Observing report, 2015 March 23rd, Texas Hill country
Hello DSF
(Sorry if this becomes a double post. I think I made a mistake trying to post this the last time.)
The transparency was not very good, there was substantial moonlight until 11:35 PM, the humidity was expected to hit 100% at around 2 AM, and clouds were expected by 4 AM, but I still went observing because I really wanted to drive out of Austin and do something, having wasted an entire spring break.
I was just looking at some Messiers with 10x50 binoculars before moonset, so as to at least do a Messier marathon and have fun with some bright NGC objects if not anything serious. I casually set up my telescope, and was just about ready to observe as the moon set, knowing that I might have to even take it down in 2 hours and drive back. I thought I was under some pretty crappy skies even after moon set, since the transparency wasn't looking good anyway -- but the darkness of the site is such that there is nothing much other than star light for the water to scatter. So I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed a very conspicuous Gegenschein in Virgo, with even hints of the zodiacal band! A few more tests (the appearance of spiral arms of M 101) convinced me that the skies were good enough for serious work. This was completely unexpected, so I was naturally very pleased to be able to go after things that I did not expect to be able to.
Two interesting things came out of the observing run, namely Holmberg VII and Holmberg VIII. While Holmberg VIII was expected, VII was not but it still yielded.
(Observations made with an 18" f/4.5 Obsession classic dob on an equatorial platform.)
Holmberg VII
To find Holmberg VII, I found M 49 by naïve pointing, then galaxy-hopped down to NGC 4532 and the bright star nearby. I moved into the appropriate field and without knowing the exact position, looked around for faint patches, and I happened to notice one. I uncontrollably uttered an explitive at this point, because I had definitely not expected to see it without knowing the precise position. Then confirmed the exact position with a POSS image. The galaxy was by no means bright, but it was easier than many of the Palomar objects. The observation was confirmed repeatedly. The galaxy appeared to take up about 2 arcminutes in diameter. The asterism seen to the side of the galaxy in the POSS image was harder to see than the galaxy, but occasionally some of the stars were visible. The best views were with 10mm Delos and 14mm Pentax (thank you, Jimi!).
Holmberg VIII
To find Holmberg VIII, I moved in from NGC 5033 towards the object, and as I was moving the telescope, a patch caught my eye. Indeed, it was Holmberg VIII, more easier than Holmberg VII. Unlike with Holmberg VII, VIII could be held steadily with averted vision. Exact position confirmed against POSS images. I tried to see if I could observe the irregular '?' shape seen on the POSS blue image, but all I could say was that the north end was thicker than the south end. Best views with 10mm Delos and 14mm Pentax.
Other objects that I observed were Hickson groups 53, 54 (I used Reiner's atlas; thank you Reiner!) and Arp galaxies 84, 266 and 270.
I was going to try Pyxis GC, but the aperture was obstructed by trees -- I hadn't planned for it as I wasn't expecting to be able to do any serious observing at all. I could not reconfirm Palomar 3 from last time. Again, while I could sense something and verify some particular details, I would like to have a more concrete observation at some point. I also culled off NGC 3132 from OOTW here, but once again, had to observe with half the aperture covered by trees, so nothing substantial.
Clear Skies!
Regards
Akarsh
