Observing report, 2014-10-24 to 2014-10-26 with Jimi's 48"

[akarsh]

Dear DSF

A group of three observers from California -- Steve Gottlieb, Alan Agrawal and Bob Douglas -- were at Jimi Lowrey's observatory in Fort Davis, TX during the last week. I drove down from Austin to meet and observe with them over the weekend, taking Friday off.

While there is much to be said about the non-astronomy aspects of the trip, I shall reserve them for social media and concentrate on the astronomy here.

The observing company was wonderful. We had many interesting and educative discussions when waiting for our share of photons. The mix of obscure targets and bright targets made a very delicious cocktail, especially with all that colour in the eyepiece with planetary nebulae. I had some nice physics discussions with Alan and Bob, and a lot of deep-sky discussion with Steve and Jimi. I would like to thank Steve and Jimi for putting up with my incessant questions; thank Bob for all those wonderful planetary nebulae (I realize their beauty in hindsight, strangely); Alan for sharing his vast and broad knowledge on various subjects; and also Jimi for sharing his one-of-a-kind telescope!

Here are my observing highlights. With a 48", west Texas skies, and being surrounded by such deep-sky expertise, it is only natural that there are so many "highlights" out of just two nights! I had to ignore many wonderful Hickson group and planetary nebula observations. Having seen Steve Gottlieb's observing logs, I can hardly call mine logs, for they have no semblence of meticulousness or organization. In any case, they are presented below.

Clear Skies

Regards
Akarsh

[akarsh]

Date: 2014-Oct-24 to 2014-Oct-25

1. Saturn Nebula

At 488x, Saturn nebula looked wonderful already. The central star was
easily seen, and immediately around it was a blue, elliptical,
halo. That was surrounded by a bright ring that had a colour that was
a mix of pink and blue. This was surrounded by a elliptical blue
halo. Off this main, elliptical component, one could easily see the
two "knots" along the major axis that give the nebula its name.

At 813x, we were able to discern clearly that one of the knots was
curved, with its concave side facing the central star. The curve was
offset from the major axis, one side being more prominent than the
other. Brightening was felt in the region joining the knots. A bright
region was also seen at the center of the edge of the outer halo of
the nebula on one side of the minor axis.

Overall, this nebula was a real real beauty through the 48"! Wow!

2. Arp 325

This object was suggested by Steve Gottlieb. Arp 325, also designated
VV167, is a 1' long chain of galaxies.

The three of the brighter members of the chain were easily visible in
the 48". The central one of these two was a tad harder, popping in and
out of view. The fainter members on either edge of the chain were
rather difficult, particularly the northernmost member, which popped
sometimes. Only slightly less difficlut was the southernmost
member. Of roughly equal difficulty to the southernmost, the galaxy
off the chain to the west was also seen.

3. NGC 7027

This planetary nebula was suggested by Bob Douglas. The planetary
nebula looked roughly like the smiley face =). Two horizontal
fragments were separated by a dark space, and separated by a vertical
dark lane with a vertical fragment that curved slightly concave
towards the horizontal fragments. The top horizontal fragment had a
bright condensation, like a knot, on the side towards the curved
vertical fragment. The knot, although initially stellar in appearance,
had a gradually decaying intensity profile. The bottom horizontal
fragment was not as long as the top one.

4. Outters 5

Jimi Lowrey earlier followed up on this discovery of a planetary
nebula by an amateur astrophotographer, Nicolas Outters, from
France. He has found at least 5 planetary nebulae while photographing
Sharpless nebula regions. The planetary nebulae discovered by him now
have official designations.

Unfiltered, the object appeared as an asymmetric, elongated glow
around some sort of asterism. The glow decayed gradually to the sky
background moving away from the center.

With a DGM O-III filter, the gradual decay of brightness was replaced
with a sudden decay, giving the planetary nebula a 'well-defined edge'
to quote either Jimi or Steve.

5. NGC 7662 (Blue Snowball)

Observed at 813x, the blue snowball appeared very nice! The central
star was clearly visible, along with the bright ring embedded in the
blue halo. The ring showed bright regions on the ends of its major
axis, while the edge of the halo showed bright regions on the ends of
both its major and minor axes.

6. H-II regions in NGC 1073

Suggested by Steve Gottlieb, a heavily mottled barred spiral galaxy
with H-II regions. With Jimi's telescope, I was able to pick out 3
H-II regions.

To the eye, the galaxy appeared as though it had a single continuous
spiral arm extending out of the bar, starting NE of the center and
ending at the SE. The two bright H-II regions at the SE end of "the
arm" were hard to resolve, with a feeling of resolution on
occasion. Slightly more difficult to pick out was the H-II region
straight west from the SW end of the bar. Finally, most difficult was
the fainter H-II region, somewhat removed from the galaxy, NW from the
northern end of the bar -- this was felt on multiple occasions. A star
was seen on "the arm" just NW of the northern end of the bar.

7. Messier 77

Messier 77 through Jimi's 48" scope is definitely a Wow! object. One
of the highlights of the night. Spirals inside spirals inside spirals
were visible in the bright Seyfert core. I did not try for the faint
outer spiral halo seen in POSS images.

