A Night at Bob's

With moon set early last Friday night, I took the opportunity to leave the bay area and head to the Sierra foothills for some observing and a little wine tasting. Both can be done in nice fashion in and around Fiddletown. The wineries are just outside Ol' Pokerville (Plymouth) in the verdant Shenandoah Valley - home to dozens of wineries. The usual backup on 205 eastbound on a Friday afternoon - when does that traffic start backing up? I left a 1:30 and it was already a mess. But soon, I was turning left on Fiddletown Road and veering away from the observing site toward the wineries. Since it was 4:45 by the time I got there (a few extra stops along the way made the trip longer than usual), I got into one winery, and had a few samples of the local fare. Afterward, I headed back to Fiddletown and up to the site, where I set up my 18" f/4.5 Obsession, read, and waited for dark.

A five day old moon was up, although dropping quickly in the west, but I poked around it anyway. Some nice views of Mare Crisium, Theophilis with its bifurcated central peak poking out of the shadows, and hints of the two other craters - Cyrillus and Catherina - to its south right along the terminator - there really was some excellent detail even at only 177X. As the sank into the trees, I was preparing some coffee for the night and enjoying some pasta with fresh pesto along with a bottle of red. Nice start to the night.

After dinner I was tired, and took a short nap in the truck, getting up later to a nice dark and clear sky.

I looked around for new lights, which I'd heard were reported up there. A house high up on a hill to the east had a light on, and some weird light show was going on at a house directly to the north through a break in the trees. Neither were what I considered intrusive, I was looking mostly up and to the south, and had my truck as a light-block. By late at night both lights were doused.

Here are my observing notes in fairly raw form (I have trouble too reading my own scribbling):

Abell 2199 in Hercules. Its brightest member is NGC 6166, easy to identify at mag 11.8 with a surface brightness of 12.9. To its southwest and west are a chain of stars that look like a small Serpens Caput, providing an easy landmark by which to orient and wait for eight other galaxies to come, one by one, into view. All the other galaxies were dim, and part of the MCG - ranging from mag 14.25 to 16.3 (the 16.3 was very difficult!) with most in the mid 15's. I spent a good deal of time on this target at 280X.

NGC 7094 - a nice planetary nebula in Pegasus. Without an OIII filter it was barely visible - just a hint of glow around an average looking star. With the OIII it was a direct vision target- round, annular with a dim central star. The western edge is possibly brighter - with averted vision the central star and dark center are much more prominent.

NGC 7177 is a bright galaxy in Pegasus with possible spiral structure - as I saw it. It is brightens along its NNE/SSW axis with a possible bright knot in the SSW. It has a bright core with an elongated disk - aside from its assymetry of the core. It is fairly round - and the bright section to the SSW is perhaps a star.

NGC 7217 is big and bright with a very obvious stellar core. It is a round galaxy that diffuses evenly. There is a star in the disk to the N and a bright knot ENE and close to the core.

NGC 7331 is always a favorite. It is very bright with a stellar core, very elongated with a bright knot possibly extremely far out in the N arm. At first the three smaller galaxies showed to its S. I detected a possible dark lane in along the W edge. The central area is large with a great elongation N/S. The core is offset to the W. later a 4th galaxy joined the other three to the N. The N end of the spiral arm seems to bend to the E. The faintest extent of the spiral arms appeared to reach over 8 arc minutes.

NGC 7137 in Pegasus is dim with a staller core and a bright star in the W edge. Round, perhaps a face on spiral but with a somewhat triangular brightening and maybe a dark intrusion in the eastern edge.

Stephan's Quintet was great. The eastern most galaxy - NGC 7320 - is large and extended NW/SE. To the N is a dimmer and smaller galaxy extended more N/S. Between and to the W are 2 small galaxies with the dimmer of the two to the E - both have stellar cores - they are very close together but distinctly two galaxies - and are aligned E/W. The 4th is SW and has a star at its NW tip - and it is extended NW/SE. This was one of the nicest views of this group I've had - easily seeing all 5 components.

Galaxy NGC 7332 forms a beautiful sight with NGC 7339. both are edge on - and 7332 is the brighter of the pair. NGC 7332 us NW/SE and has a bright core with notable stellar point. The other galaxy is E/W, dimmer but clearly visible and does not have a stellar core at 100X. 7332 is reminiscent of NGC 7331 in how it diffuses out. The dimmer galaxy may have a dark intrusion W of the core. Its core is also wider and possibly has a very dim stellar point. Reminds me of a smaller version of The Slug.

