DAY TWO:

The heat hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew it would happen even before I went to bed. That’s the price I pay for staying up all night; waking up in an inferno. I slept ‘till 9:30am or so and might have slept longer despite the heat if it weren’t for the friendly middle-of-nowhere, how-can-there-possibly-be-that-much-trash, bangin’-the-dumpster-like-it’s-New York City garbage men! Geez, they must have hit that thing against the pavement at least ten times before they decided all the trash was out and finally drove away. Can’t a body get some rest out here miles and miles away from anywhere? I guess not…oh well…it was hot anyway!

The day was spent mostly trying to avoid the sun. Not that it was anywhere as near as hot as it gets in Death Valley in the summer but the sun was bright and there is no shade anywhere unless you want to crawl under a shrub. Luckily, I had stopped at Wal-Mart on the way up and found these umbrellas that clamp onto our folding chairs. What a beautiful thing. The person that invented them should be made a Saint! We ate our breakfast of eggs, potatoes and sausage and afterwards went on a little hike around our area. JC took off for Scotty’s Castle a few miles north. On our little hike I found the landscape very fascinating. We found a place where bamboo was growing and noticed that on the top of the little hillside they were growing out of there was a small little cave with very moist soil and a minute trickle of water coming out of it. In other places the ground was completely caked over with a white substance that looked like salt but was surely some other mineral. I wasn’t willing to take a taste. Some places looked like at one time the soil had been very wet and frozen leaving little upside-down “Dirtsicles” sticking up. Walking on it gave us the impression that we were walking on snow that had melted and then froze over. Some places the ground was very hard but sounded hollow and in one place I was making jokes about “Tremors” and got a scare when I sank about 6 inches into the sandy soil. Mesquite Springs is not called Mesquite Springs for nothing. When you drive into the camp you go through a little oasis of Mesquite Trees and there is actually a spring there too! It is not very much of a spring but considering we are near the lowest spot in the United States and in one of the driest places on Earth, I found it very impressive. Imagine if you were a Cowboy dying of thirst and you came upon this place; it would be like heaven. Sierra ventured a drink but John and I refrained from partaking. I was afraid of getting some kind of exotic desert bacteria or worms of some kind. Really!

After an hour of walking around we returned to our camp. It was actually not that hot as I said before, I’m sure it was in the high eighties by noon and we had a slight breeze. I found some shade on the north side of my truck to spread my sleeping bag out and promptly went to sleep. After about an hour I was wishing the garbage men would come back seeing I was woken by some other rude noises. JC had returned and was playing “Who let the dogs out” on his stereo. I’m sorry, did I say “playing”? I mean blasting! I conceded my thoughts to those that he had ulterior motives and was doing it to keep other people with their lights and campfires from wanting to camp near us. In that case: good job JC! And by the way; did you know most of the words in the English language that start with the letter “U” are mostly followed by the letter “N”? It’s true, look for yourself if you don’t believe me!

JC got his solar filter out and we looked at some very incredibly large sunspots. I think Dave was doing the same as he spent most of the day under his canopy preaching to somebody at his podium. Charlie occupied himself with movies on his laptop. Sierra on the other hand had quite an interesting time at Death Valley as she unknowingly became a teacher of the young. JC brought his 12 week old Doberman puppy to the Star Party and it was at least a very curious little thing. Her name is “Spice” and she is looking more like either a little “cow” or some kind of “Devil” puppy. JC had her ears clipped and they are all wrapped up in these pointy bandage contraptions giving her those appearances. She was very curious and Sierra had to warn Spice a couple of times that she was getting out of line, nothing fierce, just a warning.

Dave reminded JC that he should start diner early so they wouldn’t be eating after dark. JC uses his “stove-pipe” Dutch-oven thingy to cook everything like he did at Grand Canyon. Tonight he was making Jambalaya and it looked like enough to feed the hordes! John and I had good old fashioned hamburgers for dinner.

One of my former partners from work wanted to come out for the star party, not so much to look at stars but that she was fairly new to the southwest and wanted to get out for a bit and see the country side. About 3:30pm she showed up. Her name is Mara and she’s from Chicago where she was a Paramedic for the Fire Department.

