Woodworking

Deep Sky visual observing requires very dark skies, far away from city lights. I live in San Jose, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. One might think I need to drive long distances to find friendlier skies, but fortunately, the situation is not that bad. Here are some of my favorite observing sites around the south bay.

Henry Coe State Park

Description: State park near Morgan Hill
Elevation: 2600 ft
Latitude: N37 11.250
Longitude: W121 33.016

This site is only a 45 minute drive away from my house, although the road is pretty narrow and sinuous for the last 10 miles. The light pollution is pretty bad, especially from the north east to the south east, so I only go to Henry Coe in summer to observe star clusters, and nebulae using a narrow band filter. If you get lucky, the fog sometimes rolls in and covers the cities to the north and the east. In those rare cases, it can get pretty dark up there.

Dinosaur Point

Description: Parking lot adjacent to the San Luis Reservoir.
Elevation: 648 ft
Latitude: N37 03.90
Longitude: W121 10.217

This is my favorite observing site because it is fairly dark (SQM 21.4 on good nights) and is only an easy 50 minute drive away from my house. The only conspicuous light domes are to the east and the north west. This site is for winter observing only (including late fall and early spring) The winds are pretty strong during the rest of the year.

D.A.R.C. Observatory

Description: Private observatory located off of Little Panoche Road, near Mercey Hot Springs
Elevation: 1400 ft
Latitude: N36 42.4800
Longitude: W120 51.08

This is one of my favorite observing sites. It is an easy 2 hour drive away from my house, and is a truly dark site (SQM 21.8 on good nights) I go there every opportunity I get!

Lake San Antonio

Description: A county park and reservoir, site of the annual CalStar star party.
Elevation: 1000 ft
Latitude: N35 49.22
Longitude: W120 57.50

This site is the darkest of local sites, but it takes almost 3 hours to get there. Mostly for spring and fall galaxy observing. It gets beastly hot in summer, and pretty cold in winter. It is also occasionally susceptible to fog.

GSSP

Description: Private property on which the Golden State Star Party is held.
Elevation: 4400 ft
Lat: N41 8.06221
Lon: W120 580675

Located near the small town of Adin, in northern California. I’ve heard it was about as dark as it gets. Since I plan to go to GSSP this year, I will report back on the quality of this site later this summer.

When I left San Jose, I knew there was a decent chance the wind could entirely ruin the evening. After a quick and uneventful drive, I arrived at the D.A.R.C. Observatory. The wind was indeed blowing very hard from the west. Around sunset, the wind started dying down and I decided to set up my equipment in the west dome, alongside Lee’s 16″ Meade SCT, just in case the wind would decide to make a late come back.

Shortly after, we were treated with a nice view of a day-old moon, followed by planet Mercury and the Pleiades. What a nice way to start the evening! Later on, as the sky grew progessively darker, the zodiacal light was readily visible, although not as impressive as it was last weekend. The transparency was good, just not excellent…

The wind picked up again, and most of us found refuge inside the building for the next hour or so, watching a fantastic documentary retracing the history of George Ellery Hale: Journey to Palomar (PBS) I warmly recommend it, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Right after the movie was over, the wind died down again. It remained low for the rest of the night. Overall, the seeing was very soft all night, and the transparency was just average (although average transparency at D.A.R.C. means LMT of 6.5 upward!)

My observing list had a lot of small galaxies in Coma Berenices. At some point early on, I became frustrated because I had a terrible time matching what I was seeing in the finder scope and at the eyepiece with Uranometria, probably due to the lack of conspicuous field stars.

Around 1am, I started getting pretty cold. Around 2am, I decided to call it a night. I logged a disappointingly low number of new objects from the Herschel 400 list, but it was still a good night, and it always feels good to be out and surrounded by such great people! Below is my log for the night. Cheers!

Update: Peter Natscher reports:

I did two NELM tests within transiting Leo at 11pm (between Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma Leo) and another one in Corona as it was transiting later on in better seeing. They were 7.0 and 7.2 respectively. OTOH, my observations of Hickson groups and Abell planetaries at 250x with my 24 in. Starmaster appeared sub-par because of inferior sky transparency. After midnight, the rising Milky Way didn’t have the expected brightness. I believe the high winds from the Pacific lowered the transparency along with the seeing last night. We got two decent hours of observing by 2 am but it was cold for this time of year. I hope GSSP will be warmer.

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 4147 GC Com 12h10m36.5s +18°29’15″ 10.4 mag 10:40p
Fairly small and dim. The outside of this cluster was partially resolved at 169x.

NGC 4150 GX Com 12h11m04.2s +30°20’54″ 12.5 mag 10:55p
Small, faint, with a tiny core surrounded by a very faint halo elongated 2×1 NNW-SSE.

