Ursa Major, Booties and the comet

[Bigzmey]

6/25/2022

Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 3.0.
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT and Celestron 150ST achro on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount. Pentax XW/ TV Panoptic EPs.

The summer is in full swing with day temperatures in upper 30s C (100s F). The nights are still pleasantly cool though, and dry cloudless weather helps with transparency. This weekend the sky at Anza approached Bortle 3 with Milky Way bright, well-structured, spanning entire sky from Cassiopeia to Scorpius. Eyes were naturally attracted to the riches of the southern Sagittarius/Scorpius area, but as a true galaxy hinter I have turned my back on them (literally ) and focused on the northern area with treasure trove of galaxies. I did make a few breaks from EP this evening to leisurely walk naked eye along the Summer Milky Way. There might have been marine layer to the west blocking some of the light pollution from light domes of San Diego and Los Angeles, as the sky was of that rare quality where familiar constellation asterisms are harder to recognize among background stars.

21:45. A drawback of summer is that it gets dark late. I was impatiently waiting, and the moment Milky Way started to appear I have jumped on my first target.

Ursa Major galaxies (all observed with 9.25” Edge).

NGC 3838 – small, elongated oval (118x, 168x).
NGC 3846 and NGC 3850 – two small faint ovals in the same FOV (118x).
NGC 3888 – larger wide oval with brighter central area (118x).
NGC 3870 – small round disk (118x).
NGC 3891 – small round disk with compact core (118x).

NGC 3897 – small AV round disk. Bright star in the FOV makes detection difficult (168x).
NGC 3906 – small faint oval (168x).
NGC 3928 – small wide oval with compact core (168x).
NGC 3921 – narrow oval (168x).
NGC 3916 and NGC 3913 – two vary faint ovals in the same FOV with NGC 3921, detected with AV by moving EP (168x).

NGC 3922 (aka NGC 3924) – faint narrow AV oval (118x).
NGC 4801 – extremely faint glow detected with AV by moving EP (168x).
NGC 4732 – small extremely faint AV spot (118x).
NGC 4644 – very faint narrow oval with AV (118x).
NGC 4646 – small narrow lens with brighter central area (168x).

23:30. Ursa Major was sinking closer to the Los Angeles light dome in the north-west. I have switched to Booties which was still in the darker portion of the sky

Booties galaxies (all observed with 9.25” Edge).

NGC 5859 – sharp edge-on (118x, 168x).
NGC 5857 – small narrow oval next to NGC 5859 (118x, 168x).
NGC 5888 – narrow oval (118x).
NGC 5886 – smaller wide oval in the same FOV with NGC 5888 (118x).
NGC 5900 – very faint glow, detected with AV by moving EP (118x).
NGC 5893 – small round disk with AV (168x).

0:00. My last target for the evening was

C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) comet in Ophiuchus. I used both scopes, 6” Achro and 9.25” Edge, and at all powers between 28x and 118x it was easy to spot and looked nice. Different resources list current magnitude between 7.3 and 9.2. It was definitely brighter than 9.2, I would estimate ~8. The best view was achieved with 9.25” Edge at 118x. Very bright compact nucleus somewhat off center within the large (~5’) wide oval coma. Coma brightness gradually increased from the edge to the center. I have not detected any hints of tail.

The comet is getting brighter and should be easy to spot with wide range of scopes and binoculars. Highly recommend!

I leave you with pics of another cacti species in bloom from the Anza Desert.

[kt4hx]

Outstanding as always Andrey! The narrative and images from Anza are always a treat. Your comments about the beauty of the Sagittarius/Scorpius region and the summer MW plane in general, and how you quite literally turned your back on them in pursuit of galaxies brought a large smile to my face!. You're a man truly after my own passions as you well know. I feel many likely have at least some difficulty understanding our deep passion for galaxy hunting. I get that, because let's face it, many look similar through our scopes. They typically are not bright and flashy, and frankly many are extremely difficult visual targets. But that desire to pursue galaxies runs much deeper than mere visual appearance. It is the thrill of the hunt and the elation when it is successful. It is also about observing with the mind, contemplating the vast gulf of time and distance that feeble light took to arrive at our eye in that given moment - the vastness of the universe. While we both do observe other things, we are constantly pulled back to pursue those dim denizens of the deep sky. Well done my friend.

[Bigzmey]

Outstanding as always Andrey! The narrative and images from Anza are always a treat. Your comments about the beauty of the Sagittarius/Scorpius region and the summer MW plane in general, and how you quite literally turned your back on them in pursuit of galaxies brought a large smile to my face!. You're a man truly after my own passions as you well know. I feel many likely have at least some difficulty understanding our deep passion for galaxy hunting. I get that, because let's face it, many look similar through our scopes. They typically are not bright and flashy, and frankly many are extremely difficult visual targets. But that desire to pursue galaxies runs much deeper than mere visual appearance. It is the thrill of the hunt and the elation when it is successful. It is also about observing with the mind, contemplating the vast gulf of time and distance that feeble light took to arrive at our eye in that given moment - the vastness of the universe. While we both do observe other things, we are constantly pulled back to pursue those dim denizens of the deep sky. Well done my friend.

Thanks Alan! Every summer I plan to spend some time observing nebulae and clusters along the Milky Way, but somehow always end up chasing galaxies.

