TheSkySearchers

5/7/21

Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 3.5
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT and Celestron 150ST achro on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.

This year Anza desert went from winter gray straight to summer brown. So, no desert bloom pics. Instead, here are pomegranate blossoms from our garden.
I guess because of lack of fresh vegetation I don’t see much wildlife this spring in the desert either. Even coyotes are silent at night. It seems that all desert wildlife has migrated to our yard. Pocket gophers, moles, ground squirrels and rabbits are residents, and possums, racoons and coyotes are frequent visitors.

This spring we got new arrival – snakes! One day we heard our chickens making ruckus, came to investigate and saw to our horror that they are mobbing a snake. We thought it was a rattler, but upon closer investigation it turned out to be a harmless gopher snake. After that we keep seeing them almost every day. Thankfully, no rattlers in our yard yet.

Anyway, last Friday I have arrived to a nice cool dry weather at Anza. Set and aligned the scopes and had a nice dinner watching sunset colors and stars coming out. Around 21:00 Milky Way became well structured – galaxy time! Booties was rising in the darkest portion of the sky and I decided to spend my evening there.

Booties galaxies (all observed with 9.25” Edge)

NGC 5519 – faint oval. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5587 – narrow faint lens with brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5594 – faint small elongated oval. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5596 – small round spot with AV. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5598 – faint oval with narrow brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)

NGC 5603 – faint oval in the same FOV with NGC 5598. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5608 – extra faint spot with AV. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5610 – elongated oval with brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5614 – one of highlights of the evening. Nice bright galaxy. Wide oval disk with brightness increasing to the center and round core. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5616 – very faint narrow lens. Pentax XW14 (168x)

NGC 5621 – group of 3 faint stars according to online images. I saw very faint spot with Pentax XW20 (118x). Tried to resolve individual stars, but it disappeared from view with XW14 and XW10. The seeing was pretty bad that evening.
NGC 5622 – faint oval. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5623 – faint oval with stellar core. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5630 – small narrow lens. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5633 – small bright disk. Pentax XW20 (118x)

NGC 5635 – narrow lens. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5637 – small faint spot with AV. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5642 – small disk with star shining through. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5648 (aka NGC 5649) and NGC 5655 – two extra faint ovals in the same FOV. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5653 – bright small wide oval with brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)

Omega Centauri
During my sessions I often take a break from EP to relax and enjoy the sky with naked eyes. I was tracing constellations and noticed that Centaurus was at it’s highest. I am sure you have your favorite targets associated with seasons. To me summer starts when Omega Centauri arrives for a short time. Could not pass the opportunity. Gigantic swarm of stars was impressive and easily filled FOV of Pentax XW20 (118x) in the Edge 9.25”. That’s what you call a glob! 150ST with XW14 (54x) delivered a large snowball framed by field stars with core unresolved. In Edge 9.25” the stars within the glob had bluish tint, while in 150ST it had warm white color.

And back to Booties.

NGC 5654 – small oval with brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5656 – small wide lens with brighter central area. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5672 – small round disk next to STF 1855 double. Pentax XW14 (168x)
STF 1855 AB – 9.2, 9.9, 15.7” – pair of equal white stars. Pentax XW20 (118x)
NGC 5675 – small elongated spec next to undocumented optical double of faint stars. Detected with Pentax XW20 (118x), but the shape is better resolved with Pentax XW14 (168x).
NGC 5677 – tiny spec. Pentax XW20 (118x)

Around midnight Booties was approaching zenith. Observing at EP was still comfortable but aiming with red dot was not. So, I called it a night.

Do you have a pair of snake boots? Just curious...

Well done Andrey, a nice collection of Bootes galaxies pulled from the Anza sky. You had a nice view of Omega as well, which I envy. I've seen it from various latitudes and from here at nearly 39N, it is challenging to see well. Given its declination every degree in latitude farther south is helpful.

Good luck with the snakes!


And big congrats on the VROD for today - well earned!

Great report Andrey and congrats on winning the VROD for today for your excursion in Bootes!

Great session,excellent report and congratulations on the VROD!

Nice session. Too bad Centaurus is never visible in Finland.
Congrats on the VROD.

Congratulations Andre on a great report worthy of todays VROD!!!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and VROD! Much appreciated!

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 12:35 pm Do you have a pair of snake boots? Just curious...

I ware boots (not specifically snake boots) when hiking/camping in the desert. At home I risk it with crocs. Cowboy boots and rubber boots are very popular locally, I wonder why?

I also ware rubber diving boots when swimming in the ocean. Got stung by stingray a few years ago, it was no fun at all.