NGC 4203 GX Com 12h15m35.3s +33°08’43″ 11.7 mag 11:00p
Fairly small, fairly faint, with a small and fairly bright core and a very faint halo that appears round. Faint superimposed star about 1′ W.

NGC 4274 GX Com 12h20m20.7s +29°33’39″ 11.3 mag 12:00a
Fairly large and bright, elongated 3×1 almost E-W. Fairly large and diffuse central concentration. Faint superimposed stars about 2′ W and 3′E.

NGC 4278 GX Com 12h20m37.2s +29°13’41″ 11.0 mag 12:00a
Fairly bright and compact, round, with a relatively large core. Forms an interesting trio with slightly fainter and smaller NGC 4283 located about 4′ ENE, and much fainter NGC 4286, located about 10′ ENE.

NGC 4245 GX Com 12h18m07.1s +29°33’17″ 12.3 mag 12:20a
Fairly small and bright with a relativelt large core. Elongated 2×1 NNW-SSE.

NGC 4251 GX Com 12h18m38.6s +28°07’19″ 11.6 mag 12:50a
Fairly bright and moderately large, with a fairly small compact core surrounded by a halo elongated 2×1 E-W.

NGC 4293 GX Com 12h21m43.1s +18°19’43″ 11.1 mag 12:55a
Fairly large and moderately bright. Elongated 4×1 almost E-W. Weak central condensation.

NGC 4350 GX Com 12h24m28.0s +16°38’18″ 11.9 mag 01:10a
Fairly small. Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright non central core. Forms a nice tight couple with NGC 4340.

NGC 4394 GX Com 12h26m25.8s +18°09’36″ 11.6 mag 01:15a
Fairly bright with a non stellar core surrounded by a faint halo slightly elongated NNW-SSE. Forms a nice couple with M85.

NGC 4448 GX Com 12h28m45.2s +28°34’04″ 12.0 mag 01:20a
Elongated 3×1. Fairly bright and large core.

NGC 4419 GX Com 12h27m26.8s +14°59’34″ 12.0 mag 01:35a
Elongated 4×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright non stellar core.

I arrived at D.A.R.C. observatory around 7pm. Dr. Lee Hoglan and his father were already there, along with Albert Smith and his wife. Rogelio and his family joined us a bit later. It was a little windy around sunset, but the wind died down around 9pm. While waiting for the sky to get dark, I pointed my telescope toward Sirius, which was about 25 degrees above the horizon. Sirius’ companion was seen pretty easily, which is always a sign of very good seeing. Saturn was absolutely breathtaking, showing a wealth of incredibly fine details. Later on, as the sky got darker, the zodiacal light became very obvious, reaching as high as 60 degrees above the western horizon, intersecting the milky way around Gemini.

Around 9pm, the sky turned dark like I’ve never seen it. Albert got an SQM reading of 21.84! It seemed a bit high to me, but Albert says he regularly gets readings of 21.1 at Fremont Peak, which is about correct. Under such dark skies, a lot of the galaxies I observed were starting to show intricate details.

Among the highlights of the night, I logged 27 new Herschel 400 objects. We also looked at a few bright deep sky objects: M101, M81/M82, M51, and later on, M83 all offered jaw dropping views.

Around 2am, Rogelio asked me what those “clouds” were toward the south east. The summer milky way was just … unrecognizable! All the faint extensions, all the dark nebulae that you don’t usually get to see at local sites around the bay area, started to appear. It truly looked like a photograph!

We finished off the night around 2:30am with a few more bright deep sky objects from the summer sky: M57, M27, M13, M17, M8, M20.

A big thank you to Dr. Lee Hoglan for the generous invitation! Last night was truly a night to remember.

P.S: still no sign of the elusive Gegenshein…

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 7mm type 6 (217x - 22′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 4041 GX UMa 12h02m44.4s +62°05’08″ 11.6 mag 09:20p
Fairly bright, round, non stellar core, gradually fainter toward the edge.

NGC 4036 GX UMa 12h01m59.2s +61°50’38″ 11.6 mag 09:25p
Elongated 4×1 E-W with a fairly bright stellar core.

NGC 3610 GX UMa 11h19m00.9s +58°44’10″ 11.6 mag 09:35p
Bright almost stellar core. Faint halo slightly elongated NW-SE.

NGC 3613 GX UMa 11h19m11.6s +57°56’59″ 11.7 mag 09:55p
Fairly bright almost stellar core. Faint halo elongated 3×1 E-W. Forms a nice trio of galaxies with NGC 3619 about 15′ SSE, and much fainter NGC 3625, about 5′ E of NGC 3619.

