Observing report, TV76, 6/24/04

Date: Thursday night, 6/24/2004
Location: Cottonwood campground, Joshua Tree National Park, California
Equipment: Tele Vue 76 (3" f/6.3) refractor, Nikon 10x42 SE binoculars

Arrived at Cottonwood about 8pm. Had the campground to myself! Set up in
my usual spot in the upper loop with the TV76. Since i visit Cottonwood
Spring so often for stargazing i thought it would be nice to sponsor the
Cottonwood Spring Clear Sky Clock for the summer...

http://cleardarksky.com/c/CottCampCAkey.html?1


Attilla Danko's Clear Sky Clock site is one of the most useful resources
for astronomical weather forecasts. First quarter moon wouldn't set till
after midnight so i just enjoyed the desert evening then took a little
nap till about 12:30am.

M7, OC, Scorpius - Sue French's "Deep-Sky Wonders" column in the July
Sky & Telescope magazine focused on M7. Using the chart on page 85 to
explore the cluster i was amazed! Besides the main cluster itself (which
does looks like a pound-sign with alternate legs lopped off) i could see
open cluster NGC 6444, globular cluster NGC 6453, open cluster Trumpler
30, star cloud NGC 6455 and dark nebulae Barnard 287 south and 283
north. I've seen M7 many times before but never like this. So many
different objects in a single field. The only objects i couldn't see
were the small planetaries.

M6, OC, Scorpius - Butterfly cluster - I guess i can see why people
think it looks like a butterfly. But to me it looks more like a
dragonfly traveling in the opposite direction.

6441, GC, Scorpius - The cluster is just following bright mag 3 star G.
There is also a much fainter star very close to the cluster just south
and preceding. A bit farther south are 3 other globulars... 6388, 6496
(faint) and 6541.

Over in the Sagittarius "Teapot" visiting a few more globulars... 6522,
6528, 6558, 6569, 6624 and 6652. Across the body of the Teapot are
Messier globulars M69, M70 and M54. Down below the Teapot just above the
arc of Corona Australis is globular 6723. Quite bright this one. Just
south and following the globular Sky Atlas 2000.0 has a few small
nebulae plotted... 6726, 6727 and 6729. I can't quite tell what's going
on here but i think i can detect just a bit of nebulosity around a star.
Not really sure.

Up above the teapot is little globular 6717 just south of star Nu 2
Sagittarius. Fairly hard to see so close to the mag 5 star. Continuing
around the teapot to globulars M22, 6642, 6638 and M28.

Switching from globulars over to the Lagoon/Trifid area. Quite messy
with lots of stars and nebulosity. Viewing with and without the UHC
filter i think i prefer without the filter. In my 10" dob the filter
really makes these nebs stand out but in the smaller 3" the difference
isn't as pronounced. Also visible are nebula 6526 and globulars 6544 and
6553.

The M24 star cloud is great tonight. The dark nebs along the upper edge
are really standing out. Very nice. Also in the area are open cluster
M18, the Omega nebula M17, the Eagle nebula M16, and open cluster M23 to
the west and M25 to the east.

Swinging up the Milky Way visiting a few easy objects mostly from
memory... Open clusters M26 and M11 in Scutum, globular M71 in Sagitta,
the Dumbbell planetary M27 and the "Coathanger" asterism both in
Vulpecula.

Sidestepped over to Delphinus for one of my favorite globulars... NGC
6934. I like how the globular forms a pair with a little mag 9 star plus
there are two other mag 9 stars just a bit west. All four together look
like two pair of eyes with the eastern-most eye a bit fuzzy. While i was
in Delphinus i finally found globular 7006. Couldn't see it at all with
the 16mm Nagler but with the 10mm Radian i could just barely pick it
out. The last time i visited these globulars i was using a Celestron-8.
Finding them now with the little 3" Tele Vue is a bit different.

By 3am comet C/2003 K4 LINEAR is high in the NW. Easy to see in 10x42
binoculars. I still can't really see a tail with the telescope.

Spent another hour or so just sitting under the stars and looking up.
Sometimes through the scope, sometimes through 10x42 binoculars,
sometimes just wide open eyes. The Andromeda Galaxy is easy to see in
the east. Through the TV76 tried for, and found, galaxy NGC 404 just NW
of the star Mirach. Watched bright Capella rising in the NE. Quite a
while before the start of astronomical twilight i noticed a brightening
of the eastern sky which i assume was the Zodiacal light. As it got
closer to 4am noticed more and more satellites criss-crossing the sky.

This was really a wonderful night on the desert. I hated for it to
end...

-Florian
Stargazing.com