Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.wro.org/neumann/RNGC_Cover_Sheet.pdf Дата изменения: Sun Feb 28 20:22:31 2016 Дата индексирования: Sun Apr 10 02:07:55 2016 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: vallis

Observational Log Cover Sheet

Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jan 02, 2016 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Unknown Clear At 2130 hours I took out a pair of binoculars and looked at M41. This was the last DSO on the Astronomical League Urban Skies list. I have a few double stars to observe and the entire list will be complete.

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Observational Log Cover Sheet

Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 05, 2015 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 Days Before New Fair Fair Took the 12" into the backyard to cruise some of the bright objects in Cassiopeia and Andromeda. This session includes the observation of comet C/2014 S2 Panstarrs and some double stars. These objects will not show up in this data base.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 10, 2015 Hidden Hollow - RAS Members and guests

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Pretty good Pretty good This was the 1st night (Thursday) of HH 2015. About a dozen scopes set up - members and guests. This was the first time my new 12AD Apertura had been set up at WRO. Since I was on vacation, I thought I would spend the next 6-7 hours observing quietly. Didn't happen. I got about two hours in when I had to shut mine down and provide a tour on the 36" for some guests. Mark helped my fire up the 36" and left for the night. I provided a tour until about 3:00am or so. I then shut down and parked the 36". Then I went out, tore my setup down that I had planned on using and put it away. I finally got home around 4:00am. Just so happened that Thursday night was the onlly clear observing night for H.H. 2015. It rained almost all of Friday, cloudy most of Saturday, then rain from sundown on.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 21, 2015 Home Dustin and Emily

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Seven days after new Good Good My friend Dustin had expressed an interest in astronomy several times in the last couple of months. I invited he and Emily to swing by tonight after determining that it might be clear, earlier in the week. As Ohio luck would have it, we had a clear sky. Off to the Messier's we went. Looked at some Caldwell's, NGC galaxies and double stars as well. All in all, Dustin and Emily enjoyed the show.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 15, 2015 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

One day after new. Good Good Been screwing around with the new DSC's sightseeing. Started out with some eye candy to warm up then off to Draco for some galaxies. My observing sight is on the park fringe - actually about 15 yards into the part from my property line. The line is on a slight rise and blocks out street traffic and lights. Have some lights off to to south on Park Ave and around the high school. Richland Mall to the east also provides a nice glow up to about 20 degrees. Most generally the overhead sky doesn't suffer too much. It takes three trips and about 15 minutes to cart everything out and setup. Not too bad since I don't have to drive 30 minutes and 20 miles to WRO. There is some loss of sky though.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 15, 2015 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New moon Good Good First opportunity to observe on a new moon, in the middle of the week in quite a while. Vacation started today. On to N.C. in a couple of days. Set up in the back yard to look at Messier's and relax. Double star list is caught up until late fall. This is also the first night out with the Moonlite filter slide installed. I have two filters in it now. Both are Thousand Oaks LP2 and LP3. This setup makes using them a piece of cake. I simply grab the slide and pull until I hit the filter I want. With this addition, the telescope is finally complete after almost 11 months of use. I sat down the other day and took stock of equipment and realized that my list is complete. Televue Nagler and Delos eyepieces, Glatter collimation tools, DSC's, Excellent 2" filters. I'm finally good to go.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 23, 2015 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

six days after new Good Good Two nights in a row at home. Super.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 22, 2015 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Five days after new Decent Fair Not many opportunities to observe so far this year. Any clear nights around new moon are in the middle of the week if they exist at all. Mostly cloudy skies and rain. This is the first night out with DSC's on the 12" Apertura. I had been using the manual setting circles that originally came with the telescope. The electronic setup uses the Astrosystems hardware with 10,000 tic encoders, BETI from AstroDevice and Sky Safari Pro on the tablet. Quick, easy and accurate. Observations do not include double stars. Those are included in my Excel logging system.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 17, 2015 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce, Mike Bryan and I

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

One day before new Good Good Last observations with the 18" Astrosystems. New owner is Tom. Issues with climbing up and down the ladder are starting to be bothersome with my back. Tom has the enthusiasm to use this thing. Had guests again tonight. Was only able to make three outside observations before calling it a night.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 26, 2014 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Three Days After New 9+ 9+ This is a compilation of two different nights at home. The first was on 9/26/14 (2 days after new) and 10/26/14 (3 days after new). It will not include 26 double star observations. It will include 21 dso's with a few of those being strictly eye candy. Still trying to determine what I can and cannot see in the backyard versus the 20+ miles to WRO. While I don't have those dark skies, I am able to detect objects that are surprisingly faint. I decided to test myself against the galaxy trios listed ina recent S & T. I've been able to observe NGC-7463 and NGC-7770 for example in Pegasus. In Pisces, I've seen NGC-7778, NGC-7779 and NCG-7782. I don't think this is too bad from a semi-urban area and using manual setting circles. I have my setup routine down pretty good. All in all, it takes three trips form the garage to setup. First trip includes rolling the dob out on the cart. Second trip includes my stool, observing table and extension cords. Finally I have a cart for the books, bags and eyepieces. At this point, I set up and arrange everything and this includes plugging in 200' of extension cord for the hair dryer (eyepieces) and I'm ready to go. Start to finish is about 20 minutes. Tear down is about five minutes longer and that's because I take my time moving stuff back to the garage very cautiously under flashlight power. What I don't need at 12:01am is to run into Brother Skunk while he's out prowling around. No problems so far.

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Observational Log Cover Sheet

Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 19, 2014 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, Mark, Scott and Bryan

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new Good Good Good night at WRO with friends. Five telescopes set up. Highlight was C/2014 E2/Jacques. It was aligned with the "Coathanger" in Vulpecula. Quite nice in 35mm. Purchased a 12" Apertura for home. Observations will include DSO's made from home. Will not include Double stars. Comments will include actual dates and locations. Using the 12" to observe A.L. Double Stars. Observing 50+ yards behind the house, in the park. Sky isn't too bad for semi-urban environment. The doubles are fun and the dso's are somewhat surprising. Not all of my observations are in this database. I've kept an Excel file since day one of this hobby. To date, I've recorded 5,203 objects.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 30, 2014 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, Bruce, Bryan and Dan

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Two days after new. 9 9+ This is my third night for this observing period. This is remarkable considering the Ohio weather for the last couple of years. Mike had purchased a new camera and was working to understand it on his SCT. Bryan had requested opportunities to learn how to operate the 36". Dan was inside on the 36" and outside at our telescopes. I checked off a few more galaxies form the A.L. League Flat Galaxy list. Given the sky conditions and position of M51, Bruce and Bryan pulled it up on the 36". Easily visible were the spiral arms on M51 and the bridge between it and the companion. However, when I pulled in M51 using the 8mm Delos, I was in for quite a surprise - more detail. The 18" provided a better view than the 36". Bruce confirmed it also. More detail in the spiral arms including some mottling. Wow. Managed to locate and observe comet C/2012 K1 Panstarrs in Ursa Major. Magnitude is listed at 12 but I suggest it's more like 10. Pretty bright and complete in a 17mm AT. Very nice comet.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 25, 2014 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike and two granddaughters, Brian and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Very Good Very Good Two opportunities to observe in one month and both before new moon. Conditions are really good also. Just for kicks and giggles, I pointed the 18" at Saturn with the 8mm Delos installed. Saw Cassini's division pretty clearly. Saw it on 5/23/14 through Mark's new telescope. Super view. Brian was there looking at anything he could point to. Mike turned his granddaughters loose with his 12" dob and they were pretty happy. All in all, a pretty good night.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 18, 2014 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days after full Pretty good. Great Thought I would give it a shot tonight before the moon came up. Glad I did. Seeing was fairly steady while transparency was really good. Not a 10 but very close. Wanted to try out a new Televue Delos, 8mm. These things have incredible optics. The only downside is a 72 degree fov which only means moving the telescope a little more. The plus side is that I think it allows me to go a little deeper. After tonight, I'm not really sure if the transparency was that good or the eyepiece was that good. Like to think that both were that good. Anyhow, I stuck around to around 12:30am - just before moon rise. It was fairly chilly when I left at 40 degrees. Ended with 33 objects not including some eye candy. Overall, a good couple of hours.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 30, 2014 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, Mark and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Moon 8+ 9 Seeing wasn't so hot but the transparency was average to slightly better than average. Depended on where you looked. I spent time in Leo, Virgo and Sextans for a bit looking at flat galaxies. Also ticked off some galaxies in Leo. Some stuff seemed to be brighter than the rated magnitude while others appeared to be dimmer. It was hard to put a finger on it. I've guessing it's just the lack of observing time on my part. This was the first time I had the 18" fired up for some dim galaxies in almost 5 months. Besides, most of the stuff I want to look at is 13.5 magnitude or dimmer. Some I can see and others I can't. Mark rolled out his 28" for the night. He couldn't get a connection with his netbook so he hunted Hershel galaxies with Argo Navis. In addition, he parked it on that super nova in M82 (fantastic object in itself by the way). The nova was neat but M82 was still quite incredible with star formation regions and dust lanes readily apparent last night. Mike got their first and did some solar observing for a bit. He made some purchases for his SC's over the winter and was ironing out the bugs. If you're around when sparks start flying from his telescope, run for your life. He's got more cables and wires hanging off those things than any man ought to have!! Mike baled out around 10:30p or so. Mark left around midnight and I followed around 12:45a. I picked up 30 objects with a few flat galaxies in the mix. I think the best galaxy last night may have been NGC-3044. Pretty bright and pretty large. Even surface brightness from one end to the other. Mark fired up his image intensifier on his 28" and it really was amazing. If you looked at it long enough you could see core definition fading in and out depending on the seeing. This was on a flat galaxy!