I like the Blue Snowball - NGC 7662. With a 7 Nagler and 2X Barlow (587X) and 1.25" Ultrablock - the hole in the center jumped out. The ring surrounding it was bright and the the third ring turned out to actually be extensions to the NNE and SSW. The brightest area is the NNE inner section of the second ring. The faintest outer ring - beyond the extenstions - is to the E.

NGC 7448 is a well framed galaxy - in three stars in a chain mostly NE/SW and E/W. It is elongated with a conspicuous central bulge. 2 other galaxies to the E at 100X just NE and E of a bright star. First galaxy is extended 4 or 5 x 1 and the ends seem to spread a bit. There is a very dim stellar core. A higher power the dimmer pair turns out to be 3 galaxies - the brightest elongated N/S with the "new" dimmer galaxy off the S end and close by to the E. The third galaxy is smaller and maybe WSW/ENE. Brighter 3rd galaxy is to the E and more distant - but about the same size as the second galaxy and has a higher surface brightness and a distinct stellar core.

Jumping to The Helix - with a 20 Nagler and 2" DGM VHT filter - chains of stars seem to zig-zag E/W across the nebula. The big planetary appears to have an "open" end to the WNW with the brightest and sharpest defined section being the N and S outer edges. It is VERY large in the 7 Nagler and the brightest knots seemed to be at the W edge of the "horseshoe" shape with N/S brighter than E.

The galaxy NGC 7457 is a modest size disk elongated to the W with a bright core and stellar point. Its elongation is about 1.5 x 1.0. This is a nice looking galaxy. There appears to be a bright knot NW of center about 2/3rds out. A nice chain of stars runs E/W... 2 E of the galaxy, 2 W and a dimmer pair just to its S.

I finished by visiting NGC 7554 and NGC 7469. By this time I was tired to the point of starting to stumble around, so I did not take much in the way of notes. I do show that 7469 is small, round and has a bright core, and that to the NNE is an IC galaxy elongated E/W.

I awoke before sunrise and found Venus blazing in Gemini, and noted too that Saturn has moved, and is now east of the Gemini toward the Eskimo Nebula.

I spent a good part of the next afternoon wine tasting again in the Shenandoah Valley - at Montevina and Deaver. The Barbera and Refusco at Montevina were excellent. So was the "rocket fuel" Port at Deaver.

A 2.5 hour drive back, and the short trip was done...

A Night at Bob's

With moon set early last Friday night, I took the opportunity to leave the bay area and head to the Sierra foothills for some observing and a little wine tasting. Both can be done in nice fashion in and around Fiddletown. The wineries are just outside Ol' Pokerville (Plymouth) in the verdant Shenandoah Valley - home to dozens of wineries. The usual backup on 205 eastbound on a Friday afternoon - when does that traffic start backing up? I left a 1:30 and it was already a mess. But soon, I was turning left on Fiddletown Road and veering away from the observing site toward the wineries. Since it was 4:45 by the time I got there (a few extra stops along the way made the trip longer than usual), I got into one winery, and had a few samples of the local fare. Afterward, I headed back to Fiddletown and up to the site, where I set up my 18" f/4.5 Obsession, read, and waited for dark.

A five day old moon was up, although dropping quickly in the west, but I poked around it anyway. Some nice views of Mare Crisium, Theophilis with its bifurcated central peak poking out of the shadows, and hints of the two other craters - Cyrillus and Catherina - to its south right along the terminator - there really was some excellent detail even at only 177X. As the sank into the trees, I was preparing some coffee for the night and enjoying some pasta with fresh pesto along with a bottle of red. Nice start to the night.

After dinner I was tired, and took a short nap in the truck, getting up later to a nice dark and clear sky.

I looked around for new lights, which I'd heard were reported up there. A house high up on a hill to the east had a light on, and some weird light show was going on at a house directly to the north through a break in the trees. Neither were what I considered intrusive, I was looking mostly up and to the south, and had my truck as a light-block. By late at night both lights were doused.

