OR: Blown away at Henry Coe.
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Mark Wagner
Feb 26, 2025, 4:14:31 PM2/26/25
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Richard Navarrete and I met at Henry Coe State
Park yesterday for what was forecast as a night of above average+
transparency and average seeing. Richard brought a 125mm(?)
doublet and I my 10" f/5.7 Dob.
We began after sunset looking below a beautiful crescent Venus in the low horizon, spotting Mercury, which we assumed was Saturn, as the pair we close together. In my 10" found "Saturn" in the 9x50 finder and proceeded to scan for Mercury, which I soon found below and south of the brighter planet. However, in a 20mm view it became apparent the red white and blue round scintillating "Saturn" had no rings showing. Poor seeing down so low, nearly edge on wiping them out? Moving down to "Mercury" - it was much dimmer, perhaps in more serious horizon muck, but.... its brownish/rust color small disc had... vertical ansae? No! This was a dim/tiny view of Saturn! Magnitudes dimmer and a small dot.
Overall, it was a fine night out. We fought quite a bit of wind, I'd guess more than half the time it varied between bothersome and stiff. But we put in four hours of worthwhile observing. It was quite fun varying between the 10" and 5" scopes - the wide field views in the refractor were very pleasing, offering nice clean colorful double stars, contextual views of big nebulae targets (M42 environs in particular) and big clusters matched with higher power comparisons in my 10".
I think the view that captured the great transparency we experienced was my first "accidental" view of NGC 2158, the distant open cluster sitting close to and behind the great cluster M35, as I was starting a star hop to nearby NGC 2129. Saying "knock your socks off" is appropriate. I was also very surprised at the early evening view I had off the nose of Leo of NGC 2903, bright, detailed, three dimensional feeling, the inclination I was picking out NGC 2905 as a brightening within the extended disk. I'd finish the night, fighting the wind, up in Ursa and Cancer, picking out galaxies in an overpowered 7mm.
But what fun. Can't wait for more (it looks good tonight too, get out if you can).
Here's last night's details in order observed - NGC numbers linked to drawings pulled from the 'net:
NGC1907 OCL 434 Aur
20mm large medium density, round with relatively empty center with one star in middle. Perhaps 50 stars total brightest is red outside the eastern perimeter. Straight overhead, in twilight.@ 18:54.
NGC1980 OCL 529 Ori
20mm NPB. Large glow around a highly "green" Ultrablock enhanced star in the center of large round nebulous glow. Astonishing area! Does 1980 include glow to SW around two close stars? Yes! There is nebula extending across both sections. Here's what I thought NGC 1980 was at first: Lots of glow throughout region, most pronounced embedding all stars. Tenuous glow between and connecting stars in region. Very good transparency. These are actually NGC 1977, NGC 1973 and 1977, with 1975.
NGC1999 LBN 979 Ori
2/25 Glow around a star, interrupted on eastern side at 200X. Does not respond to filters.
NGC2024 CED 55P Ori
12mm with Ultrablock Very difficult, need to get bright star out of field.. Glow with empty area running N/S between two sides, opening more to E. More convincing glow in 5" refractor @ 43X with UHC.
NGC2129 Open Cluster Gem
20mm nice small cluster, dense, three brighter running E/w at north edge, brightest due south. Many dim members, perhaps 25 stars.
NGC2126 Open Cluster Aur
20mm elongated N/S with bight star at NNE end. Dim, small with several members, but not dense. Possibly the same cluster extends w/s/w with dim stars between, then an obvious condensation around two bright stars.
NGC2158 Open Cluster Gem
12mm superb views in 10" with great transparency. Looks almost like distant globular with stars either resolving or on verge of resolution. Best view of this target ever in 10". On N/E outskirts of M35, appearing roundish but with some extension pointing away to N/E. Can be a difficult object from Coe but in your face tonight.
