Observing report, TV76, 9/2/2005

Date: Friday early morning, 2-Sept-2005
Location: Rockhouse Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Calif.
Equipment: Tele Vue 76 (3" f/6.3) refractor, Leica 10x32 binoculars

Started observing about 1am local time. Clear skies but nowhere near
pristine. Light dome from the Coachella Valley to the north and from
Mexicali to the SE. My site is still fairly remote and probably
10 miles from another human being. ;-)

Helix nebula (7293) in Aquarius visible through 10x32 binoculars.

247, GX, Cetus - Large but faint.

253, GX, Sculptor - Large, bright, elongated.

288, GC, Sculptor - Fairly bright. Same field with 253.

300, GC, Sculptor - Fairly large, faint. Some foreground stars
superimposed over the galaxy.

55, GX, Sculptor - Fairly bright. Elongated.

613, GX, Sculptor - Small and faint. Near a mag 9 or 10 star.

1097, GX, Fornax - Hard to locate. Medium size, faint.

M74, GX, Pisces - Fairly bright. Round. I think i could almost see
with 10x32 binoculars but not sure.

M33, GX, Triangulum - Easy in 10x32 binoculars. Could not see
naked eye.

At 2:10am watched the Orion Nebula rising over the Santa Rosa mtns.

Open clusters M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga.

The Crab Nebula, M1, in Taurus.

Took another nap from about 2:40am to 4am.

1291, GX, Fornax.

1365 and 1399, GX, Fornax - Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster. 1365
is larger, 1399 smaller. 1365 is a beautiful barred spiral galaxy
but of course this detail isn't visible in my little 76mm APO.
Can also see galaxy 1404 which is not plotted in the BSA just
south of 1399.

1360, PN, Fornax - Big for a planetary! Round. Can see central
star. Very interesting object. Surprised it isn't more well
known. Galaxy 1398 in the same field is quite a bit smaller.

1232, GX, Eridanus - Fairly faint.

1407, GX, Eridanus - Small, faint.

Mars overhead showing a gibbous phase.

Saturn rising next to the Beehive M44.

Zodiacal light quite bright. Time to sleep a bit before sunrise.


-Florian
Stargazing.com
Palm Springs, Calif.


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