Hi folks

I managed to go to my usual observing site in the Texas Hill country on Monday night. Here are some of the less chased targets that might be of interest to this great forum:

Hodge globulars in the Fornax dwarf galaxy:

I started out with these 5 globular clusters that seemed within reach. I didn't even bother trying for the other 6th one not listed in Hodge -- maybe I should? Has anyone seen it with an 18" or similar aperture?

NGC 1049:
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Had seen this before with 17.5" from south India. But here's from this session: At 66x, it looked stellar, virtually no diffusenss. At 103x, it started appearing somewhat non-stellar. At 205x, it was distinctly non-stellar. Easiest of the 5 Hodge GCs. High surface brightness and quite condensed.

Hodge GC 4:
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This was the second easiest of the five. It was detected just by bringing it into the FOV, but without knowing precisely where to look at all. Distinctly non stellar at 205x. Just about as condensed as NGC 1049, if not just a bit more condensed. High surface brightness.

Hodge GC 5:
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This was somewhat similar to GC 4, except I would rate it a bit more fainter. Similar condensation to GC 4.

Hodge GC 2:
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This was somewhat substantially fainter than the rest, but still not quite difficult. This one required me to know where to look. It was a much more diffuse, almost uniform glow; felt somewhat larger than NGC 1049. It took me about 10 seconds to realize that it was in the field.

Hodge GC 1:
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This was at the very edge of visibility. Extremely faint. By far the hardest of the 5 globulars. Sensed a repeated number of times using "Jimi's trick" (of rocking the focus) after knowing the precise position. The ultra-precise position was predicted from observation and validated against DSS, thereby confirming the observation. The best view was with a 14mm Pentax XS at 147x (Thank you, Jimi!! It's a wonderful eyepiece). Next best view was with a 16mm Abbe ortho from University Optics at 128x. Only sensed at moments, "flashing" in and out.

Abell 31:
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I picked this of "Adventures in Deep Space", probably from a report by Steve. Looked very faint on the DSS, but the OIII made it easy as it is with planetaries. The DSS was very misleading, as that was definitely not where I observed the nebulosity in the eyepiece. This post from CN has a blinking H-alpha / OIII image, and the OIII certainly matches what I have in my logs!! -- http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/31...11-in-ha-oiii/
It was faint, but definitely visible in my 18" at 20mm Pentax XW + OIII filter.

Arp 142:
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Again picked off of one of the Arp samplers on "Adventures in Deep Space". I could not see the faint edge-on that looks like a comet because of the foreground star on it (I couldn't find a desgination for this one...). But NGC 2936 and NGC 2937 were easy. With some care, I could see the tidally distorted form of NGC 2936 "engulfing" NGC 2937. Observed with a 10mm Delos (205x).

Holmberg I
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With a 26mm UO HD ortho...

With an observing hood, I centered the region without knowing the exact position (only roughly where to look).
Repeatedly observed a patch "above" (NE in this context) a pair of stars and to the right (W) of another star.
Then went back to the DSS and validated the position! Very hard to repeat, extremely faint. Appeared as a somewhat elliptical glow encased on the longer edge of an obtuse angled triangle of three stars.

Changed the eyepiece to 20mm Pentax XW. It was much easier than in the 26mm. Felt like some of those very faint Palomar globulars.

Palomar 1:
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Reached the object after a somewhat elaborate star-hop. Seen with averted vision in 10mm (205x). "Jimi's trick" enhanced the view. Observation confirmed by validating the precise position as determined by observation against DSS image. View was best in 10mm followed by 14mm (147x). Very faint, but confirmed repeatedly; Easier than Fornax Hodge GC 1, though (although they look similar on the DSS, this might be because of airmass. Besides, I was almost an hour and a half past transit for GC 1, whereas I was almost saw Pal 1 on transit.)

Palomar 3:
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Very indistinct glow to one side of a star. Very very faint, harder than Pal 1. Sensed repeatedly at 20mm, 14mm. More difficult than Holmberg I. I must repeat this observation to be absolutely sure, but I am quite convinced. I consistently saw the brightness extend a little more southward than what DSS image (blue plate) suggests -- does anyone corroborate this? (maybe Steve? I hope we end up with one more of those amazing corroborations again !)

ACO 1337 a.k.a. "Ursa Major I":
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This is a rather faint Abell cluster within 10 arcminutes of a bright 5.4 mag naked eye star! I learned about this object at TSP 2014 from an astrophotographer.

I observed this object with 10mm Delos (205x). Moving the bright, naked-eye star out of the FOV did help, but was not a must to see one of the brighter galaxies. This galaxy, at RA = 11:47:21 Dec = 55:43:49 (hope I typed that in right), was held continuously with averted vision.

However, most other galaxies popped in and out, giving the feel of a mottled background, much like the case with Abell 2065 (Corona Borealis cluster) through an 18". The galaxies, when they popped into view, however, were more well-defined and stayed for a bit longer, though; i.e. better holding than Abell 2065. This was reminiscent of the fainter galaxies of Abell 2065 through Jimi's telescope, except nowhere as bright. The star needs to be out of the FOV for the fainter members over the western side to pop in and out. It didn't help that I am right-eyed and the star was to the right of the cluster, so I didn't have enough peripheral vision to the right. I missed seeing the BCG (Brightest Cluster Galaxy), as it was too far away and I was unaware that it might be a cluster member.

Clear skies and warm regards,
Akarsh