Texas Star Party -- Wednesday evening and Friday morning

Dear DSF,

We've been having pretty bad skies at TSP with crazy rain, light showers, overcast skies, name it.

But we got two windows of clearing after Sunday night, which were on Wednesday evening, and the early morning hours of Friday, and here's what I saw during those ~ 5 hours of good conditions:

Here are my original digital notes in PDF format:
Wednesday evening: http://bas.org.in/~akarsh/2015-05-13-Note-23-15.pdf
Friday morning: http://bas.org.in/~akarsh/2015-05-15-Note-03-29.pdf

2015-05-13 (Wednesday):

1. Holmberg IX

After reading Uwe's posts and picking up some inspiration to try it in an 18", I was able to see this galaxy. It was very faint, but definitely observable. The best view was rendered by a 16mm University Optics Abbe ortho. The galaxy was easier to see than the fainter two stars in the triangle of stars that flanks it.

M 81 nearby sported nice and mottled spiral arms.

Sky conditions quickly went south thereafter, but:

2. Arp 72

(Under poor conditions)
The longer spiral arm was felt 80% of the time. The shorter arm was felt 20% of the time. The "bubble" / knot could not be resolved, although the bar was felt.

3. Coma Cluster

For some reason, I had never seen this object. I thought it was too sparse to be interesting, maybe? But it was nice. Even under poor conditions, I could see 8 ~ 10 galaxies in a 10mm Delos FOV (~10'). Could see 2 galaxies (or was it 3) in the halo of the cD galaxy. Panning around, I could count ~ 15 galaxies.

After this the sky conditions deteriorated too much, and I tried experimenting with my friend's CCD. Got some pictures of ring nebula and NGC 5907 but they weren't very good.

2015-05-15:

It was rainy and overcast, but the forecast predicted clearing at 5 AM, later revising it to 4 AM. But a careful look at the Accuweather colored water vapor map indicated that this clearing might happen around 3 AM, when a dry line would pass over Fort Davis. So I started preparing to set up by 2:30 AM despite utterly overcast skies, when a small clearing was opening up at the west. And guess what, the western half of the sky was completely clear by 3 AM. It took me almost an hour to set up my telescope as I had tried to fix a backlash in my eq. platform and had to take that back to the field, unwrap the telescope which was wrapped up for the rains etc and rebuild it.

By 3:30 AM, I was ready to observe. Started out with Draco dwarf.

1. Draco dwarf

I had managed to see this during last TSP, but I wasn't happy with the quality of observation. This morning, however, the object was much more clearly visible. A glow between two patterns of stars was seen easily in a 20mm Pentax XW, and was enhanced by moving the scope around a bit.

2. IC 1259 trio + IC 1259 itself

I didn't know about this object, but I noticed that there was a group of galaxies (actually two groups) near Draco dwarf, so I decided to pan to the IC 1259 one after observing the Draco dwarf. At lower power (10mm Delos, ~205x), IC 1259 was the brightest of the trio, easily spotted. This was followed by IC 1258. For IC 1260, I had to know where to look, and it was then held ~ 80% of the time with averted vision.

I found out on the internet at the field (which works surprisingly well now) that IC 1259 is also designated as Arp 310, and is an interacting pair. Putting in a 4.5mm Delos (~460x) showed that there was a star and two nuclei. The elongation of the cores could also be sensed with careful observation.

3. Shk 16

During the bad weather of the previous night (Wed), Shk 16 was visible as no more than a mottled line, with one bright galaxy held. This morning, it was much better, of course.

205x: The brightest galaxy was Shk 16-1 (MCG+09-27-094). Subsequently, Shk 16-2 and Shk 16-3 popped into view, forming a trio arc. These were substantially easier than the rest of the galaxies that follow.
A 4th stellar object was seen next, which was verified to be Shk 16-5, and it was seen on-and-off. The observation was confirmed by precisely mapping the position on the DSS. Finally, upon increasing power to 460x: had multiple glimpses of Shk 16-4.

5 objects were observed in total.

4. Shk 166

I was able to pick out 8 members of this group. Most could be seen at 205x power, whereas the fainter ones needed 460x. What follows is in observation order, not brightness order. I did not carefully compare the relative brightnesses, but Shk 166-1 was the brightest, GIN 616 was the penultimate in difficult, and Shk 166-8 was the hardest. The rest were of more or less similar difficulty.

Shk 166-1 was the brightest, and was used to locate the exact field-of-view of the cluster.
Shk 166-3 and Shk 166-7 were held next and checked against DSS to confirm that I was in the right field. Shk 166-7 was somewhat harder than Shk 166-3.
Shk 166-4 followed next.
Shk 166-2 (UGC 10638) was next observed, and was easier than Shk 166-5. Although I tried, I could not see the third, fainter one in this row, except maybe felt a couple times.
GIN 616 was rendered more difficult by the nearby double star asterism. However, it could be detected in multiple flashes by careful observation at 460x.
Shk 166-8 was the hardest of them all. Putting the 4.5mm Delos in, it could be held momentarily during moments of good seeing. All distracting objects (Shk 166-1, Shk 166-7 and stars) were pushed out of the field of view, leaving only two faint stars and the galaxy. I did not try for its companion.

