OR-Henry Coe 4 7 2026
Richard Navarrete
Tales from above the clouds
It was back to Henry Coe for a night of observing during galaxy season on Thursday, May 7. The sky was clear, the forecast was great, the temperature was mild, and halfway through the night I noticed that the valley below was covered in think overcast. An inversion layer. Mark W. said he had just shouted that to me a few minutes previously when I went over to tell him to look down in the valley, the valley so low. Well, that’s what happens when you wear a hat with the flaps down, and your sweatshirt hood over your head. It wasn’t really that cold, but there was an occasional breeze every now and then that cooled things down.
I arrived early afternoon to snag a campsite, hoping to find the visitor’s center open so we could let them know we wanted to use the overflow lot. Closed, as it has been the past few months when we go up to observe. Luckily, I found a maintenance worker who happily unlocked the gate. It may be hard to make contact sometimes, but the workers, staff and rangers are always friendly and welcoming.
In the end we had four astronomers anxious to enjoy the night sky. I brought a new Explore Scientific ED127 apo scope, Mark W. had his 18” Obsession, Joshua H. had a nice 8” sct on an alt-az mount and a SeeStar, and Jim B. from Berkeley was a first time visitor to Coe. He had a SeeStar and was having fun imaging and sharing views with us. A great group!
My refractor gave nice, contrasty views with just a hint of color in out-of-focus views of Jupiter. Not bad for a budget apo! As the sun set, we started scanning the skies looking for Venus and Jupiter. We found Venus and were treated to a gibbous phase of that bright planet. I couldn’t detect any cloud detail, but the image was sharp and crisp. Next, Jupiter showed its face and we enjoyed detailed views of bands on the surface and four of its moons. Io looked to be creeping towards Jupiter, so I put in my Orion bino-viewer and enjoyed watching Io ever so slowly approach the gas giant. We had thought the moon was going to go behind the planet, but as it reached Jupiter we could tell that it was traveling in front. It was very cool to see the small disc of Io work its way across the surface.
By this time it was dark enough to more accurately polar align the mount and begin observing in earnest. Amazingly, the mount only needed minor adjustments to get aligned as I had plunked it down almost perfectly!
I continued to work through Sue French’s ‘Celestial Sampler.’ I had a few objects left in ‘Coma Squared’ to track down after last month’s dew fest. 35 Comae is an easily split double of bright yellow and dim blue. For the rest of night I mostly used a 24 Panoptic for 40x and a 7 Nagler for 136x in the 952mm focal length refractor. I would have used a 20 Nagler, but I didn’t have enough counter-weights to balance that heavy eyepiece.
NGC 5053 is a very dim globular near M53. I couldn’t see it last month in a 10’ dob, but it wasn’t as dark then. I managed to catch a very faint glow at 40x. More power made it disappear. Stephen James O’Meara calls 5053 ‘the departed soul of its more brilliant neighbor’ (M53.) I moved on to M64, the Black Eye galaxy. At 136x I saw an oval shaped galaxy with a bright stellar core, gradually dimming to its edge. A dark lane was visible above the nucleus. M85 was next, and at 136x I saw a faint, round galaxy with a stellar core. There’s a magnitude 10 star on one side. NGC 4394 is very nearby and in the same 136x field. I observed a faint, oblong glow with a small brighter core.
M53 was the last object discussed in the essay. I love globulars. At 136x M53 is small and bright, with a brighter center. A few stars were resolved and made a pleasing view in the refractor.
On to ‘Under Virgo’s Wings’ page 82 if you’re reading along. Struve 1689 was the first object in the article, but somehow I skipped it. NGC 4762 is a mag 10.3 barred spiral galaxy. 136x showed an edge on spiral, very thin and elongated with a brighter center and stellar core. It makes a pretty pair with NGC 4754, another barred spiral in the same field of view. It is a bit dim, round with a stellar core. What I great view! I walked over to Mark’s 18” and asked if it was free. He said yes, so I pointed the scope to 4762/4754 and enjoyed a brighter and more detailed view. Mark came over and was enthralled with the view as well. What a treat.