NGC 3619 GX UMa 11h19m56.4s +57°42’31″ 12.5 mag 09:55p
Fairly faint stellar core. Very faint round halo. Forms a nice trio of galaxies with NGC 3613 about 15′ NNW, and much fainter NGC 3625, about 5′ E.

NGC 3898 GX UMa 11h49m48.0s +56°01’54″ 11.3 mag 10:05p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Very faint halo elongated 2×1 E-W.

NGC 3982 GX UMa 11h57m00.4s +55°04’22″ 11.8 mag 10:10p
Fairly faint, very uniform, slightly elongated NE-SW. Very faint stellar nucleus. At 95x, 52′ TFOV, no less than 5 galaxies are visible in one eyepiece: NGC 3998, NGC 3990, NGC 3977, NGC 3972 and NGC 3982.

NGC 3998 GX UMa 11h58m28.2s +55°24’05″ 11.4 mag 10:10p
Fairly bright almost stellar core. Faint uniform halo slightly elongated NW-SE. Forms a tight pair with NGC 3990. At 95x, 52′ TFOV, no less than 5 galaxies are visible in one eyepiece: NGC 3998, NGC 3990, NGC 3977, NGC 3972 and NGC 3982.

NGC 3992 (M 109) GX UMa 11h58m07.8s +53°19’20″ 10.5 mag 10:20p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Pretty large and bright halo, elongated 4×1 ENE-WSW. Hints of spiral structure. Fairly bright superimposed star 1′ NNW of the nucleus.

NGC 3631 GX UMa 11h21m36.7s +53°07’05″ 10.7 mag 10:35p
Fairly bright round non stellar core. Round halo, appears slightly mottled.

NGC 3729 GX UMa 11h34m23.0s +53°04’24″ 11.7 mag 10:45p
Fairly uniform, elongated 2×1 N-S. Fairly bright superimposed star 1′ S. Forms a nice couple with NGC 3718.

NGC 4102 GX UMa 12h06m55.0s +52°39’29″ 12.1 mag 11:00p
Small, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. The core seems slightly elongated E-W while the halo is elongated 2×1 NE-SW. Fairly bright stars 1′ W and 2′ E.

NGC 3953 GX UMa 11h54m21.1s +52°16’28″ 10.5 mag 11:05p
Fairly bright non stellar core. Fairly bright halo elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Fairly faint superimposed stars 1′ NW and 1′ ENE of the nucleus.

NGC 4026 GX UMa 11h59m56.8s +50°54’34″ 11.7 mag 11:15p
Elongated 5×1 N-S. Fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 3949 GX UMa 11h54m13.6s +47°48’20″ 11.4 mag 11:20p
Fairly uniform, elongated 2×1 E-W. Faint nucleus seen at higher magnification (217x)

NGC 3938 GX UMa 11h53m20.9s +44°04’08″ 10.9 mag 11:45p
Round, faint, uniform nebulosity. Faint stellar core. Faint superimposed star about 3′ WSW.

NGC 3675 GX UMa 11h26m41.1s +43°32’05″ 11.0 mag 11:50p
Elongated 4×1 N-S. Fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 5322 GX UMa 13h49m37.5s +60°08’30″ 11.0 mag 12:40a
Elongated 2×1 E-W. Fairly bright, fairly large core. Faint superimposed star <1' S and slightly brighter one about 3' E of the nucleus.

NGC 5631 GX UMa 14h26m53.9s +56°32’15″ 12.5 mag 12:50a
Fairly bright non stellar core. Round uniform halo.

NGC 5473 GX UMa 14h05m06.1s +54°50’46″ 12.4 mag 12:55a
Small, round, pretty faint, with a non stellar core. Very faint superimposed star <1' E. I later found out this was a mag 15.6 star, which is right at the limit of detection for a 12" scope on a perfect night!

NGC 5474 GX UMa 14h05m24.6s +53°36’53″ 11.5 mag 01:10a
Fairly faint and uniform, with a weak condensation located at the northen edge of the halo. Faint superimposed star (mag 14.6) 1′ NE.

NGC 5694 GC Hya 14h40m10.8s -26°34’53″ 10.2 mag 01:25a
Small, bright, round, gradually brighter toward the center, unresolved.

NGC 4088 GX UMa 12h06m04.9s +50°29’13″ 11.3 mag 01:30a
Elongated 3×1 ENE-WSW. Fairly uniform with a faint stellar nucleus. The halo does not appear perfectly uniform, and shows hints of 2 curved arms. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4085 located about 10′ S.

NGC 4085 GX UMa 12h05m53.9s +50°18’01″ 12.3 mag 01:40a
Fairly faint, uniform, elongated 4×1 E-W. Forms a nice couple with NGC 4088 located about 10′ N.