Hello Andrey. Another great report from the Anza desert site. That's a wonderful haul of galaxies from Bootes. Thanks for sharing you fun read report Andrey, and congratulations on winning the TSS VROD Award today.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 7:20 pm Thanks everyone for the nice comments and VROD! Much appreciated!

pakarinen wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 12:35 pm Do you have a pair of snake boots? Just curious...

I ware boots (not specifically snake boots) when hiking/camping in the desert. At home I risk it with crocs. Cowboy boots and rubber boots are very popular locally, I wonder why?

I also ware rubber diving boots when swimming in the ocean. Got stung by stingray a few years ago, it was no fun at all.

I stepped on a Stingray when I lived in Del Mar. I agree it was not fun at all, similarly in early summer the jellyfish population can be high and kind of painful.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 12:37 am 5/7/21

Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 3.5
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT and Celestron 150ST achro on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.


Omega Centauri
During my sessions I often take a break from EP to relax and enjoy the sky with naked eyes. I was tracing constellations and noticed that Centaurus was at it’s highest. I am sure you have your favorite targets associated with seasons. To me summer starts when Omega Centauri arrives for a short time.
And back to Booties.

Around midnight Booties was approaching zenith. Observing at EP was still comfortable but aiming with red dot was not. So, I called it a night.

Andrey,
Congratulations on the VROD and thanks for another great read. Two statements which I have extracted above caught my attention due to their being polar opposite to my experience.

In my 18" DOB I also avoid the zenith region >70 deg altitude due to having to be so high up a ladder in the dark, having to lean across to look through the eyepiece and having to put extra force on the trusses to nudge the dob along due to the reduced moment. For me Omega Centauri is one such object that gets too high (76 deg at transit) as does Eta Carina and everything in the Milky Way Core region. So in planning my evening of observing, I make sure I observe those objects that will end up near the zenith out of the way before they get there. On the other hand, galaxies in the Bootes, Canes Ven etc region never get anywhere near the zenith.

When I used to observe visually with my Vixen VC200L, I had the same problem with the finder getting to hard to use near the zenith. My EM200 mounting has a very short tripod. Even kneeling on the ground, the finder was difficult to look through and I could look through the eyepiece while sitting on the ground.

Congratulations again on the VROD.

Joe

OzEclipse wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 10:20 pm

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 12:37 am 5/7/21

Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 3.5
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT and Celestron 150ST achro on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.


Omega Centauri
During my sessions I often take a break from EP to relax and enjoy the sky with naked eyes. I was tracing constellations and noticed that Centaurus was at it’s highest. I am sure you have your favorite targets associated with seasons. To me summer starts when Omega Centauri arrives for a short time.
And back to Booties.

Around midnight Booties was approaching zenith. Observing at EP was still comfortable but aiming with red dot was not. So, I called it a night.

Andrey,
Congratulations on the VROD and thanks for another great read. Two statements which I have extracted above caught my attention due to their being polar opposite to my experience.

In my 18" DOB I also avoid the zenith region >70 deg altitude due to having to be so high up a ladder in the dark, having to lean across to look through the eyepiece and having to put extra force on the trusses to nudge the dob along due to the reduced moment. For me Omega Centauri is one such object that gets too high (76 deg at transit) as does Eta Carina and everything in the Milky Way Core region. So in planning my evening of observing, I make sure I observe those objects that will end up near the zenith out of the way before they get there. On the other hand, galaxies in the Bootes, Canes Ven etc region never get anywhere near the zenith.

When I used to observe visually with my Vixen VC200L, I had the same problem with the finder getting to hard to use near the zenith. My EM200 mounting has a very short tripod. Even kneeling on the ground, the finder was difficult to look through and I could look through the eyepiece while sitting on the ground.

Congratulations again on the VROD.

Joe

Thanks Joe! This is a fun comparison. I am at 33N, so our sky views mirror each other.

Great report Andrey and congrats on the VROD! Sorry to hear about the snakes invading the yard, but at least they aren’t anything poisonous.

Makuser wrote: ↑Thu May 13, 2021 7:33 pm Hello Andrey. Another great report from the Anza desert site. That's a wonderful haul of galaxies from Bootes. Thanks for sharing you fun read report Andrey, and congratulations on winning the TSS VROD Award today.

prowler75 wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 4:44 pm Great report Andrey and congrats on the VROD! Sorry to hear about the snakes invading the yard, but at least they aren’t anything poisonous.

Thanks Marshall and Craig! Once we realized the snakes are not poisonous we just let them be.