I was out last night. Up on a mountain top, where the fog came to within fifty to one hundred feet below me. City light were gone. Not just dimmed - - gone. Some dew, yes, but not bad. The sky was very dark.
Some highlights (there were many) -
NGC 1977 | the Running Man - easily identified three individual NGC reflection nebulae in the object. |
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M42 | wings extended around in a complete circle using UHC filter. Dim nebula NGC 1980 visible. |
Rosette Nebula | easy - jumping out obvious. |
Abell 1367 in Leo | counted 20+ galaxies in 48' field. |
NGC 4565 | dark lane bisecting this edge on was sharp and very obvious. NGC 4562 was easy just to its SW. Some of the dim IC galaxies to its north were just peeking in. |
When I woke in the morning, the fog was just sitting below me, covering everything. Mountain tops were little islands poking above the "ocean"... Light fog began blowing by me from the north, and facing away from the sun a light "arc" in a parabola shone - a white and hints of electric blue rainbow. Surreal scene.
I had a great time. I hope others got out too.
Scope | 18" class Dobsonian. |
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Location | undisclosed |
Seeing | steady but not rock solid |
Transparency | very good to excellent |
Limiting mag | estimated at mag 6.6. |
Light | No light domes. |
Temp | was comfortable |