January 15, 2012: Mixed bag of DSOs and a planet

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yesterday was very clear initially, with some very thin haze arriving later, and slowly thickening.

I aimed the scope at Jupiter at about 20:00, just to align the big finder. As I looked through the EP, I noticed a shadow transit was in progress (Io). The air seemed very stable so I went for the 8mm Radian (254x), and the view was just splendid. I managed to take a few shots with the webcam as posted here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/171039-jan-15-2012-my-best-jupiter-so-far.html

Moving to galaxies: Cetus positioned quite well, so I first had a look at M77, which showed up nicely. Nearby NGC 1055 only gave some tantalizing hints, but nothing certain. I think the nearby mag 7 star causes too much glare.

I moved on to NGC 936 (the Darth Vader Galaxy). This barred spiral stood out well. Quite easy in direct vision and more detail in averted.

IC 1613 (Caldwell 51) was next. This is very difficult. I only appears as a very vague blotchy structure south of a mag 8 star at the western end of Cetus. In averted vision, and only when moving the scope subtly, some blotches kept popping up near the same stars. No clear central condensation was seen. I checked the photographs of this dwarf irregular galaxy, and I seem to be getting the blotches in the right place, but I do want to give this another try to confirm it (first thing this evening if possible).

I went back to observing Jupiter a while. Io had just left the limb of the planet, but the shadow was still there.

Back to DSOs, I tried to get IC 351 and IC 2003 in Perseus again, just like yesterday, but no luck. I will try to work out the exact position using sketches and photos I have since found.

Staying in Perseus, I nabbed NGC 1513, which I had previously missed in both 15x70 bins and the 80mm F/6.

M42 showed much less detail than yesterday, though I could make out at least the E component of the Trapezium at 93x. I think I was looking for the F component in the wrong place.

I had a quick look at the Running Man (NGC 1977), but that too was looking washed out compared to yesterday, when it showed real structure. Evidently haze was getting thicker, and I gave up hope of getting mag 12 galaxies and the like, needed to bag the first supernova of the year.

So three new DSOs, a few old, and a few failures, and the best view I have ever had of Jupiter. Not bad after such a long spell of bad whether.