8. IC 418

The 'spirograph nebula' showed a deep red rim around a pinkish blue
ring. The central star was seen.

9. UGC 3274 in ACO 539

Recommended by Steve, this is a perfect chain of 4 galaxies within a
galaxy cluster in Orion. A little further, but along the same line, is
a fifth galaxy. The chain has a single UGC designation, namely UGC
3274. However, all 4 members were resolved.

The field had many more galaxies all around owing to the rich Abell
cluster.

10. LoTr 1

This object was at the very edge of visibility in the 48"! I could
only see the faint planetary nebula in bits and pieces -- I could
never see the full circle, although Jimi could. I definitely felt the
existence of nebulosity, but I could only occasionally discern arcs of
the circular halo. This was a very very difficult target for me.

Date: 2014-Oct-25 to 2014-Oct-26

11. NGC 6907/8

This is a nice galaxy with 2 spiral arms. According to Steve, it was
only in 2007 that it was confirmed that the an elongated knot in the
arm was a line-of-sight galaxy. The line-of-sight galaxy now bears the
designation of NGC 6908. In Jimi's telescope, we were able to see a
central bar, with two spiral arms, one brighter than the other. NGC
6908 appeared as an elongated brightening in the brighter arm,
pointing almost directly south.

The object reminded me of Abell 70 planetary nebula because of the
line-of-sight galaxy.

12. Einstein's Cross!

@300x, the lensing galaxy was easily seen. It was seen as a somewhat
elongated glow with a bright, stellar core.

@800x, a stellar object separate from the nucleus was observed along
the minor axis of the galaxy, and this orientation was corroborated at
least by Jimi and Steve (not sure if Alan also corroborated this).

@1200x, to my eyes, the core now had a "tight asterism" feel. In the
sense that it appeared like it was made of stellar condensations,
although I could not clearly resolve and separate the
condensations. Popping in and out were the previously seen
condensation as well as another new condensation along the major axis
of the galaxy. Presumably, the seeing deteriorated by the time I got
to the eyepiece, because I found it more difficult to hold the
previously seen condensation at higher power.

13. Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)

In addition to the central bright ring-like region and the central
star, a fainter halo was seen around the ring. A fuzzy patch with a
lot of cusp structures was observed -- likely the patch seen in the
DSS image to the west, that is part of the outer-most halo.

14. NGC 891

The galaxy was of course, amazing and beautiful! Instead of enjoying
the beautiful sight of NGC 891, I looked for two faint galaxies in the
field that were suggested by Jimi. One of them has a MAC designation
and lies NE of the bulge, and the other, uncharted, lies just NNW of
the bulge, almost embedded in the halo of the bulge.

The MAC galaxy was brighter, and the uncharted galaxy was fainter than
the MAC, but more condensed, and could be held for short durations.

15. Arp 100 / IC 18

This galaxy has a long tidal tail, reminiscent of a member of the Mice
galaxies. Nearby lies relatively bright and condensed IC 19, while IC 18 is
relatively faint and diffused. Elongation was clearly detected and the
NE tail was see for roughly 2x the major axis of the galaxy at a lower
power (not sure what eyepiece, presumably 13mm). The tail was faint
and hard to see.

With a 10mm Delos, the tail felt longer than last time, spanning ~ 2.5
times the galaxy major axis. The extension on the southern side was
vaguely felt at higher power.

Observations regarding the length of the tidal tail were corroborated
by Steve.

16. NGC 474

The shells of NGC 474 were observed by everyone in the group. Please
see the latest post(s) on the DSF thread that on NGC 474 for details.

17. UGC 2489

A clump of 5 galaxies, that were hard to resolve, but however
yielded. Very nice object!

18. Messier 76

The little-dumbbell nebula, suggested by Bob Douglas, was beautiful!
It looked like a barred spiral galaxy with a central rectangular
"bar", and two "spiral arms" emanating from either side of the bar,
terminating in bright and large "knots".

19. Maffei-II

Maffei-II appeared as a large diffuse glow, just like a faint
nebulosity. It was distinct, although very faint.

20. Maffei-I

Only the core of Maffei-I was clearly visible to me. Elongation could
not be easily discerned. The core was rather bright and easy to
observe.

21. [KSP2003] J023709.98+594231.0

A reflection nebula near Maffei-I cataloged by Mitchell as MAC
0237+5942, this faint nebula was observed.

I remember Jimi saying that it was a dwarf of Maffei-I, but searching
for the MAC designation of the object, I found an older DSF post by
Jimi indicating that it has been confirmed that this object was a
nebula. I used SIMBAD's "query around" tool to find an official
designation for this object.

22. NGC 1999

Wow! Wow! Wow! This object was just perfect. With the high power
afforded by Jimi's 48" aperture, a very clear keyhole was seen. It
looked just like the HST image.

Clear Skies

Regards
Akarsh

[Preston Pendergraft]

Sounds like a great trip. There is a lot of fun things to do around Ft Davis to occupy your day.

