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Date: 29 Jul 2006 00:24:40
From: Marty
Subject: The APOD made me do it...
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After checking out yesterday's APOD, and seeing a beautiful picture of a
bright galaxy in Pegasus, I got to wondering if I'd ever seen it... I
checked out Lugenbuhl and Skiff's "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of
Deep-Sky Objects" where I usually put a check mark beside things I've
seen, and no... no check mark. A bright island universe I'd never seen!
I located it on the Skalnate Pleso Atlas, (you older guys know what
I'm talking about,) and then found it in the Uranometria 2000. No
really close stars to find it by, but not a real difficult leap up from
Eta Pegasi, which with it's surrounding stars forms a sort of "Y," one
arm of which points in the direction of 7331, about one finder scope
field away.
First, I ran out with 11x80 binoculars. The night was clear, but
hazy with the day's humidity. (I was still stinking rancid from mowing
the lawn in the evening heat, and tired from a long drive earlier.) I
was sure I was looking at the right field, but I couldn't identify the
blur of the galaxy among all the humidity blurred stars...
I was tired, but I had a score to settle with this thing, so I went
back in and got my old C8 and set up at the bottom of the hill by my
house. That way, the light from the "Church Parking Lot of Perpetual
Light Pollution" about a block away would at least be hidden from my
direct view. The same light pollution that made it easy to set things
up wasn't going to help observing galaxies... Anyway, I found my little
"Y" of stars in Pegasus' front leg, and made my finder scope field width
jump in the right general direction... It took a few tries, but soon I
picked up a little oval blur... light that had been traveling for 50
million years was rattling down through my telescope, hitting my retina,
and ending it's journey. The humid murk made making a decent sketch an
exercise in futility, but as I clicked eyepieces past in my turret, the
galaxy bore magnification well. I made a mental note of 3 stars forming
a small angle near the galaxy so that I could confirm that I hadn't
stumbled onto some other galaxy... not likely, but still... Yup, the
same three stars show above the galaxy on the APOD picture. I'm gonna
have to visit this thing again sometime!
Before going back inside, I swung my scope to the south and checked
out the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae (nebulas? nebuli?) and then hopped up
to Scutum to visit the Wild Duck Cluster. Even with the haze,
magnification helped darken the sky a bit, showing things off better. I
looked around a bit, just admiring the night and the occasional firefly.
Then I broke things down and hauled it all back inside.
All in all, a great night! I gotta get out more often...
Marty
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 14:14:41
From: Sam Wormley
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Marty wrote:
> After checking out yesterday's APOD, and seeing a beautiful picture of a
> bright galaxy in Pegasus, I got to wondering if I'd ever seen it... I
> checked out Lugenbuhl and Skiff's "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of
> Deep-Sky Objects" where I usually put a check mark beside things I've
> seen, and no... no check mark. A bright island universe I'd never seen!
> I located it on the Skalnate Pleso Atlas, (you older guys know what
> I'm talking about,) and then found it in the Uranometria 2000. No
> really close stars to find it by, but not a real difficult leap up from
> Eta Pegasi, which with it's surrounding stars forms a sort of "Y," one
> arm of which points in the direction of 7331, about one finder scope
> field away.
> First, I ran out with 11x80 binoculars. The night was clear, but
> hazy with the day's humidity. (I was still stinking rancid from mowing
> the lawn in the evening heat, and tired from a long drive earlier.) I
> was sure I was looking at the right field, but I couldn't identify the
> blur of the galaxy among all the humidity blurred stars...
> I was tired, but I had a score to settle with this thing, so I went
> back in and got my old C8 and set up at the bottom of the hill by my
> house. That way, the light from the "Church Parking Lot of Perpetual
> Light Pollution" about a block away would at least be hidden from my
> direct view. The same light pollution that made it easy to set things
> up wasn't going to help observing galaxies... Anyway, I found my little
> "Y" of stars in Pegasus' front leg, and made my finder scope field width
> jump in the right general direction... It took a few tries, but soon I
> picked up a little oval blur... light that had been traveling for 50
> million years was rattling down through my telescope, hitting my retina,
> and ending it's journey. The humid murk made making a decent sketch an
> exercise in futility, but as I clicked eyepieces past in my turret, the
> galaxy bore magnification well. I made a mental note of 3 stars forming
> a small angle near the galaxy so that I could confirm that I hadn't
> stumbled onto some other galaxy... not likely, but still... Yup, the
> same three stars show above the galaxy on the APOD picture. I'm gonna
> have to visit this thing again sometime!
> Before going back inside, I swung my scope to the south and checked
> out the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae (nebulas? nebuli?) and then hopped up
> to Scutum to visit the Wild Duck Cluster. Even with the haze,
> magnification helped darken the sky a bit, showing things off better. I
> looked around a bit, just admiring the night and the occasional firefly.
> Then I broke things down and hauled it all back inside.
> All in all, a great night! I gotta get out more often...
