A friend and I went to Pettigrew State Park in North Carolina last weekend.
http://cleardarksky.com/c/PttgrwSPNCkey.html?1
I ended up with two of the best observing nights I’ve ever had. The limiting mag was close to 7 and the transparency was 5/5 on both nights. Pettigrew is on Lake Phelps in eastern NC. The best place to view is on a small peninsula with the boat ramp. There is a light there but the ranger will turn it off if you ask. The horizon almost all the way around is just a degree or two. I viewed many southern objects between 5 and 10 degrees up that I’ve not seen before. Mostly though, I took advantage of the very dark sky to view numerous faint galaxies that I’ve got no chance seeing from home. I was using a Celestron CPC 1100 (11” SCT). I saw numerous 14th mag galaxies and even a few 15th mag ones.
Some of my favorites from the trip were:
NGC 3158 cluster. Using the March issue of Sky and Telescope going deep article I was able to view 9 galaxies in this cluster (including my first ever PGC galaxy) ranging in magnitude from 11.8 to 15.
NGC 2997: A beautiful, almost face on spiral at –31 degrees. It was a large oval and I was able to glimpse some spiral structure.
NGC 4273 group: This included 4273, 4277, 4268, 4270, 4271. I could see all of these galaxies in the same high power (255x) FOV.
NGC 2818/2818A: At –36 degrees it was about 15 degrees above the horizon. It’s a beautiful little open cluster with a nice planetary within the cluster.
Omega Centauri: It got about 7 degrees up. Still I could resolve 100s of stars. It made me want to travel farther south.
NGC 5128: It was about 12 degrees up but it beautiful. The huge dust was awesome.
My best highlight of the trip was glimpsing the globular cluster Pal 5. I’ve tried this many times with my 11” and even a few times with a friend’s 25” with no success. The second night I gave it a try. The transparency was basically as good as it gets. The see was amazing. There are two stars that border it. In between I could see a faint haze when I moved the scope up and down. I called my friend over and asked him to look. I didn’t tell him what I was viewing or even where to look. He saw the same thing I was viewing. That was very cool.
All of the M’s I viewed were incredible. 51, 101, 104 where all view to remember.
The second night we spent some time picking out M’s naked eye. 13 was very easy and 3 and 5 were readily seen.
I’m planning to head down there again this fall. I can’t wait for that trip.
My complete list of observations:
NGCs
2818, 2818a, 2973, 2997, 3001, 3003, 3132, 3150, 3151, 3152, 3158, 3159, 3160, 3161, 3163, 3201, 3244, 3250, 3250b, 3250d, 3256, 3276, 3278, 3318, 3681, 3828, 3833, 3839, 3843, 3848, 3855, 3863, 3869, 3872, 3876, 3914, 3933, 3934, 3968, 3996, 4067, 4078, 4082, 4083, 4152, 4164, 4165, 4166, 4168, 4169, 4173, 4174, 4175, 4180, 4186, 4189, 4191, 4193, 4197, 4215, 4216, 4239, 4241, 4246, 4247, 4257, 4261, 4264, 4268, 4270, 4273, 4276, 4277, 4281, 4294, 4295, 4296, 4299, 4300, 4307, 4309, 4309a, 4313, 4324, 4565, 4874, 4889, 5128, 5139, 5524, 5529, 5544, 5545, 5824, 5986, 6153, 6231, 6302, 6388, 6496, 6541
ICs
2522, 2537, 2511, 4406, 3029, 3046, 771, 3062, 3091, 3080, 3094, 4637, 2522, 648, 2853, 769, 767, 775, 3109, 3115, 3131, 782
Messier
3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 19, 22, 51, 57, 62, 68, 80, 83, 84, 86, 98, 99, 100, 101
Other
PCG29818, MRK421, Wcomae, Pal 5
Andreas
http://cleardarksky.com/c/PttgrwSPNCkey.html?1
I ended up with two of the best observing nights I’ve ever had. The limiting mag was close to 7 and the transparency was 5/5 on both nights. Pettigrew is on Lake Phelps in eastern NC. The best place to view is on a small peninsula with the boat ramp. There is a light there but the ranger will turn it off if you ask. The horizon almost all the way around is just a degree or two. I viewed many southern objects between 5 and 10 degrees up that I’ve not seen before. Mostly though, I took advantage of the very dark sky to view numerous faint galaxies that I’ve got no chance seeing from home. I was using a Celestron CPC 1100 (11” SCT). I saw numerous 14th mag galaxies and even a few 15th mag ones.
