Observing report, 10" f/5, 7/19/2003

Date: Saturday night, 7/19/2003, 9:30pm to 11:30pm local PDT
Location: Cottonwood Spring campground, Joshua Tree National Park, =
Calif.
Equipment: 10" f/5 dob (Guan Sheng)

Almost a week past full moon gives about a two hour window of darkness =
this time of year. Took the new Guan Sheng 10" f/5 to Cottonwood =
Campground for the evening. Drove through the trailhead parking lot but =
no one was there so decided to stay in the upper loop in the campground. =
Was only one other site occupied tonight by some German tourists. Quite =
surprising to find the campground so empty on a Saturday night. (Yay!) =
Weather has been very muggy recently so although there were no clouds =
tonight it was fairly hazy. On the Bortle scale i'd say skies were about =
class 4.

Started with M51, the Whirlpool galaxy, in Canes Venatici high in the =
north west. Bright and easy with its companion 5195. Not sure if i can =
actually see the spiral structure but is definitely mottled. My SkyTools =
chart shows a couple nearby galaxies as well. 5198 easily fits in the =
same 62x field with M51. Small and round. Fairly easy to spot at mag =
12.7. 5173 at mag 13.6 however is very hard. Just able to glimpse with =
averted vision.

M101 in Ursa Major is large and round but i could see no real details =
other than a brightening toward the center. Tracked down a few nearby =
galaxies: 5473 (mag 12.5), 5485 (12.4), 5422 (12.9) harder but slightly =
elongated, 5474 (11.7) large and pretty easy. Could not locate PGC 49448 =
at mag 13.8.

Galaxy 5907 in Draco is a perfect edge-on spiral. Very nice. Extremely =
elongated. Spindle-like. Also some other interesting galaxies in this =
area: 5866, aka M102, at mag 10.7 is fairly easy. Two little galaxies =
5905 (mag 13) and 5908 (12.8) form a dim little pair south of 5907. One =
last in the area is 5879 (12.2). Fun to just pan around from one galaxy =
to the other and back again.

Spent most of the rest of the evening before moonrise just wandering =
around starclouds in Cygnus. Both halves of the Veil were quite plain =
with the eastern portion showing some details. (Someday i'll get a O-III =
filter.) Tried for the Crescent nebula, 6888, in Cygnus but i pretty =
much got lost in all the stars and could not locate. I wasn't exactly =
sure what i was looking for actually. Headed for home about 11:30pm with =
plans to return next week during new moon to spend a night or two!

-Florian Boyd
Stargazing.com

I don't know why this got posted twice. Sorry.

-Florian

Geoff wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 22:58:49 GMT, "Florian"
wrote:


Date: Saturday night, 7/19/2003, 9:30pm to 11:30pm local PDT
Location: Cottonwood Spring campground, Joshua Tree National Park, Calif.
Equipment: 10" f/5 dob (Guan Sheng)





A suggestion if I may.

Please try hitting enter occasionally as the body of your post appears
on just five VERY long lines!



Geoff,

Not a probem here. Florian's msg looks fine. Maybe you need to set your
newgroup reader program to wrap lines. Few of us put in hard carriage
returns when we type msgs these days.

Phil

Phil Wheeler wrote:
Not a probem here. Florian's msg looks fine. Maybe you need to set your
newgroup reader program to wrap lines. Few of us put in hard carriage
returns when we type msgs these days.

That's not Usenet standard. Some of us still use text readers. Call
me a stick-in-the-mud, if you will...

Seventy-two characters (not including newline) is often prescribed, but
I'll settle for 76.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

P.S. Actually, I'm sure I can get trn to wrap lines, if I really feel
like it, but most people on SAA actually do NOT type without newlines.
Check Google.

Using Netscape 7 here and they wrap. But when I quote his msg to reply,
no wrap. That gets fixed by Options|Rewrap.

With most others (e.g., your msg below) Rewrap is not necessary. So
Florian IS doing something unusual.

Phil

Phil

Bill Meyers wrote:
Florian's posts come through on my Netscape 4.7 news reader as extremely long
and difficult to read lines. I don't know how to set word wrap in Netscape
and I never thought of doing it since; other posts don't present this problem
for me, so if carriage returns would help in the case of Florian's posts, I
would appreciate that courtesy. They are interesting posts but sometimes I
skip through them because it's a lot of work to read them.
Bill Meyers
Brian Tung wrote:


Phil Wheeler wrote:

Not a probem here. Florian's msg looks fine. Maybe you need to set your
newgroup reader program to wrap lines. Few of us put in hard carriage
returns when we type msgs these days.

That's not Usenet standard. Some of us still use text readers. Call
me a stick-in-the-mud, if you will...

Seventy-two characters (not including newline) is often prescribed, but
I'll settle for 76.

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

P.S. Actually, I'm sure I can get trn to wrap lines, if I really feel
like it, but most people on SAA actually do NOT type without newlines.
Check Google.

Florian's posts come through on my Netscape 4.7 news reader as =
extremely long
and difficult to read lines. I don't know how to set word wrap in =
Netscape

Look under the "View" menu and see if there is a "Wrap long lines" =
option.

-Florian

That's not Usenet standard. Some of us still use text readers. Call
me a stick-in-the-mud, if you will...


