Viewing Notes
May 3, 2000
Tucson, AZ

I took the 20" Obsession over to a friend's house on the east side of Tucson. Views were good and relatively unobstructed in every direction except for Tucson's skyglow in the west (of course!). We set-up the scope around 7 pm and ate dinner while the optics equilibrated.

M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy was the prelude to an full evening of spectacular sites. A 22mm panoptic (134x) perfectly frames this object. Although there was a fair amount of skyglow the spiral structure could be pretty easily seen.

Next up were M81 & M82, using a 35mm Panoptic (84x). Both galaxies could be seen in the same field although they were at the very edges. M82 was bright but not very detailed. Basically a big fuzz ball. M81, however, was fabulous. The mottling was evident, especially at 168x. This galaxy really took the extra magnification very well.

Nearby M81/M82 was UGC 5247, a spiral galaxy. This galaxy was not very bright but you could definitely tell where it was. NGC 3077 was another galaxy that was spotted during a sweep of the area. This one was another fuzzball without much detail. The descriptions of these objects don't do them justice, in part because we really didn't spend much time looking at them (and the fact that we weren't at a dark site).

M101. This face-on spiral galaxy has extremely low surface brightness. It was really big but that's about all we could say about it. The skyglow was a bit too much to be able to discern any arm detail. I've made a mental note to only attempt viewing this galaxy when at a dark site.

M97, The Owl Nebula, was fairly easily resolved but darker skies would have allowed more detail to be seen. Even so, the two darker ovals (the Owl's eyes) were discernable.

M3 was a nice globular cluster that took us a while to locate. This object is in a part of the sky that is relatively void of bright guide stars. We did come up with a crude system: draw an imaginary line between Izar (epsilon Bootes) and beta Coma Berenices. Then draw an imaginary line between Arcturus (alpha Bootes) and Cor Caroli (alpha Canes Venatici). M3 will be where these two imaginary lines intersect. We tried this out later in the evening and were able to find M3 quite easily.

M104, The Sombrero Galaxy is a very nice edge-on galaxy. The off-central dust lane could be seen running throughout the entire galaxy (at 84x). Although we didn't go to higher magnification I know from experience that this galaxy also takes higher magnification very well.

NGC 4565, The Needle Galaxy is one of the best edge-on galaxies in the northern skies. This galaxy is very large, spanning almost half of the field of view using the 35mm Panoptic. Like M104 this galaxy has a central dust lane that runs through the entire galaxy.

M95 & M96 are a pair of galaxies in Leo. At 84x (35mm Panoptic) both galaxies are in the same field. Both galaxies were medium sized fuzzballs without much detail. Again, this lack of detail is because of the viewing conditions. Darker skies will show more detail.

Nearby (one 35mm Panoptic field away) was the triplet of galaxies M105, NGC 3384 and NGC 3389. M105 dominates the view but the two smaller galaxies are easily visible. This is one of the easiest triple galaxies to see.

M13, The Great Hercules Cluster is the magnificent globular cluster in Hercules. This object also takes magnification well, although we viewed only at 84x. Often overlooked is the spiral galaxy NGC 6207. This galaxy was in the same field of view using the 35mm Panoptic and provided a very memorable experience. I've really appreciated the fact of seeing a spiral galaxy right next to a magnificent globular cluster. I told my friend that M13, while spectacular, was just another globular cluster when compared to Omega Centauri.

This was the first time my friend had the opportunity to view through a 20" reflector. He was impressed, as evidenced by the oohs, aahs and holy cows he was uttering. By this time we were both a little tired but I told him he hadn't seen anything yet and that the best was yet to come - we had to stay out until "Nebulae Row" had risen. But this wouldn't be for another hour! It turned out that Omega Centauri had just reached a sufficient altitude to clear a low lying tree just to the south. Very low on the horizon (the scope was nearly horizontal) was this magnificent globular cluster. It really is amazing how huge this object is. And the fact that individual stars can be resolved heightens the 3-D effect.

Scorpius was high enough that M4, next to Antares, was an easy object. This is also a fairly large globular cluster but its size was "diminished" only because this followed Omega Centauri. While locating M4 I happened upon NGC 6144, a faint globular cluster very near M4. This was the first time I've seen this object which was kind of exciting. I would classify it as a loose globular cluster because it wasn't very dense.

While in Scorpius we viewed NGC 6231, an open cluster which I mistakenly referred to as the "Jewel Box" (Sorry, Greg). This object reminds me of half of the Perseus Double Cluster in that the member stars are of similar brightness and compactness. Actually, there are several clusters in this area which really gives the naked eye appearance of a comet. Also in Scorpius is M80, a pretty compact globular cluster. The individual stars are not as easily resolved as in M4.

"Nebulae Row" still wasn't high enough in the sky so we shifted northeast to where Lyra was coming out of the horizon "soup". M57, The Ring Nebula, was the next target. Lower magnification (84x) was best because of the atmospheric turbulence. We tried higher magnification for a peek at the central star but conditions weren't going to allow it. Still, the lower magnification view was fairly pleasing.

By this time Sagittarius was beginning to rise so we went looking for nebulae. First up was M16, The Eagle Nebula. The emission nebula is easily seen surrounding the open cluster. To me, this nebula looks like a bird although I know the namesake is actually a foreground dustcloud near the cluster. A 20" is still not large enough to directly view the dust cloud - especially in less-than-ideal skies. An O-III filter intensified the nebulosity.

M17, The Swan Nebula, is probably my favorite nebula to view. I think there is more structural detail than even in the Great Orion Nebula (M42). Again with the O-III filter this object is fantastic. The dust cloud which defines the swan's neck is really 3-dimensional so you can tell it's a foreground object.

M20, The Trifid Nebula, was very nice with the three lobes, as defined by the dust lanes, showing up very well. Color images of this object tend to set an expectation that is never met at the eyepiece. Still, this is a intricate object that has lots of visual appeal.

Next came M8, The Lagoon Nebula. This, for me, is a toss-up with M42 as to my second most favorite nebula. I never really appreciated how huge the nebula is but it really does fill the eyepiece on the 35mm Panoptic. While not a bright as M42 it certainly comes close.

Cygnus was low on the east but I could tell that The Veil Nebula (NGC 6960) was "up". With the O-III filter the western segment was easily visible with lots of filamentous detail.

Twenty-eight objects in about 5 hours; All-in-all a very productive night. One that I hope my friend won't soon forget - I know I haven't.