Date: 2003/10/31 - 11/02
Time: Hours of Darkness
Location: Death Valley (Mesquite Springs), California
Altitude: ~1800 ft. ASL
Weather:
- Temperature = Mid 80’s – Lower 50’s
- Humidity = ~20% - 100%
- Winds = SW @ 7mph with gust around 25mph
- Clouds = 6/-1
- Transparency = 5/1
- Seeing = 6/4
- Darkness = 6/4
Moon Phase: 30% (Already set on Night One)
Telescope: Meade 16” Starfinder Dobsonian, Orion XT10 SkyQuest & Orion AstroView 100mm

- DAY ONE:

Last weekend went so well at Death Valley John & I decided a return trip was in order. The thought was that even though the moon was on its way back to being full we could still get some good dark sky viewing in after it set. Thursday morning arrived and all the area sky clocks were predicting unfavorable skies. Fires in Southern California were burning out of control and the wind was carrying the smoke from them all the way into Southern Nevada and even further. The “wind” was actually more like a “gale” as speeds were approaching 50mph and rain was being predicted in some locales. These factors dampened my spirits of doing any serious stargazing anywhere we went and I even hesitated as to go at all. I called John late in the afternoon hemming and hawing until he told me: “look, let’s just go with our original plan and go to Death Valley”: the command decision had been made. We wanted to take more stuff then normal so we took his Chevy 2500 pick-up instead of my Ford F-150. That was also a good choice as we weren’t so cramped for quarters and Sierra, my trusty dog, had a seat of her own. After packing up and a stop to pick up supplies we were finally on the open road sometime after 8pm.

The further north we drove the smoke from the fires was less apparent and the skies were looking fairly promising. Even the wind was dying down some. We watched the moon get redder and redder as it set below the western horizon proving that the smoke had not totally cleared out. In Beatty we asked about predictions of snow that I had heard about and were told they had not heard of such a thing! That was good news. When we crossed into California and reaching Daylight Pass, a glance out of the moving vehicle was very, very pleasing: the Milky Way was completely visible and the sky was looking really crisp and clear. Our arrival at Mesquite Springs found only a few other campers and not a cloud in the sky. The temperatures were of course not as cold as they had been in Beatty and certainly warmer then when crossing the mountain pass. There was not a cloud in the sky but at the lower elevation a slight hint of the smoke that had settled in the Valley was still detectable. We were not too concerned as the Milky Way was still very much visible. The winds had calmed to nearly nothing.

We tried to be quite as we unpacked our equipment and set up camp as the slightest noise was amplified ten-fold in the still desert air. By midnight we were looking at stars! This trip we brought 3 ‘scopes: The Meade 16” Starfinder & Orion XT10” Dobsonians and also the Orion AstroView 100mm Refractor. John wanted to use it to find double-stars which he recently found out he enjoyed looking at. We also thought it would be good to look at the moon during the day with. On top of that, we could use the little ‘scope while we waited for the bigger ones to cool down.

We first looked at Polaris which at low powers the AstroView is unable to split. At higher powers the glare from the brighter star is too much for the “achy” to overcome. Instead we looked at Eta Cassiopeia. The “Cigar” and “Bodes” galaxies were looking very nice in its wide field of view and a look at Orion A was also very nice. The first time I saw M 78 was here at Death Valley so I took another look at it with the AstroView noting that the Skyglow filter greatly improved the image and is almost necessary in this ‘scope for this object. Last weekend I saw the Rosette Nebula for the first time but with my big 16” and wondered how the little 3.9”er would do. I was surprised to find the 6 x 30 finderscope could detect a hint of nebulosity almost better then at 24x with the filter. At that power the nebulosity was detectable but just barely. Enough cooling-down time had elapsed and we were ready to play with the bigger ‘scopes.

