Viewing Notes
November 25, 2000
Dragoon Mountain Ranch

We are purchasing a 36 acre "ranch" just east of St. David, AZ and last night was my first opportunity to take the 20" Obsession out at this very reasonably dark site. Venus, Jupiter and the Milky Way were bright enough to cast shadows. The view to the west is a little soupy because of the skyglow from Tucson and Sierra Vista. Everywhere else is perfect. The elevation is about 4400 ft so we're up high enough to not be bothered by as much haze. I wanted to look at some galaxies and some nebulae so I really didn't pay too much attention to the dozens of star clusters that I cruised past. Seeing conditions were pretty good with a limiting magnitude of about 6, but the steadiness of the sky was not great (evidenced by the multitude of twinkling stars).

M31, The Andromeda Galaxy was just begging to be looked at first. The skies are dark enough that this just jumps out at you naked eye. I popped in the Nagler 31mm and was immediately impressed with how huge this galaxy really is. The dust lanes were very prominent, even out near the edges. M32 a bright fuzzball, almost globular cluster-like, was really still very much in the glow of M31. M110 was less than a field of view away and I could actually detect the hints of spiral arms and dust lanes. I've never experienced that before. Very, very impressive. 

M33, The Pinwheel Galaxy was almost at zenith but not naked eye - at least not with my eyes. The view through the Nagler 31mm was very nice. This galaxy is absolutely huge! The galaxy took up almost the entire field of the eyepiece (82° field of view) at only 95x. I could see at least 3 distinct spiral arms. The arms are very long and spiral back round themselves. I saw hints of a 4th arm but really couldn't make it out clearly. This galaxy is great to view with larger aperture because the H-regions/nebulae within the galaxy are easily seen. And to think that you can see this stuff in a galaxy 2.3 million light years away!

NGC 891 was nearby and also very impressive. This is an edge-on galaxy with a very prominent central dust lane. The galaxy was pretty bright with the dust lane running throughout. I didn't stay on this one too long because the picture perfect view reminded me of my favorite spiral galaxy - NGC 253.

NGC 253 Wow! This galaxy is gorgeous, and very large as well. I was amazed at the span - taking up most of the field of view in the 31mm Nagler. The spiral arm detail was very evident, with lots of knotting. This galaxy is a good example of a spiral galaxy that is between a face-on and edge-on presentation.

NGC 6960, The Veil Nebula. Cygnus was just off zenith in the western sky so I got the O-III filter out to cruise around the Veil Nebula. The eastern half is a fairly compact "thread" or ribbon but the western half is very intricate, showing much more "structure". The 31mm Nagler really brings in a lot of sky so it was a lot of fun to "cruise" around the Veil.

M27, The Dumbbell Nebula. I stumbled across this one while cruising around near the Veil. At first I didn't have a clue as to what this was. So I looked through The Night Sky Observer's Guide vol. 2 only to discover Cygnus was in volume 1 (at home). I now know that The Dumbbell Nebula is in Vulpecula and not Cygnus (and that I did have the right volume of The Night Sky Observer's Guide after all). What I did know about this object was that it was very large and very bright. I went to a little higher power, using the 22mm Panoptic. I appears as though there's a dust cloud on the north (top) edge. The bottom edge is fairly uniform but the top has a section missing and it's associated with an area relatively devoid of stars. So I figured it was a dust cloud but it is just an irregularity in the shape. I really was impressed with how bright and large this object is (for a planetary nebula).

M1, The Crab Nebula. I must be doing something wrong because I really am unimpressed with M1. It's surface brightness must be at such a point that most of the detail escapes me. I figured that with as bright as the Dumbbell was I should be able to see something in the Crab. Wrong. Even in my 20" all it looks like is a faint blurry blob. I need to view this with someone who is more experienced with it. It's only redeeming quality (for me right now) is the fact that it is the remnant from a supernova recorded by the Chinese in 1054 A.D.

M57, The Ring Nebula. Not wanting to end the O-III viewing on a disappointing note I moved over to Lyra for a peek at M57. I finally saw the central star with averted vision using the 31mm Nagler. Higher magnifications (12mm Nagler) still would not get me the central star directly, although I could detect it with averted vision. I hope that I'll eventually get to see this directly.

M42, The Great Orion Nebula. One of my favorite things to do with this nebula is to try to view it as it comes up over a mountain or ridge - a nebula rise. I've done this twice before at Catalina State Park north of Tucson. It is a truly spectacular sight to see the trees, boulders, etc. silhouetted against the nebulosity. This night I realized I had the opportunity to view the nebula rise over the Dragoon Mountains. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation I recommend you try to experience this effect - it really is surreal. I was using the Lumicon Deep Sky filter with the 31mm Nagler. After the nebula rise I went on to view NGC 2024, The Flame Nebula which was really neat to see. I looked for the Horsehead Nebula but couldn't pull it in. M43 was also pretty spectacular and really did show lots of nebulosity covering a surprisingly large area. M78 was also nearby so I stopped by for a visit. Very nice nebulosity with some detail. Reminds me of a smaller version of M42.

Saturn and Jupiter were high enough in the sky to not be as affected by the unsteady observing conditions. I started with the 9mm