[AZ-Observing] Flat Iron Last night
- From: SaguaroAstro@xxxxxxx
- To: AZ-Observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 17:18:20 EST
Just finished entering my notes and scanning drawing from last night's outing
at Flat Iron. We had a surprisingly large turnout, and although this was to
be a novice session, only one novice showed up! Cheryl is new SAC member with
a new 8" Orion dob. Steve Coe kindly introduced her around and asked us all
to help make her feel welcome. I hope we succeeded.
Any My list was short for this night, mostly trying to finish off the winter
SAC 110 objects before my final push into Virgo & Coma B, this spring. ON the
list were the elusive (to me anyway) NGC 40 in Cephius, NGC's 2403, 2655 &
1501 in CAM, Hubble's variable Nebulae (NGC 2261) in Mon, and 2539, 2440 &
2438 in Puppis.
Comet V1 LINEAR Neat was also on the list.
As twilight settled in I first took a look at the comet. I saw it as large
and bright with a large dense coma. The halo extended to a diameter of about
10-15". At 71x the was a definite tail extending to the North. the tail
appeared to be rather broad, I estimated it to be about 20' long & 7' wide.
There were subtle variation on shading throughout the comet, making this a
very nice beginning to the evening.
My friend Steve Perry had gotten an Orion electronic eyepiece for Christmas
and he was giving it it's first go under a dark sky. He has the color version
and had it linked to a 13" TV. The view of Saturn was very nice, considering
the seeing was kind of roily (I gave the night a 6 for both Transparency &
Seeing). The Cassini division was clearly evident. Using a barlow proved that
the seeing just couldn't support the magnification this night as the image
went very blurry. Jupiter at lower power gave up it's banding, but once again
the seeing wasn't conducive to good planetary viewing. Steve Coe and
mentioned this would be a nice setup at a public event.
After enjoy the video images, it was back to observing. Staring in
Camelpardalis, I first found NGC 2403. This is a very large bright spiral. It
is elongated about 2-1 and there are two foreground stars at either end. at
71x I could easily detect some spiral structure on the east edge. The bar is
also clearly evident.
Next up was NGC 1501 a planetary near NGC 1502 & Kembles Cascade. Finding
Kembles Cascade in my binos I then zeroed in on 1502 and hopped to 1501 from
there. Easier than it looked. NGC 1501 is a very bright planetary framed by
8th & 9th magnitude stars. With the OIII filter it was seen as large and
bright and slightly fan shaped to the west. Very gradually bright to the
middle. the central star was suspected, but even with averted vision I
couldn't hold what I guessed to the central star.
NGC 2655 finished off Camelepardalis and was noted as having a central core
offset a bit from the disk giving it and elongated appearance although
careful observation shows it to be nearly round. Some mottling was noted near
the edges.
NGC 40 in Cephius has been one of those objects I just can't seem to find.
I've hunting this object for three bloody years now and it seemed like it was
going to be another one of those nights. Ken Reeves found it in his 10" and I
looked for the field in Gert. Still not having any luck I decided to move on.
Ken came over and nudge the scope and there it was. I guess I was closer than
I thought. Just to say I found it I moved the scope about 40 degrees away and
then came back and finally under my own power found NGC 40. with the OIII the
central star was evident and the nebula extended rather evenly away from the
star. Averted vision seemed to bring out some subtle variations in density
but nothing that could be held.
Having finished up in the North I took a breaks to socialize a bit and then
about 2230 (that 10:30 PM Jenn) got back to the eyepiece. NGC 2261, Hubbell's
variable nebula was, at 120x, very bright, more so than most bright nebulae
and compact. the fan shape seen in photos was clearly evident and the
exciting star R Mon was also clearly evident and the tip of the fan. The
object did not respond to the Sirius Optics Nebula filter.
NGC 2438, a planetary Nebula within open Cluster M46 was next, Using 71x &
the OIII filter It was seen as large and bright, it's brightness even through
out the nebula, I wonder, how many folks working the Messier List don't, like
me notice this object until it's pointed out. Having seen it now it seems to
be how did I miss it the first time around?
I broke down around 0030 (that's 12:30 AM Jenn) and headed home in convoy
with Steve Coe & Dave Fredericksen. We took Sun Valley Pkway as we didn't
trust ADOT to have finished whatever it was they were doing on I 10. Some
pleasant conversation on the CB's helped speed the trip along. As I turned
onto my block, I was greeted by a butter yellow crescent moon just poking
it's way between the houses at the end of the block. A fitting close to a
nice night of observing
Rick Tejera
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
SaguaroAstro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org
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