Wednesday 11th August 2004

Southern Sentinel Observing Report

Wednesday 11th August 2004

Date:

11 August 2004 (Local)

Time:

22:00 - 00:00 NZST (UT +12)

Location:

Kumeu Observatory, West Auckland

30 Minutes from Home

Weather:

Occasional Cloud with mainly Clear Skies. Cold & Breezy.

Seeing:

Limiting Magnitude 5.5, transparency 3/5, seeing 2/5

Moon:

New Moon.

Equipment:

80mm AT1010 Stellarvue Refractor

A break in the nasty weather that has been around the Auckland region, presented itself for a quick look around. Time dictated that only the small refractor was only going to be of use due to the unpredictable nature of the cloud and showers.

Arriving at 10 PM with Dave Moorhouse, I set up the refractor and we planned to see if we could observe all the objects in the 'Easy' and 'Medium' categories in the recent Southern Sentinel Observing List for August.

Only using the 24mm Widefield, we planned to do the observing in quick time, logging the objects in 90 minutes. Giving the 3 degree plus FOV, finding the objects should not be too difficult.

Object	Type	Magnification	Notes
M 10	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 107	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 11	Open Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 12	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 13	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category. Low down in the North...had to move scope up the hill to get this one!!
M 14	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 19	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 20	Bright Nebula	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 22	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 24	Open Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 28	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 54	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 6	Open Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 62	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 69	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 7	Open Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 70	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
M 8	Bright Nebula	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 80	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
M 9	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
NGC 4372	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
NGC 4833	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
NGC 5189	Planetary Nebula	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category. Faint in the finder but noticable. Location now memorised for easy location in the future.
NGC 5882	Planetary Nebula	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category. Stellar at this power but easy to identify once Uranometria was consulted. Hardest and last object of the evening.
NGC 5986	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
NGC 6144	Globular Cluster	20x	bject in the 'Medium' category. Overpowered by the glare of Antares but still visible.
NGC 6231	Open Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
NGC 6397	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.
NGC 6441	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
NGC 6723	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category.
NGC 6744	Galaxy	20x	Object in the 'Medium' category. Suprisingly compact and halo defined at extreme low power.
NGC 6752	Globular Cluster	20x	Object in the 'Easy' category.

The observing session ended 2 minutes before midnight and we completed all objects just inside the 90 minutes. The hardest objects were NGC 6744, NGC 5882 & NGC 5189, normally easy with the 13 Inch but more challenging with the smaller 80mm AT1010.

The list is a goodie, with plenty of objects for all, and knowing where most of the objects were helped the speed in which we observed them. It was good to use the AT1010 in combination with the 405 Manfrotto Geared Head. Normally used as the finder for the 13 Inch Dob, the AT1010 will be employed for this type of observing again in the future.

Cheers.

Paul Kemp

13.1" Reflector

Auckland, New Zealand

36° 55' 09 " South, 174° 43' 30" East

-- The Southern Sentinel --