Friday 4 April 2008

Date:

Friday, 4 April, 2008 (Local +12 UT)

Time:

9:37 pm - 1:02 am

Location:

Waharau Regional Park

70 Minutes from Home

Weather:

Mild, Clear Evening with Occasional Cloud.

Conditions

Limiting Magnitude: 6.0, Transparency: 3.5/5, Seeing: 3.5/5

Sunset / Twilight

Sunset at 6:03 pm, Astronomically Dark from 7:34 pm

Moon:

New, 2.2% Illuminated

Equipment:

13.1" f5 Dobsonian

TeleVue Paracorr, Argo Navis



The first Waharau for 2008. All week the forcast looked poor for the weekend, however, late on Friday afternoon it cleared. So I headed off to Waharau Regional Park, the location for the Dark Sky Weekend hosted by the Auckland Astronomical Society. I arrived at 4:15 pm and promptly settled in. Set the scope up early and waited for the sun to set and the cloud to clear. Both event's happened. I still had plenty of objects loaded in the Argo Navis, and a good nights observing was expected by the few that turned up.

Observations as follows;

Object	Type	Magnification	Notes
ESO97-13	Galaxy	113X	Circinus Dwarf Galaxy. Small galaxy that is tucked inside the 'V' of a 'Y' shaped asterism. Fairly conspicious but without detail. Hartungs Object. Waharau Autumn 2008.
K1-23	Planetary Nebula	113X	Moderately bright and not difficult PN.
M104	Galaxy	113X	Early Evening Object Waharau Autumn 2008.
M83	Galaxy	113X	Early Evening Object Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC3503	Bright Nebula	113X	A diffuse nebulous patch below a dark streak. A 'C' shaped asterism is in the FOV at 7 o'clock.
NGC4945	Galaxy	113X	Early Evening Object Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5139	Globular Cluster	113X	Early Evening Object Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC3247	Open Cluster	113X	A loose open cluster of about 40 to 50 stars. No more than a starry knot in the Milky Way. No bright members. Waharau Autumn 2008.
IC2581	Open Cluster	113X	Open Cluster of about 20 stars, surrounding a 5th mag star. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5824	Globular Cluster	113X	Small, but bright globular cluster well resolved with a strong core. Possibly type 2. Waharau Autumn 2008.
IC2631	Bright Nebula	113X	A small nebulous spot surrounding a 10th Mag star. Not enhanced by the UHC filter. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5189	Planetary Nebula	113X	Spiral Planetary. Irregular in shape and brightness. Should push the power up and look at the PN in even more detail. Top Object. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5873	Planetary Nebula	113X	Small stellar PN, confirmed with Filters and Star Chart. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5989	Galaxy	113X	Small faint galaxy with an even brightness. No features of note. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5740	Galaxy	113X	Small Oval shaped galaxy with a condensed core. A little irregularly noted. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5746	Galaxy	113X	The 'Son of Sombero' Bright and long (6:1), with a dark lane. Irregularity noted. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC6397	Globular Cluster	113X	Ara Globular. Beautiful, Well resolved and bright. Waharau Autumn 2008.
M3	Globular Cluster	113X	Bright Messier globular. Well resolved despite being low in the N. Contrast not as good as it could be, but a nice view none the less. Waharau Autumn 2008.
M53	Globular Cluster	113X	Large Messier globular, moderately bright but not fully resolved. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC4565	Galaxy	113X	A large 10:1 edge-on galaxy, with a dark lane. Bright and not too bad for contrast. Waharau Autumn 2008.
M64	Galaxy	113X	Bright slightly oval Messier glaxy, even in brightness with a dark patch near the core. Waharau Autumn 2008.
M85	Galaxy	113X	Bright and round Messier galaxy with no real detail. Has a very similar looking comapnion NGC4394, albeit fainter. Waharau Autumn 2008.
Me2-1	Planetary Nebula	113X	Bright round PN next to a bright star 10th mag star. Almost the same brightness as the star however it is definately Non-stellar. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC4394	Galaxy	113X	Small round galaxy with no real apparent detail. Smaller brother of the Messier 85 galaxy in the same FOV. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5317	Galaxy	113X	Diffuse large galaxy with a small core. Round with a large halo. Has a compainion at 2 o'clock NGC5363. Waharau Autumn 2008.
NGC5363	Galaxy	113X	Small oval galaxy with a bright core. Near a larger but fainter galaxy NGC5317 aka NGC5364. Waharau Autumn 2008.
Sp1 PK329+2.1	Planetary Nebula	113X	Shapley 1. Fairly difficult without the use of a narrowband filter but this object responds very well to the UHC and OII Filters. Waharau Autumn 2008.
Mz2 Menzel 2	Planetary Nebula	113X	Menzel 2. Distinctive and conspicious. Box shaped and fairly large (60'). Easier with the UHC Filter. Waharau Autumn 2008.
Centaurus Dark Nebula Hartung 592	Dark Nebula	113X	Large Dark Nebula in Centaurus. A round large dark nebula that fills most of the FOV. Waharau Autumn 2008.

I did another long TPAS run on the Argo Navis and had a good play with the different terms in the pointing model such as CA and NPAE. I am still learning the art of the TPAS but so far it works well.

As with Matarangi, the previous week, I did a full horizon survey of horizon at Waharau . Horizon Map taken from Astroplanner on the right.

It is always good to catch up with the bright objects as people come and have a look through the scope and look at those Southern favourites, and a few Northern ones as well!!

Didn't log a lot of objects I am sure I looked at a few others, but my aim was to just enjoy a night out with some observing mates and catch a few objects that I had not logged before.

Cloud punctuated the evening but there were good long patches of clear sky before midnight and a few short ones after midnight.

The cloud rolled in for good at 1:30 PM and by 2:30 PM I had called it a night.

Selected Images from Waharau;

Paul Kemp

13.1" f5 Reflector with Argo Navis

Auckland, New Zealand

36° 55' 09 " South, 174° 43' 30" East

-- The Southern Sentinel --