Not sure if anyone cares to see observing notes or not.? I used to post them all the time years ago and I always enjoyed reading notes from others, so though I'd get back into the habit again.? Let me know if we'd rather not have stuff like this clogging up the board.
Session # 22-003
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Date: September 23/24, 2022
Time: 8:00pm ¨C 3:30am EDT
Visual Limiting Mag: 5.9
Seeing: 3/10
Location: Fred Lossing Observatory, Almonte
Equipment: Celestar 8 SCT (FL = 2100mm w/2inch diagonal), ES82 14&18mm, 1.6x Barlow, DGM NPB filter
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Weather: Cool (3 deg), Heavy dew
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Notes:?At approx 8:37 pm, a bright fireball was observed falling southward, from about 45deg high, straight down through the spout of Sagittarius. It appeared reddish in colour and ¡°crumbled¡± into various particles before burning out just above the horizon. Observed Saturn a few times throughout the night, never stumbled upon a time of ¡°good seeing¡±.
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M 80 (NGC 6093)
Globular Cluster in Scorpius
EP: 18mm (117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Low on horizon, still in twilight. Small, tight ball. Unresolved. Compact, but brighter core surrounded by small halo. Averted vision partially resolves halo.
Other Notes:
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M4 (NGC 6121)
Globular Cluster in Scorpius
EP: 18mm (117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Low on horizon, still in twilight. Large, relatively loose, granular ball. Mostly unresolved, though hints of resolved stars at threshold of vision.
Other Notes:
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M8 (NGC 6523) Lagoon Nebula
Emission nebula in Sagittarius
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Using NPB filter, appeared large (? of FOV), bright. The dark lane easily spotted. Nice view considering how low on horizon and not fully dark.
Other Notes:
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M20 (NGC 6514) Trifid Nebula
Emission nebula in Sagittarius
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Low, faint. Averted vision used most of the time. NPB filter helped to show the ¡°Y¡± shaped dark lanes. Pair of stars near the intersection of the dark lanes obvious.
Other Notes:
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M57 (NGC 6720) Ring Nebula
Planetary Nebula in Lyra
EP: 18mm (117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Overhead, nice bright view. NPB filter slightly improved details visible, but overall not a major improvement.
Other Notes:
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NGC 6830
Open cluster in Vulpecula
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Loose cluster in star rich field. Moderately separated, evenly bright stars, 15-20 obvious members. Star chains running N-S and W-E drew the eye.
Other Notes:
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NGC 6823
Open Cluster and emission nebula in Vulpecula
EP: 18mm (117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Loose cluster, faint reddish stars noted near center. Averted vision reveals many faint threshold stars in cluster. With 14mm, reddish star seems pared with blue companion, an elongated diamond like asterism noted centrally. Using 18mm with the NPB filter reveals a faint glow encompassing the entire cluster. Very faint, but easily confirmed by moving FOV away from cluster.
Other Notes: Did not look for NGC6820 and it was not noted.
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Jupiter
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: 10:10pm. Shadow (Io) noted on the planet's eastern limb, just on the northern edge of the very faint SEB. NEB obvious. Occasionally, spotted a bright, yellowish ball trailing shadow. Suspected to be Io during moments of improved seeing.
Other Notes: Seeing mostly poor, moments of good seeing occurred.
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NGC 6939
Open Cluster in Cepheus
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Faint cluster, appeared in the center of an asterism resembling the cross of Cygnus. Chain of brighter stars running NNW-SSE on western edge of cluster.
Other Notes:
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NGC 6946
Galaxy in Cephus
EP: 18mm (117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Large, very faint. Barely visible with direct vision. Using 14mm, takes ? FOV. Triangle asterism noted on southern edge.
Other Notes:
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NGC 7380 Wizard Nebula
Open Cluster with emission nebula in Cephus
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Filled approximately 1/3 FOV of the 18mm. Cluster stars showed uneven brightness, with contrast between brighter and dimmer stars giving a mild 3-D feeling. A rough ¡°V¡± shape formed by some of the more prominent stars, with the vertex pointing north. The cluster appeared ¡°foggy¡±, like the eyepiece was fogged slightly. Not obvious enough to say this was nebulosity. A prominent pair of stars noted west of the cluster, with even brightness and bluish tint. Oriented NW-SE. Using the 18mm +NPB filter, the glow within the cluster remains in the vicinity of the ¡°V¡± asterism. Suspect this to be nebulosity.
Other Notes:
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NGC 247
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Unable to detect.
Other Notes: Surface brightness listed as 23.79, likely too diffuse/large to detect with 8 inch scope under 5.9 LM skies.
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NGC 157
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 18mm ( 117x), 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Faint, round, diffuse glow. Very slightly brighter in core. A faint star involved on the NE edge. Bright field stars noted to the N and S in FOV. Using 14mm and averted vision, appears elongated NNE-SSW.
Other Notes:
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NGC 246
Planetary Nebula in Cetus
EP: 18mm (117x)
Visual Notes: Not detectable without NPB filter. With NPB, very dim. Various stars involved.
Other Notes:
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NGC 720
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Bright with faint halo. Elongated NW-SE. With averted vision, a compact core was noted.
Other Notes:
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NGC 779
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Elongated NW ¨C SE with a knot noted near core.
Other Notes:
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NGC 788
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Faint with direct vision. Round glow with a slight brightening in the core.
Other Notes:
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NGC 615
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Easily detected with direct vision. Elongated N-S with a bright core.
Other Notes:
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NGC 596
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Easy direct vision, round with a bright core. Prominent field star noted to the east.
Other Notes:
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NGC 584
Galaxy in Cetus
EP: 14mm (150x)
Visual Notes: Bright, compact. Elongated NE-SW.
Other Notes: Noted elongation appears in error. Likely due to fatigue.
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yeldahtron