Some of my favorites from the trip were:
NGC 3158 cluster. Using the March issue of Sky and Telescope going deep article I was able to view 9 galaxies in this cluster (including my first ever PGC galaxy) ranging in magnitude from 11.8 to 15.
NGC 2997: A beautiful, almost face on spiral at –31 degrees. It was a large oval and I was able to glimpse some spiral structure.
NGC 4273 group: This included 4273, 4277, 4268, 4270, 4271. I could see all of these galaxies in the same high power (255x) FOV.
NGC 2818/2818A: At –36 degrees it was about 15 degrees above the horizon. It’s a beautiful little open cluster with a nice planetary within the cluster.
Omega Centauri: It got about 7 degrees up. Still I could resolve 100s of stars. It made me want to travel farther south.
NGC 5128: It was about 12 degrees up but it beautiful. The huge dust was awesome.
My best highlight of the trip was glimpsing the globular cluster Pal 5. I’ve tried this many times with my 11” and even a few times with a friend’s 25” with no success. The second night I gave it a try. The transparency was basically as good as it gets. The see was amazing. There are two stars that border it. In between I could see a faint haze when I moved the scope up and down. I called my friend over and asked him to look. I didn’t tell him what I was viewing or even where to look. He saw the same thing I was viewing. That was very cool.
All of the M’s I viewed were incredible. 51, 101, 104 where all view to remember.
The second night we spent some time picking out M’s naked eye. 13 was very easy and 3 and 5 were readily seen.
I’m planning to head down there again this fall. I can’t wait for that trip.
My complete list of observations:
NGCs
2818, 2818a, 2973, 2997, 3001, 3003, 3132, 3150, 3151, 3152, 3158, 3159, 3160, 3161, 3163, 3201, 3244, 3250, 3250b, 3250d, 3256, 3276, 3278, 3318, 3681, 3828, 3833, 3839, 3843, 3848, 3855, 3863, 3869, 3872, 3876, 3914, 3933, 3934, 3968, 3996, 4067, 4078, 4082, 4083, 4152, 4164, 4165, 4166, 4168, 4169, 4173, 4174, 4175, 4180, 4186, 4189, 4191, 4193, 4197, 4215, 4216, 4239, 4241, 4246, 4247, 4257, 4261, 4264, 4268, 4270, 4273, 4276, 4277, 4281, 4294, 4295, 4296, 4299, 4300, 4307, 4309, 4309a, 4313, 4324, 4565, 4874, 4889, 5128, 5139, 5524, 5529, 5544, 5545, 5824, 5986, 6153, 6231, 6302, 6388, 6496, 6541
ICs
2522, 2537, 2511, 4406, 3029, 3046, 771, 3062, 3091, 3080, 3094, 4637, 2522, 648, 2853, 769, 767, 775, 3109, 3115, 3131, 782
Messier
3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 19, 22, 51, 57, 62, 68, 80, 83, 84, 86, 98, 99, 100, 101
Other
PCG29818, MRK421, Wcomae, Pal 5
Andreas
DSOs observed:
NGCs 2005, ICs 103, Other 70, Palomar GCs 6, Abell PNs 12, Herschel 400: 316.
Equipment
Celestron CPC 1100, Lunt 60mm Ha Solar Scope
