Galaxy Group and Unique Planetary

I set up the scope at Earth N Sky farm on November 30, 2007. The sky was quite nice. The transparency was very good and the seeing was average. Several objects were viewed but the two most notable were NGC 246, & NGC 7331.

NGC 7331 anchors an entire galaxy group. In the .65° field of view was 7331 as well as Stephan's Quintet, and 3 more galaxies to the other side of 7331. 7331 is bright and well defined. The other galaxies are faint and fuzzy - but that's what we go out for isn't it!


If you like planetaries, NGC 246 is most unique. Very large, I estimate its diameter to be 10-15 minutes. Several stars within the planetary serve to define it. I had to study it for quite a while before I could make out the details. Use of a b/w sketch helped too. Photographs from NOAO.edu.

Clear Skies!
Eric Smith

Observing Report for NWGAA November Observing

It was a fairly good night for observing with the Northwest Georgia
Astronomical Association even though the transparency was not so great
and the occasional wispy band of cloud drifted out of the West. On this
night I was using the Oberwerk 20x80 binoculars.

I observed 8 more objects on the Astroleague's Binocular Messier Club
list, admired the Pleiades and the Perseus Double Cluster, casually
swept the star fields of the Milky Way and got my first look at Comet
17p Holmes.

The Comet was a pretty impressive sight in the binoculars. It was
visible to the naked eye as a large fuzzy just below the star Mirfak in
Perseus. It filled about 25% of the FOV of the binoculars and had a
fairly clear brighter core a bit off-center. I could make out a bit of
elongation, but nothing like a tail.

On the Messier List I got a look at these objects:

* M29 - A small cluster, but sharp and clear. Looked a bit like a
little butterfly or moth
* M56 - Small and very diffuse, I could not resolve the stars at
the center of the cluster
* M27 Dumbbell Nebula - Not hard to locate, but hard to really see.
No trace of the dumbbell shape with the binocs.
* M71 - Another small globular cluster, but the core resolved
reasonably well.
* M31 Andromeda Galaxy - Very large, of course, but not so clear
due to light pollution in the East. More or less a long oval light patch
with a brighter core.
* M32 & M110 Satellite Galaxies to M31 - Visible in the same FOV
with Andromeda, but very faint.
* M33 Triangulum Galaxy - Fairly large but faint. No real detail
apparent in the arms.

And, of course, I greatly enjoyed the companionship of my fellow amateur
astronomers.


--
Craig Jones
www.webjones.net

November Observing from EarthNSky

We had a good turn out last night for NWGAA monthly observing. The seeing conditions were not very good though. Thin blankets of moisture periodically formed hindering the transparency and the seeing was terrible - worst at EarthNSky I have ever seen. I thought that as the night aged the conditions would improve. The transparency did improve some and wasn't too bad. But the seeing, if anything, got worse. I left the field about 11:15pm. The highlight of the night was comet 17P Holmes. This thing has just gotten huge. It completely fills the field of view provided by my 35mm 2" eyepiece in my LX200GPS 10". Its annular quality is giving way to that which we would consider a more normal comet look. Attached is a sketch I made just before I packed up.

Eric

17P Holmes & More

My wife and I headed over to the park in Fairy Valley along Hwy 411 in Murray County to catch a glimpse of the "new" comet. After setup and letting the scope cool for a bit (and the lights on the ball field finally being shut down), the stars were out nice and steady.

The scope reported a nippy 48 degF. and off we went to find the comet. At 136X with a Plossl eyepiece, the tail of the comet filled the entire FOV. The nucleus could be seen off center within the plume and was irregular but very bright. The color was a yellowish green through my scope with no filters.

We gazed at several other objects through the unusually steady air. The Ring Nebula, a favorite, was quite impressive at 258X - at 395X which sometimes brings out the central star with my 14" scope (with averted vision), the view was not so good. M13 was impressive even though it was a bit low in the sky. Another favorite is Albireo and it was equally impressive splitting into vivid blue and gold stars.

Almost an hour had past since looking at the comet so we pointed the scope back that way. It was a bit higher in the sky, but the color had not changed. I did not have my wide field eyepiece to get a look at just how big of a plume of debris was trailing, but a view that was good enough for me just the same - a view that I have never seen quite like it!

Hank Blackwood

Moon & Jupiter

Name: Isaiah Short
Observing Site: Backyard
Observing Date: 3/11/2007
Observing Time: 5:55 am to 6:45 am
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 8
Equipment: Meade Computer aided Telescope, and Binoculars

This morning I went outside to see the Moon near Jupiter. It was a pretty sight. I also saw other things like some moons of jupiter, craters on the moon, and the big dipper. I could not see much because clouds started rolling in. Anyway if you want
to see the pictures that I took go to my web site . . . xanga.com/astronomyrocs


Isaiah Short A student at Rome Middle School

Lunar Eclipse Photos by Isaiah Short

March 3, 2007 Lunar Eclipse. Photos taken by NWGAA member Isaiah Short by placing digital camera into eyepiece receptacle.