Before it got dark we all unwrapped our ‘scopes which had been hiding under tarps keeping them away from the dust and sun.

  

A few more people showed up at camp, not the astronomer type but the camper type and noticed JC’s star party sign. Some of them said they would return and JC even fed them when they did! During the day those high, thin clouds kept wandering around the sky threatening to ruin our night. I got ribbed about my “Sky-hook” once again but promised they would work if they would only throw them high enough! As darkness fell a little breeze kicked up to help chase them away.

Once again, Dave provided us with our first object of the night; another Iridium Flare at 6:55pm. It was located in the same area as last night’s Iridium: between Polaris and Cassiopeia. Again, it was long, and brighter then any other objects in the night sky. Before Sagittarius set below the horizon I took the chance at trying to find a few objects I needed there. NGC 6642 is a globular cluster I found but could not resolve any of its stars. I found an open cluster called NGC 6716 that looked like a circle of faint stars with a small chain of brighter ones going half way around them.

Things in Sagittarius were looking monstrous so I slithered on up to Serpens Cauda were I found a nice open cluster coiled up in my finderscope. IC 4756 has many bright stars in it. At that point I found the sky kind of going south so I took a break. I was surprised but happy to see Mara was really interested in the night sky and curious about some of the brighter objects that are visible naked-eye and about the Milky Way in general. John and I took a break from our hunting to talk about them and point out a few things. JC and Charlie had attracted a few of the other campers and through the darkness I could hear JC enthusiastically explaining things to them. He loves to talk about how mathematically impossible it is that we are the only planet in the Universe capable of having life on it. He has a very convincing argument against it. It is also fun to listen to him explain how light travels and that the sky we see at night is not really even there at all. While JC spoke, Charlie was slewing his impressive ‘scope around so the people could see the objects JC was talking about. I’m pretty sure Dave spent the evening wrapped in his own studies but occasionally chimed in the conversation with other statements regarding the cosmos.

While we kept an ear on the voices across the camp, John and I showed Mara some of the more familiar yet amazing beauties of the night sky. We looked at M22 before it set completely but moved to M13 for a much better view of a globular. The Cat’s Eye was looking much better tonight and the central star was visible. The Double Cluster is always a pleasing object whether it’s your first time or your 100th time. The galaxies we showed her were of course the Andromeda Galaxy and its two neighbors. I tried to explain to her why it is that we can see the Milky Way like we do but it was better when I showed her different kinds of galaxies and their different orientations to our view. For a comparison to M32 I showed her M33 and then M81/82 which is always nice because you can see two different shaped galaxies in one view. I also had to show her the Ring Nebula M57 for another kind of object and to make it complete we showed her two colorful double stars. Albireo was the first and then Eta Cassiopeia. I showed her NGC 2169 in Orion and told her it was known as “37”. She asked why it was called that and I told her to take a look and tell me. It took her a second to catch on but she finally got it. It looks exactly like the number 37! The best view of the night I think was that of M32 through the binoculars. Mara found it herself with only a little guidance. You always know when somebody actually gets the galaxy in view because when they first start looking they ask “does it look like…” until finally they don’t ask anymore and you just hear a big “Ohhh wow…!” Leaving Mara with the Bino’s, John and I returned to our ‘scopes and our own searches.

The night before NGC 613 had eluded me. It was the last object I needed to find in Sculptor and I was bound and determined to find it. The sky to the southwest where it was hiding in was looking a little better then the night before so I gave it a shot. After studying my map and doing some random searching I finally found it after a half hour of looking. It is located midway between the ~4.5 mag stars Nu Fornacis and Alpha Sculptoris. The galaxy was not disappointing and worth the effort to find. It was long and thin with a small bright core but had a bright steak running almost the entire length of it. Below it was a little bright star.

