Re: 25 May 2006 (UT) Obs.Report

On Thu, 25 May 2006 14:21:46 -0600, Willie R. Meghar wrote:

Observing Latitude: 46 degrees North
Telescope: 13cm refractor on equatorial mount
Zenith Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude: 6.5
Observing Site: 10 meters from my back door
Seeing: III to IV on Antoniadi Scale (for area of sky studied)
Magnification: 80x (43x utilized as a 'finder' magnification)


M104 (NGC 4594 -- the 'Sombrero Galaxy') was my first target though
not on the H-400 list. M104 was large, bright, elongated east-west by
approximately 4:1, a bright star was nearby to the west-southwest.
The object-sky boundary was fuzzy. The galaxy had a gradually much
brighter middle. The outermost regions of the galaxy were much
fainter than the middle. The dust lane just south of the galaxy's
center was suspected at times; but was not positively seen on this
night.

Suspected equals positively seen in my book I reported to this group a
couple of years ago that I suspected the dust lane with my 4.5 inch
reflector under NELM 5 skies. David Knisely, who would know, said the
observation was entirely possible.


One last time I gazed upward into thenaked eye sky. I found it to be nothing short of spectacular! It was
enough to make me feel guilty for ending the session before the start
of morning twilight.

I know that guilty feeling. On occasion, I get get so caught up in the
beauty of a dark sky that I feel guilty for even having the telescope
outside.


Truly a wonderful observation report. Thank you for sharing it.



--
Martin R. Howell

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