I must be getting lots of vitamins these days. I also drove out to Michigan's "Dark Sky Preserve", Lake Hudson State Recreational Area, the best skies I have within a reasonable drive. I knew I wasn't going to get a better southern sky anytime soon, so I thought I'd give Barnard's galaxy another chance.
Knowing that Barnard's was near the "little gem" planetary, I pointed the scope (6" f8 dob) there and panned around at 50x (1.36 degrees). At one point I felt I saw just a hint of brightening of the background, very diffuse, very subtle. When I panned the scope, it moved, too. So diffuse, so subtle. I purposefully put it out of the field and slowly panned back, and saw it appear from the edge. SO diffuse, SO subtle. I sketched some distinctive asterisms in the field of view both above and below the "glow" (too strong of a word!), including a distinctive little "kite" or cross of faint-ish (about mag 11) stars just above (above = south). Later, Skytools confirmed it... Barnard's is exactly where I placed it in my sketch!
Needed to share... the wife just doesn't understand, and I won't be seeing any of my Astro buddies for a little while.
The seeing was also really good that night, and I was treated to a jaw-dropping view of Mars before I packed up. I ran out of magnification! I'm not equipped for really good seeing, since it's so rare in these parts.
Knowing that Barnard's was near the "little gem" planetary, I pointed the scope (6" f8 dob) there and panned around at 50x (1.36 degrees). At one point I felt I saw just a hint of brightening of the background, very diffuse, very subtle. When I panned the scope, it moved, too. So diffuse, so subtle. I purposefully put it out of the field and slowly panned back, and saw it appear from the edge. SO diffuse, SO subtle. I sketched some distinctive asterisms in the field of view both above and below the "glow" (too strong of a word!), including a distinctive little "kite" or cross of faint-ish (about mag 11) stars just above (above = south). Later, Skytools confirmed it... Barnard's is exactly where I placed it in my sketch!
Needed to share... the wife just doesn't understand, and I won't be seeing any of my Astro buddies for a little while.
The seeing was also really good that night, and I was treated to a jaw-dropping view of Mars before I packed up. I ran out of magnification! I'm not equipped for really good seeing, since it's so rare in these parts.