We really wanted to find new galaxies as open clusters can sometimes be obscure and sparse. John found the first one which was hiding between the front legs of the bear; it is NGC 2841. The tiny galaxy is just about on the limit for the XT10 and I was really impressed that he even found it. In the 16” Starfinder the galaxy appeared to be fairly even in brightness across its surface. Its shape was elliptical with the core more towards one end. Away from the core the galaxy seemed to stretch more towards a defined point and was more rounded on the side with the core. There did seem to be a brighter spot within the body that was between the core and the rounded edge of the galaxy. Also, near the rounded edge there was a faint star. John continued to search for galaxies in Ursa Major but I chose to save them for later. I wanted to take advantage of the southerly horizon and search for galaxies in Eridanus.

Having gotten my feet quite wet last time I was at Death Valley I again attempted a dive into the river. Once I broke the surface of the water I was able to see NGC 1532 lying on the bottom. The galaxy was very thin and long with the core centered and faintly visible and its body being of even brightness. There did appear to be a star beneath the galaxy and to one side there appeared another faint smudge that did not seem to be a point of light but rather another galaxy. The “smudge” was orientated in the same direction as NGC 1532 but had no definition to it whatsoever other then an elongated “smudge” of light. Research at home showed the smudge to be NGC 1531. I only needed one more galaxy to complete my “Eridanus” checklist and that galaxy was below the Fornax cluster of galaxies. I tried to look at them but they were too much in the murk of the horizon to be able to see. These would have to wait for another time.

John had had quite the busy day and decided to retire for the night and continue his search tomorrow night. As we stood there talking about what we had seen he thought he saw something on the ground running towards him. It gave him quite the scare. I reminded him that after all, it was Helloween! He thought the thing was a Tarantula but I didn’t think they lived in Death Valley and besides, it was too cold for them to be up and about. Just in case, he took Sierra into the tent with him and we said our “goodnights”. I started my searching but was distracted by little sounds and rustling in the bushes. It kind of freaked me out and I hoped that it wasn’t any coyotes that had snuck up on me. Out of the corner of my eye, I kept thinking I saw things scurrying along the ground and was glancing around nervously. Finally, I caught what it was with my flashlight. It was these little rat-mice looking things and they were all over the place! Occasionally they made sounds like that of a duck quacking far off in the distance. I don’t’ know, I only report what I see and hear! Anyway, my mystery solved, I returned to my stargazing.

Since I couldn’t play in the River I thought I’d climb into the Boat and search around. I know I’m kind of searching in places that are low to the horizon but my views to the south from Las Vegas are not all that good and I wanted to take advantage of them here out in Death Valley. The first thing I did was to scan the area with the finderscope. I found quite a few areas that I could tell would be some nice open-clusters. The brightest cluster was wedge shaped and dominated by two bright, yellow stars. Looking at my star chart showed that I had found a Messier object that I needed: M93 or the Butterfly Cluster which is located in Puppis. Nearby I also found NGC 2482, another open-cluster that is also visible in the finderscope but is much dimmer then M93. My star chart shows a nebula below these two clusters called NGC 2467. I found it fairly easy and could barely make out the nebulosity in the finderscope. The NGC-IC Project classifies this object as an open cluster but it definitely has nebulosity. When I found it, I actually thought it was a planetary nebula. The object is semi-circular in shape and reminded me of a fan; the kind ladies used to carry around and waved in front of their faces. In the spot where the handle would be connected to the body, there appeared to me a bright spot in the nebulosity. To either side or more in the cloud were two brighter spots but dimmer then the “center” star. The straight edge was more defined and the oval edge was jagged. It was a very pleasing object and would certainly look better at greater heights. I wanted to continue looking around Puppis but decided to abandon the “ship” until it sailed a little higher away from the horizon.