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 03, 2013 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Moon Good Good New moon and a clear sky. How odd for Ohio. It's been a putrid year for astronomy for me. Poor skies with little or no observing opportunities. So tonight was clear and I took the next day off. Decided to use the new 36". It's been quite some time since I've used it by myself and it was great. Only stayed for 4 hours or so. Observed 60 objects. However, I passed 5,000 objects tonight. My personal total is 5,016 objects in 10 years at this hobby.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 27, 2013 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair Got clouded out.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 06, 2013 Hidden Hollow - RAS Tim, Mike, Bryan and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1 day after new Fair Fair Had guests early which disrupted me. Only logged two galaxies

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 13, 2013 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Tim and Myself. Mike and Kane arrived around midnight

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days after new Good Good Tonight marked the first time this year that I was able to actively observe new DSO's without interference from the weather. The observing conditions were good and stayed that way.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 08, 2013 Hidden Hollow - RAS A number of club members

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

4 days before new. 9 9 This was the club's Messier Marathon night and a large number of members arrived to setup and observe. We had clear skies, food to snack on, coffee to drink and around 7 or 8 telescopes to look through. However, I got hit with a sinus infection two days before and by Friday, I wasn't feeling real great. I went ahead anyhow thinking I could tough it out. By 9:30, I had enough and packed everything in. Next year!

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 13, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, John K, Blase and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Moon Good Good Two nights in a row in December. Really odd for December. Tonight wasn't as transparent as last night. I worked on some objects in Perseus and Taurus with the 18". I went pretty good for a couple of hours until my back started to ache. No Tylenol handy so I stuck it out for about another hour then called it quits. I couldn't consentrate. I was back home by 10:00pm

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 12, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Bruce and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1 day before new 9+ 9++ One day before new moon in December with clear skies and very good transparency. How odd? Want to observer through the new glass so Bruce and I both worked on the A.L. Flat Galaxy list. Most of these are very thin with magnitudes ranging from 15 - 16. They'll all very difficult to find and even harder to see. Two showpieces ended the night for me. The first was B33 - The Horsehead Nebula. Bruce brought out his 31mm Nagler along withg the hydrogen-beta filter. This object and this eyepiece and filter will stop you dead in your tracks. You can actually trace the dark nebula on either side of the horsehead. Outstanding. The second was Thor's Helmut - NGC-2359. Looked first with Bruce's 31mm and OIII filter. Next up was the same filter with the 17mm Nagler. This is the showstopper. You move the telecope to catch all the wisps and tendrils of the nebula. All three of us were absolutely blown away by the views these two objects presented. I can't think of a better way to end the night. On the road by 1:30am.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 16, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself and others

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days after new Fair Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 10, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bryan, Lee, Doreen, Mike and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Good Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 24, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before full Good Good Just killing some time with the 8" f/6

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 21, 2012 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

6 days after new Good Good I had brought home the ATM 8" dob that I had sold the club several years ago. I had cleaned it up about a year ago and to the best of my knowledge, no one had used it since. That being said, once I checked collimation, this telescope is still a very good instrument. Just isn't as classy I suppose as some of the other, larger telescopes the club owns. I'm going to keep it a secret since I'll keep it at home for the winter.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 12, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS John, Tim, Dean and family, Bruce & Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new 9 9+ Blue skies all day gave way to very transparent skies at sunset. I was planning to stay late to put the 18" through its paces. Luckily, things held up very well and I was able to see a number of galaxies in the 15 magnitude range. Tonight, I just decided to run a couple of lists regardless of listed magnitude. I chose Andromeda and Camelopardalis. Andromeda kept me on the ladder while Camelopardalis was feet on the ground. I ended up with 60+ objects which for me is a great night. John arrived shortly after I had opened up the observatory. He set up his 20" and quietly worked away most of the night. We traded views of selected objects. One of those was of NGC-6888 - Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. It's a great shot with an OIII filter in his 20". However, we looked first in the 36" and that view was absolutely outstanding. Back to the 36", Bruce had given us an incredible view of the Crescent Nebula. I don't recall seeing it before but it is quite impressive. Our debate was which is better - Crescent Nebula or Thor's Helmut. All I can say is that the debate continues. John wanted to take a peek at Stephen's Quintet in Pegasus. When Bruce was able to go that direction, John got his look and I - mine. All I can say is that this was the first time in my limited observing experience that I had ever seen the nucleus of all five galaxies. That is to say that all five were easily identifiable and their cores were all bright! It was my highlight for the night. Tim arrivedafter dark and set up his 8" SCT. we traded views during the night of a couple of objects. Most notably in his telescope was the Double Cluster in Perseus. Dean was the last to arrive and quickly set up. He had brought

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his Sky Atlas and was quickly pointed to M31, M32 and M110. In the end, Dean and Tim were the first to leave. John and I followed at 2:00am leaving Bruce to continue.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 10, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark and myse,f

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new 8-9 Very Good Short but good night. Started clearing pretty good by 9:30 or so. By 10:00pm it was clear and Mark and I were ready to go. Seeing was slightly above average. Transparency? Well, I would say very good to excellent. I was working on Andromeda galaxies. Only a couple were seen with averted vison. Most were direct vision galaxies in the range of 14.3 - 15.3 mag. NGC-1000 was rated at 15.3 mag and was direct vision. I looked at 24 or so within that range and whenever I pointed the telescope, I could count on bagging the target. Dew never became a problem. Frost was noticeable when we left at 1:45AM but not a big issue. Temperature was around 29 degrees or so and the coffee was great. Mark put a huge dent in his Herschell list's for the night. In addition, he's got a tablet that runs Sky Safari and it's hooked up to his 28" dob. Imagine seeing him at the table and all at once, his telescope that's 10' away starts moving on its own. It's alive, it's alive. Eerie and almost appropriate for Halloween. What's great is that he can take that tablet up to the eyepiece and switch back and forth with the tablet. Super.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 14, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce & guests, Tim, Mike, Ron and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1 day before new Good Fair Day began with rain - tapering off around 3:00pm with clear skies to follow around 8:00pm. Even before dark, those of us outside knew that dew was going to be an issue. The hair dryer came out early and Tim and I made frequent use of it. For myself, dew was everywhere, eyepieces, coma corrector and I think even on the secondary. Mike and Ron worked on Ron's 8" newtonian. Tonight marked the first night it had been used in about 20 years or so. Just about everyone was gone by midnight except for Bruce and I. I had put the 18" away and decided to see what the new 36" mirror was like - I wasn't disappointed. The best was saved for last - two galaxies, NGC-7332 and NGC-7339. Both of them are edge on. NGC-7332 had a bright nucleus and NGC-7339 was just bright. Another object that was a surprise was NGC-7315. Nothing at all unusual about it however, PGC-69245 is almost attached to it visually. What made it unusual was that the PGC galaxy couldn't been seen with direct vision. Using averted vision however, this thing would jump at you. One second it wasn't there and boom, it hits you and there it is! Pretty good introduction to 36" of aperature!!

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 24, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, Bryan and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1st quarter 8-9 9+ Finally. The old power supply may have been part of the coating issue. I had been leaving the battery on charge for 2-3 weeks in between observing sessions. Who knows. The battery finally died 8/18/12. It was 2.3 amh and was replaced with a 3.8 amh battery. I mounted it with velcro on the outside of the mirror box so I could remove it and take it home with me. No more worries about outgassing. In addition, it has sufficient power to run the fans and the dsc's. I wasn't motivated to look at Arps or Hicksons so I just pulled out my Herschel 2500 list and started there. Funny thing was that when I would find an NGC galaxy I might find one or two from another catalog. I observed a few PGC's and UGC's tonight. Andormeda was positioned pretty well and most of the objects came from there. Ended up with 42 for the night. The past issues with the 18" seem to be behind me know. The mirror has been recoated, the structure was refinished, some wiring redone, new battery and new encoder interface. The telescope performed very well tonight. I knew that I could point it towards 15 mag or dimmer objects and have a fair chance at seeing them. The scope looks great, performs great and those motions are oh so sweet! Thanks Mark

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 17, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Hidden Hollow Star Party

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Good Good This was the second night of the star party. Thursday night was a bust as clouds rolled in early. Tonight was the best since Saturday night was also a bust. Stayed until about 1:00am then left. This was the opening of Bigger Blue 36". On Friday night, the crowds were long as everyone wanted a shot. Saturday was decent for some Messiers early but by around 11:00pm, those were pretty well gone.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 22, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Mike and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days after new Fair Fair A lot has happened since 5/23/12 - my last time out. At that time the mirror coating was very good. However just a few short days after 5/23/12, I opened up the mirror to find that the coating had failed around the perimeter of the mirror. After a number of emails and ignored phone calls by OWL, I have received my refund. The mirror was sent to Majestic for the new coating. But as of 6/22/12, that coating had pinholes in it along with a small void. I reviewed my installation with Mark and we can't draw any conclusions as to why this is occuring?? Anyhow, the transparency was only fair with large cloud masses rolling in and out for the first two hours. Up till midnight, we only had brief holes to peek through. After midnight the sky got better but only left us with an hour or two before we all tossed in the towell and headed for home. The catch of the night was Hoag's Object. It's a ring galaxy that's supposed to be 14 magnitude or so. Try as we might, none of us could see the ring and the central part of the galaxy was very faint indeed. It was an averted vision object with brief periods of good seeing.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 23, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

2 days past new Average Average 1st light with the new coatings from OWL on the 18". Also added a new re-finish job. Three coats of hand rubbed polyurethane. New flat black paint in the mirror box and bottom of the rocker. New 7x50 finder. Added Markless Astronomics counterweight system to the front and back of the mirror box to compensate for the finder. Too bad I can't add photos, this thing looks sharp. A couple of years ago, Bruce handed me a book and said enjoy. It was the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. Great book but most of those objects are pretty tough for small aperatures. I also got hooked on the A.L. list of Flat Galaxies which turned out to be another toughie. Tonight, the tables were turned as I looked at and enjoyed some objects from both lists. Just to be able to do it. Nothing fancy but just to be able to point my telescope at a 15th mag galaxy and know that I'm going to get it means quite a bit. I ended around midnight. Last objects were Messier's - M97, M57, M12 and M10. I was pretty satisfied with the way the 18" turned out. For me, this is quite a step up from the 8" that I started with 9 years ago.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 18, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Fair Fair Thought I would try a couple of observations from home with the 18". Trouble is, moving everything out back to set up. Viewable sky is from zenith to the south and about 30 degrees above horizon from the east to 50 degrees above the horizon to the west. That and moving everything from the garage to the garden area. It isn't worth it except on rare occasions.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 16, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, MIke and myself. Steve and his son arrived later for a visit.