NGC2169 Open Cluster Ori
12mm this is the 37 cluster. Appears inverted and backwards in my scope. 3 had brightest star at top end of 3, 7 brightest star is second from the base. Comprised of 14 stars that appear embedded in nebulosity. I remember showing this to a girlfriend years ago on her 37th birthday :-)
NGC2185 LBN 997 Nebula Mon
12mm faint glow around a wide pair of stars 25'' from SAO 132944 5th mag star. Stars are E/W, east star nebula brighter as is star, with a dim star involved to sw. Easy pickings tonight!
NGC2194 Open Cluster Ori
12mm nice small dim rich cluster in shape of a question mark. Easy hop of club stars in Orion. Possibly dimly extended to SW, but main section has around 5 brighter members and many dim ones.
NGC2742 (image) NGC 2816 UMa
Next to mag 7.8 star at its NW, this is clearly visible, elongated e/w with possible pair of spiral arms. In 12 Nagler it is fairly even throughout. 3x2 size ratio.
NGC2768 (image) Galaxy UMa
7mm condensed non-stellar core roundish/oval, extended NW/SE. Bright and easily seen in 20mm.
NGC2775 Galaxy Cnc
7mm very windy, large condensed core, not nucleus, extended sw/ne, possible arms.
Finally, I am always surprised to find I will hit an object on my list for the night, that I just can't get to no matter what angle I approach from. This happened again last night, NGC2186 in Orion. After 20 minutes of hops and re-hops, it was time to move on. How does this happen?
Mark
We began after sunset looking below a beautiful crescent Venus in the low horizon, spotting Mercury, which we assumed was Saturn, as the pair we close together. In my 10" found "Saturn" in the 9x50 finder and proceeded to scan for Mercury, which I soon found below and south of the brighter planet. However, in a 20mm view it became apparent the red white and blue round scintillating "Saturn" had no rings showing. Poor seeing down so low, nearly edge on wiping them out? Moving down to "Mercury" - it was much dimmer, perhaps in more serious horizon muck, but.... its brownish/rust color small disc had... vertical ansae? No! This was a dim/tiny view of Saturn! Magnitudes dimmer and a small dot.
Overall, it was a fine night out. We fought quite a bit of wind, I'd guess more than half the time it varied between bothersome and stiff. But we put in four hours of worthwhile observing. It was quite fun varying between the 10" and 5" scopes - the wide field views in the refractor were very pleasing, offering nice clean colorful double stars, contextual views of big nebulae targets (M42 environs in particular) and big clusters matched with higher power comparisons in my 10".
I think the view that captured the great transparency we experienced was my first "accidental" view of NGC 2158, the distant open cluster sitting close to and behind the great cluster M35, as I was starting a star hop to nearby NGC 2129. Saying "knock your socks off" is appropriate. I was also very surprised at the early evening view I had off the nose of Leo of NGC 2903, bright, detailed, three dimensional feeling, the inclination I was picking out NGC 2905 as a brightening within the extended disk. I'd finish the night, fighting the wind, up in Ursa and Cancer, picking out galaxies in an overpowered 7mm.
But what fun. Can't wait for more (it looks good tonight too, get out if you can).
Here's last night's details in order observed - NGC numbers linked to drawings pulled from the 'net:
NGC1907 OCL 434 Aur
20mm large medium density, round with relatively empty center with one star in middle. Perhaps 50 stars total brightest is red outside the eastern perimeter. Straight overhead, in twilight.@ 18:54.
NGC1980 OCL 529 Ori
20mm NPB. Large glow around a highly "green" Ultrablock enhanced star in the center of large round nebulous glow. Astonishing area! Does 1980 include glow to SW around two close stars? Yes! There is nebula extending across both sections. Here's what I thought NGC 1980 was at first: Lots of glow throughout region, most pronounced embedding all stars. Tenuous glow between and connecting stars in region. Very good transparency. These are actually NGC 1977, NGC 1973 and 1977, with 1975.