I turned my attention to Lynx where a globular had escaped me last weekend. I had noticed the globular has a nickname that is “The Intergalactic Wanderer”. I’m not sure what that means but wondered if the reason I couldn’t find it last time is because maybe it had “wandered” to a different area and wasn’t where it should be on my map. This little globular was quite the challenge for me to find but after about a half-hour of searching, I finally found it. The globular is NGC 2419. In the 8 x 50 finderscope, the globular is certainly not visible. When centered in the eyepiece the view through the finderscope shows three brighter stars to the left and two to the right. I had an Orion 20mm expanse eyepiece in which is 90x. In the eyepiece the globular was very faint and very close to two brighter stars. I could tell it would be one of those globulars that no matter how high I went on magnification, no stars would resolve. I was reminded of an old and one of my favorite adages: “Curiosity killed the Cat, Satisfaction brought it back”. I left Lynx satisfied I had found what I came for.

Puppis was now a little higher above the horizon and ready to board. From my understanding Puppis was once part of the great constellation Agro of Jason and the Argonauts. Some say Puppis is “The Stern” while I have also heard it called “The Poop-deck”. Regardless, there is booty lying all over the place here. I found three open-clusters which were to brilliant and large for my Starfinder at 90x. All three are located around the star named Naos which means “ship”. They are NGC 2546, NGC 2451 & NGC 2477. The last is the smallest and most pleasing to the eye in my ‘scope. Again, I’m sure they would look much better when higher in the sky. Before I departed I checked out one more object that I had previously seen at Two Trees (Sedona), Arizona in Dennis’ 20” Dobsonian. It is NGC 2438 a planetary nebula in the open-cluster M46. Truthfully, I didn’t look at the object very long but just enough to say I’ve seen it for myself. From my spot at the north end of Death Valley, looking south, I could see all the way into Vela; at least the upper portion of it. Its two brightest stars were visible but I could not detect any of the large open clusters it contains. The southern horizon was starting to give out due to long, thin clouds that were coming in from the west. I’m sure it was smoke tendrils from the fires in California. I turned my attention to other parts of the sky.

The Bear was standing on end and I noticed Cor Caroli standing solo in the area; a look at M51 was in order. Both M51 and its companion NGC 5195 were visible. Certainly not in their glory that the coming seasons will bring them but certainly worth looking at. I could not see their “bridge”.

More clouds had moved into the area, especially to the south and along with them were wind and colder temperatures. Orion was high in the sky and I wanted to study the Hunter before he was obscured by clouds. Two objects I missed last weekend were NGC 1999 and NGC 1788; both diffuse nebulae. The first is located between the “Sword” and Rigel and is easily detected at 90x with the Skyglow filter in place. The second was another of the objects I had missed last weekend and is NGC 1788. This nebula is located above the “source” of the “river” near a star called Cursa. As a side note, I think this star should actually be part of Orion. The way I see the Hunter, Rigel is the “right” foot and Cursa is his “left”. The Hunter is facing west not as SNP shows him as facing east and holding a sword above his head. The tip of his head should be Betelgeuse and not Meissa. This configuration gives the Hunter better balance and symmetry. It also puts his belt on straight and not sagging down to one side and his sword hangs right and is not in the place where his phallus should be. This might be too much information; I should have put in a disclaimer huh? Anyway, my ideas come partly from my studies in Egyptology and Orion’s connection with Osiris. Did I mention I could see NGC 1788 this time? Well, I could and I can’t believe I missed it last weekend. I can only conclude that the Skyglow filter helps to see this object. I also looked around the Orion B area but it was too cold to make proper notes.

I had as of yet been able to take a good look at Jupiter with the SF16 and now seemed like a good time with the daylight breaking on the horizon. Unfortunately, the winds picked up and the image was very poor. I jotted down what I saw and moved to Saturn. Saturn was very high in the sky and looked wonderful. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I should have been keeping a low magnification view of Jupiter instead of looking at Saturn. After checking with SNP I realized that I happened to view Jupiter at a very cool time: My sketch shows only three moons visible: one to the right and two very close to the left. The two which were close together were Callisto and Ganymede. The single one was actually Europa and Io occulting each other. I’m not sure which was going in front of the other but the fact is that it occurred at 4:03am and I happened to look at just the right time. A longer look would have shown the two “split” apart from one another and would have been nice to witness.

