With one of the worst clear-sky time periods during new moon I have ever experienced, there almost was no report this time. Then, finally, along came one clear night near new moon, and I found I would be able to write up a very brief report, at least. Then came two more clear nights as the moon was waxing. Now, finding those faint NGC objects from my area is never a walk in the park. But when the moon is up high in the west, it makes the job even more difficult. On that third clear night, to add insult to injury, the humidity was 85%. It was like trying to look through an aquarium to see the deep sky! Of course once the moon reaches first quarter, effectively ending my deep sky search for two weeks, along came some of the best night skies I have ever seen. Four of them. Sigh.
Anyway, despite most of the gods on Olympus conspiring against astronomers in my area, I was able to add 14 new NGC/IC objects to my life list. All, without exception, were faint to very faint galaxies. Only one recorded object was a non-galaxy, the lone globular cluster in Bootes which I had observed years ago with the 8". Some of these objects were not only very difficult to see, but also difficult to locate at all. None of them projected enough photons into my eye to really impress me, so after tiring later on in the nights, I turned my eyepiece on some of the more splendid glories of the heavens.
Here is a list of new objects added to my list. 12 are NGC and 2 are IC. All but one are located in the vicinity of Arcturus, which became my home base for the three deep sky observing nights.
eg 5490-C: Seen last month but not fully recognized as the partner to 5490.
eg 5492: At mag. 12.8, one of the brighter objects this term. A dim slash (1'.6 x 0'.4).
eg 5498: Mag. 13.7. Oval and very very faint, only seen with a.v.
eg 5508: Mag.13.65. Within a very faint star cluster.
eg 5509: Mag 13.95. Paired with 5513 at 150x.
eg 5513: Mag. 13.25. Paired with 5509. Not difficult.
eg 5518: Mag. 13.65. Occasional stellar core seen.
eg 5628: Mag. 13.6. Seen with a bright moon just west.
eg 5702: Mag. 13.25. Just a tiny bit north of 5710 and 11.
eg 5710: Mag. 13.2. Paired with much fainter 5711.
eg 5711: Mag. 13.75. Both objects seen under a 5-day old moon.
eg 6646: Mag. 13. In Lyra. 2 IC galaxies nearby not seen yet.
IC-0982: Mag. 13.25. Paired with 983 near a bright star, north of 5490 and 90-C.
IC-0983: Mag. 12.4. Brighter pair member, easily seen. Largest of the month.
gc 5466: This large, very faint globular is a real tease. Seen years ago with the 8" under ideal skies, a few stars could be resolved. With the 12" I could not even see it at all from my backyard. From my dark sky sight south of here, the cluster at first resembles a very large, very faint galaxy. Then a few stars begin to resolve at low power. Too much magnification spoils the view, as stars seem to be about mag. 13 and fainter. I achieved resolution to the core at 150x, though certainly not a rich amount of stars. And they are very, very faint. Don't try this object in less than ideal conditions. And just for fun, have a look at M 3 afterwards.
Mapman Mike
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