NGC 4051 GX UMa 12h03m40.8s +44°28’42″ 10.8 mag 01:55a
Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly bright stellar core. Two large spiral arms seen at 169x.

NGC 3941 GX UMa 11h53m26.7s +36°56’00″ 11.3 mag 02:10a
Slightly elongated N-S. Fairly bright, large, round core.

NGC 3813 GX UMa 11h41m50.4s +36°29’38″ 12.3 mag 02:15a
Elongated 3×1 E-W. Fairly uniform. Fairly faint (mag 14.3) superimposed star 2′ E, right at the eastern edge of the halo.

I would like to thank Dr. Lee Hoglan, Dr. Bob Caton, and all those who have been involved with the D.A.R.C. Observatory, for their generous invitation. The site of the D.A.R.C. Observatory is a pleasant two hour drive away from San Jose, which makes it an extremely convenient location. It is truly dark, and offers great horizons, especially toward the south. By midnight, after the high clouds had dissipated, the sky turned “sugary”. The light domes from Fresno, Hollister and Los Banos were relatively inconspicuous. The seeing was decent, although a bit soft at times. Among the highlights of the night, I was able to log about 20 new H400 objects, saw Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) pretty easily in my 9×63 binocular (I spotted it naked eye once I knew where to look) Peter Natscher also shared views through his 24″ F/3.7 Starmaster telescope:

• M101, reminiscent of Rogelio’s recent photograph (see TAC archive)
• NGC 4565, absolutely superb
• A galaxy cluster in Leo (we counted about a dozen faint galaxies in one eyepiece)
• A superb Arp galaxy (I can’t remember which one) with jaw-dropping intricate details
• A globular cluster (M3 I believe) using a binoviewer

Below are some photos of the event, followed by my log for that most excellent night. All objects were observed using my 12″ F/5 Dobsonionan telescope. Cheers!

Location: D.A.R.C. Observatory [Elevation 1400ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 2787 GX UMa 09h20m13.0s +69°10’01 11.6 mag 10:50p
Round, gradually brighter toward the center, with a non stellar core surrounded by a very faint halo. Faint star 1′ SE, even fainter one 1′ W-SW.

NGC 2976 GX UMa 09h48m05.1s +67°52’35 10.8 mag 11:05p
Elongated 3×1 NW-SE. Fairly uniform, no central condensation visible. Fairly bright superimposed star at the SW edge of the halo. Slightly fainter star (mag. 14.1) just beyond the NW edge of the halo.

NGC 2985 GX UMa 09h51m16.9s +72°14’17 11.2 mag 11:15p
Round, with an almost stellar core surrounded by a faint halo. A star of similar apparent magnitude as the nucleus of this galaxy can be found 1′ E.

NGC 3034 (M82, the Cigar Galaxy) GX UMa 09h56m42.9s +69°38’15 9.0 mag 11:25p
At low power (56x and 95x), this galaxy appears very bright and very elongated SW-NE. It looks like a cigar or a spindle. At higher magnification (169x), many details start to appear. A large dark lane almost splits the galaxy in half. Other dark and bright patches can be seen throughout.

NGC 3077 GX UMa 10h04m08.7s +68°41’26 10.6 mag 11:35p
Very slightly elongated NE-SW. Fairly large core surrounded by a faint uniform halo.

NGC 5457 (M101) GX UMa 14h03m35.0s +54°17’56 8.4 mag 11:40p
Seen through Peter Natscher’s 24″ F/3.7 Starmaster using a Televue Ethos 17mm eyepiece. The view was absolutely incredible! It was reminiscent of photographs I’ve seen of this galaxy. The spiral arms were superbly defined, and many bright knots (HII regions maybe?) were easily popping out here and there.

NGC 2742 GX UMa 09h08m20.1s +60°26’40 12.1 mag 11:55p
Elongated 2×1 E-W. Fairly uniform, with only a weak central condensation.

NGC 2768 GX UMa 09h12m23.5s +60°00’05 10.8 mag 12:00a
Bright, elongated 3×1 E-W with a fairly bright non stellar core.

NGC 2950 GX UMa 09h43m18.5s +58°48’37 11.9 mag 12:10a
Bright, almost stellar core. Faint halo, elongated 2×1 NW-SE.

NGC 3079 GX UMa 10h02m39.1s +55°38’12 11.4 mag 12:15a
Very elongated almost N-S, slightly curved and assymetrical. Faint superimposed star at the northern end.

NGC 3310 GX UMa 10h39m23.4s +53°27’17 11.2 mag 12:25a
Round, small and fairly bright, with a relatively large core.

