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Today, Friday 5/18 and tomorrow 5/19 is the 5th annual Bootleg Star Party at Green River Conservation Area just south of Dixon, Il. While not Texas skies, it is a two hour drive west of Chicago and a preferred site for many here. I will post my observations in this thread when/if I have internet access.
Clear Skies!
Had an enjoyable night until 3AM with my 18" U/C (aka Cheyenne) at Green River. Wx was hi 50s late night, no dew and NO BUGS! Winds started to pick up but not a problem.
Thanks to Dragan, who provided phone tips from home, my pointing was excellent all night until the scope decided to crash into the ground around 1:30. A quick realignment in A/N and I was back in business. So far about 40 attendees, excluding the coon hunters and dogs what were in an adjacent pavillion for most of the night (with the lights on, of course!).
Because of the light situation, initial observations were kept to the obvious "eye candy". This also helped me in testing my pointing accuracy. This was the first time since last November that I was out with Cheyenne so I had to revisit old favorites. (Yes, I know, I need to get out more.)
I tried for some items from this forum - NGC 5053 was the first deep sky object found and it was rather apparent after reading the posts here. Interesting contrast with M53 nearby. Apr 199 (not an object on this forum, but a favorite) was very faint but visible. Tried for NGC 3664 but it was probably too low by the time I got around to it. I was attempting to find NGC 4088 but I misread my notes and saw 4085 instead. Still, 4085 and surroundings were nice. All other recent OOTW were getting low.
Was getting tired so decided to pack up as the summer Milky Way was getting higher. Will try for Jimi's flat galaxy UGC 9242, and look again for NGC 4088, NGC 4361, IC 972 and Hickson 40 tonight. Hope my pointing accuracy keeps up. Wx condx should hold tonite, but the daytime temp will be in the upper 80s and haze is starting to develop this morning. Ah, summer is coming to northern Illinois.
So, enough of my ramblings for now. Time to go back to bed and get some sleep. Greetings from the flat plains and corn/soybean fields of Illinois.
Saturday night was a wash-out - too many high level clouds so I never set up. There was about a 2 hour window of sucker holes in which I did some "parasitic observing" - use other people's scopes. Nice to view and not have to tear down.
Several friends had some new equipment so I gave them some bright objects to look at through the cirrus. M51 was washed out, but 82 and 104 were not bad considering condx. Went for 5053 again but could not see at all. 53 was nice, tho.
So we just sat back and enjoyed some/several/numerous cool "beverages" and my friend Dave made his HOT star party chili. Time to go back and finish packing up and go back to Chicago.
Can you explain more about 'Apr 199'? What catalog is this and what sort of object? (type, mag, size) Not familiar with the value or catalog. Typo? APN 19 is kind of low this time of year for a good view so I don't think you meant that one. Thanks
Hey Mark,
John is referring to Arp 199, the "X-Rated galaxy"
It was a typo on his part.
Of course. That was an easy one and I missed it, bit slow on mypart. Looks like a fun one. Thanks Dragan.
So did I - sorry for the typo but it was early in the morning. And yes, ARP 199 is a fun object.