Observing Notesfrom the Tuckahoe IrregularsWednesday afternoon looked promising for an observing session, so I loaded up the car with the Orion 10" IntelliScope (love that oh, so portable scope) and headed south, to Coinjock NC. The sky looked promising, you say? Perhaps I'm being mendacious, I was just desperate to observe. Well, dear folks, by arrival time I stepped out of the car expecting to see a beautiful Milky Way but all that could be seen was a very thick haze and swarms of mosquitoes. Shall I leave, thought I? No, I chose to stay, though not even all of the stars in the Big Dipper were visible naked eye! I'd estimate limiting magnitude was 3.5 - 4.0. However, several objects did shine through the muck. Comet C/2003 K4 LINEAR, now in Bootes, appeared quite bright, with a large wedge- shaped coma. I could see a faint tail extension due east. It was a nice contrast to see the comet share the same field of view with the 8th magnitude star HD 1203334. Several other objects, which proved quite nice, included several open clusters in Cygnus NGC NGC 6991, 7031, 7044, 7067 and 7082. I continued the open cluster quest with N7129 in Cepheus and N7245 in Lacerta. While unsuccessfully looking for Comet C/2001 Q4 NEAT I stumbled on a pretty little double star in UMa, HD 100054, a pair of close and colorful 7.31 and 8.25 magnitude stars. My next quest were several galaxies, a fatuous quest on such a muggy night. Despite 20 bites from those damn mosquitoes I did pick up about a dozen galaxies hitherto seen before by yours truly. Mind you, they were only a faint hint of a whisper. The last object before packing up and returning on the one hour plus drive home was interesting. Next time take a look at NGC 7129 in Cepheus. SkyTools incorrectly shows it as an open cluster in one location and a diffuse nebula in another! The cluster is very faint with on bright 11th magnitude star TYC 04261-1507 involved. The diffuse nebula, which should be designated LBN 497 in SkyTools and not NGC 7129, was quite nice. I'll have to revisit the area on a clear evening. By now the moon had risen and the haze thickened so I did what any respectable pessimist would do. I vacated the observing site and headed home. Kent Blackwell |