I've been watching the weather all week to see whether there'd be a window to go to Lake San Antonio for the Spring CalStar. Unfortunately there was always a mass of moisture running all through central California, so it didn't make sense to go. I've been very busy at work anyhow. Except last night, when a modest gap appeared to show itself in the satellite imagery, so I loaded up my 10-inch Springsonian and headed down.
There were far fewer attendees, likely due to the weather but also as a Spring event it's not as popular -- much colder. It got very cold indeed, into the 30s quickly after nightfall, so chemical warmers in my boots and my down jacket saved me. I set-up next to Marko whom I haven't seen in a couple years, and met Julian, Jamie, and Raymond. There were wispy clouds during sunset and early dark, but from around 9pm to 1-2am the conditions were reasonably good -- 21.55 on the SQML. It would have been much better on a drier night.
I spent my time seeking out brighter galaxies on my atlas with my 10-inch, some I had seen during Messier and H400 surveys, and others I had not seen since I had passed them by to follow observing lists. I started out with the Leo Triplet then remembered a nearby galaxy I had seen before which really impressed me:
NGC 3521: This has a bright stellar nucleus and a bright, swirly core and a dim but large halo slowly diffusing into the background. The galaxy appears on an angle the stellar nucleus appears to float on a the pillow of the core. As good as any Messier.
NGC 3495: A lovely edge-on streak, with two faint stars on either side of the nucleus. Nearby to a bright orange and a bright blue-white star.
Lor 23 is a curious asterism, it appears as a compact line of five stars in the finderscope, and in the main scope some more stars are added so it forms a zig-zag of a dozen stars.
NGC 3169, 3166, and 3165: 3169 had a distinct core but a lopsided, uneven halo, certainly disrupted, and a little larger and more diffuse than its more organized companion 3165. 3169 was a very faint small oval glow on the other side of a string of stars in the field.
NGC 2403 is very large, mostly a faint diffuse fat oval shape, but with time I distinctly noticed a spiral arm sprouting from one side away from an orange and blue-white pair stars, and then another from the opposite end. Also the sky background through most of the FOV was lighter or foggier than the rest, indicating a very large diffuse halo. It's a spiral seen at a moderately inclined angle. Very striking.
NGC 4038, 4039, 4027: The first two are the famous Antennae galaxies, and for these I saw an smallish elongated smear with two brightened heads facing each other. Forming an elongated triangle with a bright star, 4027 was a bright oval glow. Nice to see the wider field of these.
Abell 35: The only planetary nebulae viewed. Seen only with an OIII filter, it appeared as a diffuse round glow with only moderately defined edges, with central star seen. There appeared some additional nebulosity running in line with an arc of four stars near the planetary.
I spent a good while revisiting the Coma & Virgo Clusters, galaxy hopping around and trying to follow along with the atlas. It's too much to try to describe, but the views were really nice, there's so many galaxies to be seen, so many stars, so much life.
Toward the end of my night I took a tour of some nicknamed galaxies, all of them bright:
NGC 4565, The Needle: As described, a long, thin, bright edge-on galaxy. Stellar nucleus floats in a bright core inner ring, and then the long, tapering halo which stretched for about 1 degree.
NGC 4559: Koi Fish: This was a large, truly fish as-seen-from-above shaped galaxy, with one large, rounded, brighter end and a slightly curving, mottled and dissipating tail.
NGC 4656, 4657, 4637, and 4627: In my 20-inch I had seen these only each in their field of view; in this scope I could get both groups comfortably in the same field. The Hockey Stick is 4656 and 4657, the former being longer and brighter and the latter on one end and at an oblique angle so it looks like a hockey stick. This pair is considerably smaller that 4631, the Whale, which is large and rounded on one end with a long, mottled, slightly cured halo. A small and very faint diffuse oval glow is 4627, which looks like it's riding the whale's back like a calf.
NGC 4395 is a large, amorphously round diffuse glow, with a very slightly brighter round core. It's a very interesting, highly mottled face on spiral.
NGC 4236: Very large, very faint edge on, some texture showing throughout. It's a nearly edge on spiral, very striking.
Lots more seen, but no more notes taken. Oh, I saw Omega Centauri twice, before it went behind a tree, and after. And Centaurus A. And M83. And so much more.
I was the last observer on the field, for about an hour after the last person went to bed. After seeing M81 and M82 I felt I had enough, so I went to a very fitful sleep. I was warm, but did not sleep well. I woke early, before the sun was up, to a fog-filled field. Not being able to go back to sleep, I decided to finally pack everything and leave -- so I could get warm in the moving car. I got something to eat and a coffee at the Lockwood Store, and went to the Elkhorn Slough on my way home for a beautiful walk and some birdwatching. Then onward to home.
No comments:
Post a Comment