NGC 2681 GX UMa 08h54m14.9s +51°16’48 11.2 mag 12:30a
Very bright, almost stellar core surrounded by a faint round halo.

NGC 2841 GX UMa 09h22m43.4s +50°56’17 10.0 mag 12:45a
Elongated 4×1 NW-SE. Fairbly bright elongated core with a stellar nucleus. Pretty faint superimposed star at the NW end.

NGC 3184 GX UMa 10h18m52.7s +41°22’39 10.4 mag 01:00a
At low power, this galaxy appears as a uniform disk. At higher power, with a bit of concentration, a faint and stellar nucleus appears embedded inside a very weak and slightly elongated core. The halo shows hints of spiral structure.

NGC 3198 GX UMa 10h20m31.5s +45°30’10 10.9 mag 01:05a
Pretty faint. Elongated 3×1 NE-SW. Fairly uniform with a very weak core and some very subtle mottling.

NGC 4027 GX Crv 12h00m00.5s -19°19’14 11.6 mag 01:35a
Overall pretty faint with a weak core. Northern portion of the halo shows a spiral arm, confirming my impression on Mar 24.

NGC 3166 GX Sex 10h14m16.3s +03°22’34 11.5 mag 01:50a
Small, roundish, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. This galaxy forms an interesting couple with NGC 3169, located only 7′ E.

NGC 3169 GX Sex 10h14m45.4s +03°25’04 11.3 mag 01:50a
Small, roundish, with a fairly bright almost stellar core. This galaxy forms an interesting couple with NGC 3166, located only 7′ W.

NGC 3556 (M108) GX UMa 11h12m06.7s +55°37’22 10.7 mag 01:15a
Fairly uniform. Elongated 5×1 E-W. Superimposed star right in the center - could be confused with the galaxy nucleus. Some mottling was easily detected.

NGC 3726 GX UMa 11h33m54.2s +46°58’35 10.7 mag 02:25a
At low power (95x), this galaxy appears uniform, elongated 2×1 almost N-S. At higher power (169x), a faint stellar nucleus appears, along with some hints of a spiral structure.

NGC 3877 GX UMa 11h46m40.1s +47°26’28 11.8 mag 02:30a
Elongated 5×1 NE-SW with a weak core and a faint stellar nucleus.

NGC 3893 GX UMa 11h49m10.6s +48°39’22 10.8 mag 02:35a
Small, roundish, fairly bright, with a large core. Fairly bright superimposed star about 1′ NW. Very faint superimposed star less than 1′ S. Halo does not seem perfectly uniform.

When I arrived at Dinosaur Point around 6:45pm, the conditions looked bleak to say the least. The sky was almost entirely covered with high clouds, promising very poor transparency. After a quick setup, we were ready to look at the ISS. I caught a few glimpses of it through my 12″ scope at 95x, and it was pretty big. However, without tracking, it’s sort of hard to see much detail. I should have brought my little Meade ETX 105 as it is able to track artificial satellites.

The sky remained pretty much unworkable until about 10:30pm, time around which it started clearing up nicely. Around 2am, I did a limiting magnitude test in Leo. I counted 20 stars in that triangle (that’s mag 6.3) However, as my eyes were sweeping that region of the sky, I was able to catch glimpses of many more fainter stars, but decided not to count them as I could not reliably keep track of where they were and how many I was seeing. Anyway, as you can see, the conditions were pretty good.

I spent most of the night in Leo, looked at some eye candy through Mark Johnston and Greg LaFlamme’s scopes, talked shop while waiting for the sky to clear up, and caught my first glimpse of M13 and M57 right before packing up. Overall, it was a good night, with 18 new H-400 objects logged. Cheers!

Location: Dinosaur Point [Latitude 37°03'54"N - Longitude 121°10'13"W - Elevation 648ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm type 5 (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 9mm type 6 (169x - 29′ TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 5mm type 6 (305x - 16′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 3900 GX Leo 11h49m40.5s +26°58’02″ 12.3 mag 10:35p
Elongated N-S 2×1 with a pretty faint non-stellar core surrounded by a very faint uniform halo. Located near the middle of the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle formed by 3 stars of similar magnitude.

NGC 3626 GX Leo 11h20m35.2s +18°18’11″ 11.8 mag 11:00p
Fairly bright almost stellar core surrounded by a much fainter halo elongated almost N-S 2×1.

NGC 3607 GX Leo 11h17m25.9s +17°59’58″ 10.9 mag 11:10p
Fairly bright almost stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly dimmer NGC 3608, located only 5′ N, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2′ S-W. NGC 3599 is located about 15′ W.

