Archstone First Light..

Date: Sept 13th, 2010 Monday
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 8:15pm (45 mins),
Location: Archstone Apts, Mission Valley, SD CA
Weather: White zone observation. Very light polluted.. .No clouds.. Moon (a day before first quarter).
Instruments: Astrotech 102ED APO. Pan35 (20x), 17T4 (41x), 7T1 (101x), 7T1x2 (202x)
Buddies: Aparna

Observed first time from new Home. Somehow never got a chance to observe, in last 5 weeks, since we moved here.

Apprently, this is highly light polluted area. This is all white zone area. Summerset atleast was in Red zone. The Naked Eye visibility has gone down drastically. NELM ~3. In Saggitarius, Phi Saggi was barely visible.

http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/50420.aspx
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Sagittarius_constellation_map.svg/2000px-Sagittarius_constellation_map.svg.png

Because of this, it indeed gives new respect for dark skies.. Also, just identifying the constellation boundaries is also tough. Good way to test what you know, based on judgment. e.g. Ophiuchus was visible, but i wasn't able to locate the constellation boundary.

Target List:

CON  OBJECT    OTHER   TYPE    RA       DEC       MAG   SUBR   SIZE_MAX SIZE_MIN NGC DESCR                     NOTES

1  SGR  NGC 6523  M 8     CL+NB   18 03.7  -24 23    5     13      45 m     30 m    !!!;vB;eL;eiF;w L Cl          Lagoon Nebula;Cl NGC 6530 invl;dark lane crosses neb

2  SGR  NGC 6618  M 17    CL+NB   18 20.8  -16 11    6     13      11 m             !!!;B;eL;eiF;2 hooked         Omega nebula;Swan Nebula;many F outer loops;use filter

3  SGR  NGC 6514  M 20    CL+NB   18 02.7  -22 58    6.3   13      28 m             vB;vL;Trifid;D* inv           Trifid nebula;sev dark lanes;H IV 41 & V 10;D* HN 40 invl

4  SGR  NGC 6656  M 22    GLOCL   18 36.4  -23 54    5.2   11      24 m             vB;vL;R;vRi;vmC               Stars mags 11...;one of finest globs

5  SGR  NGC 6626  M 28    GLOCL   18 24.5  -24 52    6.9   11      15 m             vB;L;R;geCM;rrr               45' NW from Lambda Sgr;* mags 14...

6  SGR  NGC 6530  OCL 19  OPNCL   18 04.5  -24 21    4.6   99.9    15 m             Cl;B;L;pRi;f M8               In Lagoon nebula M8;25* mags 7...


7  SCO  NGC 6121  M 4     GLOCL   16 23.6  -26 32    5.4   12      26.3 m           Cl;8 or 10 B* in line;rrr     Look for central bar structure

8  SCO  NGC 6405  M 6     OPNCL   17 40.3  -32 15    4.2   10      20 m             Cl;L;iR;lC;st7;10...          Butterfly cluster;51 members to 10.5 mag incl var* BM Sco

9  SCO  NGC 6475  M 7     OPNCL   17 53.9  -34 48    3.3   12      80 m             Cl;vB;pRi;lC;*7...12          80 members to 10th mag;Fine naked eye cluster

Moon: Moon is just a day before first quarter. Just above the neighborhood roof. Probably because of that high mag views (202x) weren't sharp.

Scorpion - Antares was red OR deep orange-brown. Moon is closer to Antares. M4 (mag 7.12) not visible. Must have washed out because of moonlight.

M7 Ptolemy - M6 butterfly: was easy catch from Sco tail duo stars. Apparently not many background stars in the view were visible. Still M7 shows bunch of bright stars.. sort of like multiple K shapes joined at various angles. Just above towards sco tail, M6 butterfly visible. The red-orange-brown star in butterfly pops up. cluster is not at all impressive. Also the FoV doesn't have any other stars..

While hunting M6-M7, got a feel of refractor orientations again. L-R swapped. U-D are fine. Need to get a judgment on the True FoV so that hunting will logical. Didn't know the APO+EP combination TrueFoV.

M8 Lagoon - Very depressing. Very little nebulosity visible at the central (probably near hourglass). increasing the mags 35Pan-> 17T4 definitely made the view better. UHC in 35mm pan showed similar..but nothing impressive. Still the open cluster 6530 next to M8 stands out. Compact as compared to M6 butterfly. Circular in shape.

M20 Triffid not visible. considering the magnitudes, indeed surprising. Not sure why i din't see it. Moonlight?

M17 Swan visible: Felt like its brighter than M8. OR surface brightness of swan is evenly spread as compared to M8, so feels like it.

M16 Eagle not visible again. somehow i missed the V shape cluster as well.

M22 and M28 - M22 bigger and brighter. Was an easy catch in washed out light. M28 is tight, small and lil fainter. Can fit the Lambda Saggi and M22 in the same view. Not all three in same view.