Date- 10-8-05
Location- Lafayette, CA
LM/Class- 4.5/ 5
Objects Observed- NGC 185, NGC 127, M33 and HII regions, NGC 404
Time- 8:30- 12:00
Equipment- XT8 Orion DOB, 17mm Orion/Vixen Lanthanum, 25mm and 9mm MA Meade, 8x42 Nikon Monarch Nikon Binos., Orion O-111 filter.
This was one of my best at home sessions in awhile because I got to see a lot of nice galaxies, and I renewed my love for open clusters. It was also enjoyable because I had caught up on sleep so I could stay out fairly late. In addition to that, it finally started feeling and smelling like autumn, my favorite season (I finally had to put on gloves!)
NGC 129 (71x and 133x)
Open clusters have always bored me, with the exception of a few beauties like NGC 7789, M11, and M37. When I first put this object in the FOV, I was unimpressed, and almost moved on. I, however, forced myself to sketch it. I knew I would see much more detail if I did so, and boy was I right! At first I could only see about 20 stars with a bright triangle superimposed on them. After I had drawn that triangle, a warm fuzzy glow started appearing in the background. I popped in the 9mm EP and the fuzz immediately transformed into 40 stars. With the 17mm I eventually resolved that cloud and the cluster became amazing. I am so glad I didn’t overlook this cluster! Here are my notes:
“Bland at first but becomes amazing after a few minutes. Crescent shaped and next to bright star. Pretty elongated with lots of stars resolvable, but not the whole cluster. It is visible as a faint smudge with 6 or 7 stars resolved in binoculars.”
NGC 404 (71x, 133x)
I tried for this at least three times unsuccessfully in the last month, but gave up because it was too close to the horizon. Now that Andromeda is higher in the sky, this was easy, even bright! At first I tried to move Mirach out of the way, but that proved to be useless since 404 was so close to it. After I observed a little bit, it showed a moderately sized elongated circle. Here are my notes:
“For the first time this was easy! Large and bright, and a little bit elongated”
M33 and HII regions(71x)
This was a pretty nice object considering this is one of the objects I “fear” the most. Back when I was doing my first Messier Marathon, I had the hardest time seeing this. They had it in a 10 inch and the skies were absolutely pristine, yet I still couldn’t see much, just a faint glow with no nucleus. When I look at it now, it’s pretty obvious. Just goes to show what a year of observing can do for your eyes. The nucleus was pretty obvious in my telescope, but I wasn’t able to confirm it in my binoculars (although I thought I saw something). After a few minutes of observing a faint halo surrounded the nucleus, and an O-111 filter revealed N 604 nicely and 595 with a little difficulty. Here are my notes:
“Core was rather bright, but it was hard to pick out edges. N 604 was visible with averted unaided and pretty obvious with O-111. N 595 needed the O-111.”
NGC 185(133x, 71x)
This was the toughest of the night without a doubt. It took about 15 minutes to see, and I had to come back to it to confirm it. I’m not even sure that I saw it now that I think about it, because the atmosphere has been playing some tricks on me. When I view two close stars, I see some nebulosity surrounding them, and it doesn’t always go away with higher magnification. This is what I think happened with N 185. You tell me what you think:
“Not sure if I’m seeing it. Pretty small and irregular shape.”
EDIT- Can't figure out how to post more than one pick. I'll figure it out tomorrow and put up all the sketches and finder charts.
-Zack
Location- Lafayette, CA
LM/Class- 4.5/ 5
Objects Observed- NGC 185, NGC 127, M33 and HII regions, NGC 404
Time- 8:30- 12:00
Equipment- XT8 Orion DOB, 17mm Orion/Vixen Lanthanum, 25mm and 9mm MA Meade, 8x42 Nikon Monarch Nikon Binos., Orion O-111 filter.
This was one of my best at home sessions in awhile because I got to see a lot of nice galaxies, and I renewed my love for open clusters. It was also enjoyable because I had caught up on sleep so I could stay out fairly late. In addition to that, it finally started feeling and smelling like autumn, my favorite season (I finally had to put on gloves!)
NGC 129 (71x and 133x)
Open clusters have always bored me, with the exception of a few beauties like NGC 7789, M11, and M37. When I first put this object in the FOV, I was unimpressed, and almost moved on. I, however, forced myself to sketch it. I knew I would see much more detail if I did so, and boy was I right! At first I could only see about 20 stars with a bright triangle superimposed on them. After I had drawn that triangle, a warm fuzzy glow started appearing in the background. I popped in the 9mm EP and the fuzz immediately transformed into 40 stars. With the 17mm I eventually resolved that cloud and the cluster became amazing. I am so glad I didn’t overlook this cluster! Here are my notes:
“Bland at first but becomes amazing after a few minutes. Crescent shaped and next to bright star. Pretty elongated with lots of stars resolvable, but not the whole cluster. It is visible as a faint smudge with 6 or 7 stars resolved in binoculars.”
NGC 404 (71x, 133x)
I tried for this at least three times unsuccessfully in the last month, but gave up because it was too close to the horizon. Now that Andromeda is higher in the sky, this was easy, even bright! At first I tried to move Mirach out of the way, but that proved to be useless since 404 was so close to it. After I observed a little bit, it showed a moderately sized elongated circle. Here are my notes:
“For the first time this was easy! Large and bright, and a little bit elongated”
M33 and HII regions(71x)
This was a pretty nice object considering this is one of the objects I “fear” the most. Back when I was doing my first Messier Marathon, I had the hardest time seeing this. They had it in a 10 inch and the skies were absolutely pristine, yet I still couldn’t see much, just a faint glow with no nucleus. When I look at it now, it’s pretty obvious. Just goes to show what a year of observing can do for your eyes. The nucleus was pretty obvious in my telescope, but I wasn’t able to confirm it in my binoculars (although I thought I saw something). After a few minutes of observing a faint halo surrounded the nucleus, and an O-111 filter revealed N 604 nicely and 595 with a little difficulty. Here are my notes:
“Core was rather bright, but it was hard to pick out edges. N 604 was visible with averted unaided and pretty obvious with O-111. N 595 needed the O-111.”
NGC 185(133x, 71x)
This was the toughest of the night without a doubt. It took about 15 minutes to see, and I had to come back to it to confirm it. I’m not even sure that I saw it now that I think about it, because the atmosphere has been playing some tricks on me. When I view two close stars, I see some nebulosity surrounding them, and it doesn’t always go away with higher magnification. This is what I think happened with N 185. You tell me what you think:
“Not sure if I’m seeing it. Pretty small and irregular shape.”
EDIT- Can't figure out how to post more than one pick. I'll figure it out tomorrow and put up all the sketches and finder charts.
-Zack
Attached Image:
http://www.freewebs.com/mehball/