Reposting with linewrap for all you stick-in-the-muds... ;-)


Date: Saturday night, 7/19/2003, 9:30pm to 11:30pm local PDT
Location: Cottonwood Spring campground, Joshua Tree National Park, Calif.
Equipment: 10" f/5 dob (Guan Sheng)

Almost a week past full moon gives about a two hour window of darkness this
time of year. Took the new Guan Sheng 10" f/5 to Cottonwood Campground for
the evening. Drove through the trailhead parking lot but no one was there so
decided to stay in the upper loop in the campground. Was only one other site
occupied tonight by some German tourists. Quite surprising to find the
campground so empty on a Saturday night. (Yay!) Weather has been very muggy
recently so although there were no clouds tonight it was fairly hazy. On the
Bortle scale i'd say skies were about class 4.

Started with M51, the Whirlpool galaxy, in Canes Venatici high in the north
west. Bright and easy with its companion 5195. Not sure if i can actually
see the spiral structure but is definitely mottled. My SkyTools chart shows
a couple nearby galaxies as well. 5198 easily fits in the same 62x field
with M51. Small and round. Fairly easy to spot at mag 12.7. 5173 at mag 13.6
however is very hard. Just able to glimpse with averted vision.

M101 in Ursa Major is large and round but i could see no real details other
than a brightening toward the center. Tracked down a few nearby galaxies:
5473 (mag 12.5), 5485 (12.4), 5422 (12.9) harder but slightly elongated,
5474 (11.7) large and pretty easy. Could not locate PGC 49448 at mag 13.8.

Galaxy 5907 in Draco is a perfect edge-on spiral. Very nice. Extremely
elongated. Spindle-like. Also some other interesting galaxies in this area:
5866, aka M102, at mag 10.7 is fairly easy. Two little galaxies 5905 (mag
13) and 5908 (12.8) form a dim little pair south of 5907. One last in the
area is 5879 (12.2). Fun to just pan around from one galaxy to the other and
back again.

Spent most of the rest of the evening before moonrise just wandering around
starclouds in Cygnus. Both halves of the Veil were quite plain with the
eastern portion showing some details. (Someday i'll get a O-III filter.)
Tried for the Crescent nebula, 6888, in Cygnus but i pretty much got lost in
all the stars and could not locate. I wasn't exactly sure what i was looking
for actually. Headed for home about 11:30pm with plans to return next week
during new moon to spend a night or two!

-Florian Boyd
Stargazing.com

Nope, there isn't but thanks for the suggestion.
Bill Meyers

Florian wrote:

Florian's posts come through on my Netscape 4.7 news reader as extremely long
and difficult to read lines. I don't know how to set word wrap in Netscape

Look under the "View" menu and see if there is a "Wrap long lines" option.

-Florian

Thank you. Very nice report. I look forward to receiving more.
Bill Meyers

Florian wrote:

That's not Usenet standard. Some of us still use text readers. Call
me a stick-in-the-mud, if you will...

Reposting with linewrap for all you stick-in-the-muds... ;-)

Date: Saturday night, 7/19/2003, 9:30pm to 11:30pm local PDT
Location: Cottonwood Spring campground, Joshua Tree National Park, Calif.
Equipment: 10" f/5 dob (Guan Sheng)

Almost a week past full moon gives about a two hour window of darkness this
time of year. Took the new Guan Sheng 10" f/5 to Cottonwood Campground for
the evening. Drove through the trailhead parking lot but no one was there so
decided to stay in the upper loop in the campground. Was only one other site
occupied tonight by some German tourists. Quite surprising to find the
campground so empty on a Saturday night. (Yay!) Weather has been very muggy
recently so although there were no clouds tonight it was fairly hazy. On the
Bortle scale i'd say skies were about class 4.

Started with M51, the Whirlpool galaxy, in Canes Venatici high in the north
west. Bright and easy with its companion 5195. Not sure if i can actually
see the spiral structure but is definitely mottled. My SkyTools chart shows
a couple nearby galaxies as well. 5198 easily fits in the same 62x field
with M51. Small and round. Fairly easy to spot at mag 12.7. 5173 at mag 13.6
however is very hard. Just able to glimpse with averted vision.

M101 in Ursa Major is large and round but i could see no real details other
than a brightening toward the center. Tracked down a few nearby galaxies:
5473 (mag 12.5), 5485 (12.4), 5422 (12.9) harder but slightly elongated,
5474 (11.7) large and pretty easy. Could not locate PGC 49448 at mag 13.8.

Galaxy 5907 in Draco is a perfect edge-on spiral. Very nice. Extremely
elongated. Spindle-like. Also some other interesting galaxies in this area:
5866, aka M102, at mag 10.7 is fairly easy. Two little galaxies 5905 (mag
13) and 5908 (12.8) form a dim little pair south of 5907. One last in the
area is 5879 (12.2). Fun to just pan around from one galaxy to the other and
back again.

Spent most of the rest of the evening before moonrise just wandering around
starclouds in Cygnus. Both halves of the Veil were quite plain with the
eastern portion showing some details. (Someday i'll get a O-III filter.)
Tried for the Crescent nebula, 6888, in Cygnus but i pretty much got lost in
all the stars and could not locate. I wasn't exactly sure what i was looking
for actually. Headed for home about 11:30pm with plans to return next week
during new moon to spend a night or two!

-Florian Boyd
Stargazing.com