Observing Report

Home Page

Astro Home

Articles
   Gravitational Lens
   Variable Stars

   Astrophotography
   Observing Reports

Pictures
   Trip to Kitt Peak
   Astrophotography
   Visit to the VLA
   Sites in Tucson

Equipment
   Telescopes
   Cameras

Links
   Astro Clubs
   Observatories
   Organizations
   Other Websites




Date: August 23rd, 2002
Location: Tucson (In City Limits)

Targets: M31, NGC 869 + 884

M31 was really cool. First time I've seen it through anything of any real magnification. I was in the city so the background was extremely washed out. Looked like a fuzzy jellybean. with the 25mm, which makes for 24x, I could see rather far (assuming that I seen the entire field of the galaxy). Put in the 10mm (60x) and it was much more larger, but no details were evident than were noticed with the 25mm. I couldn't spot M32 or M110, and I believe that was mostly due to the sky, and nearly full moon. I could however tell that the dust bands (which could not be made out of course) were on the top of my field of view.

Searching for M31 on my first night out, came across the double cluster of NGC 869 and NGC 884. These looked incredibly cool with the 25mm eyepiece. Both fit entirely into the field of vision, and when boosted up to the 10mm eyepiece, both appeared crammed in the eyepiece, still cool. Almost immediately I dropped back to the 25mm and looked at greater detail the clusters. To my eyes, NGC 869 seemed more compact, and slightly brighter (hence why its probably the favorite of the two. But without one, the other does not seem complete). I can not wait to get a picture of this, and will be on top of my list of pictures to take once I get my camera ready. I definitely see why this is on the SAC 110 best NGC object list. This was my first ever object found in the AstroView scope (with exception to the full moon the night before).