Sunday, January 18, 2009

First Dark Night with Orion XTi 10 - II

Continued..

Horsehead Nebula IC 434
: Fought for it.. dark nebula.. star was too bright.. with filter 18mm and without filter on 14mm.. without filter view was better.. but still didn't see Horsehead.. need to identify the precise location.. It seems like we were looking at NGC2024 flame nebula.. we were looking at north.. we should be looking 2-3 deg south..

M1 Crab: In 40mm visible.. 32mm was good.. Know precise location. Supported all higher magnifications.. 25mm - 16mm still good.. lost location in 10mm.. No internal detail visible in higher mags.

Leo Stars: Near Regulus UGC5470 not visible.. i thought i had seen it thru Jon's 10" dob.. verify. caught all stars. Gamma is yellow and has blue companion, but separated by large margin.. Yellow color was impressive.. Watched all stars.. Denebola was too low.

Saturn: looking for Saturn in Leo.. but nothing bright.. got too confused.. but found it next to iota leonoid.. 40mm no rings.. 32mm rings as a line.. but not able to focus.. too low on horizon. verify satellite locations.. two on top (west)..one was really far.. and two below (east).. higher mags didn't help much either.. wavy view.

Leo M95-M96-M105 Triplet galaxies: Star 53 visible averted.. easy catch of galaxies. Saw lot of NGCs nearby in 40mm itself.. M95-M96, M105-NGC3384, NGC3412 (new), NGC3377 (new) next to star 52.. also by using map, located NGC3367 circular galaxy (new), NGC3338 (new). Also, 32mm/25mm mag was best view. It also showed M105-NGC3384-NGC3389. familiar 3 star alignment also.. Brightness M105 > NGC3384 > NGC3389. Large: NGC3389 > NGC3384..

Leo M65-M66-NGC3628 Triplet: Star 73 visible thru averted vision. triplet easy catch.. this triplet much better than m95-m96-m105 triplet. NGC3628 is perfect edge on. Looking at map, found all tiny guys.. NGC3593(new) and NGC3596 (new) next to theta leonoid..

TBD:
- Intelliscope battery
- Observe each object more carefully. M46 is an example of ignorance.
- Observation Plan is necessary
- Too cold out there

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