9/30/22
Location: Anza desert site,
Bortle 4.0.
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, 2.0mm exit pupil, 0.60 deg TFV).
TV Plossl 32mm, 50 deg (73x, 3.2mm exit pupil, 0.68 deg TFV).
Last Friday the Moon was setting around 22:00. To capitalize on dark time, I have set the camp upon arrival at the Anza site and hit the sack for a couple of hours. When I woke up the Moon was gone, but the sky was grayish and Milky Way was subdued. Not good transparency, then. I aimed the scope at Polaris to align finders and it’s faint secondary was almost lost in the tentacles of the main. Not good seeing either.
What can you do? At least the sky was reasonably dark and no dew.
22:00. Jupiter
First, I wanted to check the biggest in 59 years Jupiter. Yes, it was huge, but too big for its own good.
Intense glare washed out the colors and fine details.
GRS was barely resolved and appeared grayish as two main belts. Io transit was in progress and the sharp dark little disk of Io’s shadow was obvious, but no luck with Io itself. I have tried quite few EPs and the best (or I should say the less poor) view was achieved with XW14 (168x).
Moving to galaxy hunting I looked for the better area of the sky and Aries was in it.
22:30. Aries Galaxies
IC 163 – mag 13.0, size 1.8' x 54", SB 13.3 – barely resolved very faint oval (118x).
IC 189 – mag 13.9, size 42" x 36", SB 12.7 – FAIL.
IC 190 – mag 14.1, size 48" x 30", SB 12.8 – FAIL.
Did not like my odds and decided to try a different area.
Cetus Galaxies
IC 5 – mag 13.8, size 54" x 36", SB 12.9 – extremely faint oval with AV (168x).
IC 18 – mag 14.6, size 1.1' x 36", SB 13.9 – FAIL.
IC 19 – mag 14.1, size 48" x 30", SB 12.8 – FAIL.
IC 20 – mag 13.8, size 36" x 36", SB 12.4 – FAIL.
Looks like it is going to be a long night.
NGC 875 (aka
NGC 867) – mag 12.9, size 1.2' x 1.1', SB 12.9 - very faint oval (118x).
IC 48 (aka
IC 1577) – mag 13.1, size 1' x 48", SB 12.6 - very faint AV disk (118x).
IC 93 (aka
IC 1671) – mag 13.2, size 1.3' x 36", SB 12.7 - FAIL.
IC 1667 – mag 13.6, size 1' x 54", SB 13.2 - FAIL.
IC 1670A – mag 13.6, size 1.9' x 24", SB 13.0 – FAIL.
IC 1670B – mag 13.6, size 1.4' x 24", SB 12.7 – FAIL.
IC 22 – mag 13.9, size 42" x 18", SB 11.9 – very faint small spec with AV (168x).
IC 80A – mag 14.1, size 30" x 18", SB 11.8 – very faint wide oval with AV (168x).
IC 108 – mag 14.2, size 54" x 12", SB 12.1 – FAIL.
IC 1843 – mag 13.1, size 1.1' x 42", SB 12.6 – very faint disk detected with AV by moving
EP (118x, 168x).
NGC 50 – mag 12.3, size 2.4' x 1.8', SB 13.6 - relatively bright elongated disk with brighter core (118x).
NGC 47 (aka
NGC 58) – mag 13.1, size 2.3' x 2.1', SB 14.5 – faint disk (118x).
NGC 54 – mag 13.4, size 1.3' x 30", SB 12.7 - extremely faint, elongated oval, detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
NGC 62 – mag 13.2, size 1.1' x 48", SB 12.8 – small faint disk with AV (168x).
NGC 113 – mag 13.1, size 1.4' x 1', SB 13.2 – round disk with stellar core (168x).
NGC 102 – mag 13.5, size 1' x 42", SB 12.9 - extremely faint, elongated oval, detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
NGC 35 – mag 14.1, size 42" x 30", SB 12.7 – FAIL.
NGC 34 (
NGC 17) – mag 14.4, size 2.1' x 48", SB 14.7 – small narrow oval with brighter core (168x).
NGC 124 – mag 13.0, size 1.4' x 48", SB 12.9 - small faint narrow oval detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
NGC 114 – mag 13.8, size 48" x 42", SB 12.9, and
NGC 118 – mag 13.6, size 42" x 30", SB 12.2 – two small, very faint spots in the same
FOV, detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
NGC 120 – mag 13.4, size1.5' x 36", SB 13.0 – small faint edge-on (168x).
NGC 145 – mag 12.7, size 1.8' x 1.5', SB 13.5 – faint round spot with AV (118x).
NGC 178 (aka
IC 39) – mag 12.6, size 2.1' x 54", SB 13.0 – small narrow lens with AV (118x).
NGC 179 – mag 13.3, size 54" x 42", SB 12.5 – small faint round spot with AV (118x, 168x).
NGC 187 – mag 13.2, size 1.3' x 30", SB 12.5 – extremely faint spot, detected with AV by moving
EP (168x).
01:40. Done! It was the most brutal session I can remember. There were maybe a couple of relatively easy galaxies, but for the most I had to fight hard to resolve anything. Strangely, it was also quite enjoyable and spirit-lifting. Instead of feeling down about each failure, I felt more resolved to get the next one. I better be, because the galaxies are only getting fainter on my list.