A globy morning - 5/6/11

[m_j_lyons]

So after working for 11 straight days I rewarded my first day off by getting up at 3:25am to continue on my Messier list quest. Our community park just opened so I decided to give observing there a go - while walking the dogs through the area I noted that I could see the Beehive Cluster naked eye from the park due to the absense of my community's annoying street lights. Light pollution was still bad in all quadrants except west (no houses/streets that way).

Overall it was a good 90 minutes spent observing prior to the morning sky glow forcing me home. As ususal there were a number of NEW finds, REVISITS to old friends, and a few DNF (did not finds).

I chose this time to observe (vs last night) because of the location of Serpens and all the DSOs in the vicinity.

First up were a few 'eye calibration' clusters - M7 and M6 were very quick finds and while they showed up fine the light pollution to the South washed them out. All the stars of M6 showed the same color this morning and M7 was far less beautiful than it was the first time I'd observed it.

I followed up the gap between Ophiuchus and Scorpius observing the globulars M62, NGC6304, and M19. All were nothing more than very faint fuzz balls...M62 and M19 were seen relatively easily but NGC6304 was a challenge - averted vision ONLY. And none of the clusters offered any detail or individual stars.

Next I moved over into Ophiuchus and observed M9 for the second time - not an easy GC for me to find but I did find it. Very faint - no detail visible.

From there I shot the gap between Serpens and Sagittarius to find M23. Decent view of the cluster but LP took away what was mostly likely a really good view.

Now down into Sagittarius where I spent most of the rest of my morning. M20/M21 were next up - been there before and the view hadn't really changed. M21 was easy enough to pick out and there was some faint nebulosity in M20...nothing like Orion, but it was there. I was unable to find the Lagoon Nebula (M8)...don't know what I'm doing wrong but I've never been able to say "Yes, I've seen it".

Down to M22 and M28. M28 was now a 'standard GC' for me - very faint...no structure, no individual stars. Moving over to M22 changed my opinion - WOW! Becuase it is so close ("close" being a relative term of course) this GC really stood out and was magnificient. Many individual stars were visible and the globular structure was clearly visible. Even some brighter lanes of stars may have been visible. I'll definitely be back and look at it under higher magnification.

Next I cleaned up the bottom of the Tea Pot - M69, M70, and M54. M69 was very faint and ended up being a challenge. M70 stood out pretty well and the line of mag 9.x stars were a clear sign post. M54 was pretty easy to find also. I had no luck with M55 but with less than 15 minutes before skyglow was going to drive me home I didn't spend too much time star hopping.

Seeing Casseopia led me to do my first obsevation of Andromeda (M32) for many months - quick, easy find...mediocre viewing becuase it was so low in the sky...but there she was.

Ok, now comes for the call for help - I spent the next 10 minutes trying ID galaxy M109 in Ursa Major. Starting at Phad I go over to the line of stars between mag 8.6 and 9.6...those are easy to find and track. M109 should be right next to the middle star in the line. But nothing appears there. Stellarium says that it is a mag 9.8 object...but my guess is that surface brightness is much lower...but how low? Stellarium doesn't show surface brightness. Help!

With the skyglow came the expected retreat home for some more coffee and crossfit. 8 new Messier (+1 NGC) to add to the log - not a bad morning. Weather permitting I'll be out 24 hours later to get more DSOs around the top of the Tea Cup and over towards Vega.

Here's to clear dark skies where you are.

[swamp thing]

Hi

Nice report.

Cannot understand how you can see M20 and miss M8 its much easier and brighter. Are you sure that your not observing M8 and missing M20?

M109 should be in the same field as Phad in your low power eyepiece. It washes out pretty easy I believe its surface brightness is low about mag 13.5 per square arc minute.

Its not an easy Galaxy.

Good hunting and clear skies.

Regards Steve

[m_j_lyons]

Hi

Nice report.

Cannot understand how you can see M20 and miss M8 its much easier and brighter. Are you sure that your not observing M8 and missing M20?

M109 should be in the same field as Phad in your low power eyepiece. It washes out pretty easy I believe its surface brightness is low about mag 13.5 per square arc minute.

Its not an easy Galaxy.

Good hunting and clear skies.

Regards Steve

Hmm...M8 - I hear ya. I don't know what's up either. I know I'm looking at M20/21 though becuase it all matches with Stellarium. Light pollution to my south is pretty bad (I set it to 7 and occassioinally 8 in Stellarium)...so if the Lagoon Neb is prone to being washed out easily I'll place the blame there. I'm not giving up.

M109 - my scope is limited to around mag 11 - so if it's got a brighntess of 13.5 I'll have to wait to get a bigger scope.

Cheers.

[tom33pr]

Great read, thanks!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. Great what you can see despite the LP.