[kt4hx]

Outstanding as always Andrey! The narrative and images from Anza are always a treat. Your comments about the beauty of the Sagittarius/Scorpius region and the summer MW plane in general, and how you quite literally turned your back on them in pursuit of galaxies brought a large smile to my face!. You're a man truly after my own passions as you well know. I feel many likely have at least some difficulty understanding our deep passion for galaxy hunting. I get that, because let's face it, many look similar through our scopes. They typically are not bright and flashy, and frankly many are extremely difficult visual targets. But that desire to pursue galaxies runs much deeper than mere visual appearance. It is the thrill of the hunt and the elation when it is successful. It is also about observing with the mind, contemplating the vast gulf of time and distance that feeble light took to arrive at our eye in that given moment - the vastness of the universe. While we both do observe other things, we are constantly pulled back to pursue those dim denizens of the deep sky. Well done my friend.

Thanks Alan! Every summer I plan to spend some time observing nebulae and clusters along the Milky Way, but somehow always end up chasing galaxies.

Hey, I find no fault with that!

[Frankskywatcher]

That was a great report my friend !
I have to admit I’m in a pretty good spot as far as light pollution compared to others but I’m getting green with envy with some of you guys,that desert shot looks like you are out in the middle of nowhere lol.
Did I tell you that I lived in Tucson AZ for awhile when I was younger ?
I will never forget going out into the desert at night with friends and the amount of stars,like nowhere else that I’ve ever been .

[Makuser]

Hi Andrey. Another enjoyable observing session from your Anza Desert site. A very nice list of NGC objects found in Ursa Major and Bootes and topped off with catching C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) comet in Ophiuchus. Thanks for another great report with excellent descriptions Andrey and also the beautiful cacti species in bloom photographs.

[helicon]

Thanks for the fabulous report Andrey, your excellent descriptions, and beautiful cacti images. Congratulations on winning the VROD for the day!

[Bigzmey]

That was a great report my friend !
I have to admit I’m in a pretty good spot as far as light pollution compared to others but I’m getting green with envy with some of you guys,that desert shot looks like you are out in the middle of nowhere lol.
Did I tell you that I lived in Tucson AZ for awhile when I was younger ?
I will never forget going out into the desert at night with friends and the amount of stars,like nowhere else that I’ve ever been .

Thanks Frank! We lived in Tucson for a few months in 1997 when I was doing training at ASU. This is a fun place to be if you are outdoorsy type. We still remember wonderful sunsets, giant cacti, crazy monsoon showers and starry nights. I would just open the bedroom window stick my scope out and start observing.

Hi Andrey. Another enjoyable observing session from your Anza Desert site. A very nice list of NGC objects found in Ursa Major and Bootes and topped off with catching C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) comet in Ophiuchus. Thanks for another great report with excellent descriptions Andrey and also the beautiful cacti species in bloom photographs.

Thanks Marshall! When I was a kid I only saw cacti on windowsill in pots and in Westerns. It still feels wonderfully weird to me to see them in the wild.

Thanks for the fabulous report Andrey, your excellent descriptions, and beautiful cacti images. Congratulations on winning the VROD for the day!

Thanks Michael, much appreciated!

[John Baars]

Great desert report again!
How far away are you from Los Angeles?

[Bigzmey]

Great desert report again!
How far away are you from Los Angeles?

Thanks John! Anza is about 100 ml (160 km) from downtown Los Angeles as the crow flies. But depending on where you are in LA it could easily take a few hours to get there. Why? Are you coming to LA anytime soon?

[Unitron48]

Nice session, nice pics...and congrats on the comet capture and VROD recognition!

Dave

[Bigzmey]

Nice session, nice pics...and congrats on the comet capture and VROD recognition!

Dave

Thanks Dave!

[kt4hx]

A very appropriate VROD my friend.

[John Baars]

Congratulations on the VROD!
No, I am not coming to LA
Anza seems better to me.
Just wanted to know from how far you could see the light domes of those cities. 100 miles is quite a bit! To what altitude do they reach?

[ Off topic on ]

The public observatory I am boardmember of , lies in Rijswijk, on top of a 45 m high building. Right between two big cities and the big harbour of Rotterdam / Rijnmond.

By day:

Looks nice, doesn't it?

Horror-view from the roof by night:

When the observatory was built 50 years ago, in the 1970-ties, the horizon was as good as dark.

[ Off topic off ]

[Bigzmey]

Congratulations on the VROD!
No, I am not coming to LA
Anza seems better to me.
Just wanted to know from how far you could see the light domes of those cities. 100 miles is quite a bit! To what altitude do they reach?

[ Off topic on ]

The public observatory I am boardmember of , lies in Rijswijk, on top of a 45 m high building. Right between two big cities and the big harbour of Rotterdam / Rijnmond.

By day:

SSR Foto W.Groen.jpg

Looks nice, doesn't it?

Horror-view from the roof by night:

Lichtvervuiling vanaf Sterrenwacht Rijswijk foto Wim Pont (500x333).jpg

When the observatory was built 50 years ago, in the 1970-ties, the horizon was as good as dark.

[ Off topic off ]

That's a nice place to have observatory.

My turn to share horror pics. White cross mark my Anza observing spot. It is not bad, south-eastern half is dark and on a good night I can pick galaxies right above horizon in that direction. North-western half is compromised by light domes. On a bad night they can extend up to 30 degrees. Above 30 degrees is generally dark enough for hunting faint galaxies. There are a couple of great nights per year when marine layer to the west blocks most of the pollution, then the sky is really magnificent.