NWGAA Cherokee, First Sidewalk Astronomy Event

Name: Ed (Ookii Mamoru)
Observing Site: Wal-Mart Canton Parking Lot
Observing Date: 3/3/2007
Observing Time: 6::20 pm to 8:00 pm
Seeing: 4
Transparency: 3
Equipment: 80mm Refractor, 5 In Reflector, 10x50 bio

Interest:

30 odd looks by drivers by, gave up counting after dark

Number of Inquires "What are you looking at?" by drivers buy - 10

1 Smart Donkey question. Do you see it yet?

Number of guest to look through a scope - 7.

2 wanted contact information, one wanted a business card.

Equipment, One Meade 80mm refractor, One Celestron 5 In Reflector. Both using a 25mm eye piece. One pair of 10x50 Binoculars.

Skies were moderate to heavy overcast, and the wind chill was bitter.

6:35 PM The equipment has been set up for about twenty minutes. The Sky does not look promising.

7:02 PM Greg and I were both about ready to give up, there had to have been something. The clouds most be too dense. Two guest arrived. I was explaining that Greg and I were waiting form the Moon to come over the Horizon, and that we had yet to see it. We were going to wait a few more minutes before packing the equipment away. One guest exclaimed while pointing "Is that it?", and sure enough it was. Obscured by clouds, a razor thin crescent moon. With no other features visible to the naked eye. I quickly got both scopes set aimed and pointed. Very little detail could be made out. I’m uncertain m but I think I was looking at some Mt. Ranges, could have been the optics. I could barely make out any of the moon.

The Moon was darker, way darker than I was expectation. For about the first 20% the moon was a dirty brown. Not the red I was wanting to see. At this point the disk final became prominent. No real deatil was available until after 30% of the Moon was out of eclipses.

Had a lot of fun teaching Greg how to point the Meade. I could not get the finder scope to work properly.

8:00 PM The reflective light of the moon was getting to be too much, and the ambient light pollution was to much to even try using the laser pointer to look at any other object.

Goals for the future, need a larger sign for sidewalk astronomy with Public Viewing promptly displayed. I think such a sign would have gotten more cars to stop. Business Cards for the group.

Ed

Saturn w/ New 8" F7 Planetary Newtonian

Name: Curt Diggs
Observing Site: Home (near Dallas, GA)
Observing Date: 2/18/07
Observing Time: 9:00 pm to 10:30 pm
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 8
Equipment: Home built 8" F7 Planetary Newtonian on GEM mount

Seeing was good to excellent with slight to moderate atmospheric turbulence. The transparency was excellent.

I spent about an hour observing Saturn at various powers to get an idea of this new scope's limits and capabilities as a planetary-type scope. The mounting is inadequate (an older GEM from an 8" SCT on a home-built pedestal base) and previous attempts had been frustrated by wind-caused vibration. This evening was relatively still so I was able to get long periods of
observation with a steady image.

Saturn's rings were easily resolved at even the lowest powers (55x) and the Cassini division became resolvable at around 100x. The highest power I can get currently with my eyepieces and Barlow combination is 300x. This proved to be too much magnification and turbulence seriously disturbed the image (turbulence is magnified right along with the image under observation). The ideal power turned out to be 200x which was achieved by using the 14mm ED and a 2x Barlow.

I set my observing stool up and was able to spend long minutes at the eyepiece in a relatively relaxed and unstrained position. I believe this contributes significantly to the ability to pull the finer details out.

Although Cassini's division was almost always resolved and clear, finer planetary details would go in and out as the atmospheric turbulence came and went. Over the course of about an hour, I got several 5 to 10 second periods when the turbulence almost completely stopped. The views of Saturn during those brief periods made the long waits between them totally worthwhile.

I hate to use the (overused) term "Hubblesque" to describe the images but that thought passed through my head as the image cleared and much of the subtle detail seen in Hubble photographs of Saturn popped out. The crepe ring began very obvious which I had seen before but had never seen the color (reddish brown) and the fine demarcation lines in the set of rings just outward from the crepe ring. These were only visible for a few seconds but were unmistakeable.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the operation of the new scope except for the mounting. The old GEM is just not up to the long F7 tube so a new, sturdier mount is under construction.

A Night at Camp Sydney Dew

Observing Site: Camp Sidney Dew (AKA Boy Scout Camp)
Observing Date: 2/10/2007
Observing Time: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Seeing: 10 (the best)
Transparency: 10 (the best)
Equipment: Binoculars, and a Monoscope

This Saturday was a very great night for viewing. I saw things like Orion, Orion nebula, M45, Venus, Saturn, Meteors, and satellites. These objects were very clear in the sky. It was a little cold outside. But it was worth it. Also I had some of my friends come out there as well they were also amazed at what they saw. Most of them were looking at Saturn. Why? Because this was the night that Saturn was at its opposition. This means that even with a small scope you should be able to see Saturn's rings. Overall this was a great night of viewing.

Isaiah Short
A Student at Rome Middle School