Successfully arrived at Lakeside at about 10:30 last night. Found Joe Baumann across the field who suggested the Draco triplet as a target. I'd not heard of it, so he clued me in on the NGC numbers: 5985, 5982, 5981. Went back and started looking around. Looked at NGC 6934 in Delphinus just because it's been a while. Later, looking at NGC 4125 in Draco for the first time, I think they look similar (they're different type objects, but both close to a bright star). I'm just chipping away at objects in Tirion's star atlas that aren't on the big three observing lists. Say NGC 6694 in Scutum, and some non-NGC open cluster really close to M70 in Sagitta. Moved north and found NGC 133 and 146 in Cass. Then 744 and 957 in Perseus near the double cluster. Explored some more in Cass. for IC 1805, IC 1848 and visited old friend NGC 1027 in the area. I've been gunning unsuccessfully at campgrounds for NGC 3359 in UMa. Finally found it last night at Lakeside. I wrote "tough" in my notes. I also wanted to pick up 3718 in UMa. When I found it, I realized I had seen it before while looking at Herschels in the area. Went over to Draco for 5879, 6015, and 4125. Then I tried Joe's suggestion. I found 5985 easily, and spotted 5982, but I couldn't see 5981. I had no idea what to look for; maybe if I had known they were roughly all aligned, I'd have had a shot. But the magnitude I have listed for 5981 is 13.0, which is probably tough with a 6". It's small though, so maybe next time. Conditions were great. Not humid. Not cold at all. Saw a dozen or so pronghorn on the way out at 12:30. Back home and sleeping by 1:30, and on the train to work by 8:15. Not a bad night at all. I hope Joe has some pictures to share from his work. ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu
It was great last night, and I enjoyed talking with Michael. I too saw antelope as I drove in. As he said, conditions were fine -- basically cloudless and still. I spent my time imaging the Draco trio and I might have something. I had to do it in two sections, my chip is so small and my field of view so restricted even with my f/6.3 reducer-field flattener. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to tackle the second of the sections the trio was so low that I may have been hit with some fuzziness from the atmosphere. While my gear was working I took a couple of walks, almost never using my flashlight because the Milky Way was so bright. My only complaint about the Lakeside site is that it's incredibly dusty. Will let you know if my image is good enough to show. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 10:06 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Lakeside Successfully arrived at Lakeside at about 10:30 last night. Found Joe Baumann across the field who suggested the Draco triplet as a target. I'd not heard of it, so he clued me in on the NGC numbers: 5985, 5982, 5981. Went back and started looking around. Looked at NGC 6934 in Delphinus just because it's been a while. Later, looking at NGC 4125 in Draco for the first time, I think they look similar (they're different type objects, but both close to a bright star). I'm just chipping away at objects in Tirion's star atlas that aren't on the big three observing lists. Say NGC 6694 in Scutum, and some non-NGC open cluster really close to M70 in Sagitta. Moved north and found NGC 133 and 146 in Cass. Then 744 and 957 in Perseus near the double cluster. Explored some more in Cass. for IC 1805, IC 1848 and visited old friend NGC 1027 in the area. I've been gunning unsuccessfully at campgrounds for NGC 3359 in UMa. Finally found it last night at Lakeside. I wrote "tough" in my notes. I also wanted to pick up 3718 in UMa. When I found it, I realized I had seen it before while looking at Herschels in the area. Went over to Draco for 5879, 6015, and 4125. Then I tried Joe's suggestion. I found 5985 easily, and spotted 5982, but I couldn't see 5981. I had no idea what to look for; maybe if I had known they were roughly all aligned, I'd have had a shot. But the magnitude I have listed for 5981 is 13.0, which is probably tough with a 6". It's small though, so maybe next time. Conditions were great. Not humid. Not cold at all. Saw a dozen or so pronghorn on the way out at 12:30. Back home and sleeping by 1:30, and on the train to work by 8:15. Not a bad night at all. I hope Joe has some pictures to share from his work. ---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php
participants (2)
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Joe Bauman -
Michael Vanopstall