Searching my map for other objects needed to help complete my list I found I needed a planetary nebula in Cygnus. It seemed like an easy object to find being that it was only 5 degrees behind Deneb. The problem is that it is located in a star littered field and, it’s hiding right next to one of them. The planetary is NGC 7026 and has an apparent magnitude of 12.7 and is only 27” away from a 9.6 mag star! After quite a bit of searching and consoling of my maps and charts I finally found it. It’s got to be the smallest planetary I’ve ever seen. To me, it was more greenish in color and it actually acted like the Blinking Nebula in that it would come n and out of view using direct and averted vision. At least I found it and could move on to something else.

While still in Cygnus I found an open cluster I needed. The cluster is NGC 6866 and is located midway between Sadr and Delta Cygni. It’s an easy target that appeared as a circular group of dim stars crossed by and chain of stars of the same brightness. Next to it was a smaller group of stars that may be an even fainter cluster.

Mara asked about the two bright stars that had come up over the horizon and the brighter one that was near them. It was a fitting question seeing they were Castor and Pollux and that Mara is a Gemini. The other object was Saturn. Mara asked if she could find it in the ‘scope and I gave her the reins first explaining how to first find it in the Telrad and then in the finderscope. She had no problems whatsoever and spent about 10 minutes looking at the ringed beauty before giving me back the controls.

Resuming my search for obscure objects I started back in Perseus. I found a planetary nebula designated NGC 1514. I found it to be another very small planetary also green in color. A central star is visible as well as a large, faint halo surrounding the star.

Another planetary is NGC 2371 and is in Gemini. This one was so odd looking that I had to go up to Charlie and ask if he could find it with his computer. He did and confirmed what I was seeing as correct. There was no color to the planetary and its shape was oblong and faint. There seemed to be two bright spots amidst the nebulosity. Later research showed that the object is actually two planetary’s; those being NGC 2371 and NGC 2372. I think the time had gotten to 1am or so and Charlie and I were the only ones left awake. I never knew about Dave but there is a possibility he was engaged in some clandestine operations. JC was definitely sleeping. Either that or the bear had invaded his tent once more! The wind had really picked up turning my ‘scope into the “sail” so I decided to give it a rest for a while. I thought the temperature had dropped off a little but Charlie said it was only 77 degrees outside. It must have been the wind-chill factor I was feeling! Besides the wind, the sky had really gone to pot.

Luckily, the wind did not last long and the sky returned to favorable conditions shortly thereafter. I noticed a globular cluster located in Lynx that I had never seen before. And…I still haven’t seen it. NGC 2419 will have to wait for another day. I was not about the let the Cat get the better of me and it finally let something out of the bag…NGC 2683 was phenomenal! The galaxy was extremely bright and comet shaped. One end seemed to come to a definite point while the other end was more open and ill-defined. I could barely but clearly see the central bulge and underneath it the dust lane ran more towards one side of the ill-defined side. To the more pointy side there seemed to be a spot that was a little brighter then the surrounding area and below it, outside of the body there was another little faint bright spot. Up to this point I had been using a 20mm eyepiece at 90x but for this object I went just a little higher in power with the 15mm at 122x.

Noting that Leo was completely above the horizon I took a chance that I would be able find some galaxies here. The first was NGC 2903 which I later learned is actually two galaxies. NGC 2903 is rather large and uniform in brightness across its surface. I did notice that to one side the galaxy did appear brighter then the rest. This brightness is what I later learned to be a separate galaxy called NGC 2905.

Moving down to the wonderful double star Algieba I found a couple of galaxies hiding in the Lions mane. Once again, while only expecting to find one object, instead I found three. NGC 3227 and NGC 3226 are very close neighbors that appear round and fairly uniform. In the same FOV a small elliptical shaped galaxy can be found called NGC 3222.

The Lion held one more surprise for me when I looked at NGC 3190. Just below Aldhafera the main galaxy can be found looking rather small but fairly bright for so small an object. I thought I saw at least two other close by neighbors; Charlie, who was still hanging out at his ‘scope confirmed the fact for me. NGC 3190 has a very, very close companion called NGC 3189 and at a later date I will have to try and see if I can distinguish the two separate galaxies. The other faint fuzzies I could see were two towards either side called NGC 3185 which was the larger of the group but also the most opaque and NGC 3193 which was bright for its size but very small. The last of the group was NGC 3187 and is located between NGC 3190 and Zeta Leonis. It is the smallest of the group and almost appears as a faint star. Having made a record of what I saw really paid off as it gave me confirmation that I was seeing more then I bargained for. I can hardly wait for Leo to rise higher and behind it the galaxy laden area of the Virgo-Coma Cluster. My 16” scope is going to be able to keep me busy for hours on end in this area of the sky.

