[sac-forum] Re: Call for Observatioins

AJ,
    Good luck seems to be trying to find us in Alabama.  If the expected front 
from the north doesn't stall out it should bring clear skies Friday and 
Saturday nights.  So I should be able to send you Draco "call for" this 
weekend. 

David Hofland
Director, Student Services
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Jacksonville State University
256.782.5276
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: AJ Crayon 
  To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 1:15 PM
  Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Call for Observatioins


  David, hope the weather clears for you to get some observing in and send 
observations.  Our weather hasn't been amenable to observing either - it's that 
time of year.

  So far I've got observations from Dan Gruber and Dick Harshaw and need more.

  AJ Crayon
  Phoenix, AZ

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: David Hofland 
    To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 6:01 AM
    Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Call for Observatioins


    Will send Draco observations if we can get some clear skies here.  Its been 
terrible since last month, but this weeks forecast has a couple nights in the 
next week that just might luck out.  We'll see. 

    David Hofland
    Director, Student Services
    College of Nursing and Health Sciences
    Jacksonville State University
    256.782.5276
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: AJ Crayon 
      To: SAC Forum 
      Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 10:43 PM
      Subject: [sac-forum] Call for Observatioins


      I know the weather isn't cooperating with us and I'm not trying to twist 
the knife, really I'm not :)), but I thought it worthwhile to post the 
observing schedule anyhow.  I've included the current one, Draco, because I 
need the observations in about a week or 10 days for the newsletter.  You've 
already seen Sagittarius, but Cygnus is the new one.

      The next month's selection will be Draco.  There is quite a bit here to 
choose from, especially since it crosses many lines of Right Ascension.  Here 
we will keep to the region around the head of the dragon and find them all, 
save one, galaxies.  The magnitude range for the galaxies is 9.9 to 12th.  The 
first selection is NGC6140 a nice elongated barred spiral.  Next jump is to 
NGC6340 a nearly face-on early type spiral.  There are other galaxies in the 
field.  Can you count and identify them?  The Draco Dwarf, UGC10822 and a 
member of the Local Group of Galaxies, is next and its magnitude is listed as 
9.9. Beware this can be misleading because its size is 33.5'X18. 9'and that 
gives it a low surface brightness.  You might try to ferret out some detail 
with averted vision while waiting for a moment of good seeing.  Continuing on 
our way finds NGC6412 a barred spiral with some detail.  Again, try to get as 
much out of this one as you can.  Our last galaxy is NGC6654, at 12th mag.  Not 
clear, to me, if it has some faint stars involved or bright HII regions.  What 
do you think?  Finally comes an asterism named after Fr. Lucian Kemble called 
Kemble 2 and located at RA 18h35.0m Dec +72° 23'.  It is 7th mag, 30' and forms 
a ''Mini-Cassiopeia'' like asterism.

       

      The September selection is Sagittarius, up for its third appearance.  
Most of the objects will be from the Messier Catalog, but not all.  We will 
keep with some of the lesser-viewed globular clusters and save the more popular 
ones for another time.  Our search begins with M 69 that has stars from 14th to 
16th mag.  What is smallest telescope that can see the well-resolved nature of 
this object?  On July 22, 1995, just 15' west of southwest of where Comet 
Hale-Bopp was discovered is the next selection - M 70.  Still within the body 
of the Tea Pot asterism is the very bright M 54.  Now moving more towards the 
east is M 55, the brightest globular cluster so far.  Continuing to the 
northeast part of the constellation is the planetary nebula NGC6818, often 
called the Little Gem Nebula.  Can you detect it's slight elongation of 
22"X15"?  The last entry is nearby, NGC6822 also known as Barnard's Galaxy and 
a Member of the Local Group of Galaxies.  It has a surface brightness of mag 
14.5 but is still viewable is telescopes smaller than 8".  Look for the bright 
HII region.

       

      For October the observations will come from the Swan Cygnus and will 
start with the cluster NGC6819 that has over 100 stars from 11th mag.  Should 
be quite pretty.  Next is a selection from Sky and Telescopes' Deep Sky Wonders 
authored by Sue French.  It's an asterism called the Fairy Ring that is a 
gathering of pretty faint stars, including some doubles and interesting stellar 
colors.  It is located at R.A. 20h 04.1m Dec +38° 14' is round and about 20'.  
Let us know what colors you see.  Nearby is NGC6888 a 10th mag nebula that 
should be large, pretty bright and elongated.  The next nearby entry is an open 
cluster NGC7044.  This Herschel 400 entry is large, rich and faint with stars 
from 15th to 18th mag.  Moving 1.5° almost due south of Gamma (g) Cygni is 
Berkeley 86 and its 30 stars from mag 9.5.  The last of the Herschel 400 
entries is NGC6910 in the Gamma (g) Cygni nebulosity.  It is another open 
cluster with about 50 stars and should be easily found.  Last is M 39  This 
bright, large, loose cluster should be easily found.


      AJ Crayon
      Phoenix, AZ

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