OBSERVING SESSION 1/97:
DATE: 1/4/1997
SITE: MT.MAINALON-GREECE
ALTITUDE: 5800 ft.
TEMPERATURE: 35°F
SKY CONDITION: 3 (5=excellent,1=poor)
OBSERVERS: 1)LEE FRED
2)SAMOLADAS THEODOR
EQUIPMENT: 16'MEADE STARFINDER DOBSONIAN
1)M77: THEODOR:With the 13mm eyepiece it looks pretty small and roundish with its central region well separated from the surrounding halo. FRED:At sometimes I think I can see some kind of dark lanes but this maybe is just an optical illusion.
2)ORION NEBULA: THEODOR:The arc extending north,can be traced all the way to its edge where it joins NGC1977.The wispy outline of the nebula has an incredible detail,even with direct vision.No red color detected.
3)NGC2024 THEODOR:The bright star doesn't disturb the view even when inside the field.The central dark band is obvious,as well as bright and dark patches on the nebulosity.A third nebular segment was easily visible in a right angle to the direction of the central dark lane to the S.
4)IC434 and HORSEHEAD NEBULA: THEODOR:At last!! It looked that there was the same level of difficulty to discern IC434 nebula,and the horsehead inside it.It doesn't look exactly as a horse but the dark structure is evident even with direct vision.Shaking the field helps a little more to distinquish the outline of the horsehead,but not its'nose'. FRED:I just catched the belt's bright star,together with the horsehead in the same field with the 40mm eyepiece.And it is visible also without the Lumicon H-Beta filter. THEODOR:Its because you know where to look.
5)M78 THEODOR:Surrounding two stars as a fairly bright white fuzz.A second nebulosity,similar in size and brightness surrounded a single bright star just outside the field.That is NGC2071.
6)ROSETTE NEBULA: THEODOR:At the beginning,the clusters center looked much darker than the surrounding field without any filter.With OIII filter,light and dark patches were easily seen around,the brightest of them to the northern part where some curved filaments embrace the cluster.To the southern side,a dark band separates the main body of the nebula in two rings.To the east and west,the nebula looks more homogenous.
7)HUBBLE VARIABLE NEBULA: FRED:It looks like a comet with a bright nucleus,and a short white tale THEODOR:Fairly small,it has a generally triangular shape with a white color,which bares high magnifications well.
8)CONE NEBULA: THEODOR:The Christmas tree cluster,looks very nice and brilliant,but the cone nebula can not be seen at the star where it contrasts with the dark band behind.Instead,a faint fuzzy region was easily detected north of the cluster.
9)NGC1090: THEODOR:Small,oval shaped,with a ghostly central brightening without any distinct nucleus detected.A very very faint star looks attached to the galaxy,perpendicular to the galaxy's orientation.(according to maps,the star's magnitude was 15.2).NGC1087 was found in the same field.
10)NGC1087: THEODOR:Fairly large,moderately bright,with a brighter central region but no visible nucleus.
11)NGC936&941: THEODOR:2 galaxies were found in the field.The 2 bright ones oriented E-W,and the western(NGC936)was much brighter than the eastern(NGC941). Both looked roundish,NGC941 was smaller and ghostlier,NGC936 had a gradual central brightening,leading to a very small and bright maybe tiny nucleus. FRED:A very very faint and elongated 3rd galaxy lies just south of the previous 2,forming a triangle.(according to the maps,that was UGC1945 with a magnitude of 14.14!)
12)NGC1015: THEODOR:It lies in a rich starfield,pretty faint and small,roundish, a bright nucleus detected in averted vision.
13)NGC958: THEODOR:Many faint galaxies found in the area!2 considerably bright galaxies in a single field,the western one close to a double star to its east,both of them with a gradual central brightening.The brighter must be NGC958.2 more galaxies were detected to the south.They must be MCG 1-7-16 and GSC4701:227.
14)CALIFORNIA NEBULA: THEODOR:Much easier than expected!Easily found with the help of'î'Per, and H-B filter.Fairly large,even in the 40mm eyepiece,it presents two main curved lines of filamentery light with a E-W direction,and mainly parallel to each other.
15)M81/82: FRED:M82 looks very bright and elongated with the dark areas clearly visible along its face. THEODOR:These dark areas lie clearly off-center of the galaxy.M81 was very very bright,but the spiral arms remained invisilbe,although I can guess their direction,when I look very carefully.
16)NGC2976: THEODOR:Small,bright and roundish,gradually brighter towards the center. With averted vision,some kind of brighter lines were suspected,to the one side of the galaxy,and maybe this suggests the presence of a bar.
17)ESCIMO NEBULA: THEODOR:Distinctly round,the central star,as well as the nebula look very bright.With high power and averted vision,I think I can see some mottling in the inner side of the nebula,but nothing to betray the escimo's face. FRED:If you look at the nebula,to the star to the right of it,the outline of the nebula looks like a very faint star that comes in and out of focus. THEODOR:A very faint star is attached maybe,or a knot of the nebula became visible.
18)M33: THEODOR:About 4-5 stars can be seen superimposed.A spiral arm was easily visible to the northwest from the center,in an opposite direction of the NGC604 knot which looked like a distant unresolved globular cluster. FRED:A see 3 stars in a line,and over the 3rd one,at 11 o'clock position,there's something like a blob.
At that moment Fred started whinning like a horse.That meant that he wanted to see again the horsehead,and he said: 'Thelw na dw to alogaki pali'.And of course that was a good idea to close the session,and go to sleep with the horsehead as a last picture in our minds.We can't continue,its very cold,humid,and the Maggelan's battery finished.