Sometime around 4am Charlie came down to my camp and asked if I had seen the Bubble Nebula. Its designation is NGC 7635 and should be an easy target as it is located between the Scorpion Cluster; M52 and another cluster nearby called NGC 7510. Try as I might, I could not find the Bubble. Cassiopeia was fairly low and I wondered if this is why I could not see it. It will have to wait for another dark sky opportunity.

Something that did not have to wait was the Great Orion Nebula. Of course, we had all looked at it a couple of times during the night. When I was in Stoneman, Arizona in completely dark skies I noticed that the stars in Orion’s Sword lost they’re individuality and became more as one; like a true sword appearing like a huge streak across the sky. Now tonight, I noticed the same thing. A look at M42 was just insane! Even without a filter of any kind the varying depths are clearly visible. I chanced a shot of it with my camera.

Since I had the camera mounted to the ‘scope, I also took a shot of Bode’s galaxy which did not come out very well but the Cigar did: for a camera mounted to a non-guided Dobsonian! It’s nothing to write home about but it did take.

Remembering that I could not see the Rosette Nebula the night before, I put the sky-glow filter in my 20mm eyepiece and gave the area around Monoceros a gander. Sure enough, there it was in all its glory! The thing is huge and cannot fit with in the eyepieces FOV. I spent a few times strolling around the Rosette noting that it appeared more bright and defined to one side of it. Wanting to stay up later, especially since we were getting a free bonus hour of darkness (the time changed for or to daylight savings whichever), I thought about the inferno I was to wake in and chose instead to take the rest of the night and its cooler air and use it for sleep. I bid farewell to Charlie and hit the hay.

I woke, as usual, wondering who forgot to close the oven door. Somebody turn me over and baste me please, I’m about done! Getting out of the tent I found Mara, John and Sierra starting at me like I was some kind of freakish apparition. Everybody else had packed up and left on their journey back to Las Vegas. We were the only ones left. Shortly afterwards Mara too left as she had to work later that night. John and I decided to skip breakfast and chose instead to pack up ourselves and mosey on home.

On the way we stopped at Ryolite which is an old ghost town located just west of Beatty. We walked around one of the buildings for a bit wondering what it must have been like in its glory days.

  

Before arriving in Beatty, I noticed odd appearing strata of rock running through and outcropping of boulders & stopped to take a picture of it.

We stopped in Beatty for one of their delicious sandwiches and then continued homeward. John drove the rest of the way as I nodded off from time to time.

The trip all in all was very pleasant and certainly worthwhile despite the occasional wind and clouds. Thanks to Charlie and Dave I learned a few more things and a special thanks to JC for inviting us “sirius outsiders” to join their group.

2003/10/24-26

Time: Hours of Darkness
Location: Death Valley (Mesquite Springs), California
Weather:
- Temperature = Mid 90’s – Upper 60’s
- Humidity = 15%
- Winds = NE @ 1mph with gust around 20mph
- Clouds = 6/5
- Transparency = 6/4
- Seeing = 6/4
- Darkness = 6
Moon Phase: 0%
Telescope: Meade 16” Starfinder Dobsonian

New Objects Viewed:

