8/6/22
Location: Anza desert site,
Bortle 3.0.
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD
SCT on
SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.
EPs:
Pentax XW 10mm 70 deg (235x, 1.0mm exit pupil, 0.30 deg TFV)
Pentax XW 14mm 70 deg (168x, 1.4mm exit pupil, 0.42 deg TFV)
Pentax XW 20mm, 70 deg (118x, 2.0 mm exit pupil, 0.6 deg TFV)
TV Panoptic 27mm, 68 deg (87x, 2.7 mm exit pupil, 0.8 deg TFV)
For a few weeks we are having monsoon weather with high clouds and showers in the desert. Last weekend was no go, but this weekend I have managed an early morning session. Upon arrival to the Anza site, I have discovered chaparral in bloom! This is one of my favorite times of the year. For miles the trees are covered in small white flowers. The desert is buzzing with bees.
To capitalize on dark time, I have slept for a few hours and woke up at midnight to watch orange Moon setting to the mountains. After that I proceeded with hunting galaxies in Andromeda. After moonset, the sky got dark. Milky Way was detailed but somewhat subdued. As I discovered the transparency was not the best, likely due to the moisture in the air, and I had to work harder to resolve all those faint fuzzies.
Andromeda galaxies
NGC 845 – very faint glow, detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
IC 43 – faint round disk with brighter central area (118x).
IC 46 – small extremely faint spot, detected with AV by moving
EP (118x, 168x, 235x).
IC 65 – “blinking” faint narrow lens (118x).
IC 178 – faint round disk, detected with AV next to star (168x).
IC 179 – faint circle with compact core (118x).
IC 1525 – faint oval with brighter central area (118x).
IC 1534 – small faint narrow spot next to star (168x).
NGC 51 – wide oval (168x).
IC 1540 – faint small narrow oval next to star (168x).
NGC 48 – FAIL
IC 1536 – FAIL
I may have a better shot at these two with better transparency.
IC 1542 – faint small oval (168x).
NGC 79 – faint round disk (168x).
NGC 80 – round disk with brighter core (118x).
NGC 83 – small circle (118x).
NGC 86 – faint glow with AV next to star (118x).
NGC 90 and
NGC 93 – two very faint AV spots in the same
FOV (168x).
By 03:00 I was getting tired of straining eyes at faint stuff but was not ready to call it a session. For something different I went to catch a few asteroids which are summarized in the table below.
Some fun facts. The largest asteroid from this session was Patientia. At 234 km diameter it is 15th largest asteroid in the belt. The smallest from this session was Amalthea at 46km diameter. It is amazing that we can see a small rock like that ~200 million kilometers away. Antiope is a double asteroid, consisting of two similar size (88 and 84 km) rocks orbiting each other. They are too close to be split by a small scope. It was visually split using bino 2 x 10 meters Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea in 2000.
I have finished around 04:00, quite satisfied except for one thing.
Perseids
Perseids are arguably the most spectacular among all meteor showers. Unfortunately, this year the Perseid maximum on August 13 coincides with full Moon. I thought I should still be able to catch some this morning, since it is just a few nights before the maximum. I took frequent breaks from the
EP, and even a couple of longer breaks when I set and gaze at the sky, facing Perseids radiant. In four hours of intermittent observing I did not see a single meteor. On any other random night during the year, I always catch at least one or two meteors just by luck. Not sure what to make of it. Maybe this year is weaker shower?
