However, the evening didn’t quite turn out how I had hoped. The conditions were soft both in terms of transparency and seeing, Plus there was an event at the small fairgrounds about a mile north of us in town (population about 150 souls) and after that concluded, there was a ton of traffic going past the house lighting me up much more than is typical. So all that combined with general fatigue from having gotten up early Saturday and the over four hour drive over, I could tell my mental focus was not at the level I usually have. After a while I found that I was not mentally and physically in the game, so I called it an evening around 0030 hours, much earlier than I had planned. It was just one of those nights that just didn’t seem to work out like I’d planned, but then again we've all had those from time to time. But we’ve all had those from time to time.
The above said, I still managed to scrape 10 new galaxies from the sky, plus the comet and to wrap up things I re-visited various bright and easy objects to at least get some eye candy before putting the gear away. So with that, let’s delve into the results of my two to two and a half hour outing.
(Equipment used)
17.5 inch
Ethos 21mm (94x, 1.1° TFOV, 4.7mm exit pupil)
Ethos 13mm (152x, 0.7° TFOV, 2.9mm exit pupil)
XW 10mm (199x, 0.4° TFOV, 2.2mm exit pupil)
Comet C/2020 T2 Palomar (Bootes, mag=10.5, size 3.8’):
I created a chart for 2230 hours on 03 July to aid in locating the comet near a wide pair of 9th mag field stars (9.02 and 9.78) in southern Bootes. About 2215 hours I sat back in my chair and used my 10x50 Pentax binoculars to locate the field not quite 10° south of Eta Bootis (Mufrid). I found it very small and dim in the binoculars, but it was seen weakly. Moving to the 17.5 inch scope I retraced the star hop from Mufrid in the 8x50
After the comet I noticed this galaxy in the IDSA (chart 45-left) that I had not observed previously. I picked it up about 1.5° SSW of Mufrid (Eta Boo) and just NNW of mag 6.6 HD 120997. Studying the field at 152x
(New)
Still on chart 45-left, I also noticed a small loose scattering of some
Next up was this small thick oval. At 94x it was subtly bright (higher SBr than the previous object). I was diffuse and homogeneous. Using 152x I picked up a very intermittent stellar core in the center of it’s out of round disk. (New)
This elliptical was very small in visual angular extent but slightly bright to the eye at 94x. Round in shape it also displayed a stellar core. It was an easy object at 152x, but remained small visually and its stellar core shone steadily. (New)
This small and elongated glow was somewhat bright at 94x. It displayed a broadly brighter central region. An intermittent stellar core was revealed at 152x, within its brighter central lens. (New)
A little over 13.5’ south of the previous object and within the same
About 38’ west of the previous pair I picked up this small and fairly dim round mote. I had a fleeting suspicion of a stellar core, but was uncertain at 94x. Viewing with 152x the galaxy remained dim but not difficult to pick up in the field. Overall it remained small and round to the eye, but the suspected stellar core was more apparent now. (New)
Finally making my way over to Hercules now, I turned to chart 43-right in the IDSA I hoped to begin the foraging there that I had planned for the evening. However, I found that conditions seemed to be weakening even more and my general fatigue seemed to ramp up as well. I located this small and somewhat bright oval using 94x. Its disk was evenly illuminated and remained so at 152x. It was an obvious object within the field of view. (New)
UGC 10337 (Hercules, spiral galaxy, mag=14.0, size=1.2’x0.4’, SBr=13.1):
Just 13’ southeast of the previous object (in Uranometria and within the same field of view, I was picking up hints of this galaxy at 152x and 199x. Overall it was very dim and small. Thin and elongated, it was a ghostly presence very near a 13th mag field star. (New)
Moving to the left side of chart 43, this barred spiral was picked up at 152x as a small and surprisingly, subtly bright oval. It was evenly illuminated across its envelope and it remained homogeneous at 199x. It was near a dim pair of field stars (13th and 14th), forming a triangle with them. (New)
I had worked much harder for the few galaxies I was able to scrape up; with several others I targeted eluding me. Conditions seemed to be quite variable, with some short periods of better transparency, and then it would bottom out. Seeing was also changing a lot. I suspected there could have been some high thin clouds at times, though I could not see them in the dark sky. So with serious fatigue and angst settling into my psyche, I decided to stop by a few of this month’s
Quickly found by aiming the scope at 14 Vulpeculae (mag 4.6) using the Rigel Quikfinder, I then moved to the 8x50
Swinging down to the celestial archer, I could see both M20 and M8 with the naked eye despite the weaker than usual transparency. Easily scooping up both of them in the
Less than 1.5° SSE of M20 I quickly centered this beautiful enormous nebular complex. I easily noticed the bright scattering of stars marking the open cluster
M22 /
Since I was in Sagittarius, and I could spot it naked eye as well, I had to stop by one of my favorite globular clusters. Easily picked up in the
So after cruising through a few old favorites, I felt better as I moved the gear back to the garage. While the evening didn’t turn out exactly as I had envisioned, it was far from unsuccessful. A comet was seen, a few new galaxies were seen, and so nice summer eye candy was seen. That is a win-win-win in any regard. Thanks for following along with me and hope to see you back out there soon.
Nice you got to see c/2020 Palomar and yet more new galaxies; as well as some old friends. 