As daylight broke the plane of the horizon I noticed Izar still visible above the mountain tops to the northeast. I took a couple of shots of it with my camera mounted on the tripod and also one of the Sirius/Orion regions.

I took the time to take a few more shots of the wonderful sunrise.

Before the Sun broke the plane of the horizon I was inside my tent and sound asleep.

- DAY TWO:

I woke to an unpleasant sight: clouds. We spent the day trying to hope them away. The forecast for this day was that of clouds and I guess I couldn’t complain.

The early afternoon brought clouds that looked like they might do more then just hang around in the sky so we wrapped up the ‘scopes hoping it would be an unnecessary precaution.

 : :

Since the AstroView is easier to cover up we kept it out and looked at the moon while it was still daylight.

The people from the next camp over came by and took a glimpse not only at the moon but at Mars which was not looking very nice at all. Due to the clouds and smoke that surely must have still been in the air, the planet was looking as red as I’ve ever seen it. It was an eerie sight and only fitting for Helloween night! As if on queue, one of the neighborhood coyotes howled for effect. I tried to sketch what I could see of the moon but clouds thwarted my efforts. We spent the rest of the night sitting in our chairs eating candy, talking and keeping warm. Sierra had fun scouting the bushes for our little rat friends and chasing them when one came close.

Sometime around midnight it started to sprinkle and we headed to the tent for shelter. About an hour later I woke to the sound of rain hitting the tent. John woke and asked what that sound was. I told him it was somebody standing outside throwing pebbles all over the tent! Death Valley receives 2 ½ inches of rainfall a year: I think we got half of it that night.

- DAY THREE:

John was the first to wake and poke his head out of the tent. From what I saw it didn’t look to bad: blue skies. He informed me that I should stick my head out and take a look. This I did and was amazed at what I saw: snow covered mountains!

The ‘scopes looked like they faired the storm well but I didn’t want to take them out of their forts because thick clouds were still lingering in the sky. We spent the day hanging around camp and decided we should take little hike to see what we could see. The desert is a truly beautiful place. It is actually full of color and not the stark, barren wasteland some think it might be. All you have to do is take a closer look.

We returned to our camp and tried to figure out why we couldn't see anything last night.

As evening approached the sky was looking semi promising and we took our ‘scopes out from under their fortresses.

But no sooner did the darkness set in, the clouds returned and we to our chairs.

More campers had come to Mesquite Springs; many with RV’s and 5th wheels. The camp was more crowded then I’d seen it in the few times we’d been here. I hoped that if it did clear up, they would not have their porch lights on or a campfire going. It did clear up and I was wrong; they had porch lights and campfires. Oh well, I guess it’s a public place. I can understand a fire but porch lights on an RV? If they wanted that why didn’t they stay in the city? I was content to sit in my chair with the Binoculars and to scout for sucker holes. John could not wait and had his ‘scope out looking to the east and southeast which had started to clear first. Of course we had looked at the moon with the AstroView and then Mars. The Pleiades, Hyades and even Andromeda looked nice in the Binoculars and I even caught the Ring Nebula through one of those sucker holes with the SF16.

In coming to Death Valley this weekend, I knew the moon would be about 30% and not set until midnight or so. The sky did clear fairly well but the moon made hunting for galaxies almost futile; we settled for open-clusters in Taurus. The ones we found were: NGC 1807, NGC 1817 & NGC 1746. Auriga has a nice little cluster in the area of the “kids” called NGC 1664. Some other open-clusters I found were Stock 23 (aka: Pazmino’s Cluster) in Camelopardalis and Trumpler 3 (aka: Harvard 1) in Cassiopeia. All of them were fairly faint and sparse almost stretching the limits as to their “clusterness”.

