Nothing like cloudy weather to get a lot of observing planning done! I have a large number of fresh pages ready to go for Leo, should skies ever clear. I observe from Essex County, Ontario, Canada. We are surrounded by vast lakes that greatly influence the skies. It is thus a very humid region, and weather is difficult to predict. I came out from a concert in Detroit last Saturday night and it was completely clear. However, a vast cloud bank could be seen sitting to the southeast. Yup, that was my cloud bank. By the time I arrived home in the extreme west of my county (right up against the Detroit River) it was completely overcast. Clear in Detroit; cloudy in Essex County, Canada. I will devote a future blog to detailing my nearby observing locations (I have five options). I'll try not to depress you with how many cloudy nights we get.
Today, however, I am only here to announce my completion of the herculean task of preparing notes for observing the constellation Leo in depth. I have the specs on 460 objects written down on paper and lightly marked in pencil on the atlas, with 360 of them being NGC galaxies (I skipped most of the IC galaxies for now, and all of the other even fainter ones from different catalogues). The other objects to be observed are double stars, variables or just plain stars. As I do not yet know the limits of my 12" mirror at my suburban location (I'm certain that in a dark sky in New Mexico there would be no limits), I am prepared to track down all of the NGC within Leo. I may get to see 30% of them, or even less. Maybe I'll see them all. It's something I do not yet know. Leo is high enough that I should be looking at the best part of my viewable sky. Anyway, time will tell just how far I will get with spring plans. I would love to hear from someone who has observed a lot in Leo, so if you are out there kindly message me. Theoretically, every object I jotted down (I have 32 pages ready to be filled with exciting notes and sketches) should be viewable in my instrument. Lucky for me I have a good friend nearby with a 22" Dob, just in case there are one or two I can't find with my instrument. Something like "Copeland's Septet" should be an awesome galaxy group to see in a 22" Dob. Are you listening, Randy?
I came across another interesting named feature on the Uranometria charts for Leo. Ever heard of the "Frosty Leo Nebula?" Can't wait to see that one. Reminds me of the "Red Rectangle" in Monoceros, which I am still hoping to see before the season passes. Has anyone seen either of these? Please share if you have.
So, how many clear nights will it take me to see the 460 planned objects in Leo? Good question. I try to set up my observing pages so that one page approximates what I can search for and possibly see in one night (remember that I will have a different constellation awaiting for later in the night--I will soon prepare Lyra). With 32 pages of Leo objects awaiting, I will thus need about 32 nights of clear, dark skies to finish this project. If I am lucky, I will get 5 nights per season to observe, so I might get almost 1/6th of the way through Leo this year. If I am very lucky, I might score as high as 8 pages/nights (average 14 objects per page). Remember that I am not in a rush to finish this. I may still be observing in Leo when I die! I hope to carefully observe every chosen object, especially the 5 Messier objects within Leo. A few other large, bright galaxies also await, and I know I will see some wonderful double stars, as well as many incidental stars of note. I am partial to very orange stars, but almost any colour will do. I do not spend a long time on very faint galaxies, unless there is something of particular interest. I love edge-on ones, and can look at those for quite some time. I am also excited at seeing several galaxies within the same field of view in my eyepiece--that is always quite a rush!
As soon as I actually begin Leo, I will report back.
Mapman Mike
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