 58277, 58232, 58324 (Her): Here in the heart of Abell 2199, just off the upper NW corner of the Keystone. This unusual field is dominated by NGC 6166; in the 14mm there’s a very very very faint trail extending to the SvsF that is a long shimmering smear of unresolved galaxies. NGC 6166 is, compared to the others, reasonably bright; it’s quite obvious in the field. It’s elongated SP-NF, with a very diffuse and not well-defined halo and a much brighter core that doesn’t appear to have a nucleus. The halo extends 1.0’ x 0.67’, and the core is half that size. P the galaxy by 5.5’ is an 11.5-magnitude star that is the N-most vertex of a small right triangle; due S of that star by 1’ is a 13th-magnitude star; P very very slightly S of that star by 0.75’ is another 13th-magnitude star. S very slightly P the galaxy by 5’ is another 11.5-magnitude star; the galaxy forms an almost-equilateral triangle with the two 11.5-magnitude stars. N of the galaxy by 14’ is a 9th-magnitude star. N very very slightly P the galaxy by 7’ is the F-most and fainter of a pair; these are separated by 0.5’ with the brighter P very slightly S of the fainter and are 13.5 and 14th magnitudes. P slightly N of the galaxy by 6’ is a 13.5-magnitude star that’s N of the brightest star in the right triangle by 2.67’. S very very slightly F the galaxy by 3.25’ is a 13th-magnitude star; there’s a 14th-magnitude star 2.75’ NF the galaxy [and a bright satellite crossing the field].

With the Delos, a couple of other galaxies become distinct; one of these, NGC 6166C, is NP NGC 6166 by 3.25’. This galaxy has a very diffuse halo that’s elongated S slightly P-N slightly F and spans 0.3’ x 0.25’, and its tiny, very slightly brighter core may house a very very faint stellar nucleus. N of this galaxy by a further 2’ is another, tinier galaxy (PGC 58232–how the hell did I see this??) which is more diffuse and has no real central concentration. With the Delos in, NGC 6166 seems as if its nucleus is offset to the F slightly, or there’s an embedded star on that side of the galaxy [there are actually multiple smaller galaxies embedded “within” the diameter of NGC 6166; it seems that I saw either PGC 58261 or PGC 58253, most likely the former]. F the 11.5-magnitude star that’s S very slightly P of 6166 by 2.5’ is a small round galaxy, PGC 58277, that’s heinously difficult to trace the size of because it’s just a vapor, visible mostly only in averted vision; the galaxy may have an incredibly faint nucleus that’s also an averted-only object. The galaxy spans 0.3’ x 0.25’ and is elongated SP-NF. There may actually be more galaxies trying to break out of the glow, a whole bunch of island universes trying to come out of an unyielding woodwork: SF 6166 by 11’ is another galaxy (PGC 58324), elongated NP-SF very slightly, 0.5’ x 0.3’. This one is very very diffuse–there’s not much there. SP 6166 by 15’ is another (relatively) fairly bright galaxy, NGC 6158, that’s considerably removed from the center of the cluster. This one is quite diffuse but has a pretty small, somewhat-brighter core within a 0.5’ halo. The galaxy has S of it by 5.5’ a 10th-magnitude star; S slightly F by 2’ is another 10th-magnitude star.

Next on my list was the remainder of the Vega Chain of galaxies I had started observing earlier.

12:27
NGC 6663 (Lyr): By far the most feeble of the Vega Chain so far, this little galaxy is in the field with a distractingly-bright 7.5-magnitude star that’s 7.5’ N somewhat P it. The galaxy is a very very diffuse spot, no more than 0.5’ across, with nothing by way of central brightening and a pretty poorly defined halo that’s almost not even there; if I didn’t know exactly where to look I wouldn’t have found it. SP the galaxy by 2.25’ is a pair extended NP-SF to each other, separated by 0.67’ and both of 14th magnitude; SP the N-most of those two stars by another 3.75’ is the brighter of another pair oriented P-F to each other, with the brighter 10th magnitude and the fainter a 12.5-magnitude star that’s 0.67’ F. NF the galaxy by 4’ is another double that’s also NP-SF to each other by 10”; these are both 13th magnitude, with the one to the SF just a bit brighter (13.2 and 13?). The 7.5-magnitude star is the brightest and S-most of a small isosceles triangle; NP it by 0.5’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; from the 7.5-magnitude star N very very slightly F by 0.75’ is a 10.5-magnitude star.

12:43
NGC 6685 (Lyr): Another in the Vega Chain, this one’s every bit as tough as 6663 in visibility (but still better than UGC 10738!) Patience is key with this tricky little galaxy, as it’s bigger than it first appears; it’s 0.5’ x 0.3’ elongated SP-N. The halo is pretty diffuse and reasonably well-defined. It has a tiny core that doesn’t come to a nucleus, although it almost seems like on SP end like there’s a threshold star [according to POSS, there isn’t]. SP the galaxy by 5.5’ is a 10th-magnitude star, and F very slightly N of it by 6.5’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; N slightly P the galaxy by 9’ is a 7.5-magnitude star. F slightly N of the galaxy, between the galaxy and the 9.5-magnitude star, is a little triangle of two 13th and one 14.5-magnitude star that’s no bigger than 0.75’ on the F side, with the faintest vertex closest to the galaxy (3.75’ F slightly N of the galaxy). 4.5’ S of the galaxy is another little triangle whose closest vertex is the N-most and brightest at 12.5 magnitude; the other two in the triangle are a 13th-magnitude star 1’ S of the first vertex and a 14th-magnitude star 0.75’ S slightly F the first vertex.

12:59
NGC 6695 (Lyr): These Lyra galaxies are not getting any easier–this one’s just as difficult as the previous two. This galaxy’s a little better because it’s longer and has more presence, despite being more diffuse than the others. It’s got some definition to the halo, at least, and a very slight bit of brightening along it; there’s nothing describable as a core or nucleus, however. The galaxy is a roughly N-S streak, 0.75’ x less than 0.25’. It lies S of a fairly prominent triangle of stars and forms a fourth vertex to the triangle; closest of these stars is the P-most vertex, which is NP the galaxy by 3.75’ and is 11th magnitude; NF that star by another 5’ is an 11th-magnitude star that’s 7’ due N of the galaxy; the third vertex in the triangle is the faintest at 12th magnitude and is N very slightly F the galaxy by 4’. Parallel to the P-most face of the triangle (which runs SP-NF) is the long side of a pattern of four stars, like a bent ‘y’; the four constituent stars in the ‘y’ are all 11.5/12th magnitudes; the ‘y’ spans 3.25’ end to end, with its middle star NP the galaxy by 9’. Running SF from the galaxy is a long chain of seven stars, all of which are 12th magnitude and fainter; this runs SF from the galaxy for 8’ and then hooks NF from there for another 11’; the second branch of this chain has the brighter stars, including a double which is F slightly S of the galaxy by 11’ and consists of a 10.5- and an 11.5-magnitude star, with the brighter NP the fainter by 0.3’. 

Although there were no doubt more galaxies in the Vega Chain within range of the 12.5″ Dob, these NGCs were the only ones I had included on my list. Perhaps at another date, I would be inclined to survey them all in one go, but for now I was pleased enough to have caught so many small galaxies within the confines of the Milky Way. That finished, I headed back over to the dim, forgotten constellation of Equuleus, the Little Horse, to pick up yet another of its unimpressive galaxies—having first observed NGC 7015 back at Giant City.

1:56
NGC 7046 (Equ): The second-brightest galaxy in the constellation? First? Equuleus isn’t a great hunting ground for scopes in this aperture. This pretty average galaxy is elongated very slightly P-F, 0.75’ x 0.67’. It’s quite diffuse but reasonably well defined, with a large, very slightly brighter core but no visible nucleus. A number of very faint stars lie within 3’ of the galaxy, making it somewhat hard to “read” any features on the galaxy itself. [There may be a suddenly better transparency, as the galaxy becomes somewhat easier to see.] To the S, N, and NF of the galaxy are 14.5/15th-magnitude stars within 3’ of the galaxy. SF the galaxy by 5.5’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; NF by 3.5’ is a 10th-magnitude star; a 12th-magnitude star lies NF that star by 2.5’; also SF by 2.5’ is a pair, with the brighter P very slightly S of the fainter by 0.67’; these are 13.5 and 14th magnitude.

2:08
NGC 6891 (Del): This little planetary nebula lies between the diamond of Delphinus and Altair. It’s very small–no more than 10” across–and very bright, with a well-defined circular disk. There’s no trace of annularity, and I’m not sure there’s a halo/fringe; the whole thing seems just an “out of focus star”. The central star is visible and fairly bright, maybe 13th magnitude. The nebula’s in a very busy field. Due N of the nebula by 8’ is a 9.5-magnitude star; another of 9.5 magnitude is F the nebula by 11’. P the nebula by 1’ is the brightest (12th magnitude) in a tiny grouping of stars P and very slightly N; these extend N-S and a bit to the NP of the nebula; there’s a whole bunch of stars in this. There’s another tiny knot of stars NF the nebula by 5’; 3.5’ due F the nebula is a 12th-magnitude star. Another somewhat nebulous looking group of faint stars lies P somewhat S of the nebula by 12’, and this links up with the group due P the nebula; there’s a long clumpy train of faint stars that runs along that train until the knot 12’ from the nebula. With the OIII filter, the nebula’s size and character don’t change much, but the filter makes the nebula almost glaringly bright in the much darker field. There may be a bit of outer envelope visible, but this isn’t seen with certainty.

Around this point, Alan headed off for home. Shortly after that, I could hear Dan snoring in his observing chair.

I turned my attention toward Pegasus, and an object I didn’t expect to see—another of the Deep Sky Forum’s Objects of the Week.

2:48
NGC 7468A/UGC 12342 (Peg): This is another insane “get!” This eye-bleedingly faint galaxy was the DSF Object of the Week almost a year ago (see here). Better known as VV 738, it’s a colliding/coalescing pair, throwing out long tidal streamers at the ends of its major axis. Visually, it’s a very difficult little spot, no more than 0.5’ x 0.25’, if that, elongated N-S. [In the 14mm at 112x, it’s difficult to judge the galaxy’s size, as it’s listed at magnitude 15.0.] There’s no detail visible or brightening at all, just a difficult little glow. The galaxy has F somewhat N of it by 3.5’ a 12th-magnitude star; continuing that direction for another 1.75’ is a pair that’s very close and very faint: these are both magnitude 14.5 and separated by 0.25’ NP-SF. From the galaxy 8’ S very slightly F, and making a mess of the field, is a 6th-magnitude star; S very very slightly F that star by 4.3’ is an 8.5-magnitude star that has a 13.5-magnitude star F slightly S of it by 0.5’. The galaxy is very very tough to hold steady; I’m actually surprised to have found it in a “mere” 12.5” scope. With the 10mm Delos, the galaxy is a little more obvious, just barely holdable in direct vision. [I’m trying to nudge the bright stars out of the field, which helps viewing the galaxy.] In the Delos there’s not much more in the way of detail but the extra magnification and the better quality of the eyepiece makes the galaxy just “brighter.” Every now and then, there’s a suggestion of very faint central brightening (no trace of the tidal tails, of course). I’m surprised to have found it at all, though, yet it’s unmistakably there!

Knowing that Dan was waiting for me to finish my observing before leaving, I decided on one final target—another of the flat galaxies that dotted the sky away from the Milky Way.

3:21
UGCs 542, 540 (Psc): This flat galaxy is tucked away by the Andromeda/Pisces border. It’s a lot easier than most of the flat galaxies I’ve done so far–a direct vision object with some detail. It’s pretty well defined, elongated 0.75’ x 0.1’ N slightly P-S slightly F, with a little tiny bit of central brightening. It looks like, just N of it, outside the N end, is a 15th-magnitude star. The galaxy lies roughly between two very bright stars: to the N very slightly F by 13.5’ is a 7th-magnitude star; S very slightly F by 12’ is an 7.5-magnitude star. Due F the galaxy by 2.5’ is a 13.5-magnitude star; P slightly S by 4’ is a 13th-magnitude star. The 7th-magnitude star to the N very slightly F is the NF vertex of a parallelogram that’s 4’ in major axis and 3’ in minor axis; S very slightly F of the 7th-magnitude star by 3.25’ is a 10th-magnitude star; there’s an 11th-magnitude star 4’ due S of the 7th-magnitude star; P slightly S of the 7th-magnitude star by 1.75’ is a 12th-magnitude star. S of the galaxy, the 7.5-magnitude star has P it by 1.75’ a 10.5-magnitude star; P slightly N of that star by 7.5’ is an 8.5-magnitude star; 2.75’ S very slightly F that star is another galaxy (UGC 540) which is much more diffuse, with an embedded 15th-magnitude star on the F end. This galaxy is elongated roughly NP-SF, 0.75’ x 0.5’, maybe 0.3’. NP this smaller galaxy by 2.25’ is a 13th-magnitude star with a 14.5-magnitude star N very slightly P it by 0.5’. Back to 542: there’s a line of three stars S of the galaxy; the P-most of these is 11th magnitude and 4.75’ SP the galaxy; due F that star by 3’ is a 12-magnitude star; there’s a 13th-magnitude star F slightly N that star by 1’.

In many ways, this last night of the July/August run was the best: a galaxy cluster, two flat galaxies, a challenging distorted system, a number of typical faint galaxies, and a fine, small planetary nebula joined the list of objects I’ve observed. It had been a productive run, if lacking in targets that I “needed” to observe, and I drove home satisfied that I’d made the most of what the sky had provided, and elated at having such a pristine new site to observe them from.

 

 

The Door Into Summer

I. It was already summer, to be sure; the first days of 90-degree temperatures had come and gone, and perhaps the last vestiges of spring rains had ended at the beginning of the month. This last two weeks of June called for clear skies, to coincide with the Moon-dark cycle, and the cancellation of several days of work (due to being too efficient and finishing the job earlier than expected) meant that it was time to clear the spring slate of Herschel galaxies for the mid-summer Milky Way run. Galaxies to the west, galaxies to the east, with the thick star clouds of summer bisecting the two extragalactic realms.

I had 51 galaxies on the Herschel 400 and Herschel II lists on my observing plan. These included those galaxies in Virgo from Spica (at RA 13h 26m 07s) on east to the Serpens border, and the Herschel galaxies in Draco, Hercules, and Boötes (basically every Herschel in those three constellations that I hadn’t done, with the exceptions of NGC 6058 in Hercules and NGC 6543 in Draco, both planetary nebulae; I’d seen 6543, the famous Cat’s Eye Nebula, numerous times but had never taken notes on it). Accomplishing this, I could either move on into the non-galaxy Herschels of summer, or could use the 18″ EAS Dob to work on galaxies in the Astronomical League’s Flat Galaxy, Local Group, Galaxy Groups & Clusters, and Arp Peculiar Galaxy programs, having decided to keep using Bob the (12.5″) Dob for the remainder of my Herschel work for consistency’s sake.

June 18th was a Sunday night. Bob, my father-in-law, had finished his weekend’s work and was looking for something to do, so he and his 4.25″ StarBlast came along to Eureka Ridge; as my work wouldn’t formally be canceled for a couple of days yet, I’d planned to go to Eureka due to the half-hour drive (vs. the hour drive to Eagle’s Ridge). Jerry was also heading to Eureka, for similar reasons of proximity.

It turned out to be something of a Three Bob Night, as we encountered a bobcat at Simonson Road on the way to the site.  The cat ran along the road for about a hundred feet before vanishing into the roadside underbrush. It was my first sighting of a largish predatory animal here in Oregon, but it wouldn’t even be the last of the week.

With work the next day, I didn’t have the interest in a full night’s observing, and having worked all weekend, Bob didn’t either. I got to a good stopping point near 12:30 AM, and so we all called it a night at that point.

6/18-19/17
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 23 days (43% illumination), rose 2:33 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.3 (midnight)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in 60s; moderate dew, wind breezy on ridge but not at ground level
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, BE

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:02
NGC 5493 (Vir): not at all what I was expecting—pretty small, reasonably bright—has a very bright stellar nucleus but not much core—no more than 1.0’ but should be more than that?; sky is still not totally dark—round—looks like, off to P side of nucleus just by hair, an extension of nucleus to P slightly N edge? or double nucleus?—in immediate vicinity (7’) around it, a lot of threshold stars up to about mag 13.5—brightest star (11th mag) in field is N and slightly P by 18’—star has a 13th-mag companion due F by 2’—another 11th-mag star F and slightly S of galaxy by 18’

11:16
NGCs 5506, 5507 (Vir): both brighter than 5493—separated by 4’—5506: S-most of pair—quite diffuse—2.5’ x 0.75’—elongated P-F—slightly brighter, largish core region, brightness doesn’t extend down arms, only about middle third of galaxy—5507 almost due N of 5506—distracting pair of bright stars in field—SP 5506 by 10’ is an 8th-mag star—NP by 19’ is an 8.5-mag star—5507: much smaller—very bright substellar nucleus—better defined than 5506—1.0’ x 0.75’—elongated NP-SF by a bit—need averted vision to see it as extended—4.5’ due N is a 12th-mag star—F 5507 by 20’ is a 9.5-mag star—that star and two P the two galaxies make a bright triangle that frames field

11:41
NGCs 5363, 5364, 5360 (Vir): 5363: brightest of three—compact and well-defined—more northern of two major galaxies (w/5364)—bright—distractingly bright small core and bright stellar nucleus—2.0’ x 1.75’—elongated NP-SF—NF galaxy by 4.5’ is a 9th-mag star that’s also distracting—due N of galaxy by 9’ is an 11.5-mag star—S and slightly F of galaxy by 15’ is NGC 5364: big diffuse sprawl—brighter core—pretty round—halo is round, brighter central region elongated SP-NF—3.25’ halo—central region runs across halo, about 1.25’ wide—just outside NP edge of halo is 12th-mag star—maybe a faint hint in averted of a substellar nucleus—12th-mag star is about 4’ from center of galaxy—just on NP edge of halo is a threshold star halfway between center of galaxy and 12th-mag star previously noted—P and slightly S of galaxy by 15’ is a 10.5-mag star—just visible NF that star (in line with 5364) by 5’ is a long thin very difficult streak (5360): requires averted—elongated SP-NF—difficult to tell size, very ghostly—maybe 1.0’ x 0.5’?—difficult!—sky not good enough for galaxy—very little concentration, even in averted—stellar nucleus that’s very tenuous

12:01
NGCs 5560, 5566 (Vir)—5566 is much brighter of two, 5560 skinnier—5566: has bright bright core and bright substellar nucleus—elongated SP-NF—2.0’ x 1.0’—pretty well defined, not much extra in averted—to P and very slightly S of core by 1.5’ is a 14th-mag star—2’ due F core is a 12th-mag star—5560: NP 5566 by 6’—elongated NP-SF—thinner and more diffuse than 5566—2.0’ x 0.5’—brighter but unconcentrated core—core is half the length of the galaxy—just to N of core by 0.4’ is a 14.5-mag star—P galaxy by 6.5’ is a 10th-mag star—2.5’ NP that star is a 12th-mag star—supposedly another galaxy (5569) on NF end of 5566, but not visible enough here

12:08
NGCs 5576, 5574, 5577 (Vir)—5576: brightest of trio by far—smallish, 1.25’ x 1.0’—elongated P-F—very bright core—stellar nucleus that’s also brightish—NP the nucleus by 1.75’ is a 13th-mag star—SP galaxy is 5574: halo as bright as 5576’s but core much fainter, only slightly brighter than its own halo—elongated SP-NF—core doesn’t seem uniformly bright, as if threshold star embedded in SP end—no nucleus visible—separated from 5576 by 3’—N and very slightly F 5576 by 10’ is 5577: elongated SP-NF—pretty obvious—2.5’ x 1.0’—pretty diffuse—doesn’t seem to have much central brightening/core/nucleus—forms a right triangle with 5576 and a 11.5-mag star NP 5576 by 8’—star is SP 5577 by 11’—back to 5576: NF galaxy by 7.5’ is a double star with 12th- and 14th-mag components—brighter is due N of dimmer by 0.25’—due N of that 12th-mag star by 3.25’ is another 12th-mag star

12:25
NGC 5668 (Vir): big diffuse galaxy—roundish—2.75’—very diffuse—reasonably bright and obvious—to F edge of galaxy (not quite to edge of halo) is a 14th-mag star that makes it difficult to see if there’s a nucleus; don’t think there is one—3.5’ S very slightly F galaxy’s center is a 14.5-mag star—NF galaxy by 6’ is a 9th-mag star; 2’ due N of that star is an 11th-mag star—NP galaxy’s center by 6’ is a 12.5-mag star; NP that star by 6’ is a 12th-mag star—SP galaxy by 13’ is another 12th-mag star—galaxy’s halo fairly indistinct—not a specific core but some mottling/uneven illumination in galaxy’s interior

II. I hadn’t really been sure I’d be able to make it the next night, with a number of shifts coming up, but after my morning shift (and a lot of caffeine), I got the cancellation e-mail: we were done with the field study, giving me a full week off. Good for the astronomy, bad for the bank account. There was no sense not taking advantage, though, so I made sure to be out for Night Two of the run.

