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MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1329
Loc: Redlands, CA
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There was a request on the Reflectors Forum recently for more posted observations, so here goes...
This Monday night (Aug 10, 2009) allowed about an hour of observation before my workweek bedtime. Observation in suburban Redlands CA with notable light pollution (red zone). The milky way was not visible tonight, though I have seen faint traces of it on other nights. Estimating LM around 4.0 based on other nights' more detailed observations. No clouds visible during the day but there was some haze. Used the 16" f/4.9 dob with recently refigured main mirror (Wonderful: More on that in another future post!!). Seeing was decent but mirror with house fan on it was still cooling off during the hour. Low to medium magnifications were acceptable.
M71, GC in Sagitta. Numerous individual stars with a faint glow detectable. Nice view. Would be much nicer in dark skies of course. Does not look like the typical globular cluster, and was for the earlier years classified as an open cluster. Magnifications 80x to 165x.
NGC 6905, PN in Delphinus. Saw this on the S&T Pocket SKy Atlas (PSA) and gave it a try. It is in the Herschel 400 list. The PSA had enough stars printed to make this a fairly easy starhop. With a Meade Narrow band filter (similar to UHC), the PN was easy to find and had a nice look. Roughly circular, decent size, a rough texture but no noticeable holes, no central star was visible. Without the Meade filter, the PN was visible but the view not as good. Magnifcation used was 165x, also easily visible at 80x when searching. Definitely worth revisiting at a dark site.
Tried but did not find nearby NGC 6886 PN in Sagitta, it is a stellar sized PN and would need higher magnifications and a more detailed chart.
Double stars along the way: Zeta and Theta Sagitta were two nice ones worth stopping for, easy splits.
Mike Ratcliff
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16" f/4.9 dob, 1.25" Paracorr, 24 TV Widefield, 18 Circle T ortho, 13 Nagler T6, 12.5 UO ortho,
9 Circle T ortho, 2x TV Barlow 1.25"
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JayinUT
I'm not Sleepy
Reged: 09/19/08
Posts: 953
Loc: Utah
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Sounds like a quick but a good and productive night. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Jay in Utah
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Location: Lat: 40.514N Long: -112.032W
Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth.
— Ptolemy, c.150 AD
My Blog
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16395
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Several of the globular clusters look odd in that manner.
Thank you for posting an observing report, Mike.
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Ted
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MikeRatcliff
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/12/04
Posts: 1329
Loc: Redlands, CA
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Thanks all. I should add that M71 I've seen many times. NGC 6905 was a new one for me.
Mike
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16" f/4.9 dob, 1.25" Paracorr, 24 TV Widefield, 18 Circle T ortho, 13 Nagler T6, 12.5 UO ortho,
9 Circle T ortho, 2x TV Barlow 1.25"
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Patricko
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/30/07
Posts: 1534
Loc: SE New Mexico USA
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Hi Mike, great post! Most seem to find that PNs take lots of magnification to tease out additional details. I've yet ot see N6905 myself but hope to find it soon.
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Clear skies,
Patrick
INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY ASSOCIATION
60MM TELESCOPE CLUB!
"You can always have better, but will you ever be happy with what you have?" - Me, myself, and I
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Dain
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/24/05
Posts: 1596
Loc: N.Y. Adirondack Mnts. NGC 4565...
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Mike,
I was the person on the Reflector Forum inviting more folks to come down to post observations. Its great to see a new observation posted here! Its been a bit quiet here lately. From the looks of it, looks like you got in a nice quick observing session. Its more then I've had in about a month and a half. NGC 6886 is doable in my 8" dob at high powers ( around 244x ) but its a little tough since its so small and in a heavily populated star field. It sits as part of a triangle of stars wit two of equal mag. but what makes it stand out is that theres slight enlongation to it. Hope you can bag it next time. Thanks for the post! I love reading these from other folks.
Clear Skies to you All!
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Best,
Dain
Adirondack Mountains (my true dark sky site)
@ Cedar River Flow
Local Site
Clear Skies?
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YankeeJeff
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/11/06
Posts: 537
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
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Thanks for the post Mike. I was bugging folks for reports also. I'm waiting for my skies to improve but love to read these in the meantime. Living in a white zone (yuck), its always great to read the details of others with better views.
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Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
24Pan, 17T4, 13T6, 11T6, 9BTMB, 8TVpl, 7T6, 5T6, 3.5T6, 5/6BTMBs
Z10"Dob, Paracorr, 2xBrlw, Telrad, RACI,°Circles, )Spider
FBF, Brooklyn: 
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