Actually, I said I thought I saw a dust line. You looked at and said you thought you saw it too but we differed on where it was. I thought it was along the top you said the bottom.
The pics in the guide are usually pretty bad. so it' looked like no lane was present.
I looked at some better pics and it is a dust lane. I still think it was along the top.
Nice galaxy either way.
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Greg LaFlamme" <greg.laflamme@No-Spam>
> Friday morning Scott Baker and I met in Castro valley so we could
> caravan up to Plettstone. The drive up 140E was very nice and the rocks that
> jut out from the earth were all decorated with orange and yellow moss. It
> was beautiful and I had to stop and snap a couple pictures. As per Albert's
> suggestion, I picked up some doggy-treats for the ladies and handed some to
> Scott so we could each have gifts. The pups were nice and Pepper actually
> came right up to me, hat in hand even before I gave her a yum-yum. The new
> dog Abby is a bit of a beggar and I would only give the group treats when
> they were calm and didn't expect it. Ala dog Whisperer. Friday night was a
> skunk job the way I played it. We hit our respective "sacs' around 11:30 and
> called it a wash. Carter Scholz woke up at 2:30 to find a clear sky and
> proceeded to log 20 objects:-/ He considered waking us but because of a
> comment I made earlier regarding a good nights sleep, wasn't sure if he
> should or not. Very nice of you buddy but next time, feel free to kick my
> freak'n tent,,,,, hard;-) Saturday we (Myself, Carter and Scott Baker) took
> a drive into Yosemite Valley to see what we could see and even did some
> light duty 4WD'ing to get into a snowy parking lot for a pseudo picnic. I
> took some pictures of the various landmarks. Beautiful things everywhere you
> look. I had a great time with those two guys and given the chance, I'd do it
> all again next week.
> Saturday night was nice overall and 6 in the trap was an easy
> pickings. The Coyotes, crickets and toads putt on a nice concert for us and
> as I've said before, nature sounds at night make observing even better. We
> had about a 2 hr time slot where the entire sky was really super sweet.
> Carter and I both got SQM readings (sky quality meter) between 21.58 and
> 21.61, far eclipsing my best readings at Lake Sonoma. This,,,is darkness!
> The popping galaxies were the proof in the pudding though. I tangled with
> some nice areas of sky near Polaris and was having a blast. In that time we
> were all quietly working our maps / lists, it was business. I took my logs
> more seriously this time and every designation that got underlined in Urano
> Metria was also neatly printed along with a short comment. For these short
> weekend observing sessions, I'm going to trade the laptop and its 65lb
> battery for Urano Metria, a music stand, a few DSS sheets and a red light.
> Being a bit of a minimalist, I really enjoy a light weight, non-driven scope
> that sets up in under 5 minutes. I copied Steve Gottlieb's idea of placing
> a small piece of red acetate under Sky Commander's clear LCD cover and that
> idea works really well to make the letters stand out against the dim red
> background. I had printed about 20 "basic log sheets" in advance just for
> that purpose although I only needed two of them. I logged 42 objects, here
> are just a few of the Highlights: NGC 2805 and its three edge on companions,
> NGC 2655, NGC 2336 showed some structure, I came across NGC 5907 in Urano
> Metria so I gave it a peek. Wow, what an object to just stumble across, it
> was a shock and a discussion complete with pictures ensued over that one.
> "Hey Scott, check out this dust lane" "I see it but I'm not convinced that
> it is" "Sure looks like one, like a sharp edge that's only visible in the
> bright area around the nucleus" "Ya, I see what you mean but that may be
> mottling or some aitch-tooy stuff" Scott had the Night sky observers guide
> and the over-exposed astrophoto seemed to suggest he was right. Either way,
> I love group observations, its helps me learn and keeps my feet on the
> ground. Had to revisit my old friend the Draco trio and all three were right
> were I left them last time, very nice. M81 showed its huge outer arms
> curling back over and under the barred galaxy and it never ceases to amaze
> me how much larger that sukka gets in a real dark sky. As if a personal
> gift to me, M51, 63 and 101 all showed there spiral arms as well, I spent
> about 10 full minutes with each. The grand-daddy of all kick-but galaxies,
> NGC 4565 was a show stopper for me and that last object of the night. I
> observed it for a long time at zenith using many different magnifications
> and found that a 16 T5 Nagler @ 118x gave the best impression for me. That
> dude filled my entire fov, the dust lane was prominent but what I liked the
> best about it was the impression of tannish color and mottling on its
> inclined spiral face. Like M 104, its not completely edge on. In any case, I
> hadn't seen that one since last year and my hearts still racing.
>
> Thanks to Michelle and Paul for letting me come up and borrow some space in
> the yard, it was so appreciated:)
>
>
>
> GML
>
> --
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GSSP Web Page updated 3/4/08: http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
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Received on Mon Mar 10 11:40:28 2008