The Blinking Galaxy, 2002/7/13 UT

Started by Dave Mitsky, 07/13/2002 04:47PM
Posted 07/13/2002 04:47PM Opening Post
I'm posting this message from a library in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. Coudersport is the county seat of Potter County, the home of one of the darkest observing sites east of the Mississippi, namely Cherry Springs State Park.

Thursday night was superb with a limiting magnitude approaching 7.0. I observed quite a few objests with my newest scope, a 10" f/5.6 truss-tube Dobnewt. One of the galaxies I was particularly interested in was NGC 6384, which was mentioned in a recent S & T article by Jay Reynolds Freeman. This galaxy was not particularly impressive through my 10", a friend's 10" SCT, and later through a 18" Starmaster but one must keep in mind that photons departing NGC 6384 must overcome the extinction effects of the Milky Way. Also mentioned and observed last night was NGC 6822, or Barnard's Galaxy. This faint member of the Local Group is interesting to see from a dark site through a large aperture scope with an O-III filter. Its HII regions are quite prominent when so viewed.

Another galaxy included in Jay's article was the infamous NGC 6118, which is called the Blinking Galaxy in the Herschel 400 manual because averted vision is often required for a sighting. After observing it through the two 10" inchers and the 18" on Thursday night I decided to try my luck with a TV-102 belonging to a fellow who arrived on Friday. Despite repeated attempts using a 12mm Nagler type 4 (73x) NGC 6118 remained unseen. It was visible, however, through his 8" Meade LX200.

Dave Mitsky


Chance favors the prepared mind.

De gustibus non est disputandum.