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

6 days before new, 9+ 8-9 Time for Messier Marathon 2012. When you get a day or so of clear skies after the full moon, you need to take full advantage since you may not have that opportunity later. So Mike, Mark and I did. However, I was the only one to stay for the entire night. Mike ran through his list. Mark caught up on some objects on both Herschel lists as well as the Messier list. I engaged some A.L. flat galaxies. This was my first opportunity to fine tune the 18" Astrosystems. With help from Mark, we were able to get BETI and Megastar to cooperate then it was off to the races. Every Messier object I looked at was unique in the 18". Especially notible was M51 Whirlpool Galaxy. The spiral arms were simply outstanding. M82 was exceptional as well. All of the Leo and Virgo Messiers looked great. One of the issues on this night was the dew. Not only did it effect the eyepeices but the secondaries as well. Mark and Mike had issues early and mine didn't go south until around 4:30am. Luckily, blow dryers were handy and the issues were quickly resolved. Now for the counts. This year I tabulated 106 objects. The first two were missed in the trees - M74 and M77. The last two were missing in the early morning glare of the coming sun - M2 and M30. Also, M72 & M73 were suspected. I did well and I'm pretty happy with the outcome of the night and the performance of the 18".

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 17, 2012 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Four days before new Average Average My last entry was 9/1/2011. Since that time there have been quite a few changes. During some focuser updates in the middle of September the 31" mirror was destroyed. The 12" Skywatcher has been sold and in its' place is a 18" f/4.5 Astrosystems dob courtesy of Mark. As mentioned the 31" mirror was destroyed. Thanks to insurance the club has purchased a new 36" mirror that is currently being produced by Lockwood optics. Tentative assembly into the observatory around mid-summer 2012. Since 9/1/2011, observations have been hit or miss. What observations have occurred have been mostly double stars at home. These were made on a variety of small dobs that the club owns. I brought them home one at a time, cleaned and collimated them and tested in my driveway. I was able to acquire Mark's 18" Astrosystems and the observations made this night were the first for me. I was near blown away by the views versus the 12" Skywatcher. The dust lanes in NGC-2903 were visible. NGC-2359 - Thor's Helmut produced the finest view that I've seen outside the old 31". What is really new is the focuser on the right side. I have always used dobs with the focuser on the left side. I thought at first this would be a major issue but I'm guessing that after a few months I probably won't even notice. Also climbing up and down a step stool or ladder is very new. Up to this point, I've pretty much been able to sit while I observe. Those days are pretty well gone I believe.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 01, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Steve, Arlene and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

4 days after new Average Average Hot and muggy tonight. I wanted to use the 31" to catch some Arps and Hicksons in Pegasus but as it turned it, didn't. Pegasus will have to wait until it's higher in the sky. Especially during the week for me when I have to go to work the next day.

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Aug 25, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Steve, Arlene, Mark and Mike

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new. Average - then poor Average - then poor We arrived before dark and setup only to wait for the skies to clear. Finally around 9:30, the clouds passed and clear skies prevailed. This only lasted until midnight, when the sky quickly turned to trash. Mike had left at 2300 hours so Steve, Mark and I waited to see if the clouds would pass. Aroung 0045 hours, the sky opened back up but it was only temporary because at 0100 hours, they closed back up. I struggled again tonight with observing. Not because of any telescope issue but because I'm stretching the capabilites of the 12" Skywatcher with my observing lists. The easy pickings stuff below 13th magnitude are gone. This time of year, I'm left to find galaxies 14th magnitude and up. The Skywatcher does allows me to the very dim stuff in the 13-14th magnitude range but it takes longer and transparency must be very good to do it. Need to use a bigger telescope. On the very bright side however, I was able to observe NGC7507 in Sculptor tonight. This was my last object on the Herschel 400 II list. I observed it during that momentary bit of clarity around 0055 hours. Surprisingly, when the sky opened up for a bit, it cleared all the way to the horizon. To date, I've completed the Herschel 400 I & II and I've got around 1,200 objects left in the Herschel 2500.

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Jul 31, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Steve, Arlene and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1 day after new. 9 8-9 Steve fired up the 31" while I tried to the 12" Skywatcher. These galaxies faint. Transparency must be almost the night, I only recorded 5 objects. over 30 but the transparency wasn't eke out some PGC's with are mostly small and very perfect but not tonight. For However, I had tried to find there.

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Jul 25, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

10 days past full. 9 9+ Thought I would try to observe for a couple of hours. Picked up some UGC's in Cygnus. Threw on my 32mm and an LP-2 filter for some nebula. NGC-7000, NGC-6960 and NGC-6992 were all outstanding objects!

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Jul 19, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS A Bunch

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

4 days after new 8+ 9 Starry Nights tonight at Hidden Hollow. After the kids left, I picked off my second to last Herschel II object. NGC-6526. One more to go. NGC-7507 in Sculptor

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Jul 04, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Steve, Arlene and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days after new 9 9 Just wanted to get out and look at some globulars after this past holiday weekend. Steve are Arlene were there with their Orion 14" - great scope by the way. Packs up into a small, neat package. Anyhow, one object I wanted to look at was the supernove in M51. When the moon set, I plugged in my 11mm Nagler and took a look. Supernove spotted! Since it was a really good night to observe, the arm structure and detail in M51 was outstanding.

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Jun 05, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Four days after noon 9 9 New drive installed on the 31" so I took the opportunity to try it out. It's an outstanding piece of work. Holds position well and tracks very well. No groaning at all. Goodbye Mr. Hammer!

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May 30, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Mike

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Three days before ne 9 9

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Apr 29, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Mike, John, Leroy and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new. 8+ 8-9 Horizon poor, zenith good. Transparency should have been better.

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Mar 28, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Six days before new Good Good - at times real good Started out with the intention of working on the Herschel 400 II list. I had one object in Orion and another five or so in Monoceros that I really needed to observe. Both constellations are rapidly moving westward. I had a total of 34 objects on my list. I was able to observe all but three. NGC-6526 - Nebula in Sagittarius will have to wait until August. The next is NGC 7507 Galaxy in Sculptor will be next in November or December. The third and last is NGC 2253 - an open cluster in Camelopardus. Searched high and low and it isn't in Megastar. Finally checked the NGC/IC Project website when I came home and found that it's non-existent. So that's where I currently stand - 397 objects and holding.

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Mar 01, 2011 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bob, Mike, Kevin and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Average Average Arrived early to set up for a Messier Marathon. It's been three months since I've had a telescope out and the weather promised to be at least decent. Bob was the first to arrive with his SCT, Mike followed with his Orion and Kevin came last. We all followed through the sequence until Mike left around 10:30. Kevin stayed a little longer. Bob gave up the ghost at 2:00AM leaving me. I did well with the manual setting circles. I was ahead of the game at 5:15am and decided to take a short nap. Came back out shortly before 6:00am to find the sun was coming up far more quickly and sooner than I had expected. I attempted to get the last 8 objects on the list but it wasn't going to happen. Next year!

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Nov 28, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS John & Guest, Mark, Mike and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Seven days before ne About a 9 About a 9 Arrived early to get set up. Temperature was 32 degrees at start and dropped to 20 degrees at 2330 hours when I closed up and left. Worked on the Herschel 2500 list. Picked off what I could in Cetus and around 4 or 5 more objects from Pisces. This area of the sky wasn't all that bad. At times - briefly, it was very good.

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Nov 08, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, John and Myself. Steve dropped in later

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

2 Days after new 9 9 Used the 12" to pick off some Herschel II objects in Eridanus and Cetus. The horizon wasn't real great at sunset but it didn't matter since the objects I wanted to observe weren't coming up until around 2130.. At that time, the horizon was pretty good and I was able to knock them off. FInished up around 2300 and was on my way home.

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Nov 02, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new 8 9 Conditions were not as good as Sunday night. The plan was to use the 31" to check some Herschels in Eridanus and Cetus. The horizon however, was trash. I checked off two galaxies in Aquarius then moved to Pegasus where I stayed. Objects close to or very near zenith provided a better view. Counting comets, I passed the 4,000 mark in observations tonight!

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Oct 31, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

6 days before new 9+ 9 Last day of October and cold. Found myself to be the only one observing so it was nice and quiet. Gloves and hat were needed. When I left at 2330 hours, the temperature had dropped to 26 degrees.

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Oct 07, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Hidden Hollow 2010

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Moon Pretty Good all weekend Great on 10/7/10. Average on 10/8/10 & 10/9/10 Great weekend with good weather. Good crowd with telescopes everywhere. Rather than log in entries for three different days, everything will get logged for 10/7/10. High point for targets was comet 103P Hartley. Looked good in the 12" Skywatcher. High point for me was winning the Celestron 25-125 x 80 binoculars. Wanted to check them out but the mount was pretty shaky for the bino's weight. I'll put them on my binocular mount.

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Sep 12, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

4 days after new Good but not great Good but not great Arrived to observe a few objects more for this new moon period. Seemed to struggle all evening to see anything. Ended up logging 13 objects. Mark and I were both on the road around midnight.