(See annotation of figure in linked PDF)

5. NGC 6621

The two nuclei were easily seen. The light connecting the two nuclei was also quite clear, especially at high power (~460x). One could see the beginning of the tidal tail of star forming regions, but only the very beginning. I could not even sense / feel the rest of the tail. Despite looking very carefully for the star forming region between the two nuclei, I couldn't hold anything particular there. But it was a beautiful object, mostly because of the bridge of light between the nuclei and the beginning of the tidal tail.

6. Arp 278

Initially appeared comet-like, but with careful observation, one could distinctly see the elongations of the two galaxies.

Clear Skies!
Regards
Akarsh

When I went to the TSP we were mostly plagued with cloudy nights. I wish they would have it some other time than May with so much active weather, like maybe late summer or fall. I guess they want to have it so everyone can see Omega Centauri and all the galaxies and the summer Milky Way "good stuff" all in one night.

Very nice set of observations, Akarsh, in just a few hours on Friday morning!

I've looked at nearly all of these objects in my 18" or 24" in the last few years and my notes are pretty similar to yours. Here's what I have on the IC 1259 group.

IC 1258 = [Arp 311] = UGC 10867 = MCG +10-25-035 = CGCG 300-029 = PGC 60320 = VV 101
17 27 17.3 +58 29 06
V = 13.5; Size 0.9'x0.7'; Surf Br = 12.9; PA = 65d

24" (7/22/14): at 375x appeared faint to fairly faint, elongated 4:3 WSW-ENE, ~0.4'x0.3'. A mag 15.3 star is off the north side [27" from center] and another mag 15 star is off the southwest side [44" from center]. At 500x, a mag 15.5+ star is at the east edge, just 10" from center!

24" (8/15/12): at 375x appeared fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated WSW-ENE, very small bright nucleus increases to center. The view with confusing with several very close stars. The brightest is a mag 14.9 star 45" SW. A mag 15.2 star is 30" NNE. A mag 15.7 star is attached at the east edge of the core, just 10" from center and fainter than the nucleus of the galaxy. Very interesting group with the double system IC 1259 2.3' NE, IC 1260 2.0' ESE and PGC 2579433 3.6' ENE.

18" (6/7/08): at 260x appeared faint, small, irregularly round, 25" diameter, very small brighter core, gradually increases to the center. Surrounded by two or three very faint stars. With averted vision the shape is irregular and knotty. Forms a pair with IC 1259 (double system) 2.2' NE.
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IC 1259 = VV 101 = Arp 310 = [Arp 311] = UGC 10869 = CGCG 300-030 = MCG +10-25-037+037a = PGC 60323+60325
17 27 25.8 +58 31 00
V = 13.1; Size 1.1'x1.1'; Surf Br = 13.2

24" (7/22/14): at 375x, the merged contact pair IC 1259 (15" between centers) was a striking sight. VV 101a, the larger and brighter eastern component, appeared fairly faint, small, round, 18" diameter. A mag 15 star is at the southeast edge, just 10" from center. VV 101b, the western component, appeared very faint, extremely small, 8" x 5" SW-NE. A mag 12 star lies 0.8' NE. IC 1258 lies 2.2' SW and IC 1260 is 2.5' SSE!

24" (8/15/12): fascinating tight double system and superimposed star at 375x. The main component appeared fairly faint, small, round, 20" diameter. VV 101b is attached at the west edge of the halo, 15" between centers. It appeared very faint, extremely small, 10" diameter. A mag 15 star is attached at the SE edge, just 10" from center! A mag 12 star lies 0.8' NE. IC 1258 lies 2.2' SW, IC 1260 is 2.5' SSE and PGC 2579433 is 2.5' SE. The group is located ~13' SE of mag 6.5 HD 158485.

18" (6/7/08): at 260x this double system (Arp 310) appeared faint, very small, ~20" diameter, quasi-stellar nucleus. VV 101b, an extremely small (~10" diameter) companion, was barely resolved off the west edge of the brighter eastern component (VV 101a). Also, a very faint mag 15 star is often visible at the SE edge. IC 1258 (part of Arp 311) is just 2.2' SW. Located 45" SW of a mag 12 star.
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IC 1260 = [Arp 311] = MCG +10-25-040 = CGCG 300-032 = PGC 60324
17 27 31.7 +58 28 33
V = 14.9; Size 0.35'x0.3'
24" (7/22/14): faint to fairly faint, very small, round, 12" diameter. Located 2' ESE of IC 1258 and 2.6' SSE of IC 1259 = Arp 310 (close double system!). The entire group forms Arp 311.

24" (8/15/12): faint, very small, round, 12"-15" diameter. Faintest of trio of IC galaxies with IC 1258 and IC 1259 (forming Arp 311) and situated just 1.9' ESE of IC 1258.
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2MASX J17274398+5829587 = PGC 2579433
17 27 44.1 +58 29 58
V = 15.9; Size 0.35'x0.2'; PA = 3d
24" (8/15/12): extremely faint and small, round, 8" diameter, requires averted vision. Located 2.5' SE of IC 1259 and 3.6' ENE of IC 1258. Forms the northern vertex of a triangle with two mag 14/15.2 stars 0.8' S. A mag 16.5 star lies 0.6' NE.