Here are my observing notes in fairly raw form (I have trouble too reading my own scribbling):

Abell 2199 in Hercules. Its brightest member is NGC 6166, easy to identify at mag 11.8 with a surface brightness of 12.9. To its southwest and west are a chain of stars that look like a small Serpens Caput, providing an easy landmark by which to orient and wait for eight other galaxies to come, one by one, into view. All the other galaxies were dim, and part of the MCG - ranging from mag 14.25 to 16.3 (the 16.3 was very difficult!) with most in the mid 15's. I spent a good deal of time on this target at 280X.

NGC 7094 - a nice planetary nebula in Pegasus. Without an OIII filter it was barely visible - just a hint of glow around an average looking star. With the OIII it was a direct vision target- round, annular with a dim central star. The western edge is possibly brighter - with averted vision the central star and dark center are much more prominent.

NGC 7177 is a bright galaxy in Pegasus with possible spiral structure - as I saw it. It is brightens along its NNE/SSW axis with a possible bright knot in the SSW. It has a bright core with an elongated disk - aside from its assymetry of the core. It is fairly round - and the bright section to the SSW is perhaps a star.

NGC 7217 is big and bright with a very obvious stellar core. It is a round galaxy that diffuses evenly. There is a star in the disk to the N and a bright knot ENE and close to the core.

NGC 7331 is always a favorite. It is very bright with a stellar core, very elongated with a bright knot possibly extremely far out in the N arm. At first the three smaller galaxies showed to its S. I detected a possible dark lane in along the W edge. The central area is large with a great elongation N/S. The core is offset to the W. later a 4th galaxy joined the other three to the N. The N end of the spiral arm seems to bend to the E. The faintest extent of the spiral arms appeared to reach over 8 arc minutes.

NGC 7137 in Pegasus is dim with a staller core and a bright star in the W edge. Round, perhaps a face on spiral but with a somewhat triangular brightening and maybe a dark intrusion in the eastern edge.

Stephan's Quintet was great. The eastern most galaxy - NGC 7320 - is large and extended NW/SE. To the N is a dimmer and smaller galaxy extended more N/S. Between and to the W are 2 small galaxies with the dimmer of the two to the E - both have stellar cores - they are very close together but distinctly two galaxies - and are aligned E/W. The 4th is SW and has a star at its NW tip - and it is extended NW/SE. This was one of the nicest views of this group I've had - easily seeing all 5 components.

Galaxy NGC 7332 forms a beautiful sight with NGC 7339. both are edge on - and 7332 is the brighter of the pair. NGC 7332 us NW/SE and has a bright core with notable stellar point. The other galaxy is E/W, dimmer but clearly visible and does not have a stellar core at 100X. 7332 is reminiscent of NGC 7331 in how it diffuses out. The dimmer galaxy may have a dark intrusion W of the core. Its core is also wider and possibly has a very dim stellar point. Reminds me of a smaller version of The Slug.

I like the Blue Snowball - NGC 7662. With a 7 Nagler and 2X Barlow (587X) and 1.25" Ultrablock - the hole in the center jumped out. The ring surrounding it was bright and the the third ring turned out to actually be extensions to the NNE and SSW. The brightest area is the NNE inner section of the second ring. The faintest outer ring - beyond the extenstions - is to the E.

NGC 7448 is a well framed galaxy - in three stars in a chain mostly NE/SW and E/W. It is elongated with a conspicuous central bulge. 2 other galaxies to the E at 100X just NE and E of a bright star. First galaxy is extended 4 or 5 x 1 and the ends seem to spread a bit. There is a very dim stellar core. A higher power the dimmer pair turns out to be 3 galaxies - the brightest elongated N/S with the "new" dimmer galaxy off the S end and close by to the E. The third galaxy is smaller and maybe WSW/ENE. Brighter 3rd galaxy is to the E and more distant - but about the same size as the second galaxy and has a higher surface brightness and a distinct stellar core.

Jumping to The Helix - with a 20 Nagler and 2" DGM VHT filter - chains of stars seem to zig-zag E/W across the nebula. The big planetary appears to have an "open" end to the WNW with the brightest and sharpest defined section being the N and S outer edges. It is VERY large in the 7 Nagler and the brightest knots seemed to be at the W edge of the "horseshoe" shape with N/S brighter than E.

