Well, I have been reading this forum since its inception, so I thought I would make a meaningless contribution.
Under less than ideal conditions (LVM estimated at at 5.0 at best), with a very heavy haze to about 40 degrees above the horizone, I set out to observe some spectacular carbon stars and some previously unseen NGC objects.
With the 12" LX200 cooled and ready for action, my first target was the "Christmas tree light", V Hydra. Sitting at about 25 degrees above the horizone in the SW, I found this fascinating red star, virtually alone in my 31mm proxima's FOV.True to peoples word, this star looked like a stand alone red Xmas tree light at Mag. 10.
Next up was U Hydra, shimmering at mag. 9.4. This was significantly less red than V Hydra, glowing more at a bright orange.
U Hydra was follow by the less known globular cluster 6229 in Hercules. Viewed at both 179 and 254 power, this glob showed itself as just a faint hazy patch, being brighter towards the middle. At 254 power, I was able to discern some outside stars with AV.
At this point, I was startled by an amazing fireball, running south to north, 10 degrees below zenith in the east. As the fireball broke up, it displayed greenish red colors. At this point, the seeing started to go to pot, so I finished up with a good look at NGC 4697 (9.3 E4 type galaxy in Virgo), followed by carbon star V CRB (Corona Borealis) and carbon star VY Uma. It turned out to be a splendid night, considering the crummy seeing conditions.
DOn
Under less than ideal conditions (LVM estimated at at 5.0 at best), with a very heavy haze to about 40 degrees above the horizone, I set out to observe some spectacular carbon stars and some previously unseen NGC objects.
With the 12" LX200 cooled and ready for action, my first target was the "Christmas tree light", V Hydra. Sitting at about 25 degrees above the horizone in the SW, I found this fascinating red star, virtually alone in my 31mm proxima's FOV.True to peoples word, this star looked like a stand alone red Xmas tree light at Mag. 10.
Next up was U Hydra, shimmering at mag. 9.4. This was significantly less red than V Hydra, glowing more at a bright orange.
U Hydra was follow by the less known globular cluster 6229 in Hercules. Viewed at both 179 and 254 power, this glob showed itself as just a faint hazy patch, being brighter towards the middle. At 254 power, I was able to discern some outside stars with AV.
At this point, I was startled by an amazing fireball, running south to north, 10 degrees below zenith in the east. As the fireball broke up, it displayed greenish red colors. At this point, the seeing started to go to pot, so I finished up with a good look at NGC 4697 (9.3 E4 type galaxy in Virgo), followed by carbon star V CRB (Corona Borealis) and carbon star VY Uma. It turned out to be a splendid night, considering the crummy seeing conditions.
DOn
Don Spencer
http://members.cox.net/ecdon/astrophotography.html
