STARLOG

DEW YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

DECEMBER 3, 2015

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: College Station, Texas (Long: 101°56'W Lat: 33°47'N)
Telescope: Zhumell 12" f/5 Dobsonian
Eyepieces: 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (60x), 15mm (100x)
2.0" 30mm (50x)
Lenses: Celestron Luminos 2.5x Barlow
Seeing: Somewhat Stable (7/10)
Transparency: Mostly clear
Temperature: Upper 50s to start, but dropping into the 40s by evening's end.

Observing Summary


The sky was clear all day today, which is something I've seen way too little of lately. As soon as I got home from work tonight, I hauled the Biggie Z out to the back yard. I bought a small collapsible dolly from Wal-Mart to allow me to haul the telescope in one piece, but the ground was a bit too uneven and it didn't work very well. I managed to get the telescope to the back yard, but I decided it was too unsafe to try to carry back inside that way. Oh well, looks like I will have to get a stronger dolly with larger wheels.

One bad aspect of having clear skies this time of year is that temperatures drop rapidly. My eyepieces began fogging up almost from the moment I popped them into the focuser. The Telrad's dew heater, bless its heart, was trying desperately to keep dew away but was failing miserably.

But none of that mattered. It was the first clear sky I have had in what seemed like ages. A bit of dew wasn't going to deter me from my task.

NGC 7510 Cepheus Open Cluster 7:35pm CST
CR 454 RA: 23h 11m 6s Dec: +60° 34' Mag: 7.9

This is a somewhat small and unimpressive OC at 100X. It has the shape of a stylized arrowhead. It's long, thin and a bit curved. The brightest member is yellow-orange and is at the tip of the arrowhead. The other bright stars of the cluster are on the other side and form the two narrow lines. Between them is a bit of nebulosity which begins to resolve into individual stars with averted vision.
 
M52 Cassiopeia Open Cluster 7:40pm CST
October Salt-and-Pepper Cluster RA: 23h 24m 12s Dec: +61° 35' Mag: 5.0

This looks nice at 100X. It is somewhat round OC, with the brightest member a yellow star at one edge. About half of the members are a magnitude or so fainter than the brightest member, and the others are another magnitude or two fainter than those. The longer you stare at this cluster, the more stars seem to resolve.
 
NGC 281 Cassiopeia Cluster + Nebulosity 8:25pm CST
Pac-Man Nebula RA: 00h 52m 59s Dec: +56° 37' Mag: 10.0

This is barely detectable, even with an O-III filter. In fact, looking directly at it, I cannot see anything, but if I move out of the field of view, then slowly slew the scope towards it, I can notice a brightening of the background sky. It is rather large, but no real shape or details can be seen. This one definitely calls for a darker site.
 

The dew was really becoming a problem with my eyepiecs and finder scopes now, and my aluminum telescope tube was showing a few signs of frost. Just to see how bad things were, I aimed at M1 and couldn't even detect it after several minutes of trying. Okay, nebulae and galaxies were out. The night was too pretty to waste, however, and despite the cold, I wasn't ready to pack it in quite yet. Orion was rising above the rooftops now, and so I thought I'd look at a couple of objects that I've seen on several occasions, but had not yet officially logged.
 
NGC 1980 Orion Cluster + Nebulosity 9:45pm CST
  RA: 05h 35m 26s Dec: -05° 54' Mag: 2.5

This is an open cluster right next to M42. It is large and shovel-shaped, containing about 15-20 stars. A kite shape makes the shovel and a few stars make a curved short handle. The M42 nebulosity extends out into this cluster, but I couldn't detect it.
 
NGC 1981 Orion Open Cluster 9:50pm CST
  RA: 05h 35m 09s Dec: -04° 25' Mag: 4.2

This open cluster is near M43. It is a loose, sparse cluster, with perhaps 15-20 stars. They form a couple of short lines and arcs. All the stars are bright. Even though this cluster is about the same size as M42, the impressive Orion Nebula draws your eye away from this cluster.
 
 

Between the extreme dew and the cooling temperatures, I decided I had had enough. I dragged my scope back inside the garage the old-fashioned way (I carried it piece by piece) and called it a night. Still, it was great to be under the stars again, and I'd even managed to bag a couple of new DSOs in the process.