NGC 3608 GX Leo 11h17m30.4s +18°05’42″ 11.6 mag 11:10p
Fairly bright stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly brighter NGC 3607, located only 5′ S, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2′ S-W of NGC 3607. NGC 3599 is located about 15′ W.

NGC 3681 GX Leo 11h27m01.0s +16°48’33″ 12.4 mag 11:25p
Round, with a faint almost stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3684 GX Leo 11h27m42.3s +16°58’34″ 12.3 mag 11:25p
Round and fairly uniform, with no obvious core. The halo seems to become slightly brighter toward the center. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3686 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3686 GX Leo 11h28m15.1s +17°10’12″ 12.0 mag 11:25p
Elongated 2×1 N-S. It looks fairly uniform, with no obvious core (a slightly brighter central condensation was suspected) A faint superimposed star is visible using averted vision, about 1.5′ S of the center of the galaxy. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8′ from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10′ E of that line.

NGC 3242 PN Hya 10h25m14.7s -18°41’34″ 8.6 mag 11:40p
This nebula is also known as the “Ghost of Jupiter” nebula. At 95x, this planetary nebula appears very bright, round and very uniform. It shows an almost surreal fluorescent blue-green color. At 305x, the nebula loses its color, but starts revealing details, especially an elliptical ring, elongated 2×1 N-S, nested inside the nebula. The central star was suspected during very brief moments. Its visibility seems extremely dependent on the seeing.

NGC 3655 GX Leo 11h23m25.9s +16°32’08″ 12.3 mag 12:05a
Elongated 2×1 N-S with a non stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo. Located about 2′ W-SW of a star of comparable magnitude.

NGC 3489 GX Leo 11h00m49.9s +13°50’55″ 11.1 mag 12:20a
Elongated 2×1 E-W with an almost stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo.

NGC 3628 GX Leo 11h20m47.9s +13°32’14″ 10.0 mag 12:25a
This is an edge-on spiral. As such, it appears very elongated E-W. At 169x, the dust lane was detected, but not easily at all! The galaxy does not appear perfectly symmetrical like some other edge-on spirals do. It looks like its disc is warped a little. A faint superimposed star is visible near the eastern end, 1′ south of the center line. This galaxy is a member of the splendid Leo triplet, which also contains the much brighter M65 and M66, located about 20′ south. All three galaxies fit within a single field of view of the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7′) and show distinct morphological differences.

NGC 3412 GX Leo 10h51m24.7s +13°21’37″ 11.5 mag 01:00a
Fairly bright, with an almost stellar core surrounded by a faint roundish uniform halo, very slightly elongated N-S.

NGC 3593 GX Leo 11h15m08.1s +12°45’52″ 11.8 mag 01:05a
In the field of view of the TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1′), this galaxy appears pretty faint with a non stellar core surrounded by a faint uniform halo elongated 3×1 E-W.

NGC 3384 GX Leo 10h48m48.3s +12°34’37″ 10.9 mag 01:15a
Fairly bright with an almost stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo elongated 3×1 NE-SW. This galaxy forms a beautiful tight triangle with brighter M105 and smaller and much fainter NGC 3389. The members of this group are separated by only 4′ approximatively.

NGC 3810 GX Leo 11h41m29.5s +11°25’01″ 11.3 mag 01:25a
Pretty faint, with a low surface brightness. The halo looks pretty uniform, with only a slight brightness gradient toward the middle. The halo is slightly elongated 2×1 NE-SW.

NGC 3640 GX Leo 11h21m37.4s +03°10’51″ 11.3 mag 01:35a
Fairly bright and large core, surrounded by a roundish halo.

NGC 3521 GX Leo 11h06m19.2s -00°05’17″ 9.9 mag 01:45a
Fairly bright and large, with a bright stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo elongated 4×1 N-S. The western portion looks slightly dimmer. I confirmed this later by looking at actual photographs. Dust clouds seem to be more prevalent on the western half of this spiral galaxy.

NGC 3912 GX Leo 11h50m35.5s +26°25’28″ 13.2 mag 01:55a
Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7′), this galaxy is hard to find. A good finder scope is of great help! It appears tiny, faint, and elongated 2×1 N-S.

As I was driving up the winding road that leads to Henry Coe State Park, I saw a Mountain Lion. It was on the side of the road. It quickly turned around, looked at me for a brief moment, and then took off. This is a reminder that we are in Mountain Lion country, and that observing by yourself is not advisable.

I arrived at the overflow parking lot around 5pm. Rogelio Bernal Andreo joined me around 7pm, followed by Al Howard a bit later.

Overall, I was disappointed with the observing conditions. I don’t think I’ll come back to Coe unless there’s fog. There is just too much light pollution. The milky way was barely visible. The western sky is a total waste, the south is bad, the northern and eastern portions of the sky are just ok. I am not sure the drive is worth it.

