[AZ-Observing] Observing report from Vekol 4/10/04 and 4/17/04 (pt. 1 -- long)

Even though the weather predictions were bad the last two weekends, I
still got out to Vekol. Both nights were very productive for
observing with my 16" dob (formerly George De Lange's).

I observed a real grab bag of mostly galaxies over the last two
weekends. I filled in some holes from my main observing list from
Burnham's. I observed new-to-me objects and "finished" Leo, Draco,
Crater and Bootes. I also observed previously unseen objects in
Virgo, Ursa Major and Minor, Camelopardalis, Coma. I also reobserved
some old favorites, sometimes for the first time in a large (>10-12")
scope. 

On the 10th, Mike Mello and I were out alone. The 17th had a handful
of intrepid people unafraid of the weather including Neville and Bill
with 12" and 8" Cats respectively. 

This was the second and third night I have used the Herald Bobroff
Astroatlas.

This is a large, deep and detailed atlas. It is a great match to a
large scope. It contains several sets of charts, but the main set is
the whole sky to about mag. 9.5. It contains DSOs to a rather faint
limit (14th magnitude for the deepest full sky set of charts). In
some places it is a little crowded, but still usable. For the "worst"
areas, like the summer milky way and the Virgo cluster, it has even
larger scaled, deeper charts. 

One nice thing is that a decent size chunk of sky is visible on each
large format chart. This makes it easy to orient the charts to the
sky by eye. The old Uranometria seems like looking through a soda
straw in comparison. 

The HB Astroatlas is printed on synthetic paper and should be nearly
impervious to moisture. It is spiral bound and lays flat unlike
charts bound like a book. 

One interesting but potentially confusing aspect of this atlas is the
symbols. Size, shape, visibility, and other details are coded into
the symbol for DSOs. For example, galaxies have size, shape,
orientation, inclination (how close to edge on or face on),
visibility and type (eg. Compact, Eliptical, Irregular, Spiral,
Barred, etc) specified. This is a very powerful concept that makes
the atlas a real asset to observing. It is almost like having a
catalog as well as a chart.

One lack is that it doesn't show the real shape for large nebula. It
uses a boxy symbol instead. Even the SA2000 does better in this
regard.

I was previously using Sky Atlas 2000 before I purchased this atlas.
There is almost no comparison with the SA2000. The HB Astroatlas is
far superior in almost every regard. I don't know how this compares
with the newest edition of Uranometria as I haven't seen it but I
like it much better than the old edition of Uranometria.

I strongly recommend this atlas for those with large finders and
scopes. It is a great match to my 16" dob with 80mm finder. But I
would recommend looking at it before purchase as it may not appeal to
someone who prefers more traditional or simpler charts. 

Enough of the equipment talk, on to observing!

I observed 25 galaxies in Leo on the 10th.

The M65/M66/NGC3628 trio was well framed in a 22 panoptic at 90x. 

One interesting field contained NGCs 3681, 3684, 3686 and 3691. All
four were easy. '84 was largest at about 3'x2', 86 was about 2.5',
mostly round and somewhat diffuse. '81 and '91 were small round
spots. '81 was brighter than '91 with a much brighter middle. I love
little groupings like this one. 

NGC 3666 is a nice elongated galaxy about 4'x1'. It has a tiny bright
center, bright inner parts and extensive dimmer outer extent.

NGC 3719 and 3720 are a close pair, maybe 3' apart. Neither is very
impressive on its own, but together they are interesting.

The remaining galaxies I observed in Leo were less interesting.

I observed some galaxies in Virgo as well. Over the last few years
I've avoided the crowd at the center of the cluster. The mass of
galaxies there is somewhat intimidating. But I didn't really start in
on them, I just observed galaxies that Mike had on his list (mostly
EVAC 200 members, I think). I observe 8 galaxies in Virgo on the
10th.

NGC 4762 was particularly noteworthy. It is a big bright edge on,
about 8'x1.5'. It has a very bright central bulge and stellar
nucleus. I suspected a dark lane or other dust feature. NGC 4754 is
in the same field. It is a bright mostly round spot with a brighter
middle. NGC 4733 is a much dimmer small galaxy near 62 and 54. 

NGC 5740 is another large edge on galaxy, maybe 5'x1'. It has a much
brighter middle and small bright nucleus. One arm has a fairly bright
star involved. NGC 5740 is a large, slightly elongated galaxy, about
3'x2' in the same field. It is much dimmer than '40.

I tracked down an interesting object in Ursa Minor. NGC 3172 is a
14th magnitude tiny round galaxy, perhaps a 1/2' across right near an
11th magnitude star. This galaxy is known as "Polarissima Borealis"
and it is the closest fairly bright galaxy to the celestial north
pole. 

The moon was rising as I observed my last objects of the night on the
10th. 

I observed a great group of galaxies in Draco consisting of NGCs
5981, 5982, 5985 and 5989. '85 was fairly large (3'x2') and diffuse.
'82 was smaller rounder and more concentrated. '81 was an edge on dim
glow of about 2'x0.3'. These three were in a nice line. '89 was a dim
round spot about 1' away from the other three. It looks like I missed
another galaxy that was nearby, NGC 5976.

I then spotted NGC 4256, a large (3.5'x0.5') bright edge on galaxy in
Draco.

I closed out the night with a pair of galaxies NGC 4221 and 4210. '10
was a mostly round small spot with brighter middle, about 1'. '21 was
more elongated at about 1.5'x0.75'. 

Observing notes for 4/17 in a later message.

Joe Larkin


        
                
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