FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Cherry Road Star Party

["Jack Jones" <spicastar@xxxxxxx>]

A grand total of five stalwart die-hards showed up to dismal skies Saturday 
night but the thick heavy clouds parted in spots by 10pm and stayed away til 
1am when crud moved in from the north to shut us down for the night. A large 
clear area stayed over head and to the south miraculously for good observations 
of the summer Milky Way in Scorpius, Sagittarius and Scutum, and I was able to 
finish up globulars and open clusters in Sagittarius on the Herschel 400 giving 
me 275 total, putting me ahead of the game until Monoceros rises this Winter. 
Then if I ever get thru Ursa Major, Coma, and Virgo I'll have conquered it.
  
Willard Springs 30 miles to the North was hopelessly clouded and Patrick, who 
alerted us to the site earlier this week, saw clearing to the S, and came down 
to visit us around 11pm. He was happy to find the little clear skies that we 
had. At 105 miles, it puts the site the same distance as Sentinel for me in N. 
Phoenix. We were also able to catch several Perseids after seeing zero last 
week, being clouded out at the peak. Marshall Dailey passed around his 12mm 
Radian for all to examine and try out. The eye relief was phenomenal, I could 
almost observe from my lawn chair with it.
  
Observations with an f/4.5 14.5-inch Schwaar equatorial with a Panoptic 27, 
12mm Radian, Nagler 9mm, and UHC filter.
  
N6440 - A small globular just 1/2 degree south of the Crescent Nebula, one of 
the many small globulars in Sagittarius.
  
N6445 - The Crescent Nebula, a 13th magnitude small Planetary with two opposite 
bright parentheses, or you could imagine a small version of the Dumbbell 
Nebula. This is a SAC 110 object.

N6853 - M27 (in Vulpecula), and speaking of the Dumbbell Nebula, why not? It is 
a huge oval Planetary, the ultimate showpiece, with bright lobes at each far 
end, with a complete circle of nebulosity connecting them together in the 
14.5-inch.

N6568 - A large sparse open cluster, tarantula-like with faint blue star chains 
near u Sagittarii.  A good contrast to tiny open cluster N6583 nearby.

N6583 - A small dense peppery "globular" OC on the other side of a bright star 
from N6568.

N6645 - A medium sized bright rich cluster with an empty circular star pattern 
in the center. I would call this the Bullethole Cluster.

N6514 - M20, the Trifid, showed 3 crooked lanes in improving skies, and a nice 
close double star in its center. It could have 4 lanes, depending on your 
definition of a lane and the amount of averted imagination used.

M17 - The Swan Nebula, a showpiece in the 14-inch, even without the UHC filter, 
looking bright and chunky and so duck-like in the clearest skies of the night. 
(I had to resist going quack-quack when someone looked in the eyepiece!)

M18 - 1/4 degree S of the Swan, a knot of ~10 bright stars.

N6603 - in M24, the Sagittarius Star Cluster, and 1/2 degree S of the Swan, it 
is sometimes misidentified as M18 in less dark skies. It is a small and busy 
open cluster with a bar of stars with small arch over it. I would have to call 
this the Jukebox Cluster.

Jack Jones
President - SAC
Spicastar@xxxxxxx

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