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Sep 09, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mike, John, Terry and his wife and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New 9 9 High, thin clouds on arrival gave way to really good transparency at dark. Worked on couple of objects in Draco. Looked mostly at Pegasus and Andromeda

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Sep 05, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Mike, Eric, John, Arlene, Steve and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new. 9+ - Got better later. 9++ - not a 10 but real, real close Had a crowd tonight. Mike with his 8" Orion, Mark with his 28" f/3.6, Steve with his Meade CAT, John with his 20" Obsession, Eric on the 31 and me and the 12" Skywatcher. That's five telescopes on the pad and Big Blue going strong. Started out strong until about 1:15am when junk started rolling in from the North. John was the first to go followed by Mike, myself (1:45am)and Eric. Probably should have stayed since the skies were clearing when I left. Tried something different tonight. Plugged my 11mm Nagler into my Televue 2x barlow for 5.5mm and 272x. I saw NGC-6742 in Draco - planetary nebula that Megastar lists as 15.0 magnitude. Also saw the pair NGC-6307 and NGC-6306. The former is 13.9 and the latter is 14.4. Almost perfect skies helped but this is a sampling of the stuff I was able to observe tonight. Ended the night with 36 objects. A lot of these I doubt I would have seen even with my 7mm Nagler.

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Aug 31, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

7 days after full 9 9 No much differrent than the other night. More Draco galaxies..

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Aug 29, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days after full. 8 9 Moon rise at 22:45 hours. Horizon sloppy. Zenith decent

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Aug 18, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

9 days after new 9+ 9+ Arrived with the intentions to play with double stars instead, knocked off some oddball open clusters. Tried out the shroud Mark make for the Skywatcher. Works like a champ.

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Aug 13, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark & myself. A former member from the 80's - Brian joined us shortly before dark. 3 Days after new. 8 8 Another hot & muggy night. Same issue with the eyepieces only this time, I was on the 31" and inside the dome. There was no breeze at all in there.

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

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Aug 12, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Kevin & myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

2 Days after new 8 8 I arrived first, then Mark and Kevin. Kevin wanted to set up the Lightbridge so Mark & I assisted. We set him up with a red flashlight, the Sky Atlas and a 26mm Meade eyepiece and turned him loose. He ended up finding some Messiers but the first M13, I think was the best. He's dedicated and thoroughly enjoyed the hunt. As for me, I only found 4 objects. It was hot and muggy even after the sun went down. Every time I put my eye to the eyepiece, it would fog over. By midnight, I was on my way back home for some welcome sleep.

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Aug 06, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Mike & myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new 9+ 9+ I arrived early to double check the alignment of the new Moonlite focuser on the 12" Skywatcher. My concerns were put to rest in short order as the collimation of the optical train proceeded without a hitch. Mark arrived next followed by Mike with his new Orion 10" Intelliscope. Let the night begin.

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Jul 14, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days after new Good Good Conditions looked good at the start. However, by 11:30pm, clouds rolled in and sent us home. Clear Sky clock lied again.

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Jul 06, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 Days before new. Very good Very good Hot - 88 degrees when I arrived. I put the fan on the 12" Skywatcher to cool down for a bit. At 2215 hours I picked up my first object. That fan makes a difference.

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Jun 07, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1st Quarter Very Good Good Talked with Mark a couple of weeks ago and he remarked on how well his mirror performed prior to cooling. I had always thought that just taking a telescope out an hour or two beforehand was sufficient. I stand corrected. I brought a cheap 8" fan down and ran it on the mirror for about a good hour and a half before dark. It made a world of difference. About 2145 hours, Saturn was staring down nicely. I popped in my 11mm Nagler and gave it a shot. The ring is edge on and was pretty well tack sharp and stable. For kicks and giggles, I plugged in my 5mm Takahashi. Just about the same but with a more magnified image. The ring was still sharp and the orb itself bounced just a tad every now and again. However, I felt it was great and the best I had seen from this setup. Later in the evening, I hunted down comet C/2009 K5 McNaught in Camelopardus. Found it with a nice, bright coma. I like comets and hunt for them just about every chance out. This one was particularly nice.

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May 19, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

1st Quarter 9+ 9+ at the start not quite as good around 12:30am Knocked off the balance of the Herschel II list in Virgo. Picked up some additional 13.7 mag galaxies in spite of the moon. Wanted to take a peek at Hickson 61 but it was in the general direction of the moon. Not this night. Mark and I were both on the road at 12:45am.

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May 14, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Terry, Mike, Bob, Steve & Arlene, Mark, Kim & Ron, Bruce & myself. New Good Good This was the first night of the members only weekend and the weather has cooperated so far. Six telescopes were step up by dark. I've not seen this much activity by club members. This club is far different than the club I joined seven years ago. This one has fun!!

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

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Apr 14, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce & myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New 6-7 7-8 It was supposed to clear this morning with excellent skies. Didn't happen. Had a steady band of vapor from the north. Bruce stayed long enough to work on the 31"'s computer, look at some stuff through the Lightbridge, then he left. I followed about an hour later. Got six objects but not real proud. Speaking of the Lightbridge, the was the first night out with the new coatings. Excellent job by OMI. Great shots and Bruce's collimation made the stars tack sharp. Didn't use the Orion finder though. It's heavy and the nose has a tendency to take a dive. Still need some additional weight behind the mirrors. Wasn't a deal because I removed the finder and used the Telrad. Things were pretty even then and motions were smooth throughout.

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Apr 09, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new Good Good. Better than 4/6/10 Overcast until mid afternoon than finally clear at 2030 hours. Spent some time in Ursa Major and Virgo. Big thrill was hitting those galaxies around M86. Everywhere I looked I could see a galaxy in my 11mm Nagler.

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Apr 06, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark & myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new Average 6-8 at start 8-9 later Arrived around 7:00pm to set up. Mark arrived later and set up his hand crafted 10" dob. His finger joints in the mirror box are outstanding and the entire telescope in general is very well done. Had clear skies all day, then the sky started to haze over about the time I left the house. I wasn't real impressed by dark and wasn't really expecting much. However, things did improve as the evening wore on. By 2115 hours, the sky within 20 degrees of zenith was looking pretty good. Around 2215 hours, I decided to try for Pal 4, a globular cluster in Ursa Major. Megastar put me in the field, lo' and behold, after a few seconds of looking, I could see it with averted vision. There's about a 13th mag. star just to the west. I asked Mark to take a look for verification. He reported the same results. Dim stqr to the west of a fuzz patch. This was my last object since some serious clouds started rolling in around 2230 hours.

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Mar 17, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS A crowd

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

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Mar 16, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself and others

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

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Mar 08, 2010 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce, Mike, Leroy and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Last Quarter 9+ 9+ I knew the moon might be an issue but I wanted to pursue a Messier Marathon at the first opportunity. As it turned out, I bagged 103 objects for the night using the manual setting circles on the 12" Skywatcher. I missed M22 because itt was directly behind the moon. The others that I missed were M54, M55, M72, M73, M2 and M30. Except for the last two, the others never got above the horizon. If I had only waited one more week!

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Dec 16, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark and Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Average Average New moon and cold - around 20є. Mark set up his dob and image intensifier. His goal for the night was quasar 3C 454.3 at 7.2 billion light years. It had brightened recently to around 13th mag. Normally Megastar lists it at 16th mag. Mark put his scope on it and there it was - a nice bright dot. Imagine 7.2 billion light years away! I played with the Skywatcher. Still keep forgeting to set up the circles with 90є pointed to the north. One of these days I'll get it right off the bat and won't have to play with it. Logged 5 NGC's before I put it away and got out the new Sky Atlas. I wanted to keep in tune for the Messier Marathon coming up in March. Located M1, M36, M37, M38, M35, M78, M42, M43, M31, M32 and M110. One object that got me excited during the night was M38. Looked like some nebulosity to the southwest side of it. Checked Megastar when I got home and the only thing it could have been is NGC 1907. That being the case NGC 1907 looks like it may have some nebulosity associated with it?

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Nov 11, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Bruce, Mark, John and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days before new 9 9 Forecast was for transparent skies. Pretty good but not quite transparent. First look at B33 - Horsehead Nebula courtesy of Mark's optics. Mark attached his image intesifier and the Horsehead was outstanding.

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Oct 25, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

7 Days past new. 9+ 9+ Fine tuning of the manual setting circles continued tonight. Leveling the ground board is extremely critical for performance. I spent the time before I started observing to get it right and it paid off in a big way. Found 15 objects total - 3 with an 11mm T6 and 12 with a Speers-Waller 7.5mm. Both have 82є fov. The objects ranged from IC-10 mag 11.8 to NGC-1053 & NGC-1175 both at 13.9 mag and direct vision. What's more incredible was the fact that almost all objects were in or very very close to the fov when I moved the Skywatcher. Back to the Speers-Waller. The moon was an issue early. Especially for any object in the south or to the west. So I went to Perseus but I still felt that the moon was an issue, even with the Nagler. At the Speers-Waller 200x, I thought that I could grab the smaller galaxies and the Speers-Waller seemed to offer more contrast. As luck would have it, things turned out swell. However, close to transparent skies made a big difference the later the night got. Speaking of steady, Jupiter was steady in the 11mm Nagler.

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Oct 18, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Mark, Eric, Mike, Scott and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New 7 8 Blue skies promised for a good night. Swung a telescope onto Jupiter and it swimming. Left around 12:30am. Still Skywatcher. The highlight was comet bright and looking good. Didn't really pan out. was pretty much fine tuning the 12" C/2006 Christenseon. Still

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Sep 19, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS HH 2009 Attendees and many RAS Members

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

New Moon Good - 8 Great - 9 High Pressure still in control Hidden Hollow 2009. Looking for 4 excellent nights in a row. Completed my observation Database.

