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Nine TAC-Sac members gather together at our usual site, IHOP-4, in the Sierras. It is located about 100 minutes east of Sacramento off Hwy 50 at elevation 5100 feet. 7 of the nine of us are visual observers with scopes ranging from 14.5” to 22”. There were one 14.5”, two 16”, two 18” and two 22” reflectors. Two imagers were among us, one with a TEC180FL and other with a 12” Meade LX200 with a TV85 mounted on it.
It turns out, as a very good night.
Some basics:
NELM = 6.8 – 6.9
Seeing 4/5
22” f/4 with mainly Tak LE eyepieces (10, 7.5 and 5mm) and a 20mm Pentax XW. I did use the 5mm TMB Supermonocentric on [PWM78] 2.
I decided to ramble over some of the summer obscure globular clusters and listed all negative observations. Then I got tired of looking low above the horizon all night, so I switched to Shakhbazian galaxy groups. I checked out at about 3:15AM.
Palomar 14 (16
11 00.3 +14 57 49 Mag 14.7 SB 16.7 Size
2.5’)22” (230, 306 and 460x) – Extremely faint. Intermittingly visible with averted vision as a 45” diameter round glow with a stellar core. A 12.3 magnitude star lies 1’ NNW. MAC 1610+1455, lies 2.3’ SSW. It appears as a very faint round glow with no central brightening. This galaxy is best at 458x.
Palomar 15 (16
59 50.7 -00 31 59 Mag 14.2 SB ? Size 3.0’)22” (230x and 306x) – Very faint round patch. Even surface brightness throughout its 1.5’ diameter disk. It shows better at 230x. A 13.2 and 14.1 magnitude star lies about 3’ east.
Haute Province
1 (17 31 05.2 -29 58 54 Mag
12.5 SB 12.9 Size 1.2’)22” (230 and 306x) - Faint round patch with a slightly brighter center. About 45” across. Several stars were detected on the disk. A nearly collinear trio of 12.1 to 12.6 stars lies 1’ to the north.
Palomar 7, IC
1276 (18 10 44.2 -07 12 27 Mag
10.3 SB 14.8 Size 8’)22” (115 and 230x) – Faint low surface brightness large round glow. 4 stars detected on the mottled disk, otherwise no central brightening. It is easier to observe at 115x. About 4.2’ across.
[PWM 78]
2 (17 58 39.4 -05 04 21 Mag
-- SB -- Size 2’)22” (306 and 460x) – field is easily located. Took me at least 5 minutes to just detect this extremely faint round glow. Could only hold for 50% of the time with averted vision once it was detected. I wiggled the scope and the glow wiggled with the background stars. About 30” across.
Liller
1 (17 33 24.5 -33 23 20 Mag
15.8 SB 13.2 Size 0.3’)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – star field easily located, but not detected.
Tonantzinilia
2 (17 36 10.5 -38 33 12 Mag
12.2 SB -- Size –)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – very low above horizon and almost behind trees. Appears as a very small very faint round patch. No central brightening. About 30” across. A string of 4 11 and 12th magnitude stars line from the NW to SSE.
Djorgovski
1 (17 47 28.3 -33 03 56 Mag
13.6 SB 13.1 Size 0.8’)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Not detected.
1636-283, ESO
452-SC11 (16 39 25.0 -28 23 54 Mag
12 SB 12.4 Size 1.2’)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Not detected.
UKS 1 (17 54
27.2 -24 08 43 Mag 17.3 SB
18.8 Size 2)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Not detected. This is one of the toughest visual globular clusters. My friend Jimi took several tries with his 48" before he got it.
2MASS-GC1
(18 08 21.8 -19 49 47 Mag -- SB -- Size –)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Not detected. Not likely visually possible. If you do see it, let me know.
2MASS-GC2
(18 08 36.5 -20 46 44 Mag -- SB -- Size
--)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Not detected. Not likely visually possible. If you do see it, let me know.
Arp GC2 (19 28
44.1 -30 21 14 Mag 13 SB 14.8
Size 2.3’)22” (115 and 230x) – Faint large round glow on a rich star field. The glow appears mottled, suggesting a loose globular. About 1.5’ across.
Palomar 11 (19
45 14.4 -08 00 26 Mag 9.8 SB
14.8 Size 10)22” (230 and 306x) – considerably bright, large slightly elongated (3:2) patch. PA = 60 and about 1.6’ long. The surface appears to be partially resolved, especially at 306x.
Palomar 12 (21
46 38.8 -21 15 03 Mag 11.7 SB 14
Size 2.9)22” (230, 306 and 459x) – Considerably bright round glow. It appears mottled and several individual stars could just be detected at 459x. No central concentration detected.
Palomar 13 (23 06
44.4 +12 46 19 Mag 13.8 SB 13 Size
0.7)22” (230x 306 and 459x) - surprisingly not seen. Must try again.
Pease 1 (in M15) (21 29 59.4 +12 10 26 Mag 14.9p Size 1”)
22” (638 and 820x) – Considerably faint round patch. Slightly more out of focus than the rest of the stars. Used the O-III filter to confirm the PNe.
Shakhbazian 362 (23
32 37 +19 21 34 Mag -- Size 0.9’ Number
of Galaxies 5)22” (459 and 638x) – Three collinear extremely faint galaxies barely resolved forming a line from E-W. The length of the string is about 40”. The other two members, each to the SE and SW were not detected. A 10.2 and 12.5 magnitude double star lies just 1.8’ NW.
Shakhbazian 361 (23
03 16 +17 39 40 Mag 15.1+ Size 2.8’’
Number of Galaxies 10)22” (459x and 638x) – A total of five galaxies were detected. Two southernmost galaxies appears to be almost merged, separated by less than 10”. The southern one, 2MASX J23031792+1740232, is a very faint, very small round patch. The northern galaxy of the pair, 2MASXi J2303182+174039, is a very faint 2:1 elongated glow. PA = 0. Moving about 1.0’ to the NW of the galaxy pair, 2MASX J23031464+1741072 (mag 15.1) is a very faint round glow. Moving 45” to the WNW lies 2MASX J23031184+1741232 (mag 17.59) as an extremely faint round glow. The northern most galaxy lying 1.7’ north of the first discussed pair, 2MASX J23031842+1742072, appears as a very faint round glow.
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