- NGC 5907 (Gal) / Mag: 10.40 / Size: 12’ / Draco [Splinter]
- NGC 6503 (Gal) / Mag: 10.09 / Size: 6.2’ x 2.3’ / Draco
- NGC 925 (Gal) / Mag: 10.0 / Size: 9.8’ x 6.0’ / Triangulum
- NGC 404 (Gal) / Mag: 10.7 / Size: 3.4’ x 3.4’ / Andromeda
- NGC 772 (Gal) / Mag: 10.3 / Size: 7.1’ x 4.5’ / Aries
- NGC 697 or 674 (Gal) / Mag: 12.0 / Size: 4.5’ x 1.5’ / Aries
- NGC 678 (Gal) / Mag: 13.4 / Size: 4.5’ x 0.8’ / Aries
- NGC 680 (Gal) / Mag: 11.9 / Size: 1.9’x 4.6’ / Aries
- NGC 691 (Gal) / Mag: 11.4 / Size: 3.5’ x 2.7’ / Aries
- NGC 520 (Gal) / Mag: 11.4 / Size: 4.5’ x 1.8’ / Pisces [Flying Ghost]
- NGC 488 (Gal) / Mag: 10.3 / Size: 5.2’ x 4.1’ / Pisces
- NGC 1513 / Cr40, OCL-398 (OC) / Mag: 8.8 / Size: 9.0’ / Perseus
- NGC 1491 (BN) / Mag: Unk / Size: 9’ x 6’ / Perseus
- Stock 2 (OC) / Mag: 4.4 / Size: 2.5” / Perseus [Muscleman Cluster]
- NGC 1027 / Cr30, Mel 116, OCL-357 (OC) Mag: 7.5 / Size: 20’ / Cassiopeia
- NGC 225 / Cr7, OCL-305 (OC) / Mag: 12 / Size: 12’ / Cassiopeia
- NGC 436 / Cr11, Mel6, OCL-320 (OC) / Mag: 8.8 / Size: 5’ / Cassiopeia
- NGC 1275 (Gal) / Mag: 12.7 / Size: 2.6’ x 1.9’ / Perseus [Seyfert]
- NGC 1245 / Cr38, Mel 18, OCL-389 (OC) / Mag: 6.9 / Size: 10’ / Perseus
- NGC 1981 / Cr73, OCL-525 (OC) / Mag: 4.2 / Size: 25’ / Orion
- NGC 1973 (BN) / Mag: 7 / Size: 5.0’ x 5.0’ / Orion [Part of NGC 1977]
- NGC 1975 (BN) / Mag: 7 / Size: 10’ x 5’ / Orion [Part of NGC 1977]
- NGC 1977 (DN) / Mag: 4.2 / Size: 40’ x 25’ / Orion
- NGC 1980 / OCL-529 (OC-N) / Mag: 2.5 / Size: 13’ / Orion
- NGC 2024 (EN) / Mag: 10.7 / Size: 30’ x 30’ / Orion [Tank Track, Flame, & Running Man]
- NGC 2194 / Cr87, Mel 43, OCL-485 (OC) / Mag: 9.19 / Size: 10’ / Orion
- NGC 1535 / PK206.40.1 (PN) / Mag: 9.6 / Size: 48” x 42” / Eridanus
- NGC 1084 (Gal) / Mag: 11 / Size: 2.9’ x 1.5’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1052 (Gal) / Mag: 11.2 / Size: 2.9’ x 2.2’ / Cetus
- NGC 1332 (Gal) / Mag: 11.3 / Size: 4.6’ x 1.7’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1331 / IC 324 (Gal) / Mag: 14.3 / Size: 1.1’ x 1.0’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1325 (Gal) / Mag: 13.4 / Size: 4.6’ x 1.8’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1319 (Gal) / Mag: 13.9 / Size: 1.3’ x 0.7’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1315 (Gal) / Mag: 13.5 / Size: 1.8’ x 1.8’ Eridanus
- NGC 2354 / Cr131 (OC) / Mag: 9 / Size: 20’ / Canis Major
- NGC 2362 / Cr136, Mel 65 (OC) / Mag: 10.5 / Size: 8’ / Canis Major [Mexican Jumping Star]
