FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Vekol Last Night w/ Observations

[Frank Kraljic <fjkraljic@xxxxxxx>]

Dennis Malone and I braved the apparent onslaught of high clouds (and  
traffic) late yesterday afternoon and arrived at Vekol shortly after  
630pm.  According to CSC, the skies were to clear by 8pm offering  
decent or better transparency.  In fact, transparency did improve  
late into the night and seeing remained constant affording  
magnifications around 250x and occasionally better.  Another amateur  
arrived sometime after 9pm and setup at the far north end of the  
field.  My first observing session in almost three months since a  
considerable amount of time in the southern hemisphere, I found  
myself reacquainting myself with "reversed" constellations.  Objects  
of note:

- Comet Holmes:  Slightly fainter but more diffuse to the naked eye,  
was shockingly large through the 10-inch at 114x compared to its size  
a few days ago.  The bright coma was slightly larger than half a  
degree and the outer halo spanning the comet's overall diameter to a  
little less than a full degree.  The SW half of the coma's edge was  
feathered out in contrast to harder opposite edge.  The pseudo- 
nucleus was also considerably fainter and less stellar.  Only a  
marginal at best improvement with OIII filter on the outer halo,  
which hinted at density inconsistencies particularly to the coma's west.

- Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy:  With Tom Polakis' "Celestial Portraits" as  
a guide using 114x, I picked up what appeared to be a small  
background sky brightening in the suspected area among many faint  
field stars.  I will have to try for this object at a much darker  
site to confirm I indeed saw it.

- Jones 1 (PN in Pegasus): This is one of my favorite planetaries, as  
it is a rewarding challenge object.  A fun star-hop at 78x following  
several 8th to 10th magnitude stars from Beta Pegasi, this PN is a  
broken ring of very low surface brightness requiring some time at the  
eyepiece to discern.  The OIII definitely darkens the background sky,  
although the PN's image is somewhat better than through an unfiltered  
view.  The UHC filter performed the strongest, presenting a clearer  
ring structure brighter and thicker at the north and south with some  
mottling within.

-FRANK

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