The galaxy NGC 7457 is a modest size disk elongated to the W with a bright core and stellar point. Its elongation is about 1.5 x 1.0. This is a nice looking galaxy. There appears to be a bright knot NW of center about 2/3rds out. A nice chain of stars runs E/W... 2 E of the galaxy, 2 W and a dimmer pair just to its S.

I finished by visiting NGC 7554 and NGC 7469. By this time I was tired to the point of starting to stumble around, so I did not take much in the way of notes. I do show that 7469 is small, round and has a bright core, and that to the NNE is an IC galaxy elongated E/W.

I awoke before sunrise and found Venus blazing in Gemini, and noted too that Saturn has moved, and is now east of the Gemini toward the Eskimo Nebula.

I spent a good part of the next afternoon wine tasting again in the Shenandoah Valley - at Montevina and Deaver. The Barbera and Refusco at Montevina were excellent. So was the "rocket fuel" Port at Deaver.

A 2.5 hour drive back, and the short trip was done...

Cold Night in August

Last night Richard Navarrete and I set up our 18" Obsessions on a hilltop in the bay area. Only one other observer was present at the time, and as the sun dropped below the western mountain range, we enjoyed a pastel swath of filtered light along the ridge line that ranged from golden orange to magentas and violets. I've been so busy this season that typically, I would be setting up scope and equipment late into the sunsets and dusk, and miss this spectacular show. The Belt of Venus was rising in the east, and with a chill breeze blowing steadily through our coats we stood, chatting with more arrivals, waiting for the dark.

And more people did arrive, well into the start of real dark. I was surprised then, and later when they departed, how few know to arrive and leave an observing site with lights dimmed, parked such that upon departing they needn't back up and glare out those remaining, or to at least announce they were departing and there'd be white light. Hopefully, they will learn...

We looked over our list - the ones we'd been working on over the years, and determined that the only objects left were winter and spring targets. Same exercise every year at this time - look over the list, determine there's nothing new, joke that we can pack up and go home, then, look for other stuff to observe.

Once dark was on us we began poking around using an observing list Richard had brought that had been put together for the Lassen Star Party in 1998. Lots of objects predominantly suggested by Jack Zeiders, Doug Ferrell, Ray Galak and me. Later, we would open the Night Sky Observers Guide to Lacer and Pegasus.

NGC 6894 was our first target. A nice planetary nebula in Cygnus easily located using the bright stars 39 and 41 Cygni as landmarks. It was obvious in the 20 Nagler, although faint and small. With the 12 Nagler its ring shape was brighter on its western edge, with a 9 Nagler and OIII filter some extensions to the SW and NE became visible, although the brighter ring portion was more even in appearance than with the 12 and no filter - which showed the brighter western portion better. The planetary is V mag 12.3 and 44" in size.

NGC 6930 is misplotted in The Sky, which Richard and I were both running on our laptops. This galaxy was easy to see with galaxy NGC 6928. The challenge objects were galaxies NGC 6927 and NGC 6927A. 6927 is v Mag 14.5 and I assume 6927A is about the same - both are claimed to be in the mid 15's on The Sky. Turned out NGC 6828 is also misplotted, but not as far off as NGC 6928. With my 7 Nagler, even the two dim little galaxies were quite obvious pieces of fluff - definitely there.

NGC 7240 in Lacer turned out to be part of one of two excellent galaxy groups we observed. This one, small, at mag 14.5 but a higher surface brightness, formed a nice group with NGC 7242, IC 1441, UGC 11963 and MCG 6-44-22, all dimmer galaxies. The MCG was unquestionably the most challenging in the group - but the four fainter galaxies were all at or dimmer than mag 15, according to NED. Only the UGC and 7242 showed any distinctive shape.

NGC 7248 is a nice galaxy at v Mag 12.4 and sb 12.7. It has a bright core elongated WSW - ENE, and an extended halo that is brighter on the SE side. NGC 7250 is clearly elongated and involves a bright star. Its core is small, elongated N-S and shows a stellar point. There are some extensions running NE-SW.

IC 1434 is a nice open cluster with a very notable chain of about 20 stars running WWSW - EENE. Worth looking at.

IC 5217in Lacer is given away by a nice long chain of stars close by to the NW. This is a stellar planetary. Richard used his OIII on a 9 Nagler, saying it helped. I could tell it was a planetary by its color alone.