The sky was already pink to the east as I started setting up; I hadn’t been able to convince anyone else out to Eureka, so it was just me on this night. They missed the huge pink thunderhead low in the southeast, the one that flickered brilliantly with far-off lightning until after midnight. In some ways, I wished it was happening in town; the thunderstorms are one of the things we miss about life in Carbondale (aside from the people, of course).

As I started observing, it was apparent that the sky was pretty much turbulent all over, as the seeing was pretty lousy all night. The air was more transparent than the previous night, with greater definition in the Milky Way, though, and as transparency is more important for deep-sky observing than seeing, it was an okay trade-off.

6/19-20/17
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 24 days (33% illumination), rose 3:07 AM
SEEING: 3
TRANSPARENCY: 6-8; Milky Way brilliant at times and in spots
SQM: not checked
NELM: 6.7
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in 60s, quite suddenly falling to low 50s; moderate dew, no wind; lightning storm visible on SE horizon
OTHERS PRESENT: none

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:01
NGCs 5638, 5636 (Vir)—5638: decent-sized galaxy—roundish—brighter core but nucleus hard to separate from core—seeing very poor—1.75’ round—halo seems well-defined—almost like a faint NGC globular; elliptical?—pretty bright—not perfectly dark yet—almost due N, visible in direct but better in averted, is another galaxy (5636): ghostly—a little bit of central brightening, but not much brighter—elongated P (slightly S)-F (slightly N)—very hard to tell due to faintness of galaxy—not much definition—1.5’ x 1.0’, but hard to tell dimensions—transparency decent ATM—NP 5638 by 4.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—F and slightly N by 12’ is a 12th-mag star—a bright triangle N and P the two galaxies; closest vertex is 11’ NP 5638 and is 11th-mag; NP that star by 6’ is an 11th-mag star; due N of first star in triangle by 10’ is third vertex (10.5 mag)—if 5638 centered, there is a 10.5-mag star just on N slightly F edge of field (about 21’ from galaxy)—SP 5638 by 12’ is a large spread-out group of 12-14th-mag stars in irregular shape, take up much of S part of field

11:14
NGC 5634 (Vir): Virgo globular (one of two)—long a favorite—terrible seeing, so hard to resolve—hints of granularity, but not much—fairly smooth except in brief moments—cluster is 2.5’ across—bright central region about 1.75’—bracketed by a triangle; halfway in the N edge of triangle—triangle points N slightly F-S slightly P—stars due P and F cluster—due P star is 2’ from center of cluster at mag 12.5—star F is 2’ from cluster center and is 10th-mag—cluster slightly S of line between two stars; third star in triangle is S of cluster center by 4.5’ [super-slow satellite moving through field to SF edge]—cluster seems moderately concentrated; CC 8?—not picking up much resolution at all—just off S edge of halo is a barely-threshold star—0.5’ N and slightly P of cluster’s halo is a threshold star—P and slightly S of the cluster’s center by 2.5’ is a 14th-mag star—NF cluster by 22’ is a 9.5-mag star—NP cluster by 20’ is an 11th-mag star

11:25
NGCs 5746, 5740, 5738 (Vir)—lovely group, even in shitty conditions—5746: elongated almost N-S (very slightly NP-SF)—extremely long—necessary to keep 109 Vir out of field to see everything well—5’0’ x 0.5’—has good central brightening along legth, bright core and substellar nucleus that pops in averted—F side is slightly better defined, even in poor conditions—NP-NF of galaxy is an arc of four stars ranging from 10th-mag (NP galaxy) to 12th-mag (due N of galaxy); 10th-mag star is 6’ from galaxy’s nucleus—very well-defined galaxy, very “present”—SP nucleus of 5746 by 9’ is an 11.5-mag star; SP that star by 10’ is NGC 5740: also quite bright and obvious—elongated N a bit P-S a bit F (more than 5746)—much more diffuse, more broadly concentrated than 5746—1.75’ x 1.0’—halo less defined than 5746—brighter core region but no sign of nucleus, core may be too bright—full extent hard to tell in seeing—better than many Herschels—NP galaxy by 6’ from core is a 13th-mag star—P slightly N by 3’ from core is a 14.5-mag star—N of galaxy by 3.5’ is another 14.5-mag star—another threshold star 4’ SP galaxy’s core—8’ SP from 5740’s core is 5738: much more diffuse, difficult in direct vision—much smaller than 5740—very tough—0.75’ x 0.5’—very ghostly—has a threshold star just off F edge, about 1.25’ SF center of galaxy—star makes observation of core/nucleus difficult; galaxy may have a stellar nucleus (or threshold star very close to NP of galaxy’s center)

11:45
NGC 5750 (Vir): elongated (slightly S) P- (slightly N) F—galaxy has very obvious stellar nucleus; not bright but obvious—broadly concentrated galaxy—1.75’ x 1.25’—edges are fairly well-defined—galaxy is in middle of group of 12.5-14th-mag stars that occupy central region of field—brighter star SP galaxy by 14’—one SF by 20’—12.5-mag star P and very slightly N of galaxy by 8’—due N of galaxy by 5.5’ is a 13th-mag star which has a threshold star F it by 20”—5’ to NP of the galaxy is a 13.5-mag star

11:58
NGCs 5775, 5774, 5770 (Vir)—5775: excellent edge-on galaxy—elongated N somewhat P-S somewhat F—long and thin—pretty well defined—3.5’ x 0.75’—SP and NF center of galaxy are 14th-mag stars; star to SP is 0.75 from center of galaxy; one to NF is 1.25’ from center of galaxy—galaxy is unevely illuminated along length—no obvious nucleus—some “interruptions” in brightness—SP galaxy by 12’ is a 10th-mag star; another 10th-mag star S of that star by 13’—NF galaxy by 20’ is a 10.5-mag star; NF that star is a tiny equilateral triangle of 13th/14th-mag stars about 1.25’ on a side—N and somewhat P 5775 is 5774: much dimmer, still fairly obvious—elongated SP-NF—1.25’ x 0.75’—much more diffuse—very slight central brightening (especially in averted) but no nucleus— to NF just off edge of halo is a 14th-mag star—suspect 5774 is quite larger, but seeing/transparency makes it hard to tell—25’ N of 5775 and slightly P is 5770: pretty round—maybe slight elongation or something near nucleus that makes it look extended slightly NP-SF—halo of galaxy 0.75’ roundish, central brightening elongated?—substellar nucleus with embedded threshold star nearby?—4’ NF galaxy is a pair of widely separated stars of 13th and 13.5 mags; dimmer one slightly NP brighter star by 1’—4.5’ due N of galaxy’s center is 14th-mag star—not poorly defined; tight and compact galaxy, rather obvious but not overly distinctive

12:15
NGCs 5806, 5813, 5814 (Vir)—5806: elongated N-S—bright but not as bright as 5813 but more condensed—better defined—2.25’ x 1.0’—has a reasonably bright obvious central region and a substellar nucleus—due N by 4.5’ from nucleus is a 14.5-mag star—another 14.5-mag star SF galaxy by 4’; 15th-mag star P that star by 1.5’—NP galaxy is a small right triangle; hypotenuse is edge closest to galaxy; hypotenuse is 5.5’ long; triangle consists of 12th/13th-mag stars; brightest (12th-mag) is vertex on opposite corner from hypotenuse—S and very slightly P galaxy by 10’ is a 12th-mag star; 10’ S and very slightly that star is a 10th-mag star—SF 5806 by 21’ is 5813/5814 pair—5813: large with bright round diffuse halo—brighter central region elongated NP-SF—has a small but bright core that becomes suddenly bright—substellar nucleus—inside diamond pattern of 12th-14th-mag stars—edges of halo not well-defined—halo 1.5’ roundish—SF 5813 by 5’ is 5814: barely distinguishable—hareder to see now—very small, not even 0.5’—little bit of central brightening and a fainst substellar nucleus—halo is difficult—maybe extended P-F?—seeing very poor now

12:27
NGC 5831 (Vir): diffuse, round glow—some definite central brightening—brighter region takes up inner 50% of galaxy—halo poorly-defined—roundish—1.25’ round—bright core and a faint stellar nucleus—N and slightly F core by 2’ is a 14th-mag star—SF galaxy by 24’ is a 9th-mag star (just outside edge of field)—field otherwise fairly barren—S and very slightly F galaxy by 12’ is a 11.5-mag star—chain of 11th/12th/13th-mag stars on S and slightly F edge of field; triangle with extra star on end or flattened kite

12:48
NGCs 5854, 5864 (Vir)—5854: very small—1.0’ x 0.5’—elongated SP-NF—sits at SF end of a 20’-long rectangle of stars which is 7’; 9th-mag star on SP end of rectangle; stars in rectangle 9th-13th-mags—galaxy faint and small—brighter central region—maybe substellar nucleus—SF galaxy’s nucleus by 3’ is a 14th-mag star—SF galaxy by 7’ is a 14.5-mag star—NF 5854 by 40’ is 5864: much bigger—2.0’ x 1.0’—irregular central brightening—substellar nucleus in averted vision—elongated P slightly S-F slightly N—off SP tip, just separated from the halo about 1.25 from core is a 15th-mag star—another 15th-mag star just on SF edge of halo that makes reading interior of galaxy difficult—14.5-mag stars 6’ due S of galaxy and 4.5’ NF galaxy—galaxy set inside large triangle of 10.5/11th-mag stars; brightest (10.5) star NP of galaxy by 18’—11th-mag star 16’ NF from galaxy’s center, and has a 13.5-mag companion 0.5’ F; 11th-mag star S of galaxy by 13’—between two N stars is a scattering of 12th-14th-mag stars of irregular shape and spacing—S side of field is much more devoid of stars

1:02
NGC 5600 (Boo): round—fairly bright—1.5’ across—not very concentrated—brighter central region makes up 80%—maybe a hint of visible nucleus when seeing steadies—some clouds moving in—galaxy pretty easy to spot—galaxy inside a diamond that is pointing P (slightly S)-F (slightly N)—star to NF is brightest at 11th mag; other three stars in diamond are 12.5/13th-mag—line of 11-14th-mag stars S galaxy by 18’ that runs P-F

The next night was, according to the Clear Sky Chart, supposed to be reasonably good. The CSC was pretty damn accurate, but this day showed the heavy cirrus clearing by 6 PM; by 9 PM, the gunk was still covering the sky. Bob and I decided to head out anyway.

Jerry and Dan R were there already, setting up the TriDob. Bob had his StarBlast, and I spent most of the night observing through those scopes rather than my own. Even better, Jerry, Dan, and Bob provide(d) a pretty astounding discussion group on a huge range of topics. The observing took a backseat to the conversation, as the 80% sky remained socked-in for most of the evening. (The areas that remained socked-in varied; the Scorpius-Sagittarius region was the area that stayed the clearest, and where we concentrated most of our observing.) It was well after 1 AM before we gave up on observing and headed home.

III. The night of the 22nd was better, in both seeing and transparency, than either of the two previous excursions. The seeing was still poor, but the transparency was as good as it had been so far in the run. The big difference was the constant heavy wind that howled from behind the Ridge; it was much ado about nothing on my side of the Ridge, fortunately, and it wasn’t until I was driving home and rounded the first bend in the BLM road that I found how constantly strong the wind actually was, as it lashed the trees and underbrush into a verdant frenzy.

(The official predator of the night was a weasel of some sort, sitting on the side of the BLM road just after the turn from Simonson Road.)

It was another solo night at Eureka Ridge, as no-one else was free to come out; Jerry was at the Golden State Star Party, and the other Eureka regulars were busy with life.

As I waited for evening twilight to draw to a close, I spent the darkening hours scouring the southern horizon to see how far down in declination I could observe deep-sky objects. I had surmised earlier in the week that NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) would be visible from Eureka Ridge early in May, and I’m now sure that’s the case. On this night, I managed to snag NGC 5896 in Lupus, a globular cluster I’d observed from Carbondale, but which was here down low in the Roseburg light-pollution dome. As I observed the cluster, sitting on the ground (for which I’d often been semi-mocked by the other members of AASI), the sky behind me lit up with a sudden flash, and my shadow was visible on the ground and on Bob the Dob for a split-second. As I spun around and got to my feet, there was no trace of the light source; an Iridium flare could get that bright (as we found out the next night), but would probably still be very faintly visible as it crept out of the Sun’s glare entirely. If the flash was a meteor, it would have been an unimaginably-bright one. Even a query on the EAS e-mail list turned up no other observations of the flasher.

But to work:

6/22-23/17
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 28 days (2% illuminated); rose at 5:23 AM
SEEING: 4
TRANSPARENCY: 7; Milky Way bright and detailed but less “resolvable”
SQM: not checked
NELM: 6.5
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in 60s; no dew, heavy winds which did not affect observing (except regarding seeing)
OTHERS PRESENT: none

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:14
NGC 5523 (Boo): not easy for a Herschel—quite elongated—not particularly bright, although some twilight still visible—elongated P (very slightly N)-F (very slightly S)—2.0’ x 0.5’—has some faint central brightening—no real core or nucleus—slightly brighter streak down the middle—not particularly well defined—1.75’ NP from NP tip of galaxy is a 12th-mag star—N and very slightly F galaxy by 9’ is a 10th-mag star—another 10th-mag star P and somewhat S of the galaxy by 6’—almost due F galaxy by 11’ is another 11th-mag star—not easiest of galaxies—P and N of galaxy by 18’ is another 11th-mag star—15th-mag star due F by 4.5’ from F end of galaxy

11:27
NGC 5533 (Boo): in field with the very bright A Boö and an interesting wide “double star”—necessary to keep A out of field—A is F and N of galaxy by 24’—galaxy is elongated SP-NF—1.25’ x 0.75’—has a bright not-quite stellar nucleus and brighter central region that becomes suddenly brighter from halo to core—bright galaxy with “presence” in field—NF galaxy by 5’ is a 13th-mag star; N and very slightly F that star by 3.5’ is a 13.5-mag star—NF from galaxy toward A Boö by 14’ is the slightly-brighter component of pair (12th-mag); dimmer is 12.3-mag; separated by 2.5’ with brighter component P and slightly N dimmer component—N slightly P the brighter component by 6’ is another 12th-mag star—those two (double and star NP) are part of a diamond of which the galaxy is to the SP point; third star is N and very slightly F the galaxy and is also 12th-mag—major axis of diamond points NF-SP

11:37
NGC 5529 (Boo): razor-thin edge-on streak—elongated NP-SF—2.25’ x 0.3’—not particularly well-defined—ghostly—barely apparent central brightening along length—no obvious core—N of galaxy by 3’ from center of galaxy is a 13th-mag star—S of galaxy by 2.25’ is a 15th-mag star—off SF tip of galaxy by 4.5’ is a “triple” star; brightest of three (12th-mag) is in middle, all in a line; P and slightly N of brightest by 0.5’ is a 14.5-mag star; F and S of brightest by 0.3’ is a 14.5-mag star—N and slightly F center of galaxy by 6.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—NP center of galaxy by 9’ is an 11th-mag star—P galaxy by 10’ is another 11th-mag star—no companion galaxies seen

11:54
NGC 5582 (Boo): small, brightish—has a bit of SP-NF elongation—1.0’ x 0.75’—has a bright core and a substellar nucleus—reasonably well-defined—[very slow satellite P-F through field]—SP galaxy by 2’ from core is a 14th-mag star—SF core of galaxy by 5.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—SF galaxy is a 14th-mag star that is 5’ from core of galaxy—F and slightly N of core of galaxy by 1.75’ is a 15th-mag star—galaxy part of a tiny pentagon—F galaxy by 14’ is a 10.5-mag star—NF galaxy by 18’ is an 11th-mag star—NP galaxy by 20’ is an 11.5-mag star

12:10
NGCs 5899, 5900, 5893 (Boo)—5899: obvious blur of 2.25’ x 0.75’—elongated S very slightly P-N very slightly F—not overly well-defined although averted helps define halo—has obvious brighter core, perhaps a substellar nucleus—just to NF of the nucleus, still inside halo, is an extra brightening; halo maybe “lumpy”—NP of galaxy by 12’ is a 7th-mag star—P and slightly N by 4’ is a 12th-mag star—due P and very slightly S by 4.5 is a 13th-mag star—S and slightly P that star by 2.5’ is a threshold star—N of 5899 by 9’ is another galaxy (5900): forms a triangle with 5899 and 7th-mag star—very difficult galaxy—averted vision necessary—7th-mag star makes difficult to see—1.5’ x 0.5’—brighter center and a flickery stellar nucleus?—SP 7th-mag star by 13’ and P slightly S of 5899 by 18’ is another galaxy (5893): in a line of 13th and 14th-mag stars—P galaxy is a 13th-mag star and F galaxy is a 14.5-mag star, each 2.5’ from galaxy—galaxy 1.0’ round—slight central brightening but no nucleus—very ghostly, quite diffuse—between 7th-mag star and 5893 and slightly P that (NF galaxy) by 8’ is a 12.5-mag star 