[akarsh]

Well, talking about astronomy and objects with Steve, Jimi, Alan and Bob was enough to occupy the day.

Regards
Akarsh

[Preston Pendergraft]

Well, talking about astronomy and objects with Steve, Jimi, Alan and Bob was enough to occupy the day.

Regards
Akarsh

That does sound nice. The times I have been out that way has been for the TSP. While
the ranch is okay it is nice to explore the area. I imagine being in a home versus the bunk house or tent at the star party also makes it more relaxing.

I did enjoy the Odessa Meteor Crater the last time I drove out that way. It is right off I20. Not sure if you go travel that way. Big Ben National Park was awesome too, worth taking a extra day to
go see. The skies should be dark, but the time I went they were really hazy.

[akarsh]

Actually, I've never been out to Big Bend. I did pass by the Odessa meteor crater, but never visited it again. Too bad, astronomy replaces everything else as the prime attraction around Ft. Davis! :D
Hopefully, I'll go in a waxing quarter some time and therefore have the opportunity to go around sight-seeing. Thanks for the pointers!

Regards
Akarsh

[Newton]

Hi Akarsh,

Nice observing report. We had a magnificent trip and set of observing sessions. Many thanks to Jimmie and Connie for letting us visit and their wonderful hospitality.

I wanted to add a brief comment about Einstein's Cross. I have looked for it for hours with my 24". The lensing galaxy is easy to see, but I have not seen any components of the quasar yet. This trip, at the time we were looking the seeing was ok, but not super steady. I was unable to see any components (but I believe Steve G. and Jimi each saw at least one component pop in and out).

The whole cross is apparently within 1.6" of angular width, and the components are Mag 17.4, 17.4, 18.4, and 18.7. Very tough. The Quasar (QSO 2237+0305) is apparently 8 Billion light years away, and the lensing galaxy (Huchra's lens) is much closer and only 400 million light years away. Apparently the alignment of the two from our line of sight is within 0.05" !!

Well, I plan to continue kneeling before the cross :)

I' m glad you had us take a look at NGC 474 and it's shells, that was quite interesting.

Alan A.

[akarsh]

Hi Alan

Nice to hear from you!

I thought you managed to catch a component of the cross as well. In any case, I still continue to kneel before the cross until there be magical seeing to resolve all four components. I might go and try the lensing galaxy with my 18" some time -- not sure if I'll see it at all.

I'm glad everyone enjoyed NGC 474, and that the shells actually yielded to observation! It's my humble contribution to the object list.

Regards
Akarsh

[Bob Douglas]

Hi Akrash,

It was good to meet you and to observe with you, Alan, Jimi, & Steve in October--thanks to the hospitality of Jimi and Connie. I have several images of objects seared into my brain forever. A most memorable observing opportunity!
Just a few comments on four of the objects we observed:

NGC 1535 (Cleopatra's Eye) was one of the blowout planetaries. At 488x & 613x there was the bright central star inside a dark oval, which was then surrounded by a bright shell, which in turn was circled by an outer fainter shell. And a second star, fainter than the central star, yet quite bright, was in the outer region of the outer shell. Just a few days ago (Nov 24) Steve and I, at a dark sky site near where we live (~38 degrees north latitude), also observed this second star through my 28" f/3.6 and his 24" f/3.7 Starstructure scopes. The star was not viewed continuously, but was observed frequently and each time for more than just a moment. At times NGC 1535 seems to me to appear as a blue rose.

NGC 1365 in Fornax. This is one of my favorite galaxies and this "Mark of Zorro" is the finest barred spiral in the sky. Large and impressive! I have observed this twice from Australia in all its glory in 18" & 20" scopes. I even have seen it as a small unimpressive fuzzy from latitude ~38 degrees north. I was wondering how it would appear at about 30 degrees north latitude through Jimi's scope. It was not disappointing. Aperture can sometimes make up for latitude.

The last two objects I will mention are M77 and NGC 2438. These were "surprises" sprung on us by Jimi. Akrash--you correctly called M77 a "Wow" object. I suspect most visitors would not have M77 on there observing list for a visit to Jimi's due to all the objects competing for attention. This is a sleeper due the unexpectedly great increase in detail that can be seen in Jimi's scope vs smaller scopes. NGC 2438 took me aback. Jimi turned the scope to it without saying what it was. It was a large planetary that almost filled the fov. There were some stars in and nearby it, giving a clue as to what it was. I was perplexed for about 20 seconds when Jimi explained that it was the planetary in M46! People are used to seeing this as a small object surrounded by a rich star field. If it had been lighter in the dome, I might have caught a twinkle in Jimi's eye. By reporting on this last object I hope I haven't ruined his using this trick again. I suspect he has a whole bag of tricks.

Regards,
Bob Douglas

[akarsh]

Hey Bob,

It was good to meet you too, and observe with you! That M 77 is etched in my memory. It was not something you would typically expect as a showpiece, was it? I really loved the spirograph planetary where we saw the pink H-alpha in the Zeiss ortho. We did see some great stuff indeed. Thank you, Jimi and Connie! And thank you, Bob, Alan, Steve.

Regards
Akarsh