M60 was next. A mag 8.8 elliptical, which appeared round with a much brighter core. NGC 4647 is a dim glow on the edge of M60, getting a piggy-back ride. Together they’re know as Arp 116. M59 is one of the dimmest Messier objects but larger than our Milky Way. In my 5” it was small, faint, round with a brighter core. NGC 4638 is in the same 136x field. It is small and faint, and with averted vision it appears slightly elongated.
M58 is a barred spiral, although I couldn’t detect the bar. I observed a dim, small, slightly oval galaxy with a stellar core. M87 was bright, almost round with a stellar core and a brighter center. NGC 4478 was also in the field, a small round galaxy also with a stellar core. I noticed another glow next to 4478, but that wasn’t mentioned in the essay. It turns out I was also seeing NGC 4476. Who doesn’t like a bonus galaxy? It appeared as a very faint, round glow.
Two more Messiers to go. M90, a mag 9.5 spiral was obviously elongated with a brighter core and a stellar nucleus. M89, an elliptical, was small, round and dim with, you guessed it, a brighter core and a stellar nucleus.
It’s amazing to me that Messier was able to detect some of these objects. He used small reflectors, 7.5” I believe, and small single lens refractors from a not that dark Paris Hotel de Cluny.
It was getting close to moonrise, and I was getting tired, so instead of starting a new essay I decided to check out some of the summer highlights that were rising in the southern and eastern skies. I checked out M4, M17, M11 (that was a great view in the refractor) M27, M13 and a surprisingly crisp and detailed M80/81. Mark treated us to M51 which showed great detail, Copeland’s Septet, four of which showed easily, and the Crescent nebula which filled the eyepiece of his 18” scope.
Time to pack up and make the half mile drive to the campsite. A short three and a half hours of sleep later it was time to get up and head home. On the drive out of the park I asked the car to play some Bach for me. Cello suites, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and a random keyboard concerto fit the mood of the peaceful drive down the mountain and out of the sun and into the overcast and finally home.
Mark Wagner
Mark Wagner
Richard Navarrete
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Mark Wagner
Jim Best
What a night!
As a complete newbie to viewing-with-comrades, I found myself with Richard, Mark, and Joshua surrounded by a generosity of spirit and incredible depth of experience and expertise! I was kinda' blown away and found myself caught in some sort of mental galactic bubble for the next day (3 hours of sleep didn't help!). Many thanks to all 3 of you!
I felt like a dog chasing Maserati's (you know that feeling?).The banter of the galaxy-chasers barely penetrated my over-whelmed brain. Richard's descriptions above, and Mark's below rival the expert birders capturing the features of a rare bird as they prepare to report it on the rare bird alert hotline. Looking through their scopes I could just barely see the images as they coached me. Incredibly, when Mark nailed the Crescent Nebula I couldn't see the damn thing! He laughed and was patient but to no avail. He asked Richard to describe it to me. Nothing. Nothing! I accused them of sending me off snipe-hunting (and I am a birder who's seen plenty of snipe!). I suspect I have a long way to go to build those viewing muscles!
So when the brain fog cleared, I went to my fallback position. I began to ask my SeeStar_S30 to "Go to" the objects. And there they were!
NGC 4762 and NGC 4754! And as I looked at the photos today I could see NGC 4733 with them.
Markarian's Chain: The anchor 4 galaxies I could see in Mark's 18" turned out to be at least 11 galaxies in a 22 minute (or even the 10 min) exposure. M86, M84, the Cat's Eyes, and more! Knowing that I was seeing outside the Local Group into the Virgo Cluster of galaxies pushed my awe button pretty hard, although that happened mostly at home the next day. The photo image I captured, reading about it, the optical image, the chase, and just looking into the night sky is a weird mix.
Great photos (for me) of M51, M52, M5 and Serpentis, M100, and NGC 4490 (Cocoon Galaxy and NGC 4485)
I'm a sucker for nebulae so I finished the banquet with a Lagoon Nebula desert... lots of pink cotton candy sprinkled with NGC 6530 sparkles!
I don't have the lingo yet but the spirit moved me hanging with these guys! Much appreciation to y'all!
I slept in the van and woke up to a beautiful glow of low-hanging clouds, a shadow of my former self ... but in a good way!