12:32
NGC 5676 (Boo): bright—elongated SP-NF—2.25’ x 0.75’?—interesting field of stars of many brightnesses—has a large halo—long brighter central region and a substellar nucleus in a core that’s not particularly brighter than rest of central region—core not very large—almost looks at moments to be texture in halo, irregularly bright—well-defined but outer edges of halo a bit diffuse—N and slightly F galaxy’s nucleus by 6’ is a 12th-mag star—another 12.5-mag star due F nucleus by 7’, these form a right triangle with galaxy—P galaxy and a bit N by 10’ is an 8th-mag star—F and slightly S of galaxy by 19’ is a 6.5-mag star—S of galaxy by 16.5’ is a 9th-mag star; F and slightly S of 9th-mag star by a couple of arcsec is a 14th-mag companion

12:43
NGCs 5689, 5693, 5682 (Boo)—5689: small, elongated and brightish—elongated P-F—1.75’ x 0.5’—in middle of a region 9’ in radius that’s almost barren of stars, only a couple of dim stars—galaxy set in triangle of which closest star is 9’ from galaxy—bright core and stellar nucleus—reasonably well-defined—in averted, stretches more to P end—“things are happening in this field”—NP galaxy by 13’ is a 12th-mag star—12.5-mag star 11’ NF the galaxy—S of galaxy by 9’ is a 13.5-mag star—14.5-mag star 6.5’ S and very slightly P galaxy—12’ S and slightly F galaxy is another (5693): very diffuse and ghostly—appears best in averted—roundish—1.25’—super diffuse—has a stellar nucleus, no: a threshold star on S edge of halo—very slightly brighter core—2.5’ N of galaxy’s halo is a 14th-mag star—back to 5689—SP 5689 by 10’ is an averted-only flash of a galaxy (5682): looks elongated NP-SF—just a phantasm of a galaxy—size impossible to gauge?—15th-mag star just S of galaxy that’s throwing off observation—no central brightening or nucleus? maybe 1.5’ x 0.5’?? [just under half those dimensions; 15th-mag star “just S” of galaxy might be NGC 5683 to SF of 5682]

1:01
NGC 5687 (Boo): weird appearance, stars all over it—elongated P-F—fairly small, 1.1’ x 0.5’—dotted with stars—brighter core region but can’t tell if there’s a nucleus—inside halo is one star on each of P and F sides of nucleus—star to F side is barely threshold—star to P side of core is 15th-mag; another star just on P (slightly S) edge of halo that is 14.7-mag; due S that star by 1.25’ is a 14.5-mag star —S of core by 3’ is a 12th-mag star—F and somewhat N of galaxy by 6’ is a 13th-mag star; 7’ NF that star is another of equal magnitude—P galaxy and slightly S by 8’ is a 12.5-mag star

1:19
NGC 5480, 5481 (Boo): 5480: larger and brighter of the two by a bit—elongated N-S—1.25’ x 0.75’—more diffuse of the two—larger core than 5481—large core region, much brighter than halo—pretty well defined—doesn’t have a visible nucleus—5481: small—NP-SF elongation—reasonably roundish—0.6’ x 0.5’—substellar nucleus that’s pretty bright—core not much brighter than halo—less-defined halo than 5480—would’ve thought 5480 was the Herschel object—galaxy cores separated by 4’, due P-F—due N of 5481 by 7’ is a 12th-mag star—F and slightly S of 5481 by 5.5’ is a 13th-mag star which has another 13th-mag star F and slightly N by 5’—F 5481 is by 22’ is a 9.5-mag star—NP 5480 by 16’ is an 11.5-mag star—S of 5480 by 12’ is a 12th-mag star

1:36
NGC 5490, IC 982, IC 983, NGC 5490C (Boo)—5490: small, 0.75’ round—[very bright satellite through field]—bright stellar nucleus and small, faintish, but obvious core—galaxy in middle of triangle of 13th- and 14th-mag stars—halo is tenuous—to S by 4’ is a 13th-mag star—P and slightly N of galaxy by 3.5’ is a 14th-mag star—F and slightly N of galaxy by 4.25’ is another 14th-mag star—SF galaxy by 10’ is a 12.5-mag star—N and slightly F galaxy by 11’ is a 10.5-mag star; that star has to P side two tiny glows, one (IC 982) SP by 4’ and one (IC 983) P and slightly N by 2’—glow to SP is a bit larger; both very faint—glow to NP of star has a very very faint tiny nucleus—between 10.5-mag star and 5490, about 5’ N and slightly F 5490 is a very ghostly averted-vision glow (5490C) that offers no elongation/size estimates—ghostlier than ghostly

1:55
NGC 5548 (Boo): getting low in sky—roundish galaxy with very bright substellar nucleus—slightly-brighter core region—1.0’ round?—halo very tenuous and ill-defined—not much detail—3.5’ S of galaxy is a 14.5-mag star—N and very slightly F galaxy by 7.5’ is an 11th-mag star that has a 13.5-mag star P and very slightly N of it by 2’—SP galaxy by 8’ is an 11th-mag star [did not see NGC 5655]

2:10
NGC 5602 (Boo): small, not particularly impressive galaxy in Boötes’ pipe—elongated N-S—brightish substellar nucleus and small core that’s gradually brightened to—0.75’ x 0.5’—among an interesting field—brightest star in field is 11th-mag star P and somewhat N of galaxy by 11’ and second brightest is 11.5-mag star N and somewhat P galaxy by 20’—S of galaxy is a straightish line that stretches from SF galaxy to almost due S of galaxy and consists of one 12- and three 12.5-mag stars—halfway between galaxy and line is a widely-separated pair of stars; one is due S of galaxy by 6’ and is 12.5-mag; other is S slightly P galaxy by 5’ and is 13th-mag—SF galaxy is another pair; brighter is 13th-mag and is F and slightly S of galaxy by 7’ and 13.5-mag star due S of that star by 3.5’

2:19
NGC 5520 (Boo): elongated SP-NF—1.25’ x 0.66’—halo not overly well-defined—brighter core region and substellar nucleus that appears slightly offset to SP—pretty non-descript galaxy—F galaxy are two bright stars; NF by 6’ is a 9th-mag star; due F galaxy by 5’ is an 11th-mag star—SP galaxy by 3’ is a 14th-mag star—14.5-mag star NP galaxy by 6’—brightest star in field is an interesting double that is SP galaxy by 15’; brighter component is 9th-mag and fainter 10th; separated by 0.2’, with fainter SP the brighter

2:39
NGC 6106 (Her): pretty diffuse—brighter core region that has “Footprint Nebula” shape to it—galaxy elongated NP-SF-ish—concentration seems divided into two parts with larger part to S end, as if line dividing it across middle—no nucleus? maybe a hint of a stellar nucleus in averted—1.25’ x 0.75’—to SP and S slightly P of galaxy, almost equidistant at 9.5’ from galaxy and forming an isosceles triangle with galaxy are two bright stars; star to S slightly P is 9.5-mag; star to SP is 10.5’; separated by 7.5’—SF galaxy by 18’ is a 10.5-mag star—double star F galaxy by 15’; 13.5 and 14.5 components separated P-F with brighter star to F; separated by 0.5’—13.5-mag star due N of galaxy by 5’

IV. Friday the 23rd brought the observers out in numbers. Randy, his ladyfriend Annette, and her grandson Calvin were there, with Randy’s zero-gravity binocular chair and Orion–the club’s homemade 14.7-inch project scope–in tow; Oggie G was there with his 10″ Zhumell Dob, and one of Oggie’s co-workers, Dan B, had brought his 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain scope, his daughter Ruby, and their shiba inu… who could only have been (and in fact was) named Doge. My daughter suggested via text that I somehow bring Doge home with me, as if two dogs weren’t enough already.

The seeing was still barely-average, but the transparency was quite good, and the little clearing bustled most of the night. I was less social than I like to be, as I was pretty intent on finishing my list of Herschels before the Moon became an issue. So I apologize to any of that evening’s observers who might read this for any rudeness I may have projected.

6/23-24/17
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: New
SEEING: 5
TRANSPARENCY: 7; Milky Way bright and detailed
SQM: not checked
NELM: 6.5
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in 60s; no dew, mild winds which did not affect observing (except regarding seeing)
OTHERS PRESENT: OG, RB, AB (Annette), CB (Calvin, AB’s grandson), Dan B, Ruby B, Doge

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:07
NGC 6015 (Dra): really nice galaxy!—elongated S very slightly P-N very slightly F—large, 3.25’ x 1.25’—obvious and bright—has a bright core with the occasional flash of a substellar nucleus—pretty well defined—halo has some mottling or texture—brighter central region is not evenly illuminated—just off S very slightly F tip of galaxy is a 14th-mag star—P the galaxy by 2.5’ from the nucleus is a 13th-mag star—to S of galaxy by 3.5’ is a pair of 13.5-mag stars separated by 0.5’; one S and one S very slightly P of galaxy—SP center of galaxy by 12’ is a 10.5-mag star; another 0.5-mag star due F galaxy by 8’—P and slightly N of galaxy by 20’ is a 9.5-mag star

11:19
NGC 5907 (Dra): one of most spectacular edge-ons, a five-star galaxy!—8’ x 0.5’—elongated N slightly P-S slightly F—central 2.5’ much brighter—tiny hint of faint stellar nucleus, but also to P side by 0.75’ is a 14th-mag star—NF galaxy is a scattering of 12th- and 13th-mags; brightest star in group is on SF end of pattern, which is elongated NP-SF; brightest is 12th-mag and separated from nucleus of galaxy by 15’—SP nucleus by 19’ is a 10th-mag star—P galaxy by 22’ is a 9.5-mag star—a group of very bright stars just out of P edge of field—F and slightly N of nucleus by 3.5’ is a pair of 14th-mag stars separated by 0.75’; oriented P-F to each other—off NF end of galaxy, just off end of halo by 5’ from nucleus is a threshold star—off SP end of galaxy by about 7’ from nucleus is a 14.5-mag star

11:39
NGC 5879 (Dra): brightish—elongated N-S—2.0’ x 0.75’—bright core and bright substellar nucleus—well-defined halo—is gradually brighter to core—threshold star just P nucleus on outer edge of halo; only visible when seeing “flashes”—6’ F and a little bit N of nucleus is a 13th-mag star; 13.5-mag star S very slightly F that star, separated by 2’; brighter star has a 14.5-mag star F it by 3.25’—brightest star in area is 8th-mag star NP the galaxy by 7’—NF the galaxy by 10’ from nucleus is an 11th-mag star

11:49
NGC 5866 (M102) (Dra): extremely bright—elongated NP-SF—3.0’ x 0.75’—very bright core—no nucleus?—ends are nicely tapered—very well-defined halo—just off P end to N and S and froming a little isosceles triangle with core is a pair of 12th-mag stars (one to N maybe 12th and one to S 12.5) each 2.25’ from galaxy’s center—brightest star in field is 7.5-mag star SP galaxy by 11’—NP galaxy by 13’ is a 10th-mag star—11th-mag star NF galaxy by 9’; S and very slightly F the 11th-mag star is a 13th-mag star sepearated from 11th-mag star by 4’—N and slightly F the galaxy’s center by 2.5’ is a 15th-mag star—S slightly F galaxy by 5.5’ from core is a 14.5-mag star

12:02
NGC 4236 (Dra): gargantuan—very very faint but pretty obvious—elonagted N slightly P-S slightly F—almost too diffuse to judge size—at least 17’ x 2.5’—very very little central concentration—inner 8’ are a bit brighter, a different “gradient”—a bit of lumpy, irregular mottling along much of N 2/3—P the galaxy halo by 1’ about midway down its length is a 14th-mag star—off S end of galaxy by 5’ is an 11th-mag star—NF galaxy’s N end by 8’ is a 9.5-mag star; two 11th-mag stars S of that star that form an arc that bends toward middle of galaxy; third star in arc (closest to galaxy) is 5’ from edge of halo—off N end of galaxy are a pair of 11th-mag stars P and F N end of galaxy—couple of threshold stars embedded in N outer edges of halo—(difficult observation; no chair)

12:18
NGC 4256 (Dra): long, spindly, very nice edge-on—elongated SP-NF—very bright core and substellar nucleus—3.25’ x 0.5’—well-defined—N edge a bit better defined than S edge?—due F galaxy by 5’ is a 14.5-mag star—S of galaxy by 7’ is a 13th-mag star—7.5’ SP galaxy’s nucleus along line of axis of galaxy is a 12th-mag star—SF galaxy by 7.5’ is a 13.5-mag star—those three stars form an arc—N slightly P galaxy by 13’ from nucleus is a 9th-mag star—S very slightly P by 16’ is an 11.5-mag star

12:30
NGCs 4210, 4221 (Dra)—very different, very interesting—4210: round and diffuse—no visible nucleus—1.25’ round—might have a slightly brighter central region—N of galaxy’s edge by 4’ is a 12.5-mag star— threshold star on SP edge of halo?—P galaxy by 6.5’ is a 14th-mag star—brightest star in field is 7th-mag star NP galaxy by 12’—galaxy is NP 4256 by 26’; can get both in field together—back to 7th-mag star; NF star by 15’ is 4221: much brighter than 4210—elongated slightly SP-NF—has bright core compared to halo—reasonably well-defined—1.25’ x 0.75’—between 4221 and 7th-mag star is a nearly-equilateral triangle of one 11th- and two 12th-mag stars; 11th-mag star is P and slightly S of galaxy by 6.5’

12:47
NGCs 4291, 4319, 4386 (Dra): interesting pair near a 5.5-mag star—4291: tiny round galaxy—0.75’ across—forms a rectangle with a 12th- and two 13th-mag stars—12th-mag star is F galaxy’s core by 2.5’; 13th-mag stars S very slightly F galaxy’s core by 3.5’ and SF galaxy by 4’—galaxy well-defined—no nucleus—just on P edge of halo is a threshold star; star flickers with seeing—5.5-mag star is 14’ SP galaxy—SF galaxy by 7’ is 4319: elongated NP-SF—larger and more diffuse than 4291—has a gradually-brighter core and a substellar nucleus—1.0’ x 0.6’—not well defined—14.5-mag star NP galaxy’s nucleus by 2’—F galaxy by 4’ is a 14th-mag star; S very slightly F galaxy’s nucleus by 4’ is a 14th-mag star; galaxy forms an equilateral triangle with last two stars—NF 4391 by 18’ is a larger, brighter galaxy (4386):—1.25’ x 1.0’—elongated slightly NP-SF—reasonably well-defined—bright substellar nucleus and gradually brighter but not bright core—forms an equilateral triangle with a 14th-mag star to NP and a 13th-mag star NF each by 4’—NF galaxy by 14’ is a 7th-mag star—N very slightly P galaxy by 13’ is a 10th-mag star with a 12th-mag companion NP by 1.5’

1:08
NGC 3147 (Dra): nice bright large galaxy—big halo—brighter core and stellar nucleus—classic (brightness) profile of face-on galaxy—2.25’ round—SF galaxy by 20’ is a 7th-mag star—S of galaxy by 15’ is a 12th-mag star—SP galaxy by 15’ is a 12th-mag star—F and slightly S from nucleus by 4’ is a threshold star—SP by 4’ is a 14.5-mag star—N of galaxy nucleus by 5’ is a 13.5-mag star—NF galaxy nucleus by 5’ is a 13th-mag star

2:04
NGC 6181 (Her): small, bright—elongated N-ish-S-ish—1.0’ x 0.75’—has a well-defined halo—brighter central region (too big to just be core)—don’t see a nucleus—P galaxy by 3.25’ is a 12th-mag star—S slightly P galaxy is a 14th-mag star 1.5’ from galaxy’s center—occasional flicker of stellar nucleus?—N slightly F by 4.5’ is a 14th-mag star—F galaxy by 10’ is a pair of 12.5- and 13th-mag stars—12.5’ is N of two; separated by 0.75’—NP galaxy by 14’ is an 11th-mag star

2:28
NGC 6166 (Her): small, faint, ghostly glow—elongated SP-NF—has a slightly brighter core, not much nucleus—in middle of Abell 2199 cluster but can’t wander too much from task—14’ N is a 10th-mag star—arc of 11th-14th-mag stars SP galaxy that swing from due S to due P—halfway between galaxy and 10th-mag star is a close pair of 14.5- and 15th-mag stars; brighter is SP fainter by 0.3’—NF galaxy by 3.5’ is a 14.5-mag star—straight line of six 12-14th-mag stars F galaxy by 14’ that runs N slightly F-S slightly P in field

2:52
NGCs 6548, 6549 (Her): in middle of Hercules edge of Milky Way—near stunning double star 95 Her (equal mag 5 components of bluish white)—6548: roundish—bright substellar nucleus—1.0’ round—very diffuse halo—[meteor through field]—core is quite suddenly bright—SF galaxy by 4’ is a 10.5-mag star—SP by 10’ is an 8th-mag star—N slightly P by 3.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—NP by 2.5’ is a 13th-mag star—6549: between 8th-mag star and 6548, about 3.5’ from 6548—very faint—elongated SP-NF—1.0’ x 0.3’—difficult to judge size—sometimes requires averted to hold—no central concentration— to S and slightly F is a smattering/line of 14th-mag and fainter stars; line passes 8th-mag star to S

V. The following few nights were also clear, but I only made use of the next. It was a pain to have to constantly control my diet, watching every single bit of food for lactose, and between the slowly-advancing Moon and the tiredness that was inevitable after a week’s worth of pursuing galaxies until the wee hours of morning, I was ready for a break. With only a few Herschels left on my list, I was pretty sure this was to be my last night of the run.

The night before, I had noticed a pile of scat on the paved section of the BLM road, and this night, I came nearly vehicle-to-snout with the pile’s likely creator: a rather large black bear, who scurried across the road fifty feet in front of my van as I was taking it down to 3rd for the climb up the road. I had suspected it was a pile of bear residue, but hadn’t expected to meet the bear itself.

Although the nearby presence of a bear wasn’t going to deter me from observing, it was a   point of obvious concern. We were still three miles from the observing site proper, so I was less concerned than I might have been had we been closer to where I’d be spending most of the night.

Oggie showed up not long after I got to the top, and was less-enthused about the bear. Neither of us was to be put off observing, though, despite a bit more heightened awareness of the sounds in the surrounding foliage.

