Ivan Maly
January 10th, 2013, 09:22 PM
Observing report from my outing to a local 2400 ft a.s.l. blue zone site (typical SQM-L reading 21.7 mag/sq arcsec). From my field notes with only essential editing.
435
January 9, 2013. Cherry Springs. 16”. Transparent by Clear Sky Clock in the evening, then above average. Clouds cleared after astronomical twilight. Zodiacal light to culminating Pisces. 0 deg. C, 70% humidity. Strong wind gusts, horrific seeing.
M77 culminating. 225x. Ethos 8 mm. 19:30-21:30. Rotating satellite to the upper left. The S side is fainter. Comparison with photos shows this to be due to dust on this evidently near side. Especially the SE sector is visually faint due to the two overlapping dust lanes there, which are invisible as such. The continuation of the inner dust lane is visible as such E of the core. In the photos, this is the widest dust lane segment in the galaxy, and the contrast that makes is visually detectable is provided by the brightest spiral arm segment farther outwards to the ENE. The visible arc that begins there and becomes broader and fainter as it curves around the core on the N side mostly corresponds to a real spiral arm, but its broad end (WSW) is in reality two arms separated by an invisible, comparatively narrow dust lane. Overall the appearance is highly asymmetric, dynamic, and dizzyingly suggestive of the galaxy’s inclination to the line of sight.
436
On the way to M77 from Delta Ceti, NGC 1055 is strongly elongated with no concentration at 225x and visible as an elongated glow already at 45x.
Herschel 2500 catalog, Camelopardalis
NGC 1501. Planetary nebula. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara’s Hidden Treasure #22. “Oyster Nebula”. 225x with Ethos: Almost round, softly annular. Middle uniformly nebulous. Sharp central star can be held almost continuously. (In periods without wind. Apparently upper-level seeing is quite good.) There are small breaks in the enhanced annular edge on the E and W side. The EW axis is a little longer than NS one.
23:00. NGC 1502. Open cluster. Just to the N at the end of Kemble’s Cascade. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara’s Hidden Treasure #23. Herschel’s class VII. Adequately framed by the 8 mm Ethos (225x). Fully resolved, 30+ stars on transparent background. A little elongated EW. An equal HD star pair in the middle. These stars look white; the fainter stars, comparatively uniform, which predominate in the cluster, are slightly bluish. Even fainter stars are grouped on the E end.
NGC 1569. IBm 5 Mly distant. Not in Herschel 400. Arp 210. Herschel’s class II. Wind too strong. The scope jerking in azimuth punched me in the eye with the 8 mm Ethos. 1 hr break in Steve’s observatory with the roof rolled on. Drinking tea and trading stories. Topic: “slapstick astronomy”. Example: melting the fabric of one’s tent by the heat of the campfire when trying to camp in winter on an unimproved remote dark site.
Wind now manageable. NGC 1569 is elongated S of a star at 45x (Pentax XW40). 225x (Ethos 8 mm) brings out a second star farther N. A similarly faint star is SE of the galaxy, and a fainter one SSE. The galaxy at the first glance looks like a comet with the tail pointing SE. This “comet” is gradually brightening to the galaxy’s core S of the bright star. The core ends abruptly on the NW side and appears pointed there. There is darkness beyond that point. The middle of the tail is wider than the core. To the NW of the core is a separated faint patch. It is symmetrical to the outer half of the tail. The tail extends more than half-way to the SE star. The patch cannot be held continuously, but the glimpses are persistent. The galaxy overall is elongated at least 5x1. 01:30.
NGC 1961. Herschel class III. SAB(rs)c. Arp 184 - peculiar complex spiral structure. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara, observing with a similar early-model Televue, notes in his Herschel 400 guide that he could not see the galaxy at 23x. My notes from 2010 indicate that I at the same magnification could. O’Meara skips his usual Herschel 400 72x and further records, “The object becomes dimly visible at 101x”. I only went to 69x and recorded that at that magnification the galaxy was “Obvious and large”. Naturally, this only means that, as I could attest first-hand, not every night on Kilauea is better than every night in Cherry Springs.
Now with the 16”, at 45x NGC 1961 is elongated 3x1 EW, symmetrical, and extends most of the way to the star E. At 225x it is reduced to just a small core N of a faint star. With time, a separated patch is glimpsed consistently to the E of the core. The patch is elongated 2x1 and is similar in size and shape to the core. It extends S of the midpoint between the center of the core and the bright field star E. On the S end of the patch is embedded a very faint star; another is on the same line farther away from the core. The patch corresponds roughly to a segment in the convoluted arm structure of this galaxy on DSS.
NGC 1961 is the only NGC member of an isolated galaxy group in Uranometria. All plotted members of the group are seen at 225x, although they are all faint. In the order of galaxy-hopping from NGC 1961 on the N edge of the group they are: CGCG 329-11, UGC 3342, UGC 3344, UGC 3349, MCG+12-6-13, MCG+11-7-13. All of these galaxies and NGC 1961 lie 170-190 Mly away by redshift. 03:00. Sudden arrival of clouds.