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Sep 13, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Mark, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

5 days from new 9+ 9+ First light at Hidden Hollow with the 12" Skywatcher. In addition, manual setting circles have been installed. Works like a champ. For a test looked up a number of Messier's and planetaries. For fun found comet C/2006 W3 Christensen - looked great.

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Aug 25, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair to Good Fair to Good Warm & Clear. Humidity around 66% at 73є

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Aug 16, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown 9+ 9+ Arrived before dark. Good and hot all day. The temperature was 85є when I started and around 80є when I left around midnight.

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Jul 27, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good

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Jul 16, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown 9+ 9+ Good until around 2245 hours. Clouds that weren't supposed to show up until 0200 hours, arrived around 2245 hours.

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May 21, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc

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May 18, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc

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Apr 26, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Apr 16, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknwo Good Good Bluebird skies all day led to dark skies tonight. I arrived early to dig out the 16" Lightbridge and laptop. Since Argo Navis is running relatively well, I wanted to see if MegaStar would as well. So I set things up, plugged the laptop into the Argo Navis (in this mode, Argo Navis just sends encoder signals to the laptop) and gave it a go at dark. At 2110 hours, I did a two star alignment ­ Procyon and Arcturus. Got a warp of 1.3 but there's a lot of separation between the two. First object of the night was comet C/2006 T2 Cardinal in Auriga. I hadn't updated the comet data for MegaStar in months so I winged it. I put the Telrad on M36 and bumped the Lightbridge just a bit ­ about 1є to the north and there it was. Extremely bright, pretty small and slightly elongated ­ no large beautiful tail. I was still pretty well impressed so I called Bruce out from the dome to take a peek. His impression was pretty much the same. That being said, it was time to check out MegaStar.

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Mar 26, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair Argo Navis ­ Last Round. Last Sunday, I found myself with nothing better to do and still bugged over this thing, I drove to the observatory and put a positive stop between the tube and base. This means that when you first start up Argo Navis and put the tube in a 90є position prior to alignment, all you have to do is push the tube up until it stops. Bruce and I had gone over the installation of the Argo Navis hardware last Friday. We both concluded that everything else was pretty much in order. The only question mark was the vertical alignment of the tube prior to Mode Fix Alt Ref. I had used levels ­ one on the base and one on the tube but I really didn't have a lot of faith since all the parameters of Argo and all the hardware installs all checked out. Last night it was clear so I drove down to check out the Lightbridge. When I got there, I rolled it out, turned on Argo Navis and waited for dark. When dark arrived I did a Mode Fix Alt Ref. That done, I did Mode Align Stars. I picked Rigel in Orion and Regulus in Leo. By the way, I use a 10mm illuminated reticule eyepiece for alignment purposes. After alignment, I pulled that eyepiece and installed the 17mm Nagler then picked Mode Catalog. I then picked NGC for the catalog and typed 2903. Things got real interesting here. I pushed the scope until I had zero offset and looked. Lo' and behold, there at the edge of the eyepiece field was a nice edge on galaxy NGC 2903. Not satisfied, I started chasing Messiers in Leo and Ursa Major. Same thing every time. If an object wasn't on the edge of the f.o.v. it was in the f.o.v. Feeling rather confident at this time, I pulled out Uranometria and chased down some Herschel II objects in Canes Venatici. No problem. At this point, I consider the 16" Lightbridge & Argo Navis to be a working combination. Next up is to fine tune Megastar!!

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Mar 21, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 20, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce, Tim, Seth

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good The club's Messier Marathon is scheduled for the next weekend but I wasn't going to make it so I decided to try my hand at it tonight. The skies were clear when I arrived and things looked promising. I had about an hour to set up before dark and by that time Bruce had arrived. Just before dark, I decided to grab my binoculars and head for the lodge to give myself the best chance of getting the first few objects. Worked pretty well although I wasn't able to bag M74 or M77. When I got back to the observatory 2 of Bruce's guests had arrived along with Tim and Seth. They were setting up a couple of telescopes to familiarize themselves with the operation. I continued on my merry way. I wasn't interested in actually observing/recording since that is not the intent of the marathon. The intent is to concentrate on finding as many as you can. At any rate it was back to navigating the southern horizon for globular and open clusters. This is normally difficult since you really can't count on a clear horizon around here. What had been good around 3:00am or so was starting to trash up around 3:30. I located a few, missed a bunch and finally quit around 5:00am when the moon was starting to come up and the skies were definitely getting cloudy. For the night, I had managed to located 93 Messier objects. I was shooting for 100+. But, I'll settle for the 93!

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Jan 24, 2009 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

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Unknown Fair Fair Cold and only six objects after a slow start: Bruce stuck in drive, broken pipe in restroom, frozen dome and finally cloudy skies. Temperature at start was 6є and dropped to 0є when we left.

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Dec 28, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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F>G

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Oct 30, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown F>G F>G

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Oct 29, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown F>G F>G The sky had been overcast much of the day with clearing, starting around 1700 hours. I arrived around 2000 hours to a transparency of 7-8 and temperature of around 33є. When I departed around 2300 hours, the transparency had improved to about 8-9 or slightly better and a temperature of 27є. Getting colder folks.

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Oct 23, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown 9+ 9+ I arrived at the observatory with no real list to observe with. However, I decided on Pegasus before dark. The weather people predicted good skies until after midnight and that was fine with me since I had planned on leaving before then. Once darkness had arrived I ran into a minor glitch. The Telrad had been left in the on position from its last use and the batteries had died. While holding a red flashlight with my teeth, one of the wires broke off while I was swapping out the batteries. I removed it, brought it home and will repair it before I go back. So, I had to use the old method ­ finder scope to get my alignment star centered. I didn't take long and in minutes I was up and running. My observing list is composed of NGC's and IC's from the NGC/IC website. I took one page to the lift because what normally happens is that I get distracted by other objects (MAC's, PGC's, UGC's & CGCG's) and that one page is good for quite a while. That's exactly what happened. Out of the 60 galaxies that I observed, 33 were NGC's and the balance in the other catalogs. The horizon was sloppy but the overhead skies were excellent. Any object around 15th magnitude was readily observable with only a few averted vision objects. I hadn't really dressed for the cool night air so I disregarded any thoughts of taking the next day off and staying the night. I started observing objects at 22 hours of right ascension and pretty much kept it there for the time I observed. This allowed for little movement of the dome and just small lift adjustments for compensation. End result is more time observing and less time screwing around with the dome.

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Sep 28, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bob Kocar

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Unknown 8-9 8-9 I wanted to observe a bit so I headed out for an evening at WRO. When I got there a new member ­ Bob Kocar had already arrived and was setting up to do some imaging. During the evening, I stopped observing long enough to check on his projects and found that Bob is an accomplished astrophotographer. His image of the Andromeda Galaxy is very, very nice indeed with pinpoint starts. Well done. As for myself, I had a short list for Capricornus that included objects from the NGC and IC catalogs. At the end of the night, I had observed all NGC & IC objects up to 17.0 magnitude on the 31". For the record, two of them were classified as non-existent by MegaStar, they were NGC-6993 & NGC-7105. I ended up observing 34 objects and as luck would have it, the sky was starting to go south when I left at 2335 hours. Not too bad for as infrequently as I use the 31"

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Sep 01, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Good Good This morning, I logged my observations into my file and noticed that I was short of 3,000 observations by 1! I also checked out IC 5006 on the NGC/IC Project website and found little information. I'm of the opinion that it's non-existent and that's the way I have it labeled. On the other hand, other astronomers have IC 1298 listed as an open cluster. Again, there is little information on the NGC/IC website. Back to the observatory I went. I didn't bother looking for IC 5006, however, I did look for and find some stars in the given location for IC 1298. I have it listed in my log as an open cluster. With that, all NGC/IC objects in Aquila to 17th magnitude have been observed. In addition, I have observed all NGC/IC objects to 17th magnitude in Vulpecula. One more item of note, I have observed 3,009 objects to date. One trick that assisted my in my search for IC 1298 can be found in MegaStar. Instead of using the readout bar in R.A./Dec offset, I changed it to R.A./Dec mode. This way, I could move the telescope to the exact coordinates and look around. Worked like a champ.

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Aug 31, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unkown V.G V.G. It has been awhile since I had driven the 31" so the night was clear and I gave it a shot. I needed to complete the NGC's and IC's in Aquila so that's where I started. In the end, I didn't get IC 5006 & IC 1298. Both were missing in MegaStar's database. I did observe some objects in Delphinus and ended the night with 32 observations

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Aug 03, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Good Good

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Jun 30, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Fair Fair I connected the cable from Argo Navis to my laptop and fired up the laptop. There were only a few parameters in MegaStar that needed adjustment: encoders and polling rate. I made those and proceeded to the 2-star alignment. I found very quickly that there wasn't enough in-focus for my illuminated cross hair eyepiece so I gave it the best shot. Well, after the alignment, I had a warp of 16.0 which wasn't good at all. As luck would have it, I pulled out a 9mm long eye relief with about a 52є fov and gave that a shot. As carefully as I could, I centered the stars in the eyepiece and ended up with a satisfying warp of 0.2. It's time for show and tell. I put the club's 17mm Nagler in the focuser and did a Locate for M57. Success, there it was on the edge. Next target was M56 and again, there right on the edge. I shot for a couple of galaxies and that's where some troubles started until I remembered "Set Zenith", "Invert Field" and "Field Rotation." Once those were set, it got easier. However, I noticed that the altitude encoder falls behind the displayed values when moved. I'm not sure if that can be attributed to the values going through Argo Navis first of if it's the mechanical connection between the encoder and the Lightbridge bearing. The encoder is a press fit into a rubber gasket on the bearing. I would have preferred a more secure connection but for the time being it will do. For the most part, I would call this test run a success. I was able to use MegaStar to locate objects and with some finer tuning, we'll be able to realize the same accuracy that MegaStar provides for the 31".

