5/24/19
Most of May we had clouds and rain. Last Friday however ClearOutside forecast clear skies for the evening and I took the opportunity to visit my favorite observing spot. The desert is getting drier every day despite all the rain, but California puppies are still going strong.
At the site the sky did not look so hot. Moving clouds covered half of the sky. While waiting for the sun to go down I kept checking forecast and it was getting worse. By 20:00 it promised 100% humidity and 100% sky coverage by low clouds at 22:00.
I was already invested and decided to give it a couple of hours.
Everything got wet after sunset as promised, but the sky did not look too bad. I could catch a few galaxies before scopes give up.
Coma Berenices
NGC 4136 – gal – relatively large round disk. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4152 – gal – oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
Box Galaxies:
This was unexpected highlight of the evening. I had so much fun resolving this group.
NGC 4169 – gal - this is the brightest and immediately noticeable out of four. Elongated disk with brighter core was well resolved at all powers from Pentax XW 20mm (102x) to XW 10mm (203x).
NGC 4173 – gal – faint long narrow shape became visible at higher power. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 10mm (203x).
NGC 4175 – gal – took the longest. Was not resolved with any of Pentax XWs or BCO 18mm. Only in TV Plossl 13mm (156x) faint narrow shape became apparent with averted vision (AV).
NGC 4174 – gal – the last member of the group was there at all times, but looked like a star at lower powers. The fuzzy nature became apparent in 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 10mm (203x).
NGC 4185 – gal – AV oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4189 – gal – faint oval. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4237 – gal – oval with brighter central area, round core. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4298 – gal – oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4302 – gal – sharp edge-on with AV, next to
NGC 4298. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4310 (aka
NGC 4338) – gal – small oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4312 – gal – narrow elongated disk with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4336 – gal – small oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4359 – gal – faint small oval. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (103x) and XW 14mm (145x).
NGC 4379 – gal – round disk with stellar core. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4421 – gal – oval with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4571 – gal – round faint disk next to a bright star. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 5012 – gal – elongated disk with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 5056 – gal – small narrow disk next to star. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
I thought I already caught most of
NGC globular clusters and was surprised to found one unaccounted for:
NGC 5053 – glob – large but faint round spot, no stars resolved. 8”
SCT/TV Plossl 32mm (64x) and 150ST/Pentax XW 20mm (38x).
To remind myself how real globs look like I have revisited M53 and M3 nearby. Just beautiful! Bright, rich and resolved to core.
Canes Venatici
NGC 4138 – gal – elongated disk with brighter central area next to star. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4217 – gal – long narrow shape with AV, next to a star. Another star shines through it. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 14mm (145x).
NGC 4220 – gal – narrow edge-on with brighter central area. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
NGC 4369 – gal – round disk with stellar core. 8”
SCT/Pentax XW 20mm (102x).
I was having difficulties resolving the next galaxy. Checked my scopes and surely enough both got dewed up. With everything dripping from dew it was amazing they lasted that long.
Over the evening I saw a few meteors. Also, had a usual share of wild life. At the sunset bunch of rabbits were jumping and eating, chasing each other around me, including a very small juvenile. One curious came to check me out and was sitting for a while less than a foot from my boot. Then, bats appeared in numbers. I wonder where they sleep during the day and what drives them, since I don’t see them every outing. Closer to midnight I saw a big owl diving down for some unfortunate ground squirrel or kangaroo rat.
Overall, turned out to be a nice trip.