Sometime around 10pm the campground had settled down and it appeared John, Sierra and I were the only ones up and about. The sky had not totally cleared and the parts that were clear were not very transparent. Plus, the moon was still out glaring its evil eye at us. It was time to make a decision: stay and hope for clear skies or pack up and leave before it clouded over again and maybe even rain. John said if we stayed that he would probably go to bed before too long. I didn’t want to hang out by myself and get cold. The wind had kicked up a little and the sky was going south. We thought about tossing a coin but I didn’t want to make a choice based on chance. A look to the northeast made the decision for us: clouds moving in and a change in the wind direction. Having worn out our welcome, we started packing. By midnight we were on the road and headed home. Of course it was clear as a bell as we drove over Daylight Pass and into Beatty. Our only consolation was that to the west, all the way home, we could see clouds along the horizon. I don’t think we would have gotten much viewing in at all. Once at home I checked the Sky Clock for Mesquite Springs. It was uglier then when we had left. Our choice to leave when we did was the correct one. I was happy to have seen what I did with the ‘scopes but more happy to have spent some quality time with my son in the great outdoors.

New Objects Viewed:

NIGHT ONE:

- NGC 2841 (Gal) / Mag: 9.3 / Size: 8.1’ x 3.8’ / Ursa Major
- NGC 1532 (Gal) / Mag: 10.6 / Size: 5.6’ x 1.8’ / Eridanus
- NGC 1531 (Gal) / Mag: 12.7 / Size: 1.3’ x 0.8’ / Eridanus
- M 93 / NGC 2447 / Cr160 / Mel 76 (OC) / Mag: 6.5 / Size: 22’ / Puppis [Butterfly Cluster]
- NGC 2482 / Cr166 (OC) / Mag: 8.69 / Size: 12’ / Puppis
- NGC 2467 / Cr164 (NOC) / Mag: 7.10 / Size: 15’ / Puppis
- NGC 2419 (GC) / Mag: 11.5 / Size: 4.1’ / Lynx [Intergalactic Wanderer]
- NGC 2546 / Cr178 (OC) / Mag: 6.0 / Size: 40’ / Puppis
- NGC 2451 / Cr161 (OC) / Mag: 3.50 / Size: 50’ / Puppis
- NGC 2477 / Cr165 / Mel 78 / OCL-720 (OC) / Mag: 5.0 / Size: 20’ / Puppis
- NGC 2438 / PK231+4.2 (PN) / Mag: 11.0 / Size: 73” x 68” / Puppis (in M46: NGC 2437)
- NGC 1999 (DN) / Mag: 10.0 / Size: 2’ x 2’ / Orion
- NGC 1788 (DN) / Mag: 11.0 / Size: 2’ x 2’ / Orion

NIGHT THREE:

- NGC 1807 / Cr59 / Mel 29 / OCL-462 (OC) / Mag: 7.0 / Size: 17’ / Taurus
- NGC 1817 / Cr60 / OCL-463 (OC) / Mag: 7.9 / Size: 16’ / Taurus
- NGC 1746 / Cr57 / Mel 28 / OCL-452 (OC) / Mag: 6.10 / Size: 42’ / Taurus
- NGC 1664 / Cr56 / Mel 27 / OCL-411 (OC) / Mag: 7.50 / Size: 18’ / Auriga
- Stock 23 (OC) / Mag: 6.5 / Size: 23’ / Camelopardalis [Pazmino’s Cluster]
- Trumpler 3 / Harvard 1 (OC) / Mag: 7.0 / Size: 14’ / Cassiopeia

Other Objects Viewed:

- With Meade 10 x 50 Binoculars: M31
- With Orion AstroView 100mm: Polaris, Eta Cassiopeia, M81/82, Orion A & B, M78, Rosette Nebula, Pleiades, Hyades
- With Orion XT10: NGC 2841, NGC 7814
- With Meade 16” Starfinder: Same as above + M51 & NGC 5195, Jupiter (Leo), Saturn (Gemini), Mars (Aquarius), Moon (Capricornus)

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THIS SITE WAS CREATED ON NOVEMBER, 08, 2003
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