As it turned out, the transparency was weaker than predicted. The sky glow from the fair was present as I expected, but the transparency made for a struggle that finally won out over my perseverance. Added to this mix was the sense that my mental concentration was off somewhat, plus I started to feel physically weak. I really wasn’t sure what was going on, but it definitely took the starch out of me.
Though I gave it an effort, and some galaxies were observed, in the end, it didn’t go as planned. But not every evening does. The summer Milky Way was weak even to the south into Sagittarius and Scorpius. Anyway, the following is what I managed to scrape and claw from a difficult sky. My journey began as I cracked open the Uranometria to chart 124 and aimed my scope at mag 3.1 Beta Capricorni (Dabih).
(Equipment used)
17.5 inch
Ethos 13mm (152x, 0.7° TFOV, 2.9mm exit pupil)
XW 10mm (199x, 0.4° TFOV, 2.2mm exit pupil)
XW 7mm (283x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.6mm exit pupil)
A little over 2° SSW of Dabih, I located the field for my first target. It lay about 23’ east of the mag 8.1 field star HD 192772. I was picked up using 152x as a small and fairly dim oval. A very dim mag 14.8 foreground star was noted in the western side of its disk. Observed at 199x and 283x it remained dim and very diffuse. A mag 13.5 field star lay just 2’ to its southeast. (New)
Next was this spiral, which was very dim and diffuse at 152x. It presented a small oval disk that was homogeneous to the eye. Even at 199x and 283x it remained weak and diffuse. (New)
MCG -2-52-14 (Capricornus, spiral galaxy, mag=14.3, size=1.1’x0.4’, SBr=13.3):
Just over 8’ to the northwest of the previous object Uranometria plotted this object. It was not seen at 152x. Going to 199x it was picked up as a very dim and very diffuse small oval. Even at 283x it remained a very dim smooth little oval disk that could have been easily overlooked had I not been looking for it. (New)
My next target was this face-on lenticular galaxy. At 152x I found it small and dim. Rounded in shape it appeared diffuse in nature. Observing it with 199x and 283x it was clearly more apparent but remained diffuse and weak in appearance. (New)
As I was wrapping up the observing of
Returning to the hunt, I located this object using 152x. However, it was just at the threshold of my visual perception. Using 199x the galaxy was very dim and very small in visual presence. Even at 283x it was very weak and difficult. It also carries the identifier of
Picked up with 152x it was a dim and small oval glow with an intermittent stellar core. Viewing at 199x the galaxy was more apparent and its stellar core more pronounced. Taking a look at 283x the galaxy remained quite diffuse in appearance, but it was more apparent visually as was its stellar core. I was also picking up a very dim mag 15.1 field star just off its southeastern tip. (New)
At this point I had a string of failures in Capricornus and I felt like my focus and concentration was getting sidetracked. I could tell the conditions were slipping and it was becoming more of a struggle to find galaxies. While I know that many of the targets I pursue are to the dimmer side, I could tell that what I had picked up was not as robust visually as they would have been on a normal evening. Some of that surely was the increased brightness, but I felt that did not totally account for the weaker than expected visual presence. The transparency was definitely on the down turn.
So with the struggles in Capricornus, I moved over into Aquarius on chart 143 and located about 4.5° southeast of mag 2.8 Delta Capricorni. Located in the center of a quadrilateral of four field stars (10th, 11th and 12th mag) I found it a little dim at 152x. The oval disk appeared subtly large, elongated and very diffuse. It is oriented east-west and using 199x and 283x it remained quite diffuse in appearance. At 283x it seemed that the eastern side might have been very subtly brighter than the western half of the disk. (New)
I now moved up to Pegasus briefly to try and locate this galaxy just across the border from Aquarius and plotted on chart 102 of the Uranometria. Picked up with 152x it was small and fairly dim. Oval in shape, it displayed a stellar core at its center. Viewing with 199x and 283x it remained a weak visual object. (New)
Conditions were really struggling, as was I. As I mentioned above my concentration just seemed off tonight, and the weak transparency may have had something to do with that, but I am uncertain. But overall I just felt a little off my game and after a bit more than a couple of hours of struggling to pick up galaxies I finally gave up around midnight. In all honestly, I missed more than I caught. But before calling it a night, I visited a few showpiece objects.
Swinging the scope to Lyra, I quickly located this outstanding planetary nebula. At 152x it was very bright and large (for a
The big three in Andromeda would be my last visual targets for the evening. Even with the light glow from the local fair up the road, and the poor transparency, I could make out M31 with the naked eye, weakly. Spotting it in the
As typical I easily located M32 south of the core of M31. It was of course bright and somewhat large, but the thing I noticed most was how far removed from the galactic disk of M31 it appeared. Typically the outer arms of M31 extend out so far that M32 is either just off their edge or is involved in the outer fringes of the hazy arms of M31. I have never seen it from this location so far removed from the visible disk of M31. That spoke volumes about just how bad the transparency was in combination with the increased sky glow from the local fair.
Last up was M110, which I easily located at 152x northwest of M31. It was also bright and somewhat large in angular extent, and while it was a little subdued from its normal self, it was still bright. But as with M32, its angular distance from the visible edge of M31 was noticeably increased. The poor transparency and increased sky brightness was simply washing out the dimmer outer portions of M31. All in all, each was easy to see, but they were less robust than typical.
So at this point, I was not feeling top notch. So given how I felt physically and the soft conditions, I started moving my gear into the garage, and happily retreated to the house to have a little snack, something to drink and get some rest. The trip home the next day would be tiring and with how I was feeling, I thought sleep would be the best thing I could do for myself at this point. Anyway, though the evening did not turn out as anticipated, and certainly paled in comparison to the previous night’s efforts, it was still successful, even if in a subdued manner. Best to look forward to the next time I get to go over there. We are heading into the fall season, which is primo galaxy hunting time as the main plane of the Milky Way moves out of the way. The temps get cooler and the air typically clears out. I appreciate you coming along with me and I hope you all get a chance to do some observing soon.