We also poked around looking at some doubles and the big globulars.

While all this was going on, the fog that had begun covering the valleys started up toward us. By 1:30 it had reached us, and soon thereafter the stars disappeared.

I woke once during the hour prior to dawn and saw Venus, through the dark tinted window of my truck. Amazed that is could show so well through the fog, I opened the door. There was brilliant Venus, north of Orion, the sky clear and blazing with stars. I went back to sleep, and woke with the sunrise breaking over the eastern hills. High up in the sky I could see Venus still, clearly visible in the daylight.

I packed up, and began the drive. I descended through the little remaining fog, past the lake, and back onto the freeway. Another new moon spent on a hilltop, with friends and the sky... on a surprisingly cold night in August.

Columbia to Plettstone via Moccasin Creek

Yesterday I drove from the east bay to the old gold town of Columbia, on highway 49 - just north of Jamestown and Sonora. Columbia is a State Historic Park and is beautifully preserved and rebuilt - with running stagecoach, active gold mine and pedestrian main street full of interesting shops, displays, restaurants and hotels, as well as a live theater. A large chocolate Dreyers ice cream cone in hand with which to stroll the old streets on a warm, lazy afternoon, provides a great prelude to a night of observing at Michelle Stone's Plettstone Astronomy Preserve... its great to have places to go in Gold Country, and Michelle's is simply, the best.

Michelle had told me some time ago about the road north of her property, what happens to highway 49 between Mariposa and Sonora. Still, despite the cautions, I could not believe beautiful, tranquil "Gold Country Road" ... a place I'd spent many an afternoon casually driving and enjoying gently curving ridge-hugging scenery, I thought "what the heck... I'll try it".... and so, I descended through the bustling western authentic gold town of Sonora, south toward Coulterville and Plettstone... near Yosemite.

The start of the drive was fine, some twisty-turns, familiar gold country scenery... down into an alluvial canyon where a meandering stream kept switching sides of the bed. Soon I came upon a turn, a fork in the road. I stayed on 49, which bared to the right, away from 120 and the north entrance to Yosemite. The place was called Moccasin, a small town, somewhere, maybe in the hills behind the trees - all but invisible to the casual passer-by. But what did grab my eye was the Water Works. There's a small dam, holding back the stream from its northwestern flow. To its east is a large brick building, facing the reservoir contained water... and to its right are "the works".... machines that must puff out smoke and clang loudly when the flow is at maximum. The mountain, and I mean it in the literal sense, it is not a hill, it is massive, rises abruptly from the riverbed, and on its flank coming out of the Works are four very large pipes, running up the mountain to concrete bunkers spaced strategically along their length. The only other place I've seen something close to this type of engineering feat is near the Grapevine at the south end of the Central Valley, where the California Aqueduct is ported up and over the mountains leading to Los Angeles. It is impressive.

Equally impressive was the drive along and up Moccasin Creek. The turns start immediately. The don't stop for perhaps 30 miles. The climb, twists and turns, no wonder they named it Priest Grade! The climb is tremendous, as are the views along the treed canyons leading out to the west. When I told Michelle about the drive this morning, she began laughing. I talked about getting to the top of the steep grade, up to where John Sutter had built a fort to protect his gold claims, only to find several more sequences of steep windy grades to follow. I haven't been on a drive like that one in years.

I finally arrived at an area that began looking like the terrain around Plettstone, when suddenly the sign appeared to Bear Valley Road, around the corner from my destination. When I pulled in a few friends were already there. It was going to be a short night, moonrise around 12:30 (cresting the mountains), but it was great to be there. Into Mariposa for a quick bite to eat at the Happy Burger (they recommend their ostrich burgers "pink"), and back to the observing site.

All during the afternoon the skies looked hazy. Fires had apparently broken out all along the Sierra foothills. I didn't think the transparency would be very good... but I would be surprised! Richard Navarrete and I teamed up to go over some of the Herschel 400, a project we'd both completed, but we were "out of objects" (isn't that ridiculous!) for this season, and just wanted to look at some objects that might be interesting. We both had laptops set up running The Sky. Richard set up his C11 and I the 18" Obsession. The first object was....

NGC 6826, the Blinking Planetary. I was looking at it from Chabot Friday night - always fun to see the "fuzz" blink out and have that central star show so well.