> Marty
>
I've got a "Church Parking Lot of Perpetual Light Pollution" about a
block away too--sometimes I erect a "Blind" with tarp, tent poles, ropes
and stakes.
Thanks for that observing report Marty!
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 10:28:54
From: Marty
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Hi Sam!
>I've got a "Church Parking Lot of
> Perpetual Light Pollution" about a =A0
> block away too--sometimes I erect a
> "Blind" with tarp, tent poles, ropes =A0 and
> stakes.
I can't figure out why they do that. It's like they think somebody's
gonna steal the pavement in the middle of the night. There's one sort
of big man in that church I might work it into the conversation with
sometime, but I doubt if it will help... I suspect the minister over
there just likes it LIGHT all the time. If they could just shield the
damn things... Otherwise, I've got a pretty good situation, with
cemetery to my south, and farmland to my east.
>Thanks for that observing report Marty!
Well, there isn't much there to start a thread, but I print things like
that off and glue 'em into my observing log. If I just wrote it out,
it'd be more cryptic. SAA makes me write out reports I have more fun
looking back on later. :)
Hope everything's treating you well over your way Sam!
Marty
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 11:07:09
From: Marty
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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hmmm. I meant to send that last reply straight to Sam. I'm getting old
and dumb though...
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 16:47:32
From: Sam Wormley
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Marty wrote:
> hmmm. I meant to send that last reply straight to Sam. I'm getting old
> and dumb though...
>
Hardly!
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 10:18:47
From: RMOLLISE
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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>
> I can't figure out why they do that. It's like they think somebody's
> gonna steal the pavement in the middle of the night.
Hi:
Oddly, for such a place, I think the motivation is FEAR.
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:
Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
and
The Urban Astronomer's Guide
<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland >
The Annual SCT User Imaging Contest is Underway!
<http://www.rothritter.com/contest/2006/ >
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 15:20:24
From: Jan Owen
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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"Marty" <movac5@webtv.net > wrote in message
news:28122-44CAF118-199@storefull-3332.bay.webtv.net...
> After checking out yesterday's APOD, and seeing a beautiful picture of a
> bright galaxy in Pegasus, I got to wondering if I'd ever seen it... I
> checked out Lugenbuhl and Skiff's "Observing Handbook and Catalogue of
> Deep-Sky Objects" where I usually put a check mark beside things I've
> seen, and no... no check mark. A bright island universe I'd never seen!
> I located it on the Skalnate Pleso Atlas, (you older guys know what
> I'm talking about,) and then found it in the Uranometria 2000. No
> really close stars to find it by, but not a real difficult leap up from
> Eta Pegasi, which with it's surrounding stars forms a sort of "Y," one
> arm of which points in the direction of 7331, about one finder scope
> field away.
> First, I ran out with 11x80 binoculars. The night was clear, but
> hazy with the day's humidity. (I was still stinking rancid from mowing
> the lawn in the evening heat, and tired from a long drive earlier.) I
> was sure I was looking at the right field, but I couldn't identify the
> blur of the galaxy among all the humidity blurred stars...
> I was tired, but I had a score to settle with this thing, so I went
> back in and got my old C8 and set up at the bottom of the hill by my
> house. That way, the light from the "Church Parking Lot of Perpetual
> Light Pollution" about a block away would at least be hidden from my
> direct view. The same light pollution that made it easy to set things
> up wasn't going to help observing galaxies... Anyway, I found my little
> "Y" of stars in Pegasus' front leg, and made my finder scope field width
> jump in the right general direction... It took a few tries, but soon I
> picked up a little oval blur... light that had been traveling for 50
> million years was rattling down through my telescope, hitting my retina,
> and ending it's journey. The humid murk made making a decent sketch an
> exercise in futility, but as I clicked eyepieces past in my turret, the
> galaxy bore magnification well. I made a mental note of 3 stars forming
> a small angle near the galaxy so that I could confirm that I hadn't
> stumbled onto some other galaxy... not likely, but still... Yup, the
> same three stars show above the galaxy on the APOD picture. I'm gonna
> have to visit this thing again sometime!
> Before going back inside, I swung my scope to the south and checked
> out the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae (nebulas? nebuli?) and then hopped up
> to Scutum to visit the Wild Duck Cluster. Even with the haze,
> magnification helped darken the sky a bit, showing things off better. I
> looked around a bit, just admiring the night and the occasional firefly.
> Then I broke things down and hauled it all back inside.
> All in all, a great night! I gotta get out more often...
> Marty
>
Great post, as usual, Marty...
There's always something very personal about your observations that I really
enjoy... I think you must have a bit of Leslie Peltier in your blood...
Thanks again!!!
--
Jan Owen
To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 15:33:41
From: Howard Lester
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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"Jan Owen" wrote
> Great post, as usual, Marty...
>
> There's always something very personal about your observations that I
> really enjoy... I think you must have a bit of Leslie Peltier in your
> blood...
>
> Thanks again!!!
Yes, Our Mr. Sun does have a certain...je ne sais quoi, n'est-ce pas?