I had barely eaten during the day, and my stomach could be heard frequently on the recordings of my notes throughout the night.

I started with a reobservation of a Libra galaxy I’d observed the year before; it was now the host galaxy of an impressively-bright supernova. I also went off-script a bit for an observation of the superb NGC 5409 group in southern Boötes, a group which will get a deeper look with the 18″ scope when I next get a chance.

6/24-25/17
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 1 day (1% illumination); set at 9:37 AM
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 8; Milky Way bright and detailed into Ophiuchus and eastern Hercules
SQM: not checked
NELM: 6.7
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in 70s; no dew until after 2 AM, moderate winds which did not affect observing (except regarding seeing)
OTHERS PRESENT: OG

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:07
NGC 5861, SN2017erp (Lib): galaxy elongated NP-SF— S and slightly P the S end of galaxy by 2.25’ is an 11th-mag star—galaxy pretty large, diffuse—brighter central region but no real nucleus visible—2.75’ x 1.5’—between center of galaxy and 11th-mag star is the supernova—right on SP edge of visible halo—interesting dim double star NP galaxy by 7.5’ from center of galaxy; brighter component of double is 12th-mag; dimmer 13th mag; separated by 0.25’; brighter component is NP dimmer component—NF galaxy by 12’ is a 10th-mag star—SN is 13.5-mag—couple of other 13th-mag stars to S and SF galaxy’s halo

11:44
NGCs 5409, 5416, 5424, 5423, 5431, 5434, 5411 (Boö)—centered in and around an arc of three bright stars—N two stars are starting point—from N-most star S and very slightly P between two brightest stars, 13’ S and slightly P N-most star is first galaxy (5409): diffuse—0.75’ round—difficult—not much central brightening—N-most star in arc of three is 6th-mag, second in arc is 6.5-mag—6’ S of N-most star is a pair of 13th-mag stars separated by 0.75’—second galaxy (5416) is SF first galaxy by 7’—slightly brighter than first galaxy and a bit more concentrated with brighter central region—slightly elongated P slightly N-F slightly S—0.6’ x 0.25’—NF galaxy by 5’ is a 13th-mag star—13.5-mag star S of galaxy by 3.5’—F that galaxy by 12’ is another galaxy (5424): elongated P-F—just under 1.0’ x 0.75’—14.5-mag star 0.75’ S of galaxy—also S slightly P by 5’ is another galaxy (5423): roundish—has a stellar nucleus and a small slightly-brighter core—a threshold mag star due P galaxy just outside halo [maybe PGC 50019]—field teeming with little galaxies—F last galaxy is a very faint, tiny galaxy (5431): quite diffuse and may have stellar nucleus—threshold magnitude nucleus—back to N-most of last group of galaxies—NF that galaxy by 7’ is another (5434): slightly larger—1.0’ round—bracketed by two stars to SF and NP; star to SF is 4’ SF and 12th-mag; star to NP is 8’ from galaxy and 10th-mag [didn’t see 5434B??]—back to 5409/5416—dropping S to bottom star of arc, which is 6th-mag—galaxy (5411) is NF that star by 8’—between star and galaxy is an arc of three stars of 11.5- and 12th-mags that bends to the NF from the star—galaxy is pretty diffuse, not well defined—has a substellar nucleus—0.5’ and round—has a couple of 15th-mag stars nearby, one to NF by 1’ from galaxy’s nucleus, one due F by 1.25’—group needs more aperture

12:17
NGC 3682 (Dra): not a particularly-impressive galaxy—framed in a field of bright stars—galaxy is elongated P-F—small, 0.75’ x 0.5’—bright core and substellar nucleus—not all that well defined—halo pretty diffuse—bright stars in field: N of galaxy and very slightly F by 22’ is a 9th-mag star; NP galaxy by 18’ is a 10th-mag star—P and slightly N of galaxy by 15’ is a 9.5-mag star—SP and SF galaxy equidistant at 12’ are 11th-mag stars—SP galaxy by 7’ is a 14th-mag star—N of galaxy by 8’ is a 13.5-mag star

12:45
NGC 4133 (Dra): brighter than 3682—diffuse, poorly-defined halo—brighter core region but no trace of a nucleus—1.0’ x 0.75’—elongated NP-SF—P galaxy and slightly N by 4’ is a 12th-mag star—due N by 3.5’ is a 13th-mag star; another 13th-mag star F galaxy—NF galaxy by 7’ is a 12.5-mag star—NP galaxy by 14’ is a 10th-mag star—SP galaxy by 17’ is a 9th-mag star; 7th-mag star 15’ S and slightly F galaxy; distance between last two stars about 14’

Here I got careless, reobserving the NGC 4291/4319/4386 trio I’d observed the night before. Having started using Post-It flags to indicate the Herschels on Sky Atlas 2000.0, I’d forgotten to remove the flag for 4319 from the previous night, and spent a fair amount of time that I didn’t need to waste.

1:27
NGC 4250 (Dra): roundish—1.0’ halo—quite diffuse and poorly defined—gradually comes brighter to a core that’s not overly bright, but has a bright substellar nucleus—SP galaxy by 15’ and 20’ are 10th-mag stars; more N star is slightly brighter; separated by 5’—S slightly F galaxy by 6.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—N of galaxy by 10’ is a 12th-mag star—NF galaxy by 6’ is a 13th-mag star—NP galaxy by 5’ is a 14th-mag star—SF galaxy by 15’ is an 11th-mag star

2:18
NGC 6239 (Her): longish thin streak—1.25’ x 0.75—elongated NP-SF—has a brighter central region and no real nucleus—SF end looks like it turns S a bit at end of halo?—halo well defined—core is obvious—N by 3’ is a 15th-mag star—15th-mag star NF by 2.75’—F galaxy by 5.5’ is a 12th-mag star—[meteor through field]—NF galaxy by 16’ is a 9.5-mag star—P and slightly N of galaxy by 7’ is a 12th-mag star—NP galaxy by 12’ is a 11.5-mag star—S of galaxy is a line of stars running P-F; stars broken into pairs; brightest star on P end, SP galaxy by 15’

2:31
NGC 6155 (Her): diffuse—relatively unconcentrated but reasonably obvious galaxy—elongated NP-SF—1.0’ x 0.75’—pretty well defined—has brighter core but no nucleus—SP galaxy by 3.25’ is a 10th-mag star which has a 12th-mag companion to S slightly F by 0.75’—F galaxy by 3.25’ is a 14.5-mag star that might be double—NF galaxy by 7.5’ is a 12.5-mag star—NF galaxy by 16’ is a 9th-mag star—SP galaxy by 14’ is a 9th-mag star—galaxy therefore bracketed to SP and NF

3:05
NGC 6340 (Dra): after a long search—round, obvious galaxy with very smooth gradual gradient from halo to substellar nucleus—1.3’ round—pretty well-defined despite diffuseness of halo—to NP by 2’ from nucleus is a 12th-mag star which has a 13th-mag star NP by 15”—15’ SP galaxy is an 8.5-mag star—F and slightly N of galaxy by 8.5’ is an 11.5-mag star—bright star to SP has a trio of stars not quite halfway between it and galaxy and stretching S toward star in an arc of three 12-14th-mag stars—P galaxy and S by 9’ is the brighter of a pair (10.5-mag); NF that star by 1.75’ is a 13th-mag star

With the observation of NGC 6340, I finished the list I’d been working on. It had taken quite a search to find the galaxy, but had been worth it to close out another lengthy list of targets. Along the way, I’d recaptured some of the focus I’d been missing for a while, proving that I could get through a self-imposed list, one more arbitrary than May’s Virgo project.

And now, some summer driving music:

 

 

One of the truly wonderful people I’ve met has left this Earth, leaving the world a little bit dimmer and less kind.

Farewell, Catherine.

The Past, As Prologue

With a bit of spare time this week, I’ve been sifting through my observing notes from past years, making sure that everything’s up-to-date and in order. And having recently given a talk on the Astronomical League’s observing programs, I’ve also been a bit nostalgic for the earlier days of my observing, when I started on the Herschel lists and plowed on through the globular cluster program in a single season. (In retrospect, I should’ve done that one more slowly and enjoyed it more—although I would’ve missed out on a lot of the more-southerly globulars after moving to Oregon.)

One thing that I realized was that many of my notes on those early objects, primitive as those notes were, never made it here to the site. So here they are, providing a glimpse into the early stages of my “notetaking proper.”

I do miss observing at Giant City and at Crab Orchard, the two spots we used in AASI. The parking lot at Giant City State Park—soon to be inundated with eclipse-chasers—was ringed with trees, but these functioned as much to limit the extensive light pollution from Carbondale and the surrounding towns as they did to block our access to the horizons (because, really, that low to the horizon the sky was always mucky anyway). But it was twenty minutes from home, and easy to drive from after an all-night session… of which I did several in the shadow of the visitors’ center. We had used Giant City before, pre-Blagojevich, when the park had someone willing to work evenings so that AASI could host public events in the lot; I had also done my first real set of observing notes in the meadow on the park’s southern end (a.k.a. Tickville). And although Crab Orchard’s wildlife-viewing loop was right in the middle of the Carbondale-Marion conurbation (if a bit south), it was nearly-perfect from an ergonomic standpoint: flat, clear terrain on which to set up, and views right down to the horizon from the northeast to southwest. I found Omega Centauri there in those yellow-zone skies, and the Milky Way was occasionally a striking sight, despite being only half as bright as at Giant City. (Which is itself just a fraction as stunning as here at Eagle’s Ridge.) My best shot at the Messier Marathon took place at the loop, with Fred Isberner and I catching 87 of the 110 Messiers between hours of clouds and one horrific battle between two large, loud predators just beyond the treeline from our observing spot.

A few side notes on these notes: in my first session there, I snapped up NGC 6118, often considered the most difficult of the Herschel 400; given that the sky was impressive that night, I made a concerted effort to go for this spiral galaxy in Serpens Caput, for fear of not getting a better shot (hah!).

The week of June 30-July 5 was one of my most productive, as I did much of my work on the AL globular-cluster program that week, scouring the southern horizon for clusters in and below the coils of Scorpius and the northern reaches of Corona Australis… neither region of which I could reach here around Eugene. It was also the week that I began carrying a spare van key in my wallet, as I locked myself out of the van (with my phone in the van), and only the timely arrival of the awesome Len Wenzel enabled me (and Bob Morefield) to rush home and get the spare (with my house key also in the van!). That was not an easy one to live down. The last two weeks of the month continued the great fortune astronomy-wise. By the time July was over, I had caught 40 of the 50 globulars I needed for the AL’s globular-observing program. It was a good thing, too—August was completely clouded and rained out, and it wasn’t until September that I was able to finish the program; I didn’t formally complete it until November.

Those were good days; that July was one of the best months of observing I’ve ever had, due to the cooler, less-humid weather and the lack of clouds. I observed around the Moon, utilizing three of the four weeks of the month to observe and avoiding the ten days around Full. And my notes had greater focus then on the object I was observing, less on the star field around said object. Less verbiage. More rock, less talk.

But enough….

6/30/14

GIANT CITY VISITOR CENTER PARKING LOT
MOON: absent (3 days, already set)
SEEING: 5
TRANSPARENCY: 6
NELM: 5.7
WEATHER CONDITIONS: windy, lightning to south, not humid

with RM

9:49
NGC 6144 (Sco)— 14mm— 3-4’— touching 11th mag star— fairly diffuse like 5466—CC 10?—mag 10— star touching is part of a line with 10th and 8th mags— slightly granular on bground haze— a little more granular w averted, a couple of stars in crescent shape around edge

10:13
NGC 5053 (Com)—as faint as on 6/3, slightly more obvious, w averted, 6’ diam—sprinkling of quite faint stars w averted moving scope makes 2 or 3 vis with direct—not much concentration–CC 12?–almost too tenuous to estimate—mag.11, probably less

10:26
NGC 5694 (Hya)—little, no more than 2’ diam— at end of line with two stars— almost stellar core, small halo, almost has nucleus—no indiv stars visible in cluster— small triangle of brighter stars to S— w/averted still 2’, not much improvement—tightly concentrated, CC 5?—mag 10?

10:37
NGC 5466 (Boo)— 8-9’, like 5897—lot of faint stars, low concentration—CC 11?—noticed immediately with direct—30 stars with direct—not quite round, caved in on preceding–mag 10/11?

11:18
NGC 6118 (Ser)—not impossible—vF, diffuse glow—3’ x 1.5’—v Bright star off to F side, small isoc triangle of 11-12 mag stars to S of galaxy—quite elongated, faint, suprisingly large—not a lot of sweeping needed—Alvin + Tri—averted:slightly brighter core, ever-so, nothing of outer edge—trickles into background space

7/3/14

CRAB ORCHARD WILDLIFE VIEWING LOOP
MOON: 6 days, still present at beginning
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 6
NELM: 5.4
WEATHER CONDITIONS: v. damp (humid); ground fog as departing

with RM and HT

10:01
NGC 5824 (Lupus)—M80-ish—bright (mag. 9)—almost stellar “core”—v small, 2’ diam, high concentration (CC 3?)—not much in way of halo—w/averted, maybe 1-2 uncertain stars across face—to N a pair of 10th/11th and 13th mag stars, if cluster on S edge of field, bright star to N

10:07
NGC 5986 (Lupus)—much larger, more diffuse, brighter than 5824—mag 8?—low concentration (CC 8?)—5’ diam—1 quite bright star to F side—averted brings out several stars across face—bright field star off edge at 2:00 and another at 7:00 on edge—quite mottled with averted—only a few cluster stars with direct vision

10:37
Iridium 12 in Cygnus  mag -2.3

7/4/14-7/5/14

CRAB ORCHARD WILDLIFE VIEWING LOOP
MOON: 7 days, still present at beginning
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 4-6
NELM: 5.3 faint MW, not much detail in Rift, not much definition over by M7
WEATHER CONDITIONS: v. damp (humid); ground fog as departing

with LW and his friends (Jeff & Tammy??)

10:42
NGC 6139 (Sco)—about 3’ diam—sky v. poor this low—mag 11?–looks almost like elliptical galaxy or core of spiral — no stars visible—only a couple of field stars—CC hard to tell, maybe 4?—only a few degrees above horizon at this point

11:02
NGC 6325 (Oph )—not one of easier/more impressive globs—about 3’ diam—no brightening at all w/direct, slight bit of central brightening with averted—CC v. difficult, maybe 6?—no stars visible at all—faint, tenuous haze—in field with some indistinct dark neb?, but background fairly sparse—easy to pass over—maybe 11 mag?

11:12
NGC 6369 (Oph) Little Ghost—v bright planetary, no filter, swept up super easily—about half an arcminute maj axis—seems to be annular (traces of)— no cent star—bright ring with tiny bit of fringe halo—slightly oblong in P-F direction—forms tip of almost equal triangle with 10th/11th stars—seeing not good enough for higher power

11:29
NGC 6401 (Oph)—2’ diam—bright star in middle/stellar nucleus—w/averted, hints of granularity—reasonably bright (mag 9), easily seen—w/averted almost like double nucleus/two bright stars in middle—not much resolution—CC 8?

11:39
NGC 5986 (Lup, redux)—even better, very granular—few visible in averted, one bright—cluster lower in sky—5’—slightly squashed on P side, bright star on F, NF side

12:11
NGC 6380 (Sco)—spot easy to find, cluster not—cluster is 2’??—very diffuse, CC impossible to tell—barely visible above background—only slightly more visible w/averted— bright (8th mag) star to P side of field—globular just on edge of perception around 11th mag star—star is just off S edge of globular—globular is just a haze, very difficult, perhaps 13th mag

12:21
NGC 6441 (Sco) right off by 10’ from g Sco—really bright, mag 8—like M80 brightness (seems)—4-3’—large core—small sprinkling of halo stars—remarkably smooth gradientwise—not much gran—light falls away smooth like elliptical galaxy; guessing at CC 4—bright star off P edge by 4’—“bright, impressive tableau”—no real resolution even w/averted

12:36
NGC 6453 (Sco)—off M7—3’—11th mag—stars vis with direct—granular—8-9 stars w averted—brighter section of core forms cresecent—not round—core slightly like Ringtail Gal—moderately concentrated (CC 6-7?)—very interesting

12:54
NGC 6541 (CrA)—nice bright glob (8th mag), v low—4’—set in bright scalene triangle—has outliers to 6-7’—well resolved—numerous stars (15 at least with averted, bunch with direct)—presents triangular aspect—reasonably bright field star to F side—wedge shape of field stars pointing to NF side—v loose concentration (CC 8)

NGC 6496 (Sco)—can’t say I saw—p. negligible—found correct field—don’t know that I saw globular

1:09
NGC 6388 (Sco)—just above horizon—2.5-3’—faint halo surround brighter core—hard to focus on so low in sky—smooth gradient; high concentration, CC 3?—little bit granular—10th mag star to N side—almost off-center nucleus star toward P side, pretty faint—fairly bright glob; mag 8?

1:16
NGC 6118 (Oph, redux)—just after security—glow 4 x 3’—using junky pattern on Tri to bright star, just S of bright star—small triangle off to S,F side—galaxy fairly uniform, v. faint tonight (well past meridian—def there with direct—pA?—slight (ever so-) bit of central brightening

1:30
NGCs 6928, 6930; Delphinus trio (Del)—two glows visible, both v. tough—each about 1’, two in contact—thrid not visible clearly?—6928/30—never have found wo Tri—v. fleeting, but brightens w seeing 1 x 2’ total, two tiny cores—no real central brightening—stellar nucleus in P galaxy only fleeting—hard to separate—“that’s a bitch”

1:58
NGC 6907 (Cap)—24mm (stupid)—one of those “not sure at first”—about 2 x 1’?—funky spade-shaped asterism off to F side—brighter w/averted—not much central brightening—sketchworthy—w averted 2.5 x 1.5’?—fades gradually into background–no stellar nucleus—10th mag star to following by 2-3’

7/18/14

CRAB ORCHARD WILDLIFE VIEWING LOOP
MOON: Last Quarter, absent until 12:21
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 6-7 (horizons 5)
NELM: 5.6
WEATHER CONDITIONS: v. damp (humid); ground fog as departing

With RM and LW

Locked keys in van

11:57
NGC 6535 (Ser)—faint glow about 4-3’—11th mag—averted shows 7 stars visible, two-three quite bright on P side even w direct—loose cluster, maybe CC 10—rich field—several 7th/8th stars in field

7/19/14

CRAB ORCHARD WILDLIFE VIEWING LOOP
MOON: 22 days, absent
SEEING: 4-5
TRANSPARENCY: 5-6, variable
NELM: 5.3, MW not well visible through Sagitta/Vulp. Star clouds still obvious
WEATHER CONDITIONS: v. damp (humid); ground fog as departing

With HT

10:52
NGC 6355 (Oph)—on edge of tadpole-shaped asterism (P side)—4-3’ diam—resembles a comet—halo stretches to about 4’—inner 3’ is considerably brighter—averted doesnt help much for size—stellar point toward center—no indiv stars at all—CC 5-6?—not quite round—with averted, double “core”?—core elongated to N-S—halo not particularly round but rounder than core

11:17
NGC 6304 (Oph)—considerably smaller than M62 (starhopped from; why no notes?)—3-4’—has definite graininess—4’ with averted—mag 9—core seems almost triangular—averted makes this more apparent—doesnt have stellar “nucleus”—nested in triangle of 9th/10th stars—bright pair (wide double?) toward S F of field—on better night, resolution?— CC 4-5? —more power would resolve some stars?—Seeing v. soft

11:23
NGC 6316 (Oph)—2’—to SF side is a 10th/11th field star 1-2’ from cluster—smaller considerably than 6304—with averted halo stretches anothe arcminute 3-3.5’ (more like 3’)—double gradient—core makes up 50% of face—not much grain, pretty smooth glo even w/ averted—rounder than 6304—pair of faint field stars (10, 11) to P side; 11th (12th?) 1’ from halo of cluster, 10th is 3’ from cluster)—smooth, not much granularity even averted—like M80 in small refractor—CC 5?—maybe 8th mag?