- NGC 1232 (Gal) / Mag: 15.3 / Size: 7.8’ x 6.9’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1300 (Gal) / Mag: 11.1 / Size: 6.5’ x 4.3’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1201 (Gal) / Mag: 11.7 / Size: 4.4’ x 2.8’ / Fornax
- NGC 1097 (Gal) / Mag: 14.1 / Size: 9.3’ x 6.6’ / Fornax
- NGC 1398 (Gal) / Mag: 10.6 / Size: 6.6’ x 5.2’ / Fornax
- NGC 1360 / PK220-53.1 (PN) / Mag: 9.4 / Size: 11’ x 7.5’ / Fornax
- NGC 1395 (Gal) / Mag: 11.1 / Size: 3.2’ x 2.5’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1808 (Gal) / Mag: 10.8 / Size: 7.2’ x 4.1’ / Columba
- NGC 1792 (Gal) / Mag: 10.2 / Size: 4’ x 2.1’ / Columba
- NGC 1851 (GC) / Mag: 7.14 / Size: 11’ / Columba
DAY TWO:
- NGC 6642 (GC) / Mag: 10.5 / Size: 4.5’ / Sagittarius
- NGC 6716 / Cr393 (OC) / Mag: 7.5 / Size: 7’ / Sagittarius
- IC 4756 / Cr386, Mel 210 (OC) / Mag: 4.59 / Size: 39’ / Serpens Cauda
- NGC 613 (Gal) / Mag: 10.19 / Size: 5.5’ x 4.2’ / Sculptor
- NGC 7026 / PK89+0.1 (PN) / Mag: 12.7 (CS=14.5) / Size: 27’ x 11’ / Cygnus
- NGC 6866 / Cr142, Mel 229 (OC) / Mag: 9 / Size: 6’ / Cygnus
- NGC 1514 / PK165-15.1 (PN) / Mag: 10 (CS=9.4) / Size: 2.3’ x 2’ / Taurus
- NGC 2371 / PK189+19.1 (PN) / Mag: 11 (CS=15.5) / Size: 74” x 54” / Gemini [SW Lobe]
- NGC 2372 / PK189+19.1 (PN) / Mag: 9.5 / Size: 2.2’ x 0.9” / Gemini [NE Lobe]
- NGC 2683 (Gal) / Mag: 9.6 / Size: 9.3’ x 2.5’ / Lynx
- NGC 2903 (Gal) / Mag: 9.1 / Size: 13’ x 6.6’ / Leo
- NGC 2905 / GC 1863 (SC) / Mag: 9.8 / Size: --- / Leo [Star Cloud in NE arm of NGC 2903]
- NGC 3227 (Gal) / Mag: 11.4 / Size: 5.6’ x 4’ / Leo
- NGC 3226 (Gal) / Mag: 11.5 / Size: 2.8’ x 2.5’ / Leo
- NGC 3222 (Gal) / Mag: 14 / Size: 1.3’ x 1.1’ / Leo
- NGC 3190 (Gal) / Mag: 11.3 / Size: 4.5’ x 1.7’ / Leo
- NGC 3193 (Gal) / Mag: 11.5 / Size: 2.8’ x 2.6’ / Leo
- NGC 3187 (Gal) / Mag: 13.6 / Size: 3.3’ x 1.5’ / Leo
- NGC 3185 (Gal) / Mag: 12.9 / Size: 2.3’ x 1.6’ / Leo
- NGC 7510 / Cr454 (OC) / Mag: 7.9 / Size: 4’ / Cepheus
- NGC 2237 (EN) / Mag: 8.9 / Size: 90’ x 90’ / Monoceros [Western half of Rosette]
- NGC 2244 (OC) / Mag: 6.2 / Size: 24’ / Monoceros [Cluster in center of Rosette]
- NGC 2252 / Cr102, OCL-514 (OC) / Mag: 7.7 / Size: 20’ / Monoceros [NE of Rosette]

Other Objects Viewed:

Iridium Flare (x2), Mars, M22, M31, M32, M110, Blinking Nebula, M102, Cat’s Eye Nebula, M13, NGC 6207, NGC 253, Stephan’s Quintet (3 of 5), NGC 7320, M27, M33, M36, M37, M38, M42, M43, Eskimo Nebula, M1, Double Cluster, M57, Eta Cassiopeia, Albireo, M81, M82, “37” Cluster, The Veil

Objects Missed:

NGC 1499 (California Nebula) in Perseus, B33/IC434 (Horsehead Nebula) in Orion, NGC 6369 (PN) in Sagittarius, NGC 2419 (GC) in Lynx