4/2/21
Location: Anza desert site,
Bortle 3.5
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD
SCT and Celestron 150ST
achro on
SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.
Due to frequent storms and weather unpredictability I typically take a break for the winter from overnight trips to the Anza desert but could not wait to get back. This year dry weather came earlier and last Friday evening I went for the first Anza session of 2021. Either the desert did not get as much rain as before or some other factors in play, but there was no desert bloom this year. Just a few scattered California poppies where there were flower fields last year.
This session was my first experience with binoviewers. I wanted to devote all premium dark time to galaxy hunting, so I played with them during the daylight. Not surprisingly there was not enough inward travel to use them straight in 150ST. I thought 1.9x nosepiece which came with
BV would fix that but discovered that now I don’t have enough outward focuser travel.
When I was packing for the trip I considered taking focuser extension tubes, but then thought: you will need extra inward, not outward travel.
On 9.25” Edge I also did not manage to get to focus. The day was hazy and distant landmarks were of low contrast. I did a few turns of the focuser dial but only saw hazy white. Then I remembered that the Edge has less focuser travel compared to vanilla
SCT. Did not want to mess around more at this point. Will revisit.
While I was playing with binoviewers it is started getting dark. I have packed the binoviewer stuff and deployed the single eye stuff. In a few minutes astronomical darkness arrived. Man, I did miss beautiful dark skies! I had to force myself to look through the scopes, otherwise I would spend whole evening soaking up their majesty with naked eyes. Still a good half of the evening was spent doing that. As a reward I caught ~10 meteors.
Orion
NGC 1670 – gal – FAIL
NGC 1678 – gal – small narrow oval with AV, next to star. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x).
NGC 1682 – gal – extra faint fuzzy star with AV. It had appearance of small
PN. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 10mm (235x).
NGC 1684 – gal – faint wide oval, same
FOV with
NGC 1682. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x) and XW 20mm (118x).
NGC 1713 – gal – FAIL
My progress in Orion was slow and taxing. First, I thought that my galaxy eye dulled after few months of inactivity. That might be as well, but there were other factors in play. Orion, while still relatively high, was setting down to the west – brighter portion of the sky. Some high clouds were hanging near horizon not too far from Orion. I decided to try a different area.
Gemini
NGC 2224 –
asterism – two star chains forming anchor shape. 150ST/Pentax XW20 (38x); Edge 9.25”/TV Panoptic 27mm (87x). I liked Edge view better, it has shown more stars in the pattern.
NGC 2234 –
asterism – several stars forming chain-link shape; not detached from the field. Edge 9.25”/TV Panoptic 27mm (87x).
NGC 2274 and 2275 – two galaxies in the same
FOV.
NGC 2274 – round and brighter;
NGC 2275 – elongated oval with AV. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x).
NGC 2289 – gal – very faint small oval. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x) and Pentax XF 12mm (196x).
NGC 2290 – gal – very faint spot with AV. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XF 12mm (196x).
I have discovered that Pentax XF EPs work extremely well in the Edge 9.25” outperforming on occasion XWs on planets, Moon and
DSOs. I wish Pentax made more focal lengths.
NGC 2291 – gal – FAIL.
NGC 2385 – gal – extremely faint spot with AV, moving
EP for detection. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x).
NGC 2333 – gal – faint elongated shape. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 20mm (118x).
NGC 2388 and
NGC 2389 – two galaxies in the same
FOV – very faint ovals with AV. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x).
NGC 2390 – single or multiple star depending on resource – fuzzy star in the same
FOV with
NGC 2388 and
NGC 2389. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 14mm (168x).
NGC 2435 – gal – This is why I went in galaxy hunting business! Small but sharp edge-on, welcome sight after all barely resolve smudges of this evening. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 20mm (118x).
NGC 2481 – gal – small lens with brighter core – second highlight of the evening.
. Edge 9.25”/Pentax XW 20mm (118x).