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Apr 26, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good

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Apr 09, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown VG VG Cloudy, rainy skies in the morning paved the way for bluebird skies this evening. Things looked pretty promising so I decided to observe as did Bruce. When I arrived, the skies for transparency & seeing were judged to be very good to excellent. Quite a change from what we've had. The temperature when I got there was around 60єF. When I left around 12:30am, it was around 47єF. There was a bit of a wind from the north and I hadn't really dressed for the weather. Had I been properly attired, I would most likely have stayed for the night ­ the sky was that good. At any rate, it felt a lot colder than it actually was. I wanted to setup my 8" Dobson to pare down the Herschel II list and Bruce setup on the 31" to work on ARPs and galaxy clusters. I had a pretty good star alignment so I set to work on that list. As usual, MegaStar is worth its weight in gold. Once set for the night, MegaStar assisted me in finding 11th to 12th magnitude galaxies with an 8" mirror. It also helped that the sky was in excellent condition. I ended the night with 40 less objects on my Herschel II to do list. Only 170 more to go.

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Apr 07, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good Another night when it with high thin clouds opened up the dome, things had improved. and transparency. didn't look real promising when I arrived popping in and out. By the time I had fired up the 31" and did my star alignment I would estimate "good" for both seeing

About 2100 hours, I started working Leo. To check the conditions, I was able to log a couple of MAC galaxies. As a general rule, these are very small and faint galaxies. One of them was listed by Megastar as around 16.5 magnitude. Bruce arrived around 2300 hours or so and we shifted our efforts to Corvus. I decided to leave around 2400 hours when the clouds came back. Just like earlier in the evening for me, they were scattered and high.

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Apr 02, 2008 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Kim, Ron, Dan

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair It's been a long, hard winter. The skies didn't look promising when I arrived but by sundown, things were looking up. I would judge the skies and seeing to hover around a 7 or so. I didn't have a real plan for the night other than to just screw around with the 8" Dobson. It was a good thing since the batteries died in my illuminated eyepiece. This means that my 2star alignment wasn't quite up to snuff. Anyhow, it was fun and I was joined by Dan, Kim and her husband Ron.

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Mar 28, 2008 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Nov 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Ken, Barb

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair I had started out with high hopes when I arrived at W.R.O. The weather however, lasted only until 9:30pm or so. Barb & Ken arrived around 9:00pm so they didn't get much observing time in either. When I started observing about 7:15pm, the seeing was fair but the transparency was good. The Herschel II 400 list is tough but when the transparency is good to excellent a number of the objects are within range of my 8" Dobson with MegaStar. I'm going to do what I can with this telescope since it's easier to move around than the 31". On a side note I had a chance to observe comet 17P Holmes with my telescope for the first time. I was using an 11mm T5 Nagler and this comet filled the field of view. It had a distinct coma with a growing tail. It's still very large and appears to me as though it's getting bigger!

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Nov 10, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Fair Fair Came down to the observatory to work on the Herschel II 400 list. Started out at around 9:20pm and ended around 11:30 when the skies turned to trash. Ended up logging 30 objects, mostly Herschels with a couple of odds and ends thrown in. Skies were about a "9" with transparency around 8. Wasn't too bad for the Hershel objects. Magnitude was limited to around 15 on the 31".

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Nov 04, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Nov 03, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Good Good This was the last public night of the year. Some real light clouds rolled in around 5:30pm but didn't' last too long. Around 7:30pm or so, the 31" was ready to go and the first object happened to be M15 in Pegasus. Instead of the 17mm Nagler that I normally use, I opted for my 32mm, 70 degree generic. It's not too bad of an ocular and gives a decent, bright image to the edge of the field. Tonight's choice of M15 for a target brought out a "WOW" to everyone who saw it. People normally don't say much until this particular object comes into focus, then "WOW." I targeted this one until everyone had a look and the 31" was past the meridian. Next up Comet 17P Holmes. This was an easy object. The hard part was maneuvering the lift around to the eyepiece. Once that was done it was 1, 2, and 3. 1. Locate 17P Holmes in the telrad. 2. Locate 17P Holmes in the finder scope. 3. Locate 17P Holmes in the eyepiece. At that point I was in trouble. This comet is too big for 32mm eyepiece. Among the first guests to come aboard and take a look was Tammy so I asked her to grab a 55mm from the case. WOW! This comet filled the eyepiece and then some. Large, bright and growing a tail. I took a peek in my binoculars later tonight and found that it had just about doubled in size since I first took a look 5 or 6 days ago. If it isn't already, it ought to be the comet of 2007.

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Oct 30, 2007 Home Myself

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Unknown Good Good I took another peek at 17P Holmes tonight and was just as impressed, if not more so, by this object. I set up my parallelogram binocular mount to stabilize the binoculars and the resulting image was extraordinary. It still looks like a very large, bright planetary. The bright core and outer disk are quite sharp and defined. Still no tail. This is a fine comet.

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Oct 28, 2007 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G. Comet 17P Holmes has been making the news of late. It's gone from a 17th magnitude object to a very bright 2.6 magnitude comet at the moment as reported by Sky & Telescope. I took my binoculars out tonight around 2045 hours to give it a peek and what a surprise. It's extremely bright, pretty large, bright core with a round, sharp disk. With my 12x50 binoculars it resembled a pretty large & bright planetary nebula. This was from home under urban skies no less. This was my 11th comet and is quite simply, the most impressive that I've seen in binoculars. The experts predict that it will grow in brightness and size in the coming days. If the weather holds up, I'll keep my eye on it.

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Oct 09, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Ken, Barb

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknowbn Good Good It's been close to 90є the last couple of days. Odd for October and the temperature was supposed to drop tonight. It did, when I left the observatory it was around 57є. The skies were good to very good with good transparency from horizon to horizon. Around 11:00pm or so, company arrived in the persons of Ken & Barb. Barb wanted to work on the Astronomical League Messier list and Ken coached. I had two goals tonight. One was to complete all of the NGC/IC objects in Pisces to 13th magnitude. It happened ­ not easily but it's completed none the less. The second and most important was to complete the Herschel 400 List. That's why I noted the transparency. Two of my objects ­ NGC 288 a globular cluster and NGC 613 a galaxy are both located in Sculptor and very low on the horizon. With my 8" Dobson, NGC 288 was nothing more than a large smudge with unresolved stars. NGC 613 however, was surprisingly bright with a very faint nucleus. At any rate, those were the last and the end of an odyssey that started June 19, 2004. Next up is the Herschel II list. I have 134 observed with 266 to go!

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Sep 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown VG VG Tonight looked pretty good so I thought I would try my hand at the 31". When I arrived the sky looked pretty good ­ nice and blue. When I left at midnight, I would have judged it to be very good. However, seeing probably wasn't that great. I wanted galaxies so I was pretty much unaffected by the seeing. I focused my attention in Aquarius and logged 59 observations. I made a boo-boo and longed one observation in Pegasus. Not too bad for a little over three hours at the telescope. I would have liked to stay but morning and work come early for me.

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Sep 11, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Fair

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Sep 05, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce, Ken, Barb

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good I had an opportunity tonight to observe, the skies were good and I made the most of it. Bruce thought so as well as did Ken & Barb who arrived later. I wanted to use my 8" Dobson for this session. I was able to close out a few more constellations. By that I mean that I have observed all NGC/IC objects up to and including 13th magnitude. Tonight those constellations included Aquarius, Aquila, Capricornus, Cassiopeia, Serpens Caput & Serpens Cauda. They've been added to those constellations previously closed: Andromeda, Aries, Auriga, Cancer, Canis Major, Cygnus, Delphinus, Gemini, Hercules, Leo, Leo Minor, Lepus, Ophiuchus, Orion, Pegasus, Taurus, Triangulum and Vulpecula. Quite a list for not quite 4 years at this hobby. Down the road, I can see a Newtonian reflector ­ Dobson, in the 14" to 18" range. I want to keep my feet on the ground. However, in the meantime, I have the use of a 31" reflector to use and binoculars have proven to be a lot of fun. We'll see what the future brings.

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Aug 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Good

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Jul 23, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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G>VG

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Jul 21, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown V.G. V.G. I had a few objects on my binocular list that I wanted to hit and tonight was going to be the night. Those objects were mostly open clusters and globular clusters in Ophiuchus and Sagittarius. The skies were pretty good and the seeing was excellent. As a matter of fact, Jupiter shone well as did 4 of its moons. Admittedly, 2 of them were pretty small and bounced in and out of view. Sky & Telescope reported that comet C/2006 VZ13 Linear was going to pass very close to M3 in Canes Venatici on 7/22/07 at 23:30 UT. While I was 18 hours early on my time, I wanted to see what I could see. First off was to find M3. No problem. Adjust to the NW some and the comet should be there. I looked and didn't see it. I observed and found it right where it was supposed to be according to the MegaStar plot. I found it with averted vision first but after observing it I could see it directly although it's very faint with no tail. With my 12x50's, M3 is placed at 7 o'clock and C/2006 VZ13 Linear at about 1 o'clock in the same FOV. Not too bad and M3 looked pretty good. As for magnitude, if M3 is around a magnitude 6 or so, I would guesstimate that C/2006 VZ13 Linear is around 9. Whatever, it was still a good show.