I packed up around 11:30pm. On my way down, I saw a wild hog - a big one! It didn’t seem bothered by the passing car and kept going up the hill.

I arrived at Dinosaur Point around 4:15pm. I set up in the middle of the parking lot, which ended up being a fine location as I later found myself surrounded by Dave Cooper, Peter Natscher, Rob Enns and Rogelio Bernal Andreo. There was little wind, but there was a fairly thick haze visible that was made even more visible by the setting sun. I knew then that the weather conditions were not going to be ideal.

My goal for that evening was to 1) try out some new equipment (Starbound observing chair, Televue Panoptic 27mm, Televue Nagler 16mm, Orion RedBeam Self-Powered LED flashlight, ScopeStuff variable counterweight system, Catseye collimation tools, chemical foot warmers) and 2) start my Herschel 400 project.

Let’s start with the equipment. I found the Catseye collimation tools (cheshire and auto-collimator) to be very nice once Peter Natscher explained to me how to use them. I also tried Rob Enns’ laser collimator, which gave me different results. This is probably because my secondary is not perfectly aligned underneath the focuser. I will have to tune this alignment with a sight tube at home.

I found the Starbound observing chair to be a great value, very comfortable. The ScopeStuff variable counterweight system was a great help when pointing near the horizon (it renders the altitude brake useless) The Televue Panoptic 27mm worked great, but I was barely able to reach focus with it… The Televue Nagler 16mm was my favorite eyepiece, delivering great views. I also used an old Vixen LV9mm, which made me feel like I was staring through a peep hole… I’ll have to replace it with a Televue Nagler 9mm (the Ethos 8mm seems a bit too expensive) I found the Orion flashlight to be too bright (even on the “Low” setting) so I put some translucent tape in front of it. But then, I discovered that the battery life was not that great, and I had to manually crank it several times after approximately 3 hours of use. I’ll have to see if I can remove a couple of LEDs to lower the brightness and increase the battery life. Finally, the chemical foot warmers worked nicely, but provided heat for only about 3 hours, not the 6 hours advertised…

Early on, Venus, combined with the haze, was a major source of light pollution. Overall, I feel like I will have to re-observe a lot of objects (especially galaxies and nebulae) Star clusters are usually less affected by light pollution and poor transparency.

I used two atlases: The Pocket Sky Atlas and the Sky Atlas 2000.0. I feel like the difference between these two atlases is too small to justify using both of them. Moreover, I prefer the compact format of the Pocket Sky Atlas. Therefore, I’ll have to get the more detailed Uranometria vol. 1 & 2 in addition to the Pocket Sky Atlas, and sell the Sky Atlas 2000.0.

I only have a red-dot finder, and I sometimes wished I had an optical finder too, especially when the object I was seeking was surrounded by several other conspicuous objects. A couple of times, I wasn’t quite sure which object I was looking at. I especially liked Albert Highe’s setup (his red dot finder is attached to a right angle optical finder scope - although I still wonder whether I should get a right angle or a straight view finder scope…)

Besides my prepared observing list, I observed Sirius’ companion through Peter Natscher’s 24″ scope. It was easy at 600x. I then tried with my 12″ scope at 300x and I was able to see it too, though not as distinctly, and only during rare moments of steadier seeing. I also observed a couple of carbon stars including Hind’s crimson star, and before leaving, around 1am, looked at M51 through Rob Enns’ 16″ scope. Although still low on the horizon, the spiral structure was obvious (but the bridge between M51 and its companion galaxy was not detected) Finally, Dave Coopper’s AstroPhysics refractor gave superb views of Saturn.

Now for my observing list. As I am writing this, I noticed that I forgot to log a lot of important details (For example, instead of saying that a cluster is “large”, I should have tried to estimate its size in arc minutes. I also noticed that as the night went on, the logging got worse…) When I re-visit some of these objects, I’ll have to pay more attention to the quality of my logging. Overall, it was a decent night and I was quite happy with my newly acquired equipment. Cheers!

Location: Dinosaur Point [Latitude 37°03'54"N - Longitude 121°10'13"W - Elevation 648ft]
Telescope: Meade Lightbridge 12″ F/5
Eyepieces used:
- Televue Panoptic 27mm (56x - 1.2° TFOV)
- Televue Nagler 16mm (95x - 52′ TFOV)
- Vixen LV9mm (170x - 18′ TFOV)
(All times are PST)

NGC 247 GX Cet 00h47m36.1s -20°42’44″ 9.7 mag 06:40p
Elongated 4×1 N-S, low surface brightness, fairly uniform, only very slightly brighter in the middle.

