Telescope Reviews: Some more backyard observations

Another backyard observation report...

Redlands, CA Wednesday Aug 12 2009
About 9pm until moonrise at midnight. 16" f/4.9 dob, Ostahowski refigured mirror.
Hazy with light pollution, suburban "red" zone. Could barely distinguish the major Milky Way clouds when near transit. Seeing was fair but mirror was cooling down with bubbles appearing in the out of focus view of bright stars. Had a house fan on it for much of the evening.

NGC 6886, PN in Sagitta. I tried this but failed a few days ago. But got it this time with a more detailed map, (the Triatlas Project by Torres and Skelton, the C Series, free download), plus advice from Dain to look for a distinctive triangle (Thanks Dain!). This is a tiny stellar PN at low magnifications. I tried 165x, 220x, 330x, and 440x i.e. everything I had. The 330x and 440x didn't help much but certainly confirmed that I had a PN in view. Used a Meade Narrowband filter similar to the UHC. At 220x and 330x at times I repeatedly caught a glint of a central star, and I think it was real. There was no other structure visible.

NGC 6891, PN in Delphinus. Nice, small be easier PN than 6886. This one has a bright central star. With direct vision and no filter, the star dominates. With averted vision the nebula is more obvious, much like the more famous "Blinking Nebula" but not as dramatic in this case. 165x and 220x gave the best views.

NGC 6934, GC in Delphinus. Not bad, small as GC's go but decent core brightness. Caught glints of several individual stars, in particular one near the edge of the core stood out at lower 165x power. 220x also good. Looked like it was on the verge of resolving, with a little better conditions maybe. This is in the Herschel 400.

NGC 7006, GC in Delphinus. This one is far away, distance of 135,000 lightyears from us (SEDS). Smaller and fainter that 6934, not easy to find in these suburban skies despite good pointer stars. A brightening of the core was detected, but no hint of resolution.

V Aquila, carbon star. Nice bright red color, not quite blood red like I've seen in a few others (T Lyra and Hind's Crimson star). Not far from M11.

NGC 6751. PN in Aquila, close to the V carbon star. Easy to detect as a PN but on the small, dark and featureless side. I don't recall seeing a central star.

Also took looks at M11, M27, M22 to enjoy some bright large objects. With these conditions, the hourglass of m27 was easy but the football shaped side extensions were only hinted at, even with Meade filter. Background glow of M22 not easy to see, but the low, south direction is worse for light pollution here. Numerous individual stars seen. The reddish colors of the individual stars not obviously seen as I have at dark sites. M11? Nice as always.

Did not see: IC 4997, PN in Sagitta, It is a stellar sized PN, similar stats as 6886 according to SEDS. Pretty sure I was at the right star with a detailed map, but no nebulosity visible up to 330x. Another one for my "IC nothing" catalog?

A good 7th mag double about 1 degree east of 6891.

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"