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 18:10:14
From: Marty
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Jan was saying
>I think you must have a bit of Leslie
> Peltier in your blood...
Could be, but I'm sure I was under the legal limit.
Marty
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 15:38:40
From: Jan Owen
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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"Howard Lester" <heylester@dakotacom.net > wrote in message
news:12cnoi828knil5c@corp.supernews.com...
> "Jan Owen" wrote
>
>> Great post, as usual, Marty...
>>
>> There's always something very personal about your observations that I
>> really enjoy... I think you must have a bit of Leslie Peltier in your
>> blood...
>>
>> Thanks again!!!
>
> Yes, Our Mr. Sun does have a certain...je ne sais quoi, n'est-ce pas?
Mais oui!
--
Jan Owen
To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 17:50:57
From: Marty
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Howard said
>Our Mr. Sun does have a certain...je ne
> sais quoi, n'est-ce pas?
OK, WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME???
Marty
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 23:30:57
From: Sam Wormley
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
|
Marty wrote:
> Howard said
>
>>Our Mr. Sun does have a certain...je ne
>>sais quoi, n'est-ce pas?
>
>
> OK, WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME???
> Marty
>
Sound like affection from the likes of Peter Schickele (public radio)!
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 16:27:04
From: Jan Owen
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
|
"Marty" <movac5@webtv.net > wrote in message
news:19901-44CBE651-368@storefull-3335.bay.webtv.net...
> Howard said
>>Our Mr. Sun does have a certain...je ne
>> sais quoi, n'est-ce pas?
>
> OK, WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME???
> Marty
>
Best ask Howard. I just agreed with him... Heheheh!!!
Don't ask the French.
They're all hiding under the nearest cover, and trying to make sure someone
ELSE will be responsible for anything and everything, as long as THEY don't
have to raise a finger...
--
Jan Owen
To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 12:44:53
From: RMOLLISE
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Martin R. Howell wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:24:40 -0500, Marty wrote:
>
> > All in all, a great night! I gotta get out more often...
>
>
> . . .and the next time you do, why not put yourself to a real and genuine
> challenge. Just about a half of degree away from NGC 7331 resides
> Stephan's Quintet. If you can muster up anything better than 5th magnitude
> skies and have good transparency, I think you should be able to detect
> "something."
>
>
>
Yeah...it's a challenge alright. In a C8, I can, under dark skies, see
there is "something there," but it's the nature of a single
fizzy-fuzzy-fuzzball rather than a group of galaxies. Of course, even
an humble Meade color DSI attached to the same scope will not only
reveal all the members, but details in them ...
In the suburbs? A buddy of mine's 24-inch would, at one time, reveal
all five visually with a little lookin'. As his skies have got worse,
the Quintet has faded, however, and now tends to that same "single
fuzzy patch" status. ;-(
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:
Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
and
The Urban Astronomer's Guide
<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland >
The Annual SCT User Imaging Contest is Underway!
<http://www.rothritter.com/contest/2006/ >
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 10:39:14
From: Martin R. Howell
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:24:40 -0500, Marty wrote:
> All in all, a great night! I gotta get out more often...
. . .and the next time you do, why not put yourself to a real and genuine
challenge. Just about a half of degree away from NGC 7331 resides
Stephan's Quintet. If you can muster up anything better than 5th magnitude
skies and have good transparency, I think you should be able to detect
"something."
--
Martin R. Howell
"The Astro Post"
www.theastropost.com
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 16:12:59
From: Marty
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Martin Howell was saying
>and the next time you do, why not put
> yourself to a real and genuine
> challenge. Just about a half of degree
> away from NGC 7331 resides Stephan's
> Quintet.
Yeah, I noticed that famous little wad of galaxies on the charts as I
was planning my "hop." Someday I'm gonna go after 'em, but I'll have to
get a few miles south of town on a better night for ME to be able to
pick 'em up with my C8. :)
I was mainly surprised to find a galaxy as bright and easy as 7331
that I hadn't seen! I'll have to scrounge back through my log to make
sure, but I don't think I've ever seen it before.
Marty
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Date: 29 Jul 2006 10:17:29
From: RMOLLISE
Subject: Re: The APOD made me do it...
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Marty wrote:
> After checking out yesterday's APOD, and seeing a beautiful picture of a
> bright galaxy in Pegasus, I got to wondering if I'd ever seen it...
Hi Marty:
You're talking NGC 7331 and the Deerlick Group, right? I'm surprised
you've never been over that-a-way...long time favorite down here, both
for visual observing and imaging.
Why "Deerlick"? I suppose the little NGC galaxies are the deer and 7331
is the lick. I find the deer fairly easy from a medium dark site with a
C11 or C14, though they certainly won't put your eye out. There are
numerous other dim little galaxies scattered across this field which
show themselves pretty easily to a CCD cam.
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:
Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
and
The Urban Astronomer's Guide
<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland >
The Annual SCT User Imaging Contest is Underway!
<http://www.rothritter.com/contest/2006/ >
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