Observing notes:
Date: Thursday 6/29/00 dusk to 12:30 am
Location: East Lynn Lake (West Virginia)
OVAS members present: Jeff Ball, David Tolley, and Rodger Blake
Star charts: Bright Star Atlas 2000, Sky Atlas 2000
References: Volume 2, The Night Sky Observers Guide
Equipment used: 10" f5.6 Discovery Telescopes Dob on an Equatorial Mount (Tom Osypowski of
Equatorial Platforms), eyepieces: 7 MM and 9MM Naglers, 26mm Plossl (Meade), 32 and
40MM Konig’s (U. Optics), Meade 18MM SWA, and a 16MM Konig (U. Optics).
Conditions: Mild haze, steady skies initially … Visibility magnitude 5+, Little dipper easily seen, structure seen in the Milky Way … later creeping fog … finally very thick fog.
Objective scribe: RB
Double Stars: While waiting for darkness to fall and for the astrophotographers to assemble and polar align their ‘scopes. I began with some easy doubles: Mizar/Alcor, the Double Double in Lyra ( which was split, yet despite tinkering, collimation was not the best it’s been), and later Albereo.
The dew came quickly onto every surface and the Kendrick dew heater came out and was shared between the eyepiece and the finder scope’s eyepiece.
I decided to pop down to M4 in Scorpio. Located close to the bright star Antares it was easy to find before the sky had fully darkened. We alternated between this and the Double Double and it was interesting to note how it (M4) became more apparent as the sky darkened. Located with 26 MM and Observed with 18 SWA, 16MM Konig and 7MM Nagler (203x). We used the Nagler after it got dark and stars resolved nicely. Less concentrated core.
Finally the Milky Way and some of its structure became apparent.
The announced plan was Nebulae. First stop the Veil in Cygnus. We observed with the 26MM plossl (54x), the 18 MM SWA (79x) and the 16MM Konig (88x) all with a Lumicon OIII (1.25") filter. The views were best in the 18MM and next best in the 26MM. Felt view in Konig was too faint. Saw confidently only NGC 6960 component, the Western Segment near double star 52 Cygni. Saw a dim linear glow with fading at edges and a hint of a split at one end. This was the highlight object for me as I’d never seen it before.
We attempted to see the North American Nebulae NGC 7000. Utilized the 40 MM(35x) and 32 MM (44x) 2" Konigs. Were able to see the nebulosity and its cut off into more normal appearing space. Faint, diffuse. Some tapering thought to be Mexico/Central America region.
Jeff wanted to see dark nebulae. The target was B72, the Snake Nebulae, in Ophiuchus. Using the 32 and 40 Mm Konigs, the hunt began. Fog began to roll in from the East off the lake. M19 was visualized and identified after two other fainter globular’s were noted and felt to be NCG 6284 and NCG 6293. M19 is noticeably larger and showed more structure than the others. None of these were studied at higher than 44x because of the failed searches for B78 and B72. Neither was identified. The fog grew thicker … but, "its still clear over there".
Dropping to Sagittarius M22 was located and the 40 MM Konig was swapped for DT’s 9 MM Nagler (158x). Resolved stars and had a brief but fair view before the fog obscured the area.
By this time DT and JB had terminated their exposures. We decided to wait a while. A picnic ensued. When the food was gone and the fog approached 60-80 foot visibility, we decided to pack it in. We disassembled our scopes and then watched Jeff take his down and put it into a lot of different bags and bins.
Tally: 5 GC’s, 4 Double Stars, 2 Emission Nebulae, 0 Dark Nebula … any astrophotos?