So this evening after coming on duty and with things very quiet, I decided to step outside about 0200 to see what was happening since it was not raining. The sky was totally clear, which has been a rarity since I’ve been here. Stepping around the corner of the house looking east I could easily see Orion slightly inclined on its head as it rose in the east. Sirius, Canopus and Achenar all clearly visible though doing the shimmy shake due to atmospheric unsteadiness. I pondered a bit and decided to drag the 6 inch newt out and give it a go for as long as the clouds stayed away. So after the finders and eyepieces acclimated and I got my bearings, I aimed the scope at mag 2.9 Theta1 Eridani (Acamar) and turned to chart 98 in the IDSA to begin my short session.
Nudging westward past Iota Eridani (mag 4.1) into southern Fornax, I gave the barred spiral
Nudging NNW from 82 Eri nearly 2° I immediately noticed this slightly large rounded glow at 42x lying NNE of the eastern end of an eyebrow of three field stars. It was diffuse in appearance with a stellar flicker showing in its center. While not exceedingly bright visually, it was still readily seen and even more easily at 76x. Using 106x the center (its bar region) displayed a broader brightness, again with the very intermittent flicker of a stellar core buried within.
Satisfied with the appearance of
Following a trickle of stars southwest from the triangle I pursued this barred spiral just north of a mag 8.0 field star. Not seen with 42x, it was merely a suspected object at 76x as a round soft puff of dim light. Using 106x it was confirmed as a homogenous small round glow struggling to overcome the weak sky quality. (New)
Nudging a little west I picked up an obvious triangle of three stars (5th, 6th and 7th mag). This spiral forms a rectangle with these three stars holding down its northwestern corner. I also observed this galaxy back in January with the 4.5 inch, and since it was nearby decided to give a shot this evening. It was not picked up at 42x, but was at 76x as a very dim and small bit of fuzzy light. Taking a look at 106x it appeared somewhat oval in shape but remained dim and homogenous in appearance.
Moving back to the east and using the pairing of Alpha and Delta Hor as my guide, I moved to the border with Caelum to a flattened triangle of stars with Delta Caeli (mag 5.1) being its eastern tip. I now nudged south from this pattern to another triangle of three stars (6th and 7th mag) within Caelum, then WSW to a very wide pairing of stars (7th mag), one barely inside Horologium and the other just within Dorado, I studied the field north of the southern most of this pair. This elliptical was not detected at 42x, and was only suspected at 76x. Moving up to 106x I confirmed its presence in the field as a small and dim rounded pip of diffuse light. Intermittently a stellar core popped in and out of view as well. (New)
Looking up I noticed that the clouds had finally made their appearance and this may have added to the difficulty with the final object. Looking at chart 98-left I saw I failed to notice