NGC1999 LBN 979 Ori
2/25 Glow around a star, interrupted on eastern side at 200X. Does not respond to filters.
NGC2024 CED 55P Ori
12mm with Ultrablock Very difficult, need to get bright star out of field.. Glow with empty area running N/S between two sides, opening more to E. More convincing glow in 5" refractor @ 43X with UHC.
NGC2129 Open Cluster Gem
20mm nice small cluster, dense, three brighter running E/w at north edge, brightest due south. Many dim members, perhaps 25 stars.
NGC2126 Open Cluster Aur
20mm elongated N/S with bight star at NNE end. Dim, small with several members, but not dense. Possibly the same cluster extends w/s/w with dim stars between, then an obvious condensation around two bright stars.
NGC2158 Open Cluster Gem
12mm superb views in 10" with great transparency. Looks almost like distant globular with stars either resolving or on verge of resolution. Best view of this target ever in 10". On N/E outskirts of M35, appearing roundish but with some extension pointing away to N/E. Can be a difficult object from Coe but in your face tonight.
NGC2169 Open Cluster Ori
12mm this is the 37 cluster. Appears inverted and backwards in my scope. 3 had brightest star at top end of 3, 7 brightest star is second from the base. Comprised of 14 stars that appear embedded in nebulosity. I remember showing this to a girlfriend years ago on her 37th birthday :-)
NGC2185 LBN 997 Nebula Mon
12mm faint glow around a wide pair of stars 25'' from SAO 132944 5th mag star. Stars are E/W, east star nebula brighter as is star, with a dim star involved to sw. Easy pickings tonight!
NGC2194 Open Cluster Ori
12mm nice small dim rich cluster in shape of a question mark. Easy hop of club stars in Orion. Possibly dimly extended to SW, but main section has around 5 brighter members and many dim ones.
NGC2742 (image) NGC 2816 UMa
Next to mag 7.8 star at its NW, this is clearly visible, elongated e/w with possible pair of spiral arms. In 12 Nagler it is fairly even throughout. 3x2 size ratio.
NGC2768 (image) Galaxy UMa
7mm condensed non-stellar core roundish/oval, extended NW/SE. Bright and easily seen in 20mm.
NGC2775 Galaxy Cnc
7mm very windy, large condensed core, not nucleus, extended sw/ne, possible arms.
Finally, I am always surprised to find I will hit an object on my list for the night, that I just can't get to no matter what angle I approach from. This happened again last night, NGC2186 in Orion. After 20 minutes of hops and re-hops, it was time to move on. How does this happen?
Mark
Steven R.
Feb 26, 2025, 5:48:17 PM2/26/25
to sf-ba...@googlegroups.com
Finally, I am always surprised to find I will hit an object on my list for the night, that I just can't get to no matter what angle I approach from. This happened again last night, NGC2186 in Orion. After 20 minutes of hops and re-hops, it was time to move on. How does this happen?
Because you're not using PiFinder or Cedar?
/ducks
-Steven
Mark Wagner
Feb 27, 2025, 2:09:18 PM2/27/25
to The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
On Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 2:48:17 PM UTC-8 Steven R. wrote:
On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:Finally, I am always surprised to find I will hit an object on my list for the night, that I just can't get to no matter what angle I approach from.
Because you're not using PiFinder or Cedar?
If I didn't like driving I'd take the bus (and leave the driving to us). :-)
Richard Navarrete
Feb 27, 2025, 10:17:52 PM2/27/25
to sf-ba...@googlegroups.com
It was a really fun night . We both forgot to include the California nebula we glimpsed in the AR 127. Barely there, but we spotted a brightening of the background at an 11:00 - 5:00 angle in my scope.
Neither of us has an H-beta, and the ultrablock, Oiii, and NPB did nothing to help the view.
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Mark Wagner
Mar 1, 2025, 12:55:45 PM3/1/25
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