NGC 157 GX Cet 00h35m14.6s -08°20’48″ 11.0 mag 06:50p
Pretty bright, elongated 2×1 NE-SW, fairly uniform. Faint star nestled inside the halo. Surrounded by two bright stars on a N-S line.

NGC 246 PN Cet 00h47m31.2s -11°49’23″ 10.4 mag 07:00p
Pretty bright, round, with darker areas inside. The E-SE portion is darker. 3 easy stars nestled inside the nebulosity + 1 fainter.

NGC 584 GX Cet 01h31m48.9s -06°49’17″ 11.3 mag 07:10p
Elongated 2×1 E-W, progressively brighter towards the middle, fairly bright overall. Nearby galaxy 5′ E-SE (NGC 586)

NGC 596 GX Cet 01h33m20.0s -06°59’06″ 11.8 mag 07:15p
Fairly bright, round, bright almost stellar core. 15′ W of bright star.

NGC 615 GX Cet 01h35m33.7s -07°17’38″ 12.4 mag 07:20p
Elongated N-S, almost stellar core.

NGC 720 GX Cet 01h53m27.9s -13°41’41″ 11.1 mag 07:27p
Slightly elongated NW-SE, fairly bright, with a bright and almost stellar core.

NGC 908 GX Cet 02h23m30.8s -21°11’38″ 10.8 mag 07:32p
Fairly bright and uniform, gradually brighter towards the center, elongated 3×1 E-W.

NGC 779 GX Cet 02h00m10.7s -05°55’13″ 11.9 mag 07:40p
Fairly bright, elongated 3×1 almost N-S, bright almost stellar core. Eastern side felt darker for some reason. Photos don’t show any dark lane however.

NGC 936 GX Cet 02h28m06.3s -01°06’51″ 11.2 mag 07:45p
Pretty bright, with a bright non stellar core. Looks round. This is supposed to be a barred spiral. I did not however detect any central bar structure. Faint galaxy 10′ E (NGC 941)

NGC 1022 GX Cet 02h39m00.8s -06°38’17″ 12.1 mag 07:52p
Fairly bright, round, somewhat brighter in the middle. My notes mention that the halo did not seem perfectly uniform (?)

NGC 1052 GX Cet 02h41m32.6s -08°12’59″ 11.4 mag 08:00p
Fairly bright, round, somewhat brighter in the middle.

NGC 772 GX Ari 01h59m50.8s +19°03’16″ 10.6 mag 08:30p
Almost round, fairly bright with a bright non stellar core. Did not see any hint of spiral structure.

NGC 1964 GX Lep 05h33m46.4s -21°56’30″ 11.5 mag 08:40p
Slightly elongated SW-NE, fairly bright, almost stellar core. Dim halo. I noted the presence of a faint star in the halo right near the core. I forgot to include its relative position though.

NGC 2215 OC Mon 06h21m17.4s -07°17’16″ 8.6 mag 10:10p
About 30 fairly bright stars scattered within a 10′ roundish area.

NGC 2232 OC Mon 06h27m43.9s -04°45’51″ 4.2 mag 10:20p
Large (50′) cluster of about 20 scattered stars, including 10 Mon.

NGC 2204 OC CMa 06h15m58.8s -18°40’07″ 9.3 mag 11:00p
20+ stars in front of a somewhat milky background. Orange star 10′ to the north.

NGC 2354 OC CMa 07h14m34.4s -25°42’23″ 8.9 mag 11:10p
40+ stars over a milky background. Several dark lanes split the cluster.

NGC 2362 OC CMa 07h19m05.7s -24°58’20″ 3.8 mag 11:15p
Small cluster of about 30 fairly bright stars, centered on an even brighter star surrounded by a darker band.

NGC 2360 OC CMa 07h18m09.8s -15°39’31″ 9.1 mag 11:20p
Large and compressed cluster of stars of comparable brightness.

NGC 2244 OC Mon 06h32m26.1s +04°56’06″ 5.2 mag 11:25p
Very bright and large cluster inside the Rosetta nebula.

NGC 2264 OC Mon 06h41m30.2s +09°53’11″ 4.1 mag 11:35p
The famous Christmas tree cluster. Very beautiful. Did not notice any nebulosity.

Here are a couple of photos of the Meade Lightbridge 12″ telescope I received for my 30th birthday. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take it to a dark site yet because of the bad weather we’ve experienced in northern California in the past couple of weeks. But with a few additional accessories — a few Televue Nagler and Panoptic eyepieces, an observer’s chair and a couple of filters — this rig should be pretty sweet. Cheers!

Venus is on the left, Jupiter on the right. Notice the Earthshine, barely visible on this shot. Cheers!