11:43
NGC 6293 (Oph)—starhopped to from previous—brightest, best resolved of recent group (mag 8)—to P side of zigzag of 10th/11th stars—about 5‘ with halo—inner 2’ much more concentrated/brighter—loose cluster—with averted 10 stars in cluster, inc. one 5’ from center, right on N F edge of halo—field star to S F 7’ from cluster center—“M15 style”—CC 5?—bright core, halo falls away pretty rapidly

11:52
M19 (Oph)—far and away brightest this evening, mag 7—extends to 7’—elongated N-S v. apparently—inner 4’ make up brighter core, no nuclear “point” like M15—8 x 7’—to N side are two brightest stars in cluster—bright field star S P by 10’—to S F side 8/9 mag field star—fairly evenly distributed across face, pretty well resolved—CC 7-8

7/21/14

CRAB ORCHARD WILDLIFE VIEWING LOOP
MOON: 24 days, absent 
SEEING: 5 (improved considerably, to 6/7)
TRANSPARENCY: 5 (horizons 4) MW very indistinct, Great Rift difficult
NELM: 5.4
WEATHER CONDITIONS: v. damp (humid); ground fog caused early end to session

with RM and HT

9:48
M107 (Oph)—nicely resolved—in trapezoid shape of stars—8’-7’—not completely dark yet—14mm—three distinct layers of brightness—interior 5’—couple of brighter stars (13th) across face—cluster 8th mag—fairly loose—CC 8—sitting insquashed trapezoid of 9th-10th stars—averted gets 20+ stars—wedge shape of brighter stars poiunting N across face—not sharp central concentration like M15

10:08
Me 2-1 (Lib)—one of smallest PN looked at—just off short side of rt. triangle of 8-10th mag stars—almost stellar (15”) but slightly fuzzy—easy to hop to w TriA—found w/o filter—OIII brightens neb a fair bit—reasonably sharply defined edges—no detectable color—visile w/direct—no central star—about 10th mag?—quite bright—in 6mm Radian, w/OIII, completely lost target—w/6mm and no filter, slightly diffuse edges—UHC w/14mm better than OIII—maybe 10”?—may have seen core/nucleus of IC 4538 as a “star” in the field; tried to confirm but seeing wasn’t good enough

10:57
NGC 6572 (Oph) Harry says blue—greener to me in 14mm—10” (?) and bright w/o filter—at tip of “smashed Ursa Major” asterism—nebula off “nose” of asterism—bowl of “dipper” to F side of neb.—w/OIII looks fuzzy around edges, like condensation on optics—w/o filter, fairly sharp on edges—filter blows this out, as if edges are “cottony”—not as green as Saturn Neb—OOTW on DSF—other two stars are 8’ to F side—neb too small in 14mm to show as anything but not-quite-stellar

11:31
NGC 6426 (Oph)—brutally nasty glob—v.v. weak, indistinct glow—sky at zenith a bit better—one of toughest NGC globulars—2-3’ diam, maybe 4’ w/averted—difficult even w/averted—no stars at all, no graininess—halfway and a bit preceding long edge of rt.triangle made of 9-10th stars—jiggling scope makes it more visible—as bad as 5053—12th mag—doesn’t look quite round, but too faint to judge exact shape—CC impossible to tell; cluster barely visible

11:49
NGC 6717 (Palomar 9) (Sgr) —4’ S P from Nu Sgt—cluster is about 1.5’ diam—mag 9—almost looks like a trio of stars with haze/neb around them—doesn’t look much like glob—definitely three bright “condensations”, one to NP, one to NF, one S on face of cluster, rather than indiv stars—averted doesn’t change this—averted gives extra fringe of halo—odd looking glob—CC 9

7/24-25/14

GIANT CITY STATE PARK VISITOR CENTER PARKING LOT
MOON: 27 days, absent 
SEEING: 7 (4 at horizon)
TRANSPARENCY: 7 (horizons 6) MW very brilliant and detailed; temporary cirrus influx
NELM: 6.1
WEATHER CONDITIONS: good; temps in 70s, somewhat humid
many sporadic meteors

With RM

10:15
NGC 6791 (Lyr)—proverbial patch of unresolved haze with couple of stars sprinkled on top—14mm—caught between bands of thick cirrus—cluster is 10’—a number of brights stars atop—cluster haze visible with direct on/off (cirrus)—hard to tell concentration—reasonably well detached, V rich—wouldn’t have noticed right away—crowded field

10:49
NGC 6760 (Aql)—just grainy, near resolution—about 4-5’ with direct, 5’ with averted—averted hints at resolution—core 80% of diameter—looks moderate concentration—8 CC?—11th star to NF side just out of edge of halo by 2’?—fainter star (13th) to NP edge—mag 9-10—satellite through field—field has ring of brighter stars to N edge of FOV, grouped in pairs

11:09
NGC 6749 (Aql)—just on threshold of direct—just barely there, 13-14th mag?—better seeing than before—V tough—3’ diam?—has rhombus shape of faint (10-11th) stars overlaid across it—globular CC??? too faint to say—just coming and going—2 on averted scale—sometimes visible w/direct—“definitely there”—more than suspected—2 parallel arcs of 3 stars each on each side making up rhombus—moving scope makes glob definite—no definition, just a glow

11:23
NGC 6642 (Sgr)—S of M22—small (2.5-3’) glob—nicely resolved—pretty well resolved—grainy all around—core not quite centered— 5’ N is 10th star—core small compared to halo—two gradients—averted shows many stars across field—center has bright condensation—CC 4-5—8th mag—nice glob—slightly triangular—almost has nucleus—F side flatter—opposite vertex in middle of P side—field littered with stars—to S is asterism (triangle inside line)

11:58
NGC 6638 (Sgr)—more diffuse than previous, but not by much—well grainy—good resolution into tiny stars—bright core, no stellar nucleus—mag 8—core 75% of face—quite concentrated (CC 4)—SP side has one star brighter than other in cluster—with 6mm Radian, cluster is very much more resolved (poor seeing that low)—easily overlooked by prox to M22—4’ in 6mm—brightest part of cluster to NF side—slight elongation of core in NP-SF direction

12:08
NGC 6723 (Sgr)—V large, V well resolved—8-9 CC—lots of little stars visible even low to horizon—10th mag on edge of halo just to NF side—cluster 7-8’—well resolved across face—words fail with globs like this—7th mag—too many stars to count, at least 100—inner 80% makes up core which has a couple of “dark or “star-poor” spots in it—averted really brightens, but does not increase size

rest of Eps Cor Aus region—wow—whole area covered with visible nebulosity—lots of backgrd glow—cometary nebula (6729) visible through treetop—to S of one of bright star pairs in nebulosity—equal brightness double to S, also one to N [wrapped in 6726/7]—nebula has dim starry tip [R CrA]—losing into tree—nebula 4-5’ long trails away from star at tip to star at SF side [T CrA]—almost looks like galaxy???—giving short shrift to region in description due to loss in treetops

12:23
NGC 6907 (Cap) redux—much more obvious than at CO (14mm this time)—still finding w/trowel asterism—elongated NP-SF slightly, PA 30˚???—fairly bright—definitely wouldve noticed in passing—to FS side is 10th star—galaxy has brighter core that’s 66% of size—halo extends slightly NF [this is spiral arm NGC 6908], not perfectly uniform, core not perfectly centered—looks like spiral—every now and then a flicker of a stellar core—V obvious in averted—to SP is faint double star about 6’ from P edge of galaxy—to SP (1:00 from double by 3-4’) is another 11-12th star

12:46
NGCs 6928, 6930; Delphinus trio—6mm Radian—larger (6928) galaxy elongated N-S—2’—fainter (6930) in contact to F side, has stellar nucleus [seeing sloppy]—definitely 2 objects—longer G doesn’t have stellar nucleus—3rd galaxy (27) not visible

12:56
NGC 6934 (Del)—bright (8th mag), well-resolved—lots of stars with averted—CC 7—has bright star (9th) to P side—core only 50%—lots of little stars across face—small line of stars on N side of core—5’, inc. halo

1:10
NGC 7006 (Del)—long search—tiny, V concentrated—CC 2-3—not much halo—core 90% of cluster—fairly bright, esp for distance from us (9th mag?)—little more halo with focus—core becomes 80% with averted—2-2.5’—to P side, by 3’, faint double—to F and N sides by 4’, faint individual stars (12-13th), so inside a triangle—several 7-8 field stars, esp. around edges of FOV

1:57
IC 5148/50 (Gru)—w/UHC (better than OIII?)—found with 24mm SWA—14mm best view—1.75’ diam—to S edge a bright field star touching edge—averted extends to 2’—V round—suspected annularity; ring thick—V low in sky—to F side is a bit of brightening of ring—w/OIII, biggest brightening is on P side [?!]—no central star with or w/o filter—definitely annular w/averted—ring 0.75’ thick, opening V small—with OIII, star at S edge is within nebula [not really]

2:06
M30 (Cap)—beautiful!!—M15 style (stellar nucleus)—7th mag—8-9’ across, halo spread out, comes to blazing center—CC 5—two distinct chains of stars leading from center to N —chain from center due N has four stars—other chain off to edge of core also has four stars—two outliers on NF side—cluster squashed along S side, halo compressed on S side, core not at center—10’ to P side is 7th-8th star—cluster V well resolved around edges—halo spectacular—jellyfish-like with chains

2:30
WLM (Cet)—really coming and going—visible mostly as slight brightening of background—V large (15’ long)—oval running almost N-S—on S end is 11th-12th field star touching glow—most visible by rocking scope [V low in sky!!]—tough to hold in direct—12’-15’, 15’ in averted?—to P side by 9-10’ of star at S end is another brighter star—another star off N end, one 7-8’ to P side of N end star—shape hard to determine—rectangular??—not quite to middle of P side is slight starlike brightening, P a line between N-S stars—can’t tell what brightening is (too faint)—v slow satellite going through N side of field—evenly distributed glow—VVV faint—12-15’ x 4’ wide at widest—hard to tell dimensions

3:08
NGC 7026 (Cyg)—fuzzy star in 14mm with no filter—in 6mm w OIII, v bright—3/4’—10th star directly F by 1’—nebula core has two equally bright segments in halo to NP-SF—whole envelope extends well beyond core—no color—fuzzy edges—no central star visible—found w/o filter

Also observed M4, 6144, M80, Veil, 6118, M22, M28, 7479, Stephan’s Quintet

7/27-28/14

GIANT CITY STATE PARK VISITOR CENTER PARKING LOT
MOON: 1 day, absent 
SEEING: 7 (5 at horizon)—improved to 8 around midnight
TRANSPARENCY: 8 (horizons 6) MW very brilliant and detailed; bulge into Ophiuchus obvious; M13 visible w/averted, N.A. Nebula visible
NELM: 6.3
WEATHER CONDITIONS: excellent; temps in 70s-60s, very low humidity (no dew), much lightning (heat lightning or distant to S?); wind gusting for two hrs prior to midnight
many sporadic meteors—some Delta Aquariids?

With JR and FI

10:43
M10 [actually M12] (Oph)—7-8’—V loosely concent—has streak of stars spilling out toward N—averted expands halo to 8-9’—glob inside triangle of 8-9th mag stars—CC 9-10—on N edge of triangle—chain of stars from center to N—glob is squarish w/averted—core more concentrated toward S edge—core about 60% of diam—halo extends more to N—many small stars arranged in pairs in broad flattened ’S’ shape N-S—N end of ’S’ to P side, S end to F side—glob 8th mag?

10:53
M12 [actually M10] (Oph)—little more concentrated than M10—looks like fainter M13 with chains and arcs—7th mag—one bright star to SF side (maybe cluster member?)—chains stretch directly P-F—w/averted, rest of halo fills in—10’ diam, 11’ w averted—to P side of edge of halo, faint double star, also same to N and F sides—region around periphery littered w very close pairs—two arcs (like parentheses) lead from S side of cluster—core 80%, but lots of stragglers—14’ with stragglers—too many stars to count—CC 7-8?—several bright field stars toward edge of field— a wide triangle of 7-9th mags halfway between cluster and edge to F side

[Accidentally got M10 and M12 reversed; descriptions should be switched]

11:09
NGCs 6522, 6528 (Sgr)—22 larger of two, almost double size—3’—two clusters separated by 23’?—btween them is wedge-shape pointing due S—22 brighter, granular—9th mag—one cluster star to F side of core by 1’—core is 50%—quite small cluster—averted makes 4’?—7th mag field star 15’ to N—CC 8—doesn’t have stellar nucleus—granular on edges—averted brings a couple stars around periphery?

-28—smaller, more diffuse—2’—10th mag—to S by 5-6’ faint pair (12-13th)—to SP, 13th mag, maybe cluster member about 1/2’ from core of cluster—hints at resolution—almost looks like refection neb with granular edges—CC 6?

11:41
Terzan 7 (Sgr)—brutally faint (14th mag???)—small kite-shaped asterism of 7-9th stars, two brightest to NF—off S side of kite is pair of 12-13 mags spaced about 5’—something between those and just to N—barely detectable—2-3 [3] on averted v scale—about 2-3’??—not visible w/direct, but definite—position hard to hold—N of two stars—no CC possible—windy—lightning to SE—80% positive it’s there—easier than I thought?????—w/6mm, better look at field—wind playing havoc holding scope steady—“three and then two”

12:06-12:18
Palomar 8 (Sgr) —starhopped to, found w/direct vision—in crowded field—diffuse glow; 12th mag?—fairly loose concentration—to S edge, embedded just in halo (not that there’s a real halo)—very faint (13th) star—off to F edge is another of similar brightness—easy visible cluster—holdable w direct—brighter than some NGCs—many faint field stars around cluster—3.5’-4’?—impossible to tell CC—w/averted almost wants to seem on edge of being granular, esp. on P side—quite large glob—looks like F-side star may be v. close pair—brightest star in field to SF by 12’, 8-9 mag—had JR confirm—in 6mm Radian star to F side is double/pair—star on P side may be double

12:47
NGC 6822 (Sgr)—dim amorphuous glow—number of stellar points across face—12’ x 6’ elongated N-S—found in 24mm, where it was easier—to P side there is dim pair (12-13th?) on edge—to F side, a little pentagon of which brighter stars are on F side of galaxy, just on halo—in 14mm, became tougher, of course—in 24mm, considerably brighter—to S edge, unusual angled ‘E’-shaped asterism, used for finding—seeing haze that extends way to F side that shouldn’t exist, toward bright pair (8th) of stars—w/UHC, brightening of a couple of spots on P side—also on N P—3-4 little “areas”—also a couple well off F side—galaxy still visible in UHC

1:13
M72 (Aqr)—bright little glow, 8th mag—4-5’—lots of little stellar points—core 60% of cluster—pretty loose—CC 7-8—to NF side, there is 12-13 mag field star about 1’ from halo—to N is pair of stars separated by 3-4’, 11th mag, one 3’ from cluster’s edge, other 3’ from that—pair of bright (10th and 11th) field stars to F side—slow-moving satellite in field—meteor through field—about 7’ away on P side, a pair of stars sep. by 7’, the one to S is double/pair—lots of tiny star points

2:31
NGC 7492 (Aqr)—after long search—about 4-5’—about halfway between pair of 11-12 stars, one to NP, other to SF—another v faint star to F side—no resolution, no central brightening—CC… 10?—fainter than Pal 8?—v. faint, even averted doesn’t help much—12th mag?—maybe 5’ in averted

2:54
Jones 1 (Peg)—enormous—at least 5’ on major axis, not quite round—nebula is definitely bi-lobed, pair of broken arcs—extending long-wise 5 x 4’—rocking field helps— arcs on N-S sides—looks like stoma on plant—w/averted, annularity is stronger—10th mag star to N side—really tough to tell—

3:03
Hickson 92 (Peg)—4 glows—using 6 Radian—largest of glows is one to farthest preceding—seems to have star involved—stellar nucleus or star?—1 x 3/4’—one to farthest P does have stellar nucleus—about 3/4 x 1/2’—two v. involved with each other, 3’ from brightest, to NF—definitely double nucleus—whole envelope is 3’ x 2’, double nucleus (directly S?)—to S, almost touching field star, is fifth glow

3:37
NGC 7015 (Equ)—elongated 3:2, about 2’ x 1.3’—to NF side, faint pair—to N, field star 11-12 mag?—uniform halo—core lumpy—core is 80%—pretty obvious, moderately bright—about 8’ to SP, 8th mag star

The Week That Was

Barnard 86 (the Ink Spot Nebula) and the star cluster NGC 6520. B86 is composed of grains of silicate dust and organic matter, and is of the type of nebula from which clusters of stars–like NGC 6520–are eventually born. Image courtesy European Southern Observatory.

I. The last week of June brought with it the Third Quarter Moon and an unprecedented run of clear nights. Starting with June 25th, members of EAS went out to Eureka Ridge 8 of 9 nights; I made it 6 of those 9, using the more mediocre nights to catch up on much needed rest (and taking one night off due to work the next morning).  I even hitched a ride with Jerry one night, as Mrs. Caveman was off taking the offspring to Portland on her way to Japan and needed the van.

I spent much of the week working on the Herschel 400 and Herschel II lists; each has 400 objects taken from William Herschel’s 2500 or so deep-sky discoveries.  The 400 list is, more or less, the highlights of Herschel’s 2500, while the Herschel II collects (ostensibly, anyway) the second-tier 400.  There is a Herschel III, but it hasn’t formally been acknowledged by the Astronomical League as of yet. The Herschel 400/II lists contain objects bright enough that I wouldn’t want to “waste” the uber-dark skies at the Oregon Star Party observing them, when I can do it from Eureka Ridge or Eagle’s Ridge nearby.  The better to save OSP for targets requiring the darkest possible conditions.

