Back to stargazing... Part 3 / 4

Continued...


Perseus double cluster: with apo 24mm @ 24x, both in the view.. these dont seem as impressive as m46-47 pairs.. both of them almost look same.

M36,M37,M38 in Auriga: Apo with 24mm @24x.. single OC seemed bigger than the double cluster itself.. Outside one, i.e. m37, seemed much more beautiful with compressed salt-paper style.

NGC1893 OC, IC-410 object just below m38, next to vertical star alignment: 16" with 20mm @ 103x, simple open star cluster with lil nebulosity lurking around.. but nebulosity is not that prominent.. probably need to see it thru filter.. Jon have shown me this object before, but looks like i never documented it. interestingly, the description of this objects points to another IC object 405 i.e. Flaming Star Nebula, which is just on the opposite side of the vertical star alignment.. it is more prominent and famous.. need to watch it next time..

M1 Crab nebula: Apo @ 24mm @ 22x. I have seen crab so many times and i know its locatino precisly, but just want able to see it at 22x. I was expecting lil fuzzy ball.. but turned out that at 22x this one is very difficult object to observe. Jon was also lil surprised. it was very tiny and very faint fuzzy at this view.. this sort of gives perspective on how fiant and lil these objects are.. we are just exposed to bigger scopes showing these objects much bigger and brighter..

M81-M82: From apo @ 22x can see the bright fuzzy and bright streak objects in the same view.. can not miss it, while browsing.. alsmot as bright as background stars. m81 the elongated one seems brighter.. Later observed with 16" @ 20mm @ 103x.. it looks much better..

Two other ngcs 3077-2976 in the same vicinity.. they definitely seemed smaller and fainter.. but surprisingly, one looks like m82 i.e. elongated shape one, while another one seems elliptical, like m81.. though they are not..

Jon showed yet another ngc 2787 in the vicinity: (New) yet another fuzzy, but much smaller than above ngcs.

Mizar: The triplet system visible from apo @ 22x. Alcor lil far away than Mizar A-B. All white blue..

Leo M65-M66-3628 galaxies: From the 16", seeing wasnt that great so not very clear.. Same one from apo-24mm@22x looks good as well.. ngc not visible in that view.. but cant miss 65-66 pair.. also, from apo this pair seemed fainter than m81-82 pair.

Tried m95-96 triplet from apo, but seemed very hard.. wasn't able to get clear view in apo.. its surprising..

Jon showed yet another triplet in similar area as m65-66.. betn theta and delta leonis. NGC 3607-3608 tiny fuzzies..

Mars - observed multiple times... best view was thru 16" @ 20mm @ 103x at late night, when mars was 45deg west. The dark areas visible clearly.. mainly two dark areas.. one on northen side.. other one on south.. view improved over the period..

Continued..

La Posta Dinner with Late night Moonset - II

Continued..

There are bunch of clusters in nearby area of m103, so started browsing them. considering moonlite, probably OCs are better to observe.

NGC663 OC: While browsing for m103, saw another cluster next to it, which was probably better/bigger than m103.

NGC654 OC: Yet another tiny OC, but still can be identified easily.

NGC637 OC: Seemed to have "gun" shape, bright smaller. but because of tight concentration, feels like a cluster.

NGC559 OC: don't remember anything special in this one..

NGC457 OC: This is definitely bigger and had a curved alignment of stars.

NGC436 OC: Not impressive..also lil bit difficult identify the cluster.

NGC225 OC: Easy catch betn Gamma and Kappa Cas. Bigger..wider.. don't remember the shape again..

M29 OC: Easily visible in 16".typical shape.. seemed tiny.

Perseus double cluster: At high mags, completely looses its charm, At 28mm UWAN, seemed nice.

~11pm, was lil bit tired, also lil cloudy.. so decided to lie down for a while in the car trunk. The space is huge as compared to it seems. Can comfortably fit in two people without any trouble. Still wasn't able to sleep.. Pleiads on east, while Jupiter on west clearly visible thru car windows. Jon got up around ~00:30..everything was clear by then..no clouds and no moon.. excellent seeing.

M42 Orion - m43: At horizon, the trapezium was too wavy. visited it again after an hour when it was lil up in the sky.. It was excellent.. 6 stars in trapezium clearly visible. Awesome seeing. In 28mm UWAN, the nebulousity was fabulous, feeling up the whole 80deg EP. M43 next to it was showing the nebulosity too.. Easily supported high mags.. the internal details of two dark clouds near trapezium was also clearly visible.. indeed gives 3D feeling. The nebulosity near running nebula cluster was also visible.. still ll hard to discern the dark running man. is this just a photo graphic object? probably it is.. Jon has never seen it either.

M78 - bump up mags... nebulosity on next star also. 2071??

M1 Crab

Auriga clusters with 2 ngc objects

M44 cancer

ngc7331

Cephus, cluster + galaxy

stephans quintet

Cephus u cephi IC OC fuziness

sculptor gal 253, gc 288

new scultor gal 247 easy find.. huge ..faint.. with refractor also

M41 - CMa

M46 - planetory

M47

Gemini M35 - ngc next

Eskimo nebula

Double planetory

Asterism 37 OC 2169

Tau CMa

Thors helmet

M74 - next to aries

Doubles:

Rigel

Castor - refractor reflector refractor,

Beta Mono ceris - triplet

lambda orionis - almost like cancer

sigma orionis - 6 star system

milky way alignment - cephus alignment, scultor alignment

Dark night kickoff in freezing cold - II

Continued..

Eskimo nebula: The middle star jumps right at you.. if seeing is better, probably can see more details. bluish disk..very bright in the center and fainter outside..

Double planetary - In Jon's 28mm UWAN ~75x, way too tiny to see this one..but definitely you can see it. The clear 8 shape visible.

M81-M82: location. I always miss the location of this one. Pick up first and 3rd star in square of UMa and draw the digonal line that points to 2-3 star cluster, just below SW of it is M81 and M82. You can defintely see the pattern/texture on the edge galaxy. The pair is clearly visible thru binocs, once you know the location.

M51 Whirlpool galaxy: Not the greatest view of whirlpool. bad seeing..

M next to the third UMa star (seems M109): in jon's 28mm UWAN, 3rd UMA star and M?? (M109) is visble in the same FoV.

M36-37-38: binocular browsing.. Jon mentioned about some ngc next to M37??

Leo triplet M65-66-3628: Jon pointed to it. 3628 fainter than other two. All 3 in same view (with uwan 28 75x ??). 3628 elongated and bigger in length than others ??

Jon's galaxy pair in UMA: Two faint galaxies in the view. If you continue the tail of UMa, same distance as 5th & 7th star along the tail. (UPDATE 03/10/2011: From the location, seems to be Hickson 68 in CVn)

M3: Jon pointed the location.. bit tricky.. visible thru binocs.. Outskirt stars are clearly resolvable. higher mag helps..

Sombrero Galaxy: Jon pointed the location.. lil tiny than what i was expecting. elongated.. but no sombrero structure visible.