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Jul 16, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Fair

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Jul 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Ken, Barb, Terry

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good I arrived at the observatory to find Ken, Barb and Terry setting up. When I had completed my setup, we had these scopes ready for use: 12.5" dob, 12" dob, 4.24" dob and my 8" dob. Not too bad of a variety if only the skies would cooperate. We had patchy clouds with deep blue skies behind. However, by 10:15pm or so, things were pretty clear (transparency/seeing were about 9+) so away we went. Since the skies looked good and I had a clean mirror, I attempted to get some fainter objects ­ globular clusters. These included HP 1 and Pal 6. Of the two, Pal 6 was the toughest. One surprise was B 326, a dark nebula in Aquila. Surprisingly enough, I could see it. I asked Ken to take a look for verification and he did so. This was an unusual and unexpected bonus for the night. Another neat object was comet C/2006 VZ1 Linear. Pretty big, pretty bright with a very, very faint tail. It resembles a large faint globular cluster. It's worth a look. Some clouds started filling the sky around 11:30pm so we sat and talked for a bit until they cleared around midnight. At that point, I thought that the skies looked better than they had earlier. I decided to unplug MegaStar and go it alone with Sky Atlas. While my skills aren't up to snuff against Terry and Ken, I didn't do too bad. I located globular clusters in Sagittarius and Ophiuchus. I hit the Messiers and even located some NGC's. With that, I gave up the ghost around 1:45am and headed home.

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Jun 20, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Good Good I went to the observatory to do some work on the Binocular DSO list and the Binocular 250. The skies were about an 8-9, not super but pretty good. I was reminded that working with binoculars takes a little more effort at the map table. Back and forth, to and fro'. However, with the parallelogram mount, I could just leave them parked. For the record, I only observed 10 objects in Cygnus, Serpens and Vulpecula. Those are ten off my list. Today ­ 6/21/07, is the first day of summer. Sadly, the days start getting shorter again.

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Jun 14, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Good G I arrived at the observatory around 8:00pm and setup. I wasn't real keen on the collimation that I had done at home so I spent about Ѕ an hour centering the primary, focuser and the secondary. I went back through the collimation without a hitch and was pretty pleased with the results. I use a Cheshire since I don't have a laser collimator and close looked pretty good to me. My first target once dark arrived was comet C/2007 E2 Lovejoy. It's listed on some websites as a magnitude 11.7. Megastar however, lists the magnitude around 13.0 or so. I spent at least 30 minutes looking and I'm pretty positive it was in my field of view but I wasn't able to catch it. This thing is very faint and my 8" Dobson wasn't up to the task which leads me to believe that Megastar is pretty much right on the money for the magnitude of this comet. However, the clean optics did make a considerable difference. I was very much pleased with the contrast and improved views. Since I wanted to leave around midnight, I unplugged the laptop, got out the Sky Atlas and did some cruising in Scorpius, Sagittarius and Ophiuchus for Messier objects (I like globular clusters). Although I didn't see the comet, the night was a success with the clean optics, collimated sight train and tuned dobsonian.

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Jun 09, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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V.G.

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May 18, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

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Unknown V.G. V.G. The sky was clear with low temperatures in what will probably be the last session for May. Bruce was going to spend the night observing so by the time he arrived, I had the 31" ready and aligned in Virgo. I didn't have anything in particular to observe other than NGC's (there's a bunch in Virgo) so whatever Bruce wanted to observe was pretty much ok with me. His hit list for the night included Hickson galaxy groups and ARP galaxies. I don't want to take the spotlight away from Bruce so all I'll say is that Hickson 62 is very much worth a look.

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May 14, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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V.G. I spent a couple of hours at Warren Rupp Observatory with the 31" in Virgo. At dark, the skies were about an 8 or so and when I left around midnight they were a 9+. Temperatures were in the low 60's. I wish I could have stayed. I wouldn't venture to guess how many galaxies are in Virgo. I do know however, that there's a wide variety. These NGC's are nice and bright: NGC 4473, NGC 4503 and NGC 4526. IC 3446 made a respectable showing also. Then you get to the dim and faint MAC's, PGC's etc., etc. So much to pick from. About 11:15pm or so, I walked out the door to take a look at the sky and what I saw just about floored me. There was a pretty big aurora in the North. At first I thought clouds but there was about a 10-12 mph wind from the South and this thing didn't change location ­ just shape. It extended low in the Northeast and arose high in the Northwest. It was almost like a living thing the way it shape-shifted. I sent an e-mail to Tammi when I got back home asking if she had seen it. She missed it but said that an aurora alert had been issued. One more thing. For the record and my own pleasure more than anything else, I've made 2,544 observations since

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May 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Fair Fair I wanted to finish up some NGC's (<=13.0 magnitude) with my 8" Dobson, in Leo tonight. For awhile I wasn't sure that would happen. At sunset, some high thin clouds rolled in. The skies were about a 7 to 8 sometimes better. I observed for a bit, waited then observed some more. I finally got what I needed so I left around midnight. At that time, I would guess they were around a 9 or so. The objects I observe with my Dobson at this point are all difficult. Since I built it in 2003, I've hit a lot of the 8th, 9th and so on magnitude objects. Those that are left are around 12 to 13th magnitude. This is where Megastar comes in. I can match what I see in the eyepiece to the Megastar atlas. Once I have the star pattern in both, I can pick out the object. I can push the envelope of what an 8" mirror can see. Surprisingly enough, on good nights, 13th magnitude galaxies can be seen. On very pristine nights, the reach can be extended to 13.5th magnitude with averted vision. Those nights don't happen often. Tonight for example, I had about 2 hours of observing in. I logged around 20 or so objects with the 8" Dobson. Had I used the 31", I would most likely have had at least double that. However, now that I think about it, I may be trying to talk myself into a 16" to 18" mirror! I built this one, I can build one bigger. It's in the stars.

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May 07, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

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Unknown Exc. Exc. The skies were predicted to be really good tonight so I spent some time at Warren Rupp Observatory on the 31". However, exceptional is probably a better word. When I left at midnight, the sky was pristine. Most of the objects that I looked at in Leo just kind of jumped out at you. I only observed a few with averted vision and I observed objects from the NGC, CGCG, PGC, IC and MAC catalogues. Speaking of Leo, of the 331 objects observed so far this year, 184 (55%) have been in Leo. While I'm on the subject of statistics, 178 (54%) of those objects have been observed with the 31". While I'm no expert on the 31", the more I observe with it, the easier it gets. Bruce has repeatedly said that you pick 1 or 2 hours of right ascension to the east of the meridian and work that area of the sky until the telescope approaches the meridian. This way you don't have to stop and adjust the slit and you just move the beast in declination. On really good nights you can bang out objects with very little telescope and lift movement. I like that.

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May 06, 2007 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair I decided to sit at home and play with the binoculars tonight. Skies were about an 8-9 and I needed to get some binocular Messier objects observed. I looked at 12 more objects and called it a night. At this time I have observed 102 Messier objects with binoculars. I have more than enough for the Astronomical Society Binocular Messier Club so I submitted my results. If a certain party reads this, she'll be glad to hear that.

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Apr 21, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good I observed 2 more nights since 4/15/07 ­ 4/19/07 & 4/21/07. The skies were pretty good both nights but the night of 4/19 may have been a tad better. Both nights were spent in Leo observing galaxies from the typical catalogues. I quit around midnight both nights ­ I'm an early riser. On 4/19/07 I couldn't resist looking at M104 in Virgo. Most remarkable object. I added the Antenna galaxies in Corvus. Those would be NGC 4038/9. They're pretty neat to and worth a look this time of year.

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Apr 19, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good I observed 2 more nights since 4/15/07 ­ 4/19/07 & 4/21/07. The skies were pretty good both nights but the night of 4/19 may have been a tad better. Both nights were spent in Leo observing galaxies from the typical catalogues. I quit around midnight both nights ­ I'm an early riser. On 4/19/07 I couldn't resist looking at M104 in Virgo. Most remarkable object. I added the Antenna galaxies in Corvus. Those would be NGC 4038/9. They're pretty neat to and worth a look this time of year.

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Apr 15, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good Talk about odd weather - snow just about every day for the last week with about Ѕ" this morning. The skies started to clear this afternoon so I decided to give it a shot and observe. I arrived at the observatory about 8:15pm to passing clouds. The sky finally cleared about 9:20pm or so and away I went. I wanted to re-acquaint myself with running the 31" solo. It's been quite some time since that's happened. Fortunately, once the alignment was complete, things went pretty smooth. The alignment was great with all objects in the field of view of the 17mm Nagler. I tried out a new 32mm ­ 70є eyepiece that I had picked up last fall, on M65 & M66. It isn't a Nagler but the images are crisp just about to the edges where they start to fade somewhat. I spent a couple of hours in Leo working mostly on NGC's. In addition I picked up some CGCG's, MAC's and one IC. I observed Hickson 44 again with the 17mm ­ couldn't get four of the galaxies in the same field of view. I should have tried the 32mm but to be honest, the thought never crossed my mind. The skies were still good when I left at midnight. The temperature was around 30є or so. Had I dressed properly, I might have considered staying longer.

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Mar 20, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair What started out as a decent, clear night with promise didn't last long. Transparency was about a 7-8 at 9:00pm or so and the skies were completely trashed by 11:00. I was outside with my 8" Dobson watching all of this while Bruce was inside focused on a very small part of the sky. I called for him to come outside the dome for a second and when he stepped out he was taken aback by the sky. We closed up and were gone by 11:30pm.

