Observing Report for February 28 and 29, 2008 - Plettstone
It seems that winter skies are clearest on Thursdays and Mondays during New
Moon. Thursday afternoon I packed up and visited Michelle up at Plettstone.
The skies were clear and the temperature hit the mid-70's during the drive.
I expected wet conditions, so I took the Sky and Tel 13" f/4.5 "grab-and-go"
telescope. It is easy to throw the assembled OTA into the van rather than
leave it out all night.
As expected, Thursday was sopping wet. Dew formed on my observing table
before it even got dark. By 7:30PM, the temperature dropped to 50°F with a
relative humidity of 95%. Temperatures didn't drop much more during the
night, reaching the mid-40's. There was no wind. Seeing was above-average.
Stars were crisp in the 7mm Nagler T6 (212X). I could hold six stars in the
Trapezium easily and continuously.
I used a towel to periodically wipe the scope and table down - a losing
battle. The dew zapper got frequent use on eyepiece, finder, and secondary.
The primary stayed dry. However, seeing was very good. I finally tired of
the battle to keep optics dew free and quit about 11:30PM.
In contrast, Friday was surprisingly good. The skies were clear and very dry
all day, but some clouds formed on the western horizon at sunset. I observed
for about a half hour when a thin veil of haze broke off from the horizon
and swept across most of the sky. Interestingly, despite the clouds, it was
bone dry with no wind. Temperatures stayed in the mid 50's most of the
night, and then dipped into the low 40's later on.
I played around looking at bright stuff through sucker holes. I finally took
a break about 8:00PM and went inside to talk to Michelle and Paul. At 9PM,
Michelle and I went back outside. Transparency was still off. By 9:30PM, the
sky cleared to some of the best conditions I've seen in a long time.
Transparency was superb, with very good seeing, no wind, mild temperatures,
and no dew. I was bagging faint fuzzies with little trouble. I stopped
around 1:30AM when stars disappeared along the horizon and transparency
seemed to drop a bit. The next morning, Michelle told me that the sky was
enveloped completely by clouds soon thereafter.
Observing highlights
Not much to report. I hunted down mostly mag 13 -15 galaxies, often testing
the limits of the 13" aperture. Thursday was slow going and I only bagged
about 25 new objects in the short, wet session. I was more productive Friday
in the excellent transparent conditions. I bagged 41 new objects in about
four hours.
Representative galactic highlights
Gemini
NGC 2486 (mag 13.3, 1.7' x 0.9') Moderate size oval halo with slightly
brighter central area.
NGC 2487 (12.5, 2.6' x 2.1') Lies approximately 5' E of N2486. The halo
appears larger and more circular. It also has a brighter central area. Both
galaxies visible steadily with averted vision.
NGC 2492 (12.7, 1.0' x 1.0') Appeared as small, nearly circular oval with
somewhat brighter core. Core just visible with direct vision. Halo visible
steadily with averted vision.
NGC 2490 (14.6, 0.5' x 0.4') Lies approximately 4' NW of N2492. Very small
and challenging because of its size and brightness, but also because it lies
among an asterism of 10-12th magnitude stars. Visible 80% of the time with
averted vision.
Cancer
NGC 2535 (12.8, 2.3' x 1.2') Larger and brighter of the two. Oval with near
uniform brightness. Visible steadily with averted vision.
NGC 2536 (14.1, 1.0' x 0.5') Much smaller galaxy (oval?) less than 2' SSE
of N2535. Small oval with slightly brighter core visible steadily with
averted vision.
The Cancer Galaxy Cluster lies approximately 5° WNW of the star cluster M44
and is about the same angular size. Several members were readily visible,
but I'll have to return some day with more aperture and DSS charts.
NGC 2563 (12.2, 2.1' x 1.5') Brightest galaxy in the group. Can see the
small brighter core with direct vision.
NGC 2562 (12.5, 1.9' x 0.6') Small oval with brighter core visible with
direct vision. 4.5' NW of N2563.
NGC 2569 (14.3, 0.6' x 0.5') Very small circular(?) galaxy with small
brighter core. Visible steadily with averted vision.
NGC 2570 (14.5, 1.1' x 0.6') Very small elusive oval galaxy. Visible 50% of
the time with averted vision. 2.5' S of N2569.
NGC 2557 (13.2, 1.2' x 1.0') Small elongated oval with small, brighter core
visible with direct vision.
IC 2293 (14.0, 0.9' x 0.7') 5.5' SSE of N2557 and lower brightness. But
appears about the same size. Visible 50% of the time with averted vision.
NGC 2560 (13.3, 1.4' x 0.3') Small elongated oval with brighter oval central
area. Just visible with direct vision.
NGC 2553 (13.9, 1.7' x 0.8') Small circular galaxy with small, slighter
brighter core, Just visible with direct vision.
NGC 2558 (13.0, 1.7' x 1.3') Moderate size, somewhat elongated oval with
bright, small core visible with direct vision.
The skies were completely overcast Saturday morning and the forecast looked
uncertain, so I headed home.
It was nice to see Paul and Michelle again.
Albert
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Received on Tue Mar 04 16:14:08 2008