Next was NGC 6905 in Delphinus - The Blue Flash Nebula. I had trouble finding this one and had to look through Richard's Telrad. It seemed interesting - some internal structure. I began increasing the magnification, and at 283X the planetary appeared elongated - football shaped. If I recall correctly, there were brighter sections along the edge of the disk, making it seem somewhat bipolar - kind of a "proto-peanut-planetary", and I felt there was some dark area in around the central star - perhaps forming a ring (didn't take notes).

Two good planetaries... I suggested we drop the 400 and do some planetaries. The seeing was pretty good, and objects did not seem diminished by the smoke (maybe it had cleared).

We went to NGC 40 in Cepheus. It held high power, even disk, but again, some brightening along opposite edges.

Next to NGC 7008 in Cygnus - kind of comma shape. At 283X the view was great, with a 1-1/4" DGM Optics VHT filter. All kinds of bright knots - this planetary has a lot going on! The night was turning into something quiet good. We kept going...

On to Open NGC 6905 in Delphinus, then a visit to Cepheus - NGC 6369, a nice open cluster paired in a wide field eyepiece with NGC 6946 - a good face on spiral galaxy. In a finder they both look like galaxies.

Looking up again at Cygnus I moved to the Crescent - NGC 6866 - somewhat washed out - maybe the smoke was a problem after all. Also, had a heck of a time finding it - odd - usually it stands out well enough without a filter, but this night it was so *barely* there that I passed over it several times, as did Richard, both of us saying "where is it?" But as soon as I put the OIII filter on - definitely there. Nice, but not great view.

The most spectacular view of the night - hands down- was the Veil Nebula. The Waterfall, NGC 6992, showed more detail, or as much - no - more detail than at Shingletown this year - where I was just floored by the intricacy of the filaments. This night, was amazing. The bottom of the Waterfall curved back under the arc - Rashad saw it, Richard saw it, but in the Digital Sky Survey I can't see it. Amazing. Other sections that had previously been "suspected" were obvious - the entire center section, the gorgeous extension off the thin end of the Witch's Broom. What a night.

From off to my right came the invitation "have a look at the North American" - and over I went to a 17.5" Earlatron. The NA was magnificent - thick - white icing on devil's food kind of appearance. Slathered on. Across from the NA the Pelican Nebula was easy to make out - no doubt. Amazing! The contrast between the thick sections of nebulosity and the pitch black dark areas was stunning.

Michelle has the place!

After a beverage break, Richard and I poked around NGC 6866, a nice open cluster in Cygnus, then up into Cassiopeia, where I began with the diminutive cluster NGC 654, which led me to NGC to its big splashy neighbor NGC 663, again on to little NGC 669 and finally, hoping over to M103. Any of these three non-M clusters could take the place of M103 in Charlie's catalog.

Being so close, I also jumped over to the ET cluster, NGC 457 and its dim neighbor at the alien's feet, NGC NGC 436.

It was getting late now, by the "moon clock" - The Great Plaster Ball was beginning to show some brightening over the eastern hills. Michelle called a few of us over to look through the outstanding 15" Plettstone scope she has for her personal use. She was proclaiming that this was the best view of M57 she'd ever had. I thought "ho-hum... another M57" and began to call out "last call for M57"... and then I looked...

The Ring was green, at least to me. I think my color perception is quite acute. There was a green hue in the grey. The object was magnified over 300X and... all of a sudden, a pinpoint in the center, then gone. Then it was back, gone, back... soon I was pretty much holding the central star with averted vision. The only other times I've seen it are through the 40" Nickel at Mount Hamilton, and the 30" Starmaster Jim Ster hauled up to the Oregon Star Party last year.

Yes, Michelle, it was the best view I've ever had. Quite a telescope you made - competing with a 30 and a 40. You win! :-)

Thanks, Michelle, for such a fun night. As usual, it is hard to leave. The beautiful environs of Mariposa make you want to stay, and if you can't, certainly you want to come back.

Best of luck, Michelle, at Oregon Star Party this year... I'll be back up at Plettstone next month.

The drive home was quick... traffic on 580 westbound to 680 was a bear, even on a Sunday at noon. Amazing. I'd rather leave civilization behind. Even if the alternative were Mocassin Creek.