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Mar 18, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 17, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good My intentions tonight were to run the Messier List. However, the early cloud cover doomed those intentions. By the time that Bruce had arrived, I had only seen seven of the first 20 objects. Six of those were with binoculars and one, lone telescope object for my 8" Dobson. I decided at that time that this was going to be a bust so I fired up Megastar and worked on the Herschel 400. For the night, I had observed all that I needed in Ursa Major but I'm still lacking the two Sculptor objects and it looks like there're several months away. Bruce was knocking faint galaxies & galaxy clusters off with the 31" and ended up with 6 pages of observations. For the weather this night, the cloud cover was around 35-40%. I observed what I could in the clear spots. When those spots came, they were very clear. The night cleared up for good around 2:30 or 3:00am (somewhere thereabouts, I was napping on the couch at that time). We called it a night at 6:25am and left. The temperature was a cool 17є F. G

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Mar 13, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair How refreshing it was to finally get the 8" Dobson out for a bit at the observatory. Winter has been too long and too cold. I had a few hours tonight with fair skies and balmy temperatures and I wanted to shorten up the Herschel list so that's what I worked on. I am 33 away from completing the Herschel 400. Most of them are in Ursa Major which is getting nice and high in the sky. That's good. The bad part is I have a galaxy in Hydra & Sculptor, a globular cluster in Sculptor and an open cluster in Scutum. Methinks they'll be tough. This is the time of year for a Messier Marathon. Unfortunately, the site is Ohio in March. The weather is currently trashy and doesn't look good for the next week. Miracles occur sometimes

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Mar 10, 2007 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 08, 2007 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Jan 11, 2007 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Dec 28, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Fair Fair Not a very good night but then I wasn't really planning on long session anyhow. The waxing moon had passed the meridian when I started and temperatures were in the mid thirties. I had completed the binocular mount a couple of days ago and I was itching to give it a go. It works pretty slick. This design is a good, solid design. Once I had the binoculars correctly balanced, they held their position wherever there were moved ­ in all directions. What a nice feeling it is to be able to observe through binoculars without having to hold them.

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Dec 20, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc.

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Dec 19, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Exc. Exc. The evening started out clear then improved to excellent. Temperatures in the low 20's. The 31" got a workout. I logged in 63 objects ­ Triangulum, Canis Major, Camelopardalis and Orion. Of those objects, most were galaxies, one open cluster, a dark nebula and one bright nebula all following Bruce's lead. Bruce owns several items, among them: 31mm Nagler T5, 2" Hydrogen Beta and OIII filters. I mention this because they were used this night with outstanding results on two objects: B33 ­ Horsehead Nebula and NGC-2359. Barnard 33 is a dark nebula in Orion and the 31mm Nagler provides a wide field. The 2" Hydrogen Beta filter is needed to observe it. Because of the exceptionally clear, dark skies, we were able to resolve the nebula with nothing left to the imagination. Photographs of this object are impressive and I agree. However, personal observation, to actually see this with one's own eyes is more preferable and rewarding. The second object was NGC 2359 ­ Thor's Helmet, in Canis Major, a large, bright nebula. The 31mm reveals a large hazy patch with nothing exceptional to observe. Add an OIII filter and see what happens. The OIII filter unleashes bright nebulosity that fills the field of the 31mm Nagler. It's a giant pinwheel with streamers on the ends. The filaments of nebulosity weave broad and narrow through stars and space. Bruce had the first look and left the eyepiece speechless. I took a look and added my silence to his. Thor's Helmet.

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Dec 18, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair Decently clear, transparency about an 8. Temperatures in high 20's. I didn't want to stay late because tomorrow night is supposed to be much better. I logged around 19 objects ­ 18 with the 31" and 1 with binoculars. The constellations were pretty much split between Perseus and Taurus. Scattered clouds rolled in around 2215 hours so I closed up the dome. When I loaded the truck up, I noticed the skies had cleared up. So out came the binoculars and Sky Atlas. But after using the 31" telescope, my heart wasn't in 12x50 binoculars! So I packed it in and left. Speaking of binoculars, I just finished up a parallelogram binocular mount based on a design by Dale Keller. http://home.att.net/~dale.keller/atm/binoculars/keller/kellerbino.ht m The mount's pretty slick and wasn't too difficult to build. However, with the binoculars and the mount, the weight is somewhere around 9-10 pounds including the counterweight. The weak link in my particular system is the tripod. What I have is suited for a camera and "light use." Putting this contraption on it really stresses the plastic of the mount. I'm either going to have to cough up the bucks for a more solid mount or build one. Cheap that I am, I'll more than likely build a tripod dedicated to the binocular mount. More to come on this later.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 27, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Nov 26, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Nov 25, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Nov 24, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce & his guests

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown Good Good Clear, transparent night. Temperature in the mid 30's or so. A number of personal issues during the night. The dome had been repaired during the day and I was itching to use the 31". So much so, that I had forgotten that in order to start, one must do a proper alignment for Megastar. I did it twice before realizing that I was using the wrong star. Whoops! Well, I got that mess straightened out and went on a tear for about an hour. Then I hit the wrong button on the keyboard and shut Megastar off. Back to the alignment procedure again. I cleaned up my mess again, then turned the 31" over to Bruce and his guests, went outside and set up my 8" Dobson. That's where I ended the night. I saw about 47 or so objects and closed up Gemini. Picked up a lot of open clusters in Monoceros. Forgot to get the ones that I needed for the Herschel List. But like I said at the start ­ I had some issues throughout the night. But I saw stuff!

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Nov 23, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Nov 22, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself, Bruce

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Unknown 9 10 Starting on this date, I've decided to start posting any updates to this web or any other activities of note. My last observing session was on the night of 11/21/06 at the Warren Rupp Observatory with Bruce Scodova. On a scale of 110 the transparency was a 10. Temperatures were in the low 20's. Since the 31" was down for repair, I observed with my 8" Dobson and Bruce with his 12.5" Meade R.G. I observed 75 objects this night. Among those objects were 27 from the Herschel 400 list. This gives me 327 objects observed with 73 objects to go. A few constellations were closed out. By closed out, I mean that all NGC/IC objects have been observed. In this case, all NGC/IC objects at <=13.0 magnitude. Those constellations are: Andromeda, Aries, Auriga, Lepus, Orion and Pegasus. They are added to these constellations that have been closed out in the past: Cygnus, Delphinus, Ophiuchus, Vulpecula and Triangulum. All told, I had made over 2000+ observations since 2003 at the end of this observing session. I mentioned above that the skies were at about a 10 for transparency. I neglected to mention that this was almost horizon to horizon. I observed NGC-1808 in Columba. This is a 10.7 magnitude galaxy at R.A. 05 07 42.8, D.E.C. -37 30 51. I had to shoot between some trees to see it but it was observed by Bruce and me. It has a near neighbor ­ NGC-1792 at 10.9 magnitude that I couldn't see, however. The night ended for me around 2:00am. I drove home, tired but with a sense of accomplishment for the nights observations. The whole point of all this from my perspective is to see stuff!

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Nov 21, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G

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Nov 14, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 09, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 29, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Oct 25, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 21, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 15, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 13, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 08, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 02, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 01, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Sep 25, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 08, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 07, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 20, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 16, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

VG

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 12, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

VG

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 01, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Jul 24, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

G-VG

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Jul 23, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

G>VG

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 16, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 15, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 29, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 28, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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May 22, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 29, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 28, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Apr 26, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc

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Apr 19, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 17, 2006 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 29, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 27, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 26, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 19, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 04, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc.

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Feb 23, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 20, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Jan 26, 2006 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 07, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Nov 02, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Oct 30, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 05, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Sep 27, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Exc.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 07, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 04, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 01, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Aug 24, 2005 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 12, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 09, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Aug 02, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Jul 31, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 09, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

VG

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 03, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F>G

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 04, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Jun 03, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F. to P.

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May 17, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F. to P.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 12, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 10, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 04, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 13, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Apr 08, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 05, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair/Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 04, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Mar 15, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 06, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 10, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Feb 03, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

F-G

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Feb 01, 2005 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 15, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 04, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 01, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 09, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 06, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 03, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 31, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 27, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 17, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 10, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 06, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 23, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 19, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 15, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 12, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Sep 04, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 23, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 21, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Aug 14, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 21, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 16, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jul 08, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Gd. - Exc

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 26, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 23, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 19, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Jun 14, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 24, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 22, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 16, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

May 12, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 16, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 14, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Apr 05, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Poor

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 23, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 19, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 13, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Avg.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 10, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Mar 09, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 28, 2004 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 25, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Feb 16, 2004 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 31, 2003 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 30, 2003 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Fair

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 28, 2003 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Dec 26, 2003 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Nov 08, 2003 Hidden Hollow - RAS Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

V.G.

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 10, 2003 Home Myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

Good

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Observation Date: Location: Observers:

Oct 12, 0012 Hidden Hollow - RAS John, Bruce, Tim, Dean and family and myself

Moon Phase: Seeing: Transparency: Notes:

3 days before new Good Very Good Blue skies all day gave way to very transparent skies at sunset. I was planning to stay late to put the 18" through its paces. Luckily, things held up very well and I was able to see a number of galaxies in the 15 magnitude range. Tonight, I just decided to run a couple of lists regardless of listed magnitude. I chose Andromeda and Camelopardalis. Andromeda kept me on the ladder while Camelopardalis was feet on the ground. I ended up with 60+ objects which for me is a great night. John arrived shortly after I had opened up the observatory. He set up his 20" and quietly worked away most of the night. We traded views of selected objects. One of those was of NGC-6888 - Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. It's a great shot with an OIII filter in his 20". However, we looked first in the 36" and that view was absolutely outstanding. Back to the 36", Bruce had given us an incredible view of the Crescent Nebula. I don't recall seeing it before but it is quite impressive. Our debate was which is better - Crescent Nebula or Thor's Helmut. All I can say is that the debate continues. John wanted to take a peek at Stephen's Quintet in Pegasus. When Bruce was able to go that direction, John got his look and I - mine. All I can say is that this was the first time in my limited observing experience that I had ever seen the nucleus of all five galaxies. That is to say that all five were easily identifiable and their cores were all bright! It was my highlight for the night. Tim arrivedafter dark and set up his 8" SCT. we traded views during the night of a couple of objects. Most notably in his telescope was the Double Cluster in Perseus. Dean was the last to arrive and quickly set up. He had brought

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his Sky Atlas and was quickly pointed to M31, M32 and M110. In the end, Dean and Tim were the first to leave. John and I followed at 2:00am leaving Bruce to continue.

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