[AZ-Observing] Re: January 2010 report from Hovatter Norte
- From: L Knauth <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:42:01 -0700
Someone pointed out that I got an NGC number wrong. It should be NGC2359.
Paul Knauth
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of L Knauth
Sent: Tue 1/12/2010 10:51 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] January 2010 report from Hovatter Norte
Last Sunday night at Norte was about as good as it can get in the AZ desert.
SQM-L reached 21.73 and seeing was excellent with views limited only by
thermals rising off the thick 25-inch slab of glass. I did a cosmic aerobic
workout going up and down the 8-foot ladder until 4:30 am. Monday night wasn't
as dark (21.6), but the seeing was good until about midnight when strands of
cirrus started moving in.
I have only used my Clave 3 mm eyepiece productively twice in the 33 years I've
had it. Once was with Pierre Schwar at Buckeye Hills when we looked with
amazement through my 12.5-inch (Cave/Herring mirror) at the Eskimo Nebula right
on the zenith. The other was Sunday night when I looked with amazement at NGC
3310 on the meridian with the 25" Obsession. This is a very tiny face-on
spiral with very high surface brightness. With the 3 mm (1058 X), the field
star was a soft, tiny ball, but the two wrap-around arms were visible in AV.
The view was nicer at lower powers, but the opposing darker areas between core
and arms were less visible. Wray says this is the brightest galaxy in the UV
and is undergoing massive star formation throughout. It is astonishingly
bright in the visual for a galaxy of such small apparent size. I was viewing
the results of a past galactic collision if current astrophysical guesses are
correct.
NGC 2174 in Orion is a bright lump next to a faint haze around a star. With an
O-III filter, the haze erupts into a patchwork cloud with intricate,
interesting structures, but the bright lump vanishes completely. The filter
giveth and the filter taketh. I couldn't see any star responsible for the
bright reflection lump either through the eyepiece or in web photos this
evening. While not the most spectacular object, the filter effects are really
striking.
Through the 25-inch, NGC 2259 in Canis Major is mind-boggling with its arcs and
strands flying wall to wall across a 17mm Nagler with O-III filter. This is a
Wolf-Rayet star supposedly blowing bubbles in a tenuous gas cloud, but I have a
hard time relating what I see to stellar winds emanating from a point source.
Whatever is going on, this is yet another object where good visual views under
optimal conditions put the photos to shame. We should assemble a list.
These were two great nights. The sky was so spectacular and the endlessly
beautiful and interesting eyepiece views so extraordinary that twice I simply
stood there exulting with arms extended straight out. The coyotes haven't been
barking much lately, so maybe some midnight critter noise was not
inappropriate. Cosmic howling in the deep midnight desert! Wonderful,
actually.
I hear that elsewhere it was cold and dreary.
Videmus Stellae!
Paul Knauth
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