Due to the sheer number of objects I observed this week, I’m not going to dress up my notes in the more prose-y style I used in the previous entry; I’ll do so in later entries, but there’s just too much here to afford that kind of time.  Here, they’re straight-from-the-transcription field notes, with some extra background material thrown in.

A note about the format I use on all of these notes, the prosier ones and the stripped-down version: eyepiece directions are north (N), south (S), west (P[receding]), and E (F[ollowing]).  The reason for this is that telescopes change the orientation of the cardinal directions, depending on the scope and the use of a diagonal mirror. Preceding indicates the direction that objects drift through the field, due to the Earth’s rotation, and is easier to note while observing than saying West; Following is the opposite side of the field, the side from which new stars and objects enter. North and south are reversed in a telescope, but can be misidentified easily based on the orientation of the telescope field. In a polar-aligned equatorially-mounted telescope, south is at top and north at bottom; in an alt-az Dobsonian scope like the ones I usually use, north and south always have to be determined by nudging the telescope toward Polaris, the North Star.  It’s more complicated than it seems.

In addition, the notations [ ‘ ] and [ ” ] don’t mean feet and inches here unless used to describe a telescope–they denote arcminutes and arcseconds, respectively. An arcminute is 1/60th of a degree; an arcsecond is 1/60th of an arcminute. The Moon covers roughly 1/2 of a degree, i.e. 30 arcminutes.  Estimating the size of galaxies and star clusters that are only a couple of arcminutes across is fidgety work, and less accurate than I’d prefer; it requires knowing the exact size of an eyepiece field and subdividing it to a reasonable measure of accuracy.  I can do it fairly well with my 14mm Explore Scientific 82˚ eyepiece, which has a field 0.7-degrees wide, or 42’, and a magnification of 112x.  In other eyepieces, it’s more of a crapshoot, as I don’t always remember to change scale when taking notes with a different eyepiece (or, as I discovered, using a different telescope).

Observing this week was cut short by Moonrise, clouds, or exhaustion–usually Moonrise.

6/25-6/26/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 22 days (61%), rose at 12:26 AM
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 20.77 (11:30); 21.5 (12:00)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, no dew; windy, but did not affect ground-level conditions much
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, KO, CW, RB, AG (Alan), PH, PH’s brother

11:24
NGCs 5426, 5427 (Vir): 5427 is larger of two by quite a ways—about 3.5’ across, pretty round—very diffuse, no central concentration in direct, little bit of core in averted—probably face-on spiral—maybe a bit of texture visible in halo—below (S) it is 5426 [got mixed-up and called both 5427]—elongated almost due N-S—2.5’-3.0’ long by 1.5-2.0’ wide—very very faint star between two galaxies, may be partly in halo of 5426—5426 has some central concentration—a little core, possibly sub-stellar nucleus in averted—not many bright stars in field, brightest (9th mag) is to NF side by about 25’—area directly around galaxies in 10’ radius almost barren of stars

11:39
NGCs 5221, 5222, 5230 (Vir): not easy, tougher than expected—5221: elongated pretty much P-F—about 1.25’ long by 0.75’ wide—really surprisingly faint—some central concentration—in averted, may have slightly-brighter core, not by much—S of 5221 by 8’ is 5222: elongated more N-S—2.25’ x 1.5’—definitely has stellar nucleus and slight core brightening—on S edge of halo is threshold star—about halfway between and slightly P of 5221/5222 is a 13th-mag star—due F 5222 by 8’ is 12th-mag star—following previous 12th-mag star by 6’ is 5230 (due F 5222): 2.5’ round—very diffuse—has some central concentration, which makes up most of diameter—tiny fringe of halo, then central concentration/core, no real nucleus to speak of; very amorphous—all three galaxies are fairly marginal objects—F and slightly N of 5230 by 10’ is 9th-mag star—when 5222/21 are centered, on NP edge of field is 7th/8th-mag star, brightest in field

12:26
NGC 5838, 5841, 5846, 5846A, 5850, 5845, 5839, 5869 (Vir): following 110 Vir—5838: bright galaxy—halo kinda elongated NF-SP, 3.5’ x 2.0’, but halo dim—core very bright—core makes up brightest component by far (0.5’ across and round), no stellar nuc—to S slightly F by 9′ 5838 is 8th mag star, star has 12th-mag companion separated by 2’—with galaxy centered, to SP edge to field is 8th mag star (23’ from galaxy)—F 5838 by 27’ and slightly N is NGC 5841: nowhere near as bright as -38—about 0.75’ across—slightly elongated NP-SF—very much P-F, slightly tilted—tiny central brightening—tough tough galaxy at this magnification—core/nucleus almost resembles field star—SF of 5841 by 30’ is a quartet of galaxies, brightest of which is NGC 5846: quite bright, diffuse, almost looks like double galaxy—2.5-3.0’ across—halo fairly thin, core very large—no stellar nucleus—pretty round—to SF part of halo either v. dim star or companion galaxy—may be another galaxy [NGC 5846A]—F that pair and slightly N is another galaxy (5850)—about 1.0’ across—much dimmer—elongated slightly P-F—has bright core, no stellar nucleus—F and slightly N previous pair of galaxies by 9’—line of three stars halfway between pair and 5850—stars not evenly spaced—stars about 10th/11th/12th mag—P and S of pair by 7-8’ is another galaxy (5845): round, small (0.75’)—brightish stellar nucleus—due NP pair by 9’ is 9th mag star—SP 5845 by 10’ is another galaxy (5839)—0.75’—has 10th-11th mag star S by 4’—has slightly brighter core—no stellar nucleus?—core looks like field star at first glance—5869: 2.25’ diameter—round—brighter core—averted shows no stellar nucleus—in middle of diamond of three 10th mag stars and a 12th mag star—12th mag star is NP corner of diamond—galaxy may have substellar nucleus in averted [losing detail; Moon rising]—to NP side of galaxy by 10’ is a 9th-mag star—companion galaxy (-68) not seen

Above: a sunset panorama from Eureka Ridge, from northwest (top) to northeast (bottom).

 

II. The next night we were again back out by 9 PM, in time to set up before dark.  With sunset near 9 PM, it still took until after 11 PM before skies were dark enough to actually observe any but the brighter deep-sky objects (usually globular star clusters) and the planets; we used views of Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn to check our collimation and alignment of finders, as well as to note the seeing and the amount to which our mirrors needed to adapt to the falling temperatures.  All three planets have been spectacular this summer: Jupiter with its striking cloud belts, dancing Galilean satellites, and shadows of said satellites on the tops of the planet’s clouds; Mars with its white polar ice caps and dark surface albedo features, resembling landforms; Saturn with its stunning rings and retinue of tiny moons, with subtle cloud belts of its own.

We also observed tiny, dim Pluto these several nights; the ninth planet (HA!) passed just south of the bright star Pi Sagittarii on the evening of the 26th, making it slightly easier to find. It’s quite surprising how much Pluto moves against the background sky in the course of one night, and was interesting to track for the first few nights of the observing run.

This second night found me tackling globular clusters early, before proceeding to galaxies. I must have found very few new galaxies, as I took no notes on them.  I did, however, catch the elusive microquasar SS 433, an object that had been on my list for a long, long time.

6/26-6/27/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 23 days (Last Quarter), rose at 12:57 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 8
SQM: 21.4
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, little to moderate dew; slight breeze
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, RB, KP (Kristen)

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:00
NGC 6356 (Oph): globular, nice change of pace—really bright, 9th mag? maybe 10th?—5-6’ across—almost powdery on periphery—core is about 4’—maybe 3 gradients—CC 7? [2!]—due S is 9th mag star about 12’ away, part of tiny triangle—due P by 16-17’ is 7th-mag star—not sure why I missed this one when doing AL GC program

11:05
NGC 6342 (Oph): well S of 6356—3’ across—granular in averted—not well concentrated—has brighter inner region—CC 9 [4!]—to S and a bit P is 11th-mag star, 15’ from cluster halo—brightest star in field is 7th mag star to NP by 18’—F cluster by 24’ is 9th-mag star—P and just N of cluster by 22’ is  pair of 9th/10 mag stars separated by 5’—F and slightly N of cluster by 14’ is pair of 11th/12th mag stars separated by 3’

12:27
SS 433 (Aql): 6mm Radian: putting micro in microquasar—flickering in and out—greater than 14th magnitude—just off SF end of tiny diamond of stars—star on NF end is brightest (11.5 mag)—major axis of diamond is about 1’—SS 433 is off S tip of diamond—minor axis of diamond [0.4?] due P-F—SS 433 is major-axis of diamond to SF tip of diamond—not much to look at, but amazing to know what it is

By the time Jerry and I finished looking at SS 433, the Moon had risen.

III. The next night, I caught a ride with Jerry to Eureka Ridge, as I had no vehicle for the evening. Jerry brought the 20″ TriDob with him; I brought my 70mm TeleVue Pronto, rather than trying to stuff Bob the Dob into Jerry’s car with the TriDob.

What the Pronto lacks in aperture for deep-sky work, it more than makes up for in sweeping Milky Way vistas.  The enormous field of view the Pronto gives–almost four degrees with a 40mm Plössl eyepiece!–allows such sights as capturing the entire extent of the Veil Nebula in a single field, framing both the Eagle Nebula and the Swan Nebula together in a single field; and sweeping up the many lanes and clouds of dark dust along the Milky Way’s spiral form.  No large Dobsonian can provide these sights, which require such a huge field of view.  Yet the Pronto also fared well on smaller objects–with the 14mm Explore in the diagonal, the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) floated among the stars of Vulpecula in such a 3D view that Jerry said it might’ve been the best view of the nebula he’d ever had.

6/27-6/28/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 24 days (38%), rose at 1:30 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 8
SQM: 21.4
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, little dew; slight breeze
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, RB, AG

I took no notes on this night, preferring the casual approach afforded by the Pronto and the simple folding chair I brought along.  Although I wasn’t really able to pursue the Herschel lists, the night had its own astronomical rewards.

I had to work the next day, hunting and gathering and scoring exams. Mrs. Caveman returned from Portland mid-afternoon, and after my work shift and discussion of the offspring’s departure for Japan, I decided to bail on a fourth consecutive night of observing. As I recall, most of the other observers also bailed on the night, the better to catch up on sleep and return the next night ready to go.

IV. Wednesday was incredibly productive: 12 objects I hadn’t taken notes on before, and only two of which I’d previously observed. (This naturally doesn’t count those objects observed waiting for twilight to fade, or some of the showpieces I would observe between groups of very faint objects.  Among these showpieces were M17, M22, M5, M13, M4, M80, M8, and M20.) The two I had observed previously were NGC 6520 and Barnard 86, the Ink Spot Nebula.  I was interested primarily in catching the nearby globular cluster Djorgovski 2, but struck out on this one–it would take another night and a larger scope to pull this one out of the background sky.  As it was, the NGC 6520/B86 pairing is so stunning that I didn’t mind too much not catching Djo2.

I managed to sweep up all of the Herschel II objects in Libra before the constellation began its descent for the year; I hadn’t been able to do so with some of the earlier-Spring constellations, but I could at least close the book on Libra.

6/29-6/30/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 26 days (18%), rose at 2:42 AM
SEEING: 5
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.4
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, moderate dew; slight breeze
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, RB

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:21
NGCs 5595, 5597 (Lib): both very diffuse—larger of two [5595] is to P and slightly N—about 2.5’ diameter, fairly roundish—has kind of irregular shape to slight central concentraion, which makes up majority of diameter—elongated core N-S—following that by 6-7’ is other galaxy [5597] —half the size, even more diffuse—in averted just a hint of nucleus—about 1.5’, slightly elongated N-S—still a bit twilighty—bright satellite through field—to SP by 9’ of larger galaxy is 9th mag star— N of each galaxy by 8’ is a 10th mag star—halfway between those stars is 11th mag star—galaxies and 10th mag stars form rectangle—N and slightly P larger galaxy by 18’ is another 9th mag star

11:38
NGC 5605 (Lib)—not at all obvious—elongated SP-NF—about 2.0’ x 1.5’—very very diffuse—(fogged eyepiece)—in averted, no visible core, slight central brightening of nucleus—to F edge of halo maybe tiny threshold star coming and going in averted—7th mag star 15’ SF galaxy; 12th mag companion to NF by 1.5’—galaxy set in isosceles triangle of stars; long sides about 10’—star to SP side of triangle is 10th mag—star to NF 9th mag—star to FNF is 12th mag—would have passed over galaxy without knowing where to look—not overly obvious but not horribly difficult

11:51
NGCs 5728, 5716 (Lib)—galaxies down here not impressive—5728: satellite went through core of galaxy—elongated N-S—about 2.5’ x 1.25’—has some subtle central brightening—substellar nucleus in averted—smallish core—5’ S is 10th mag star at end of arc of three 10th mag stars going P-F—5’ N slightly F galaxy is 11th mag star—almost due P galaxy by 10’ is a 9.5 mag star—several threshold stars within framework of other stars closer to galaxy—galaxy definitely has brighter nucleus—core tapers slightly to S—back to 9.5 mag star to P side of galaxy: hopping from that, SP that star (another satellite through field) by 20’ is 5716—just on edge of galaxy is line of three 12th mag stars—galaxy is dim, unconcentrated—about 1.75’ in diameter—no central concentration—to N and angled NP-SF is line of 12th mag stars—two to F following side of line are spaced 1’ apart and are just on edge of galaxy’s halo—galaxy just a cottony fuzz—easy to overlook

12:07
NGC 5812 (Lib)—surely elliptical—1.5’, very round—definite central brightening—visible core region, substellar nucleus—core looks irregular or elongated—in nondescript field—25’ to F side of galaxy and slightly S is 7th mag star, maybe 8th, brightest thing in field—to NF side of galaxy by 8’ is little equilateral triangle of stars; N-most and F star is brightest at 11th mag—S edge of triangle has three 12th/13th mag stars in it—NP by 8’ of galaxy is 11th mag star—SP by 15’ is another 8th/9th mag star

12:20
NGC 5861, 5858 (Lib): 5861: really diffuse but very large—3.75’ x 2.5’—elongated NP-SF—not much central brightening at all—S of galaxy by 3’ is 11th star—NF by 12’ is 8th mag star—another 8th mag star SF galaxy by 18’—galaxy much more obvious that previous galaxies—supposed to be another galaxy [5858] N of 5861, but not sure I see it—just barely: N of 5861 by 15’—has 12th mag star touching on N side—quite small, visible mostly in averted or by rocking scope—maybe 0.75’ —no real central concentration—very much a threshold object [this may not be 5858—distance from 5861 too great; SG notes 5858 as “fairly bright, very small”, May this be IC 1091?]

12:35
NGC 5878 (Lib): field dominated by pair of 7th/8th mag stars—one is NP galaxy by 18’, the other NF galaxy by 9’, form a right triangle with galaxy—seeing fluctuating—galaxy fairly obvious—elongated NP-SF—2.5’ x 1.0’—looks like inclined spiral—has small brighter core—extent of galaxy, especially to SF edge, looks almost like there’s dimmer part of halo, like dark lane crossing perpendicular to plane of galaxy—quite nice galaxy, especially considering most previous ones—NF by 6’ is 10th star, N slightly F galaxy by 3’ is 11th mag star—4’ to NP of galaxy is 11th mag star

1:09
NGCs 6540, 6520; Barnard 86 (Sgr): 6540: non-globular-looking globular—about 1.5’, but not round, almost linear looking—extended P-F—grainy—has 12th and 13th mag star N of cluster by 1’—averted makes it a little more round—v. unusual looking globular—pair of 8th mag stars to P side, N and S by 12’—cluster forms isosceles triangle with pair—moving back P brings to NGC 6520/Barnard 86—6520: rich little cluster—central part is 4-5’ across—pretty detached from Milky Way—quartet of bright stars that run across bottom of cluster, two in central region of cluster, one almost in middle, one on P edge, one off F edge by 4’, one off P edge by 6’*—about 15 obvious stars and then a bunch of threshold stars that pop in averted—looks more like globular than 6540—three brightness gradients (quartet of brighter stars, then group of 12th/13th mag stars, rest fade into background haze)—B 86: elongated N-S—about 7.0’ x 9.0’—P side is darker—tendril of nebula runs along S side of 6520, but is less opaque than main part—to NP edge is 7th mag star—P edge of nebula has three other 11th mag stars that run along P edge, defining it—on N central side of B86 is 12th mag star just about on N edge—nebula like rounded triangle—*between that star and cluster is another patch of dark nebulosity that’s 4’ round, less opaque than rest of nebula—[spent several minutes searching for Djorgovski 2 with no luck]

1:37
NGC 6240 (Oph): seeing crappy at the moment—galaxy is faint—1.0’ x 0.7’, elongated N-S—just to F side on edge of halo is 13th mag star—13th mag stars due N and S—tiny bit of central brightening—averted brings out bit of halo, maybe to 1.25’ major axis—would’ve swept over without knowing where it was—galaxy inside check-mark shape of stars 30’ long—front part of check is 9’ long, almost like Nike swoosh—9th mag star at long end is brightest of check-mark stars—tough little galaxy, not easy in this aperture or magnification

V. We reconvened at Eureka Ridge the next evening—actually, the same evening, only later.  This time, though, I had somewhat heavier “artillery” to observe through.

The Eugene Astronomical Society has a telescope lending system; anyone in good standing in the group can borrow a telescope for three months, and can continue to keep that scope until and unless someone else requests it after that three months.  The 14.7″ Dob we’d built is a part of that lending program (Randy currently has it). So is the 18″ f/5 Dob-monster currently sitting in my garage, which I “checked out” of the club’s inventory the afternoon of June 30th.

The scope is considerably bigger than Bob the Dob, and requires a ladder to observe anything more northerly than Sagittarius’ teapot spout as seen from Eureka.  Fortunately, a ladder is included in the borrowing–along with a Telrad, an 8 x 50 finder, and a quartet of eyepieces–most notably, 19mm and 35mm TeleVue Panoptics.  And so, with great help from Jerry (and from Frank, who’d originally built the scope), the scope was assembled, collimated, and left to cool as night fell on Eureka Ridge.

Observing with a large Dobsonian is a different prospect than observing with a smaller scope, doubly so when a ladder is needed.  Although it’s possible to aim the scope from ground level, looking through the Telrad, moving the giant 18″ from up on a ladder is much more difficult; it’s not as smooth as Bob the Dob, and that, coupled with my insufficient amount of sleep, made me impatient when having to search for objects.  I gave up somewhat quickly on Abell 2065, the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster, the central galaxies of which I’d already observed in Jerry’s Trackball and the 20″ TriDob, and I gave less attention than I should have to Abell 2151, the Hercules Galaxy Cluster.  Both clusters are on the Oregon Star Party advanced observing list, and although I’d wanted to refamiliarize myself with them prior to OSP, I just wasn’t in the mood to stand on a ladder and sweep for them that particular night at Eureka. Even though my ancestors had still been tree-dwellers, we Australopithecines hadn’t given up on this ground-dwelling thing, and we weren’t yet ready to climb ladders or abandon the comfortably-solid ground for any length of time.

Other targets lower in the sky got better shrift.  I had spent some time the last few nights casually looking for the obscure globular ESO 452-11, east of Tau Scorpii, but hadn’t really concentrated on it.  This night, with Scorpius on the meridian, I had the opportunity and the aperture to track it down.

6/30-7/1/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 27 days (18%), rose at 3:25 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: 21.4
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, little to moderate dew; slight breeze
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, KO, RB, FS, BH

Observed with EAS’ 18” f/5 Dobsonian. Observations using 14mm ES 82* (178x; TFOV 0.5*)

11:21
ESO 452-11 (Sco): just E of Tau Sco—absolutely tiny, just a little fuzz—0.75’ diameter—substellar point in middle—off to P side is another threshold star, substellar point in middle may also be threshold star, both bracketing cluster glow—both stars are less than 0.5’ apart—P cluster and slightly S is pair of 11th mag stars—twilight still not finished—to F and S is another triangle of stars, 9th and 10th mags—to NP cluster by 15’ is 8th mag star

I also went back to NGC 6520 and the Ink Spot to find Djorgovski 2, and, lo and behold, the extra aperture made the sighting easy once I had the right spot:

11:55
Djorgovski 2 (Sgr): finally!—almost in middle (slightly N) of Hercules-keystone-shaped asterism, which has brightest star to S and shortest side to NP of cluster—cluster is just about 2’ across and very diffuse—no way to check CC—with cluster centered in field, bright star N of Ink Spot lies just on F edge of field—cluster 13th mag? —no stars visible in cluster—in averted to P and very slightly S of halo is threshold star coming in and out of view

Now that I know how to find Djo 2, I’m guessing that I can find it in Bob the Dob.

But there were other objects that I managed, even up on the ladder.  The two most notable were Hickson 72 in Boötes, a good test for the aperture, and the marvelously-named Shakhbazian 166, a chain of tiny, eye-bleedingly faint galaxies next to Eta Ursae Minoris.  Both clusters of galaxies were fascinating to observe, and I regret not taking notes on them, or at least not going after them with the 6mm Radian to prise out what detail could be gleaned from them.

I kept feet on the ground with many targets, observing M 4, M80, M22, M25, and M28 from my observing chair, then using a two-step ladder to catch M5.  Globular clusters become exponentially more remarkable in larger apertures, and nothing can compare to seeing these brilliant examples of the class in such a large scope.  (I also observed the great M13 from the ladder; it was well worth the climb.)

The post-midnight hours saw our group dwindle to a quartet, and though I was just beginning to feel comfortable with the 18″, I was also starting to feel serious fatigue. My last handful of objects for the night included my favorite globular, M15 in Pegasus, and two other Pegasus sights: the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7479 (which looks a bit like Superman’s ‘S’ symbol, one spiral arm plainly obvious and extended, the other dimmer and shorter) and, another target I’d been after for some time, the edge-on super-flat galaxy UGC 12881, a phantom of a sliver of a galaxy that had been the featured Object of the Week over at the Deep Sky Forum a couple of years ago and had been an obsession ever since.  It was a marginal sighting, likely to be bettered under the darker skies of OSP when the galaxy would be closer to the meridian, but it would do for now.

Randy and I got the 18″ loaded into the Caveman-Mobile and were the last two to leave the site.  It was a tough drive home; had we been at Eagle’s Ridge, twice as far from home, I’m not sure I would’ve made it in one piece.  As it was, I don’t remember much of the last fifteen minutes of driving.

The next night, Mrs. Caveman and I took the 18″ scope to a pre-4th of July party on the outskirts of town. We hadn’t realized the party wasn’t on the 4th, and found this out too late to bring food; as the host (our real estate agent) had asked us to bring a telescope, I thought that hauling the 18″ would make up for the fact that we hadn’t brought any food. As it turned out, it more than made up for any food we might have scrounged up to take.  There were about 30 people at the party, and the astonishment they expressed at the sight of the monster scope was reward enough.

The agent’s property included a large field (seen in the above photos) that had the occasional deer sprinting through, and was stable enough ground that I was more comfortable scaling the ladder to the eyepiece.  We still stayed lower to the ground  when possible, checking out the three visible planets (Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn) to the delight of those present—especially the lad who spent much of his waking time daydreaming about Mars and reading up on Curiosity and the other Mars missions.

We did scale the ladder or the stepstool for other sights: M13, M5, M11, M17, and M51. The skies from the agent’s house were surprisingly good—about the equivalent of those at Crab Orchard in southern Illinois–and the Milky Way had a fair amount of detail.  I’d have been well pleased to call that area my own stomping ground.

A number of folks there at the party were suitably impressed with what they’d seen.  A job well done.

VI. The final night of this observing run was July 3rd, again at Eureka. This time, I brought Bob the Dob, still my mainstay no matter what other gear I have. Given the occasional wind gusts that sprang up, it was a fortuitous choice; Dobsonians being prone to becoming wind vanes in gusty conditions, and the larger ones especially so, it would’ve been chaos to use the 18″.  The shorter 12.5″ avoided the wind for the most part, with only a few ground-level gusts being a problem.

One other aspect of using the 12.5″ was of benefit–I’m familiar with it enough that it’s almost an extension of my own eyes.  I know how it’s going to move, and exactly how much pressure to use to get it where I need to go.  Much as the extra 5.5″ of aperture could be useful on any quarry, the 12.5″ was the scope that I needed for this last night’s quarry… more of the Herschel objects.

It was another very productive night.  Jerry and Kathy were there, as was their neighbor John (a doctor; it didn’t occur to me until I got home that I should’ve called him The Night Tripper) and Randy, again using the 14.7″ scope EAS had built.  Once darkness had fallen, and with the usual twilight targets (M80, et al) out of the way, we all settled into our own projects and our own individual universes.

7/3-7/4/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 29 days (1%), rose at 6:06 AM
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 7
SQM: not taken
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 50s, little dew; occasional wind gusts
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, KO, RB, John

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

11:17
NGC 6235 (Oph): largish—about 4’ diameter—partially resolved, very granular—cluster has to SP-NF is orientation of brightest part of cluster’s core—8-9 CC—inset in isosceles triangle of 11th mag stars—long side of triangle is about 12’, other sides about 9’—off to due F edge of field, about 22’ from cluster is an 8th mag star—little very unequal triple is to SP of cluster by 14’—9th mag star is brightest of that triple—to SF by about 15’ from cluster is 10th mag star—to NF edge of cluster is a 13-14th mag star just inside edge of halo—the P edge of cluster looks a little flattened—in averted a sprinkling of stars visible over core, about 8 or 9 stars—in averted one star to SP edge of core, maybe 14th mag, that pops in and out

11:35
NGC 6284 (Oph): 4’ diameter—central 2’ is core—powdery on edges—in averted looks granular—fairly loose, CC 7—to F side by 1.5’ is little diamond of 13th-14th mag stars, major axis N-S—about 18’ P cluster is bright pair of stars (double?) separated by 5’ oriented NP-SF; SF star closest to cluster—F cluster and slightly N is an 8th mag star about 22’ from cluster—SF cluster by 22’ is arc of three unevenly spaced stars—cluster is pretty round—just wants to be resolved in averted—in direct just powdery

12:29
NGCs 5614, 5589, 5590 (Boo): SF of A Boo—supposedly double galaxy with -15, but -15 not at all visible—galaxy inside little almost equi triangle—two bright stars in triangle about 8th mag, third (closest to galaxy) 10th mag—galaxy 4’ P the dim star—two brighter to P side of galaxy, NP and SP—galaxy is 2.5’—definitely gives glimpses in averted of second galaxy, but need more mag—inner region that’s 0.25’ across—hint of stellar nucleus—to N slightly P edge by 17’ is 10th mag star—to SF side of galaxy by 23’ is 10th mag star—two stars P galaxy, preceding them by 25’ is 10th mag star—another 10th star NP that one by 20’ and then F that star is pair of galaxies [NGCs 5589/5590]—one of galaxies [5589] F and slightly N, about 8’ from final star—very diffuse—small, 1.5’—not a lot of concentration, just a bit—not quite stellar nucleus, just barely visible—from that galaxy 7’ to SF (due F star by 12’) is second galaxy [5590]—brighter and larger—2.0’ across—has brighter core region—no nucleus but small bright core

12:40
NGC 5533 (Boo)—in same field as A Boo—P and slighty S A Boo—large, 3.0’ halo— bright core elongated almost P-F—hint of nucleus, uncertain—about 25’ from A—about halfway between galaxy and A is equal-mag (11th mag) double, separated by 3’—these form the S end of isosceles triangle of 10th mag stars—triangle about 15’ on long side, about 10’ on two short sides—pair is 18’ due F galaxy—in averted galaxy elongated P-F side—3.75’ x 2.0’ halo in averted

12:52
NGC 5996 (SerCap): not impressive galaxy—1.0’ across—almost round—elongated a bit N-S—in zigzag line with double star of 11th and 12th mag components to N slightly F side—to NP by 18’ is 8th mag star—double about 2.5’ N of galaxy—other two stars in zigzag are 11th mag star SF by 5’ and 10th mag star SF by 8’—brightest star around galaxy is 6th mag yellowish star 30’ almost due F galaxy

Somehow, I missed NGC 5994, interacting with NGC 5996. This pair, also known as Markarian 690, is one of the targets for the OSP advanced observing program.  A bad mistake on my part.

By this time, the air had turned considerably cold; I went for my heavy winter coat, despite wearing a sweatshirt and a polar fleece jacket already.  Astronomy can be a surprisingly physical hobby—putting together heavy equipment, doing calisthenics to reach an eyepiece that’s in an awkward position–but is mostly fairly sedentary, and the usual advice is to dress as if the temperature is going to be twenty degrees colder than the forecast suggests.  This is usually good practice.

For various reasons, though, everyone left but me and Randy.  I wasn’t sure how long I planned to stay out, but managed to constantly find enough reasons to keep observing.

1:05
NGC 5970 (SerCap): in interesting field—galaxy is fairly large—3.0’—has large (1.5’) brighter core but no nucleus—core is elongated P-F—bright star (8th mag) to NF side by 7’—8’ to P slightly N side of galaxy is 11th mag star and 10’ F slightly S galaxy is 10th mag star—to S of galaxy is pair of 11th and 10th stars about 6’ apart; 11th mag star is S just slightly P galaxy by 7’; 10th mag star is S very slightly F by 10’—to N is line of 12th/13th mag stars stretched almost due P-F by 5’ from galaxy

1:33
NGC 6070 (SerCap): large, about 4.5’ x 2.0’—elongated P-F—galaxy flanked P and F by 14th mag stars just on edge of halo—galaxy has brighter, irregular-shaped core not always distinguishyable from halo, edges indistinct—N and very slightly F center of galaxy by 11’ is an 8th mag star—galaxy sits inside triangle with that star and 11th mag stars SP by 7’ and SF by 4’—N of bright star by 8’ and slightly P is small triangle of 9th and 10th mag stars—no nucleus to galaxy visible—obviously inclined spiral, though

2:17
NGC 7217 (Peg): definitely bright, round—2.25’ across—has brighter core about 0.75’ across—hint of quasi-stellar nucleus in averted—galaxy set in trapezoid of 10th mag stars—trapezoid is about 18’ on long side and 9’ on short side—galaxy is closest to star on NF point of trapezoid—about 5’ from star—SP galaxy by 6’ is tiny clump of stars, 11th and 12th mags—nice galaxy, probably elliptical

2:48
NGCs 7448, 7463, 7465 (Peg): 7448: elongated—visible tiny stellar nucleus in averted—in between two stars that are part of an arc of four—galaxy 2.5’ in halo, elongated N-ish-S-ish—brighter core slightly off-center to S—core is 1.5’ long—two stars bracketing it, closer is due F galaxy by 4.5’ and is 11th mag—7’ to P side of galaxy is 12th mag star—halfway between galaxy and P star is very faint double of 13th and 14th mags, separated by 0.25’—star to F side forms large equilateral triangle 30’ on side—star to S is brightest at 8th mag; star F about 9th mag, about 34’ F galaxy—from that star is pair of smaller galaxies—one to NF by 4’ [7463] is very diffuse—elongated P-F—about 1.5’ long x 0.75’ —not much central brightening—kind of ghostly streak—4’ F that galaxy is slightly brighter one [7465]—obvious sub-stellar nucleus—bright central core—dim halo—halo not well seen due to core—1.0’ x 0.75’—NF 7465 by 8’ is line of 13th mag stars elongated NP-SF—SF 7465 by 14’ is 9th mag star—NF 7465 by 23’ is 7th mag star

Somewhere among these objects we also spent a fair time walking through getting to NGC 6905, the Blue Flash Nebula in Delphinus–not a difficult object to see, but tricky to find in a low-power eyepiece in a crowded Milky Way field.

And that was the week-plus observing run after Third-Quarter Moon.  It was fortunate that it had been so clear; I ended up getting sick the next day and being too run down to take advantage of the New Moon-dark, and the past several nights have been cloudy or downright rainy.  The long run here also was good preparation for the next three months of star parties I’m planning on—OSP, Brothers Star Party (near Brothers, OR, August 31-September 5) and the Autumn Camp Delaney Star Party (near Coulee City, WA, September 28-October 2).

It may not count as “productivity” in most peoples’ books, but exploring a large chunk of the universe is a reward all its own.

 

 

 

Eternity’s Breath

I. Sunday, June 5^th, boasted a pretty promising forecast. We’d spent much of the afternoon at Jerry Oltion’s house, drawing up plans for the equatorial platform for Randy B’s 14″ and 10″ Dobs, getting as far as drawing the dimensions out on a sheet of ½” Baltic Birch plywood before making the actual cuts. (Many of us in my tribe are planning to make such platforms, giving our telescopes a solid hour of motorized star-tracking.) Among other things, several members of the group planned to make use of the fine Clear Sky Chart forecast and needed a bit of extra sleep before heading out.

We vacillated over which site to use—Eagle’s Ridge or Eureka Ridge—until Bill Basham (“Dr. Lapser”—check out his YouTube channel) made the decision for us, by announcing that he was already on his way to Eagle’s Ridge. Randy still wanted to go to Eureka; torn between the darker skies at Eagle’s Ridge and the closer proximity of Eureka Ridge, I opted for the extra quarter of a magnitude at Eagle’s Ridge.

The drive out seemed determined to prove that I made the wrong choice. Bill had e-mailed from Eagle’s Ridge to say that the sky “looked promising,” so I headed out with a bit of trepidation—I hadn’t observed for a while, and was suffering from photon deficiency, so I wanted to be sure to get some serious observing in. Yet the sky the entire way to the site was mucky with a haze of altocirrus and what seemed like a pall of smoke. Even as I was on my way up the mountain, I was grumbling to myself that I’d made the wrong choice. Had that been the case, I would certainly have turned around and gone out to Eureka. I needed starlight.

After pulling up the spur road from Eagle’s Ridge, though, I noted that the sky was better than it first appeared. The haze was to the south and southeast, and retreating; the rest of the sky seemed to be fairly clear and getting clearer. Jerry was there, setting up; Bill was already snapping away, getting a time-lapse of the sunset. Frank S was there as well, binoculars on a tripod he’d just bought. I set to work getting Bob the Dob put together—one of the worst things about the bumpy last miles up the mountain is that they’re hell on collimation springs and shock absorbers alike, and my primary was abysmally out of collimation when I started. My next scope tune-up is going to involve all-new collimation springs, if not Belleville washers.

I also had with me my newly-built observing chair, a throne worthy of a caveman. Finally, I was able to sit comfortably to observe, and it made a huge difference. I had given my previous chair back to AASI when I left southern Illinois, theorizing that I’d soon be able to build a new one and little knowing that it would take nine months before I had the space, the equipment, the wood, and the time to build one. It’s quite a bit taller than my AASI chair, which gives me the opportunity to observe near the zenith while still sitting. (Of course, I’ll need to build a footrest for it when it’s in that position, as it’s too tall to get into the seat.)

By the time the sun set and the sky began to darken, it was apparent that this was going to be a good session. The haze was still visible over the ridge to the southeast, but the rest of the sky was transparent, even to the problematic south. Jerry commented that Jupiter was as sharp in his 12″ Trackball as he’d ever seen it, and he kept an eye on its moons’ occultations and shadow passes throughout the night.

I had a shorter list of potential targets than usual, and it paid off. Usually, I had a lengthy list to work from, and it resulted in being overwhelmed with too many choices and my saying “screw it, I’m looking at the big stuff.” I limited myself to two targets per constellation this time, to make sure that I had a plan that was manageable. With constellations from Leo Minor to Aquila, I was sure not to run out, and the majority were from one of the two Herschel programs I’m working on. As a result, I finally had a solid night making headway on the Herschels.

I took a few glances at objects not on the list anyway, but figured that I’d earned it. I swept up the mighty M13 before it was fully dark, and the Leo Trio as well. I also made sure to visit the actual Draco Trio this time, rather than its doppelganger (NGCs 5963/5965) as I misidentified my last time out, and also checked out NGC 4125 and its supernova (AT2016coj). I estimated the supernova at about magnitude 12.5, which made it the brightest (by far) of the half-dozen extragalactic supernovae I’ve observed.

My notes here are in a different style; I’ve converted them into a more-narrative form than in previous entries.

6/5-6/6/16
EAGLE’S RIDGE (spur road)
MOON: 1 day (1%), set at 10:26 PM
SEEING: 8
TRANSPARENCY: 5-6 before 11 PM; 6-7 after
SQM: 21.3 (2 AM)
NELM: about 7; Milky Way detailed even into Ophiuchus
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, moderate dew
 OTHERS PRESENT: JO, BB, FS

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:40
NGC 2859 (LMi): NGC 2859 is about 40 arcminutes following Alpha Lyncis, and bracketed by two 8^th-magnitude stars; the star to the north-preceding side is about 7′ from the galaxy, while the star to the south-preceding side is 13-14′ from the galaxy. NGC 2859 is about 1.25′ in diameter and pretty much round. It has a very, very tiny core region, but if there’s a visible nucleus, it’s been subsumed into the core. The galaxy is about 12^th magnitude. It’s hard to tell the galaxy’s morphological type from its visual appearance.

10:50
NGCs 3158, 3159 (LMi): NGC 3158 is supposedly the “anchor” of a largish group of about a dozen galaxies, but I’m only seeing 4 for certain; I need a fair amount more magnification for this group. NGC 3158 is following an 8^th/9^th-magnitude star by about 15’. The galaxy is very small, under 1.0’, maybe 0.75’ across, and pretty round. The core makes up a big chunk of its diameter, and it has a small halo. A stellar nucleus might be glimpsed with averted vision. To the SP and SF sides are 12th-13th mag stars, each about 4′ away from the galaxy; to the NF side by 5’ is a 10^th/11^th-magnitude star. Almost due S is another galaxy (NGC 3159?), visible with direct vision but not easy. This one is maybe 0.75’ x 0.5’, and oblong. It has a tiny core/nucleus region to it, but it’s hard to tell even in averted if the nucleus is visible. Other galaxies are coming and going in the variable sky conditions—I’m not even sure I’m seeing them at the moment. I suspect that some of field stars are galaxies that need lots more magnification, as these are the only two I’m absolutely certain I’m seeing.

11:06
NGC 5012 (Com): This galaxy is a big bright one! It’s located in kind of a starry field, with lots of 8^th/9^th/10^th-magnitude stars throughout. South of the galaxy is a small Cepheus-shaped asterism of 8^th/9^th-magnitude stars; the top of the asterism’s “hat” lies off the SP edge of the field. The galaxy is elongated not quite due P-F. It’s very large (4.0′ x 2.0/2.5′) and diffuse, with a large diffuse halo and large core region that’s not well-defined; it’s hard to tell where core ends/halo begins. To the F edge of the galaxy, there might be a threshold star embedded, or perhaps a really tiny companion galaxy just “inside” the halo. Averted vision just brings out a stellar nucleus in NGC 5012. The nucleus seems to be off-center to the P side a bit, not centered. 3-4’ to the F, slightly N side of the galaxy is a 12^th-magnitude star.

11:15
NGC 4125, supernova AT2016coj (Dra): NGC 4125 is 2.5′ or 3.0’ x 1.75 or 2.0’. Following the galaxy by 4’ is a 9^th-magnitude star; north of the galaxy by 12-13’ is a 7^th-magnitude star. Just N of galaxy by 2.5’ is a 13^th-magnitude star; S by 6’ is another 13^th-magnitude star. NGC 4125 has a bright core, maybe 0.75’ across, and a sub-stellar nucleus. Supernova AT2016coj is N, just F, of the nucleus of the galaxy. The supernova is maybe magnitude 12.5. There’s just a hair of separation (20”, if that) between the supernova and the galaxy’s core—they’re pretty tight.

11:31
NGCs 5981, 5982, 5985; Draco Trio (Dra): It’s the real thing this time! All three galaxies are very apparent, and within a beautiful field. To the P side of the three is the edge-on, NGC 5981. To the SP side of 5891 is an 8th-magnitude star. The galaxy is angled SP-NF. It’s a sliver of light, maybe 3.0’ x 0.6’. The middle 2/3 of the galaxy’s length is brighter than the rest. Following 5981 by 8’ is NGC 5982, which looks like an elliptical or a face-on spiral. It’s 2.0’ across and round, with a bright, bright core/nuclear region and a possible non-stellar nucleus. There’s a fairly sharp brightness dropoff from the nuclear region to the edge of halo. NGC 5985 is following 5982 by about 9’. It’s elongated N (very slightly P)- S (very slightly F), large (4.0′ x 2.5′) and very diffuse. The galaxy has a tiny stellar nucleus, but not much core, and there seems to be maybe a bit of mottling in its halo. Inside a triangle to the P side by 4’ is a 12^th-magnitude star. To the S and F of the galaxy, by 4’ each, are 10^th-magnitude stars; to the S (slightly F) by 8-9’ is an 8.5-magnitude star; to the F very slightly S of NGC 5985 by 16’ is a 7^th/8^th-magnitude star. NP 5981 by 9’ is another 8^th-magnitude star. This is a really cool field, with the three galaxies nicely framed at 112x!

11:55
NGCs 4109, 4111, 4117 (CVn): 4111 is the brightest of a group of three, and obviously an edge-on spiral. An excellent galaxy! It’s 3.0 x 0.75’, elongated N-ish-S-ish. The galaxy has a bright nucleus, and there may be a tiny hint of a dust lane on the F side of the nucleus, just an impression of one. Following 4111 by 6’ is the brighter (8^th magnitude) component of a double star; the dimmer (13^th magnitude) component is about 1.5’ or 2.0’ due P the brighter, dim but obvious. On the F side of that (and a bit S) by 7’ is NGC 4117, much dimmer than 4111. 4117 is about 2.0’ long and oriented NP-SF. It’s much more tenuous than 4111, and has a core that’s very indistinct edge-wise; with averted vision, a sub-stellar (not quite stellar) nucleus is visible. 7’ NP and SP from 4111 are 13^th-magnitude stars; to the S of that SP star, by 1.5-2.0’, is a very tenuous diffuse circular glow visible mostly in averted vision: NGC 4109. [A satellite races through the field] 4109 is quite difficult, visible with direct vision, but only just. Averted vision brings out a lot more of the galaxy. NGC 4109 is SP NGC 4111 by about 8’.

12:08
NGC 5023 (CVn) : This is an extremely cool edge-on galaxy! Very long, thin, and diffuse, 4.5’ x 0.5 or 0.75’. It’s very ghostly, with no central brightening at all; just a thin vaporous streak, elongated N-ish-S-ish. To the P side by 10’, almost due P, is a group of 10th/11^th-magnitude stars separated by 2.5’; to the due F side by 7-8’ is another 10^th-magnitude star. NP the galaxy by 8’ is a triple star/tight triangle of 12th/13^th-magnitude stars, maybe 0.75’ on a side. S of the galaxy by 18’ is a 9^th-magnitude star; when the galaxy is centered in the eyepiece, that 9^th-magnitude star is the brightest star in the field.

12:29
NGCs 5005, 5033 (CVn): 5005: Such a great galaxy! How did Messier miss it? NGC 5005 is probably 5.0’ x 2.0’; it’s very bright (8th or 9th magnitude), with a long, very bright core that runs half the length of galaxy. With averted vision, a stellar nucleus pops in and out of view. It’s hard to pick out the nucleus because the core is so bright. The galaxy is oriented P-F, not quite halfway between 8^th– and 9^th-magnitude stars, and a 6^th-magnitude star is just off the edge of the field to the N (slightly P) side. The galaxy is in a diamond-shaped asterism with the NP and SF stars being the brightest of the four. S and slightly F of NGC 5005 by 40’ is NGC 5033 [misidentified in the field as 5013] This is another big bright galaxy, and is much more oval than 5005–maybe an inclined spiral? It’s oriented NF-SP, and about 3.5-4.0’ x 2.0’. 5033 has a brighter core, which has indistinct edges and trickles away into halo; there’s a visible stellar nucleus. A 13^th-magnitude star sits just off the N end of the galaxy, just off the edge of the halo. There’s a very long scalene triangle of two 9^th-magnitude and one 11^th-magnitude star, about 8’ P the galaxy; NF the galaxy by 20’ is a 7^th-magnitude star—with the galaxy centered, that star is down by the NF edge of the field.

 My notes on my next target[s] are a bit confused, as I ended up getting 24 Boo and CH Boo backward, which threw off my directions. I need to redo the observation here, and why not—it’s a great group of galaxies.

12:54
NGCs 5660, 5676 5673; IC 1029 (Boö): This is an excellent group, following 24 Boötis. NGC 5660 precedes 24 Boo by about 20’. It’s large (4.0 x 2.5/3.0’) and diffuse, probably a face-on or inclined spiral, oriented NF-SP. P and slightly N of that by 12’ is an 8^th/9^th-magnitude star; P and slightly S of that star by 22’ is NGC 5676, which is somewhat more round than 5660 and equally diffuse. 5676 has no core, and only a suggestion of a stellar nucleus. It’s about 3.0’ x 2.5’. To F and S sides are 11^th-magnitude stars; P and slightly N by 18-20’ is another 6^th/7^th-magnitude star. There’s not much core to the galaxy. [It’s here I realize I may have the galaxy IDs reversed.] Very coolly, NP “5676” by 30’ and next to (preceding) an 11^th-magnitude star is an edge-on galaxy (IC 1029). This one is about 2.0-2.5’ long, oriented NP-SF. It has a central core bulge visible, and the inner region is much brighter; the distinction between inner/outer regions is much stronger in averted vision. Almost due P IC 1029 by 13’ is another edge-on galaxy (NGC 5673), also oriented NP-SF, but even more so (NPP-SFF?). NGC 5673 is fainter than IC 1029, and has less central concentration; a 12^th-magnitude star sits off the NP end of the galaxy’s halo.

1:10
NGCs 5529, 5557 (Boö): NGC 5557 is a nice round, brightish, probably elliptical galaxy, 2.0’ across, with a bright core that makes up the inner 40% of the galaxy. A stellar nucleus may have presented itself with averted vision, although the galaxy’s core is bright enough to be confused as a nucleus. A 9^th-magnitude star lies about 8’ P the galaxy, and a 7^th-magnitude star lies F the galaxy by 30’. Preceding the 9^th-magnitude star and just N is NGC 5529: a long skinny thing, more marginal than 5557. NGC 5529 sits amid a group of 13^th-magnitude stars. This galaxy is about 2.0’ long, elongated SP-NF, and wider at the S end, maybe 1.0’; at the N end, it’s about 0.75’ wide. In averted vision, the halo looks almost “lumpy”. There’s not much central concentration—there is a distinction between the core and the halo, but it’s very gradual. NP the galaxy by 10-12’ is a 9^th-magnitude star.

By this point, Bill and Frank had both left. I had mentioned to Jerry that I was skeptical of the Oregon Star Party’s 2016 Advanced Observing List—specifically the comment that the center of the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster might be visible in a scope as small as 10″ from the OSP site. Considering that the Corona Cluster required the redoubtable Steve Gottlieb to use a 17.5″ scope to track down any of it, I had grave doubts about seeing any of the tiny, magnitude-15+ glows in the Cluster, which lay over a billion light-years away. None of the galaxies was even bright enough to be plotted in the TriAtlas, which plotted galaxies down to magnitude 15!

Jerry was less skeptical, but he had two advantages: he had better high-power eyepieces than I do, and he had a telescope which would track the stars, allowing a long, uninterrupted look at the area of the cluster without the need to manually track the eyepiece field. With Corona Borealis near the meridian, we both set out to see if the writers of the OSP list were being realistic or sadistic.

I spent a couple of minutes identifying the field. I had forgotten my photograph of the cluster, and had to go on the TriAtlas chart and my memory of where the galaxies were in relation to the field stars. This actually turned out to be less difficult than I thought, as I’d looked at the chart and the photograph dozens of times in the preceding weeks. Within less than three minutes I’d found the spot where the galaxies should have been.

Staring at the field for long minutes at 112x yielded nothing, except for watering eyes. I’d expected nothing more. So I switched the 14mm 82-degree ES for a 6mm Radian, bringing the magnification up to 262x. Still more minutes passed, as I nudged the scope more often to compensate for the smaller field. Zip, zero, nada. I grumbled a bit about the unrealistic expectations of the authors of the OSP list as I swapped eyepieces one more time, to my little-used 4.8mm Nagler.

At 328x, there was an impression—nothing more—that the sky background was slightly mottled in a 2′ area between the two stars in the field. Averted vision didn’t yield any actual spots that could conceivably be called galaxies, as such; I could only discern some incredibly faint, fleeting, on-the-threshold-of-perception texturing to this tiny patch of otherwise-featureless sky. I focused on the spot for another couple of minutes. If this was the heart of the Corona Cluster, I would certainly never be able to claim that I’d seen it. And had I not known something was supposed to be there, I would’ve swept past this field without a second thought or glance.

“I think I’ve got it,” Jerry said from beside the Trackball.

I trudged over to Jerry’s scope, careful not to trip on the uneven, rocky ground. Jerry pointed out the correct location using Sky Safari on his iPad; I had indeed been looking in the right place.

In Jerry’s scope, the mottling in the field was somewhat more apparent. This was helped, no doubt, by the Trackball’s ability to counter the effects of the Earth’s rotation—the field stayed centered in the eyepiece, even at such high power, enabling me to keep my eye locked on the spot where the galaxies should’ve been. I’ve forgotten what eyepiece was in the scope, although it seemed to give a slightly sharper view than I got with the 4.8 Nagler in my own scope (I suspect that Jerry’s scope was better collimated than mine, as well—I’m still getting accustomed to the 4-axis adjustment of my new secondary holder, and I hadn’t checked the collimation on my scope since the initial adjustments.) I still wouldn’t be willing to claim this as a sighting, but it was clearly more of a sighting than I had with the Discovery. In any event, it was enough to make me think that a convincing sighting might be achieved under the even-darker skies of the OSP. (Our SQM reading on this night was a “mere” 21.3, while OSP often reaches 21.6 or 21.7.)

The core region of the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster, Abell 2065. With its brightest members at greater than magnitude 15.4, and with a distance of over a billion light years, this cluster of galaxies is among the most-challenging objects visible to amateur telescopes. Image courtesy Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona.

That mottled glow, so tenuous and feeble, represented a gargantuan knot of star-matter whose light had taken a quarter of our Sun’s lifetime to reach us—hundreds, if not thousands, of island universes floating through space a billion light years away. Prosaically, the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster lies a minimum of 5,878,625,373,183,607,730,852 miles away… 5.878 septillion miles. When the light we see left those galaxies, the Earth’s continents were bunched together into a single supercontinent called Rodinia, and the Earth’s day was only 18 hours long. Life was still single-celled, and cyanobacteria were still creating the atmosphere’s oxygen (then at a concentration of 2%). Those yet-to-be-resolved galaxies were made up of hundreds of trillions of stars each, and yet were so distant that their collective light was no more tangible than the misty exhalations of some ever-distant God of the Cosmos into the cold vacuum of space.

I observed a number of other objects after that, revisiting some of the globular clusters I had first seen while doing the Astronomical League’s Globular Cluster observing program. Jerry and I also tracked down the obscure (and obscured) globular Haute Provence 1 in southern Ophiuchus. I took some time to trace out the Veil Nebula, now well-placed in the sky (it was after 2:30 AM by this point), amazed at how easy it was to see the extent of the nebula without resorting to a nebula filter. But though we stayed there on the spur road until after 3 AM, everything after the Corona Cluster seemed a bit anticlimactic. That barely-perceptible glow from those staggeringly-distant galaxies—the absolute definition of the astronomer’s term “lumpy darkness”—filled my Australopithecine brain with notions of time and distance that lingered throughout the drive home and well into the next evening.

II. We reconvened the next night at Eureka Ridge. I had to work in the morning and couldn’t stay long, so the shorter drive to and from Eureka was a welcome change. The CSC forecast indicated that it would turn variably cloudy at about 1 AM, giving me a good excuse to head home (if I needed one).

Tim L from EAS and Mike C (from Salem) joined Jerry and I at Eureka; Randy B, who often observed at Eureka even by himself, also had to work Tuesday morning. (He sensibly chose not to observe the night before work, unlike me.)

As it turned out, the clouds jumped the gun. By the time it got dark (about 11 PM), two waves of altocirrus loomed out of the western sky and began to spread out across the sky. I had revised my “Next Time Out” list after Sunday night’s successful work, replacing those objects I had observed with new targets, but there would be little opportunity to work on them tonight.

Twilight took forever to fade as the cloud bank loomed. I went after targets in Corvus and Crater, although it was still too bright to see the constellations well; I checked out NGC 4024, NGC 4027, and the Antennae galaxies (NGCs 4038/9) in Corvus, although they were past the meridian and still awash in twilight. I didn’t take notes on them as a result—notes wouldn’t be representative of these objects, wouldn’t do them justice.

With the sky crudding up quickly, I set to work on one of the few parts of the sky that was clear: the south in the direction of Libra. I had two objects on my list for Libra: NGC 5812 and NGC 5898.

6/6/16
EUREKA RIDGE
MOON: 2 days (4%), set at 11:15 PM
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 4 (variable; as high as 6)
SQM: not taken
NELM: about 6.7
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in low 60s, little to no dew; slight breeze; clouds rolling in throughout
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, TL, MC

All observations: 12.5″f/5 Discovery truss-tube Dobsonian, 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

10:52
NGC 5812 (Lib): This galaxy looks elliptical. It’s about 1.5-1.75’ round, with a 30” round core—no nucleus, just core. The galaxy is about 22’ P the 7^th-magnitude star HD132953 [which I misidentified as 19 Lib], and is perhaps 11^th magnitude. To the SP and SF sides are two stars that bracket the galaxy and make a triangle with it. The one SP is dimmer, at 9^th magnitude and about 7′ from the galaxy; the SF star is about 8^th magnitude and is about 8-9’ from the galaxy.

10:58
NGCs 5898, 5903 (Lib): I did not expect to see two galaxies here, just one. Both are small. The pair of galaxies are NP a line of equally-spaced 7^th/8^th-magnitude stars, the middle one of which is double. These stars angle up slightly NP, and are separated by about 10’ each. NGC 5898 is due N of the NP star in that line. NGC 5898 is not quite 2.0’ across. [The sky is cruddying up, making it hard to measure the extent of the galaxies.] There’s a small, brighter core (maybe 20″ across) to NGC 5898, but no stellar nucleus is visible. Is this maybe a face-on spiral? To the P side is a small group of 12^th and 13^th-magnitude stars. NGC 5903 is due N of the double star in that line of 7^th-magnitude stars, and is a bit larger and a bit dimmer than NGC 5898; it’s much more diffuse, with less central concentration than the other galaxy. It’s maybe just over 2.0’. [A satellite goes slowly between the galaxies at 11:02 PM.] NGC 5903 has no real nucleus, but to the NP side by 1.5’ is an 11^th-magnitude star. [The field is suddenly overflowing with satellites, as another brighter one crosses at 11:03 PM]

I went back to my list, but most of the sky was buried in the altocirrusy gunk. We waited for a while; in breaks in the crud, I managed to observe Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, M80, and M5. I also made sure to revisit the NGC 5676 group in Boötes, which had made quite an impression the previous night. (I still need to take notes on it again, getting my directions right.) Tackling the Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster would have been out of the question, even if it had stayed clear, as the sky at Eureka Ridge was never as dark as it could get at Eagle’s Ridge.

Reluctantly, we packed up at about midnight, defeated by the sky conditions. I felt bad for Mike, who had driven down to observe (although he did get to star test the non-aluminized 6″ mirror that he had just finished grinding after a 40-year gap) and ended up getting clouded out—and for Tim as well, as he hadn’t been able to get away from home duties in months for a night’s observing. As it happened, even the short session made work the next day a chore, as I was still exhausted from the previous night’s much longer session. In any case, even a cloud-infested look at the stars was vastly superior to the best television or the Internet had to offer, so a few galaxies’ worth of photons was time well spent.