StarGaze 2010 Star Party Report

I just got back from a great time at the local StarGaze 2010 Star Party hosted by Delmarva Stargazers at Tuckahoe State Park. 2 out of the 3 nights were completely clear, that’s a successful party in my book! The weather looked grim early on the in week but turned out for the better for the weekend.

Thursday

I arrived late thursday evening after getting off work and packing up the trailer. I setup camp and had a delicious pulled pork dinner with my dear Back Bay Astro friends Kent, Roy & Dee, Ted, Ray, and Bruce. Skies were beautiful, clear, and dry. At sunset we were treated by a pretty sight with a very young moon with Venus not too far from it.

It was clear the entire night without a cloud in sight. The transparency was so-so. Sky looked good at zenith but the sky near the horizon was very thick. Seeing varied between poor and fair through the night. As Kent sarcasticly said earlier “Short plane contrails, that’s a good sign” . The night was surprisenly dry, which is very rare for this spot as the humidity is always in the 90s at night. I was in bed just after 2am as I still had to go to work on Friday, which they were kind enough to give me a few hours in the morning for me to come in late. I found myself socializing a lot that night to catch up with old friends down the field. I did manage to log 22 new objects, all being galaxies. Because of the amount of objects, I’ll only post my favorites of the night.

NGC 3692: Quite small and thin edge on. Bright with high surface brightness. No core but there is a slight central buldge. Some variation in the surface.

IC 2853: Very small, bright. Sits just arcseconds away from a bright 10th magnitude star. Also sits in a small galaxy group with several other IC galaxies.

IC 696: Very small, faint. One of the faintest but largest from the small IC galaxy group in Leo.

IC 698: Small and bright. Brightest of the small IC galaxy group by NGC 3705. High surface for it’s magnitude. Slightly elongated.

IC 699: Very small, vaguely bright, and elongated. I’d say this one is the 2nd brightest from the small IC group.

NGC 3799: Very small, fairly bright. Easy to hold steady with averted vision. At first glimpse it looks like it’s attached to near by galaxy NGC3800 but then separates after a minute. Only thing that makes it hard to see it is because of the 12th magnitude star and 13th magnitude galaxy that it’s squeezed between.

NGC 3800: Small, bright, elongated. Edge on-like. Surface seems right on the dot for it’s magnitude. Easy to see the whole surface. No core but a slight brightening in the middle. I can also see NGC3799 about an arc minute away. 

NGC 3816: Small, bright, elongated. Bright core. High surface brightness. Brightness varies. I’m definately seeing strong mottling in the galaxy. The detail is more prominent at 330x. I had first thought it was spiral structure but ST3 lists it as a lenticular galaxy. I’ll have to pull up a DSS image when I’m home to confirm what exactly I’m looking at. 

NGC 5899: Great galaxy, did not mean to find it but I’m glad I did! Very bright and elongated with high surface brightness. There is mottling in the surface. Surprised how bright it is even with a 6th magnitude star in the FOV.

NGC 6070: Quite large, bright oval glow. Low surface brightness. Hints of spiral structure detected. Spirals were easier at lower power than with high. Resembles a small version of M33. 6.7 magnitude star in the FOV.

Friday

After I got back to the field from work I noticed the sky was pretty overcast and the wind was vicious. The rain conveniently started as soon as we started eating dinner. Tilapia steaks, scallop potatos, peas, and cornbread. The food was so good, the weather didn’t dampen our spirts a bit…but it did dampen our shirts. It remained rainy and very windy the whole night. It was definitely a social night and a free night’s sleep. We did enjoy a pretty sun ray sunset just before dinner.

Saturday

Saturday was a new day. The sun came out, the rain left, but the wind stuck around. The temperature was much cooler. Instead of shorts and t-shirts like the day before, we were bundled up in coats and hats. All the large dobs turned into anemonetors for the day as they swung around to show us the wind direction. Thankfully no dobs toppled over this time. I went out for a several mile walk through Tuckahoe’s long and pretty trails then took a much needed nap when I got back to camp. There was a lot of passing cumulus clouds in the afternoon but they all dissipated after dinner at sun down. Skies were very transparent but the seeing was poor. There were a few periods of “ok” seeing late in the night when the wind died down. The moon was up until around 11pm-12am. I setup in front of a semi-truck trailer, which conveniently blocked the moonlight from me and some wind.

I started off with bright galaxies I’ve yet to see in Virgo because of the moonlight and worked my way down to fainter galaxies. Before calling it a night just after 4am I was able to log 42 new objects. Below are just the hightlights.

C/2009 K5 (McNaught):Large, very bright comet. Bright halo with a very wide fanned tail pointing approx. 10 o’clock.

81P/Wild: Real bright but not quite as bright as comet McNaught and about half the size. Bright dominant core. Comet sits in the same FOV as the bright galaxy NGC5493.

C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring): Small, faint comet. Seems evenly lit. Looks similar to a 14th magnitude galaxy. No discernable tail. Comet was hard to hold at 123x but looked a lot better at 201x. 2 bright stars point almost directly at it. Comet sits right next to the bright 12th magnitude star. Kent, Ray, and Roy all enjoyed the view.

NGC 5873: Very small, bright, non-stellar PN. No color. Low power it appears as a small grey snowball. High power there’s a slight brightening in the middle and fading somewhat to the edge. No central star. Responds exceptionally well to filters. Best with an OIII.

NGC 4535: Big, very bright, magnificant face on spiral galaxy. Faint but fat core with 2 stars involved in the surface close to it. Strong spirals detected with a couple faint knots.

NGC 3003: Very large cigar-like galaxy. Very bright with a surface magnitude of about 10. There’s a brightening in the middle with a few bright knots in the surface. With the moon out and 30mph wind gusts, it’s difficult to concentrate on this at zenith for detail.

NGC 3662: Great galaxy. Bright, medium sized, oval, and elongated. Real bright core. Surface is high with brightness irregularity. A few knots is suspected. Kent and Roy enjoyed the view.

NGC 4183: Large and bright edge on galaxy. Surface is high and I can see it entirely with averted vision. Quite thin with a buldge in the center. Star involved.

NGC 4216: Absolutely incredible. Extremely bright galaxy with a core so bright I first thought it was a bright star involved. Galaxy is very large in size, elongated, and appears nearly edge on. There’s 2 bright knots the same distance on opposite sides of the core. Approx 2 arc minutes away on each size. The surface seems to cut off on top of the core. Either it’s a dust lane on the edge or because of the tilt of the galaxy. Another edge on is in the fov, NGC4206.

NGC 4298: Medium-large, bright. Surface is high. No spirals detected. Makes a beautiful pair with NGC4302.

NGC 4762: Absolutely breathtaking galaxy. Very bright, fully edge on with a super high surface brightness. Needle thin, looks like a shish-ka-bob with a bight small buldge around the core. Rich star field.

I had a great time! Can’t wait until September!

-CJ
http://www.avertedvision.net

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