435
January 9, 2013. Cherry Springs. 16”. Transparent by Clear Sky Clock in the evening, then above average. Clouds cleared after astronomical twilight. Zodiacal light to culminating Pisces. 0 deg. C, 70% humidity. Strong wind gusts, horrific seeing.
M77 culminating. 225x. Ethos 8 mm. 19:30-21:30. Rotating satellite to the upper left. The S side is fainter. Comparison with photos shows this to be due to dust on this evidently near side. Especially the SE sector is visually faint due to the two overlapping dust lanes there, which are invisible as such. The continuation of the inner dust lane is visible as such E of the core. In the photos, this is the widest dust lane segment in the galaxy, and the contrast that makes is visually detectable is provided by the brightest spiral arm segment farther outwards to the ENE. The visible arc that begins there and becomes broader and fainter as it curves around the core on the N side mostly corresponds to a real spiral arm, but its broad end (WSW) is in reality two arms separated by an invisible, comparatively narrow dust lane. Overall the appearance is highly asymmetric, dynamic, and dizzyingly suggestive of the galaxy’s inclination to the line of sight.
436
On the way to M77 from Delta Ceti, NGC 1055 is strongly elongated with no concentration at 225x and visible as an elongated glow already at 45x.
Herschel 2500 catalog, Camelopardalis
NGC 1501. Planetary nebula. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara’s Hidden Treasure #22. “Oyster Nebula”. 225x with Ethos: Almost round, softly annular. Middle uniformly nebulous. Sharp central star can be held almost continuously. (In periods without wind. Apparently upper-level seeing is quite good.) There are small breaks in the enhanced annular edge on the E and W side. The EW axis is a little longer than NS one.
23:00. NGC 1502. Open cluster. Just to the N at the end of Kemble’s Cascade. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara’s Hidden Treasure #23. Herschel’s class VII. Adequately framed by the 8 mm Ethos (225x). Fully resolved, 30+ stars on transparent background. A little elongated EW. An equal HD star pair in the middle. These stars look white; the fainter stars, comparatively uniform, which predominate in the cluster, are slightly bluish. Even fainter stars are grouped on the E end.
NGC 1569. IBm 5 Mly distant. Not in Herschel 400. Arp 210. Herschel’s class II. Wind too strong. The scope jerking in azimuth punched me in the eye with the 8 mm Ethos. 1 hr break in Steve’s observatory with the roof rolled on. Drinking tea and trading stories. Topic: “slapstick astronomy”. Example: melting the fabric of one’s tent by the heat of the campfire when trying to camp in winter on an unimproved remote dark site.
Wind now manageable. NGC 1569 is elongated S of a star at 45x (Pentax XW40). 225x (Ethos 8 mm) brings out a second star farther N. A similarly faint star is SE of the galaxy, and a fainter one SSE. The galaxy at the first glance looks like a comet with the tail pointing SE. This “comet” is gradually brightening to the galaxy’s core S of the bright star. The core ends abruptly on the NW side and appears pointed there. There is darkness beyond that point. The middle of the tail is wider than the core. To the NW of the core is a separated faint patch. It is symmetrical to the outer half of the tail. The tail extends more than half-way to the SE star. The patch cannot be held continuously, but the glimpses are persistent. The galaxy overall is elongated at least 5x1. 01:30.
NGC 1961. Herschel class III. SAB(rs)c. Arp 184 - peculiar complex spiral structure. Herschel 400. First observed with 4” f/5.5 Televue October 1, 2010. O’Meara, observing with a similar early-model Televue, notes in his Herschel 400 guide that he could not see the galaxy at 23x. My notes from 2010 indicate that I at the same magnification could. O’Meara skips his usual Herschel 400 72x and further records, “The object becomes dimly visible at 101x”. I only went to 69x and recorded that at that magnification the galaxy was “Obvious and large”. Naturally, this only means that, as I could attest first-hand, not every night on Kilauea is better than every night in Cherry Springs.
Now with the 16”, at 45x NGC 1961 is elongated 3x1 EW, symmetrical, and extends most of the way to the star E. At 225x it is reduced to just a small core N of a faint star. With time, a separated patch is glimpsed consistently to the E of the core. The patch is elongated 2x1 and is similar in size and shape to the core. It extends S of the midpoint between the center of the core and the bright field star E. On the S end of the patch is embedded a very faint star; another is on the same line farther away from the core. The patch corresponds roughly to a segment in the convoluted arm structure of this galaxy on DSS.
NGC 1961 is the only NGC member of an isolated galaxy group in Uranometria. All plotted members of the group are seen at 225x, although they are all faint. In the order of galaxy-hopping from NGC 1961 on the N edge of the group they are: CGCG 329-11, UGC 3342, UGC 3344, UGC 3349, MCG+12-6-13, MCG+11-7-13. All of these galaxies and NGC 1961 lie 170-190 Mly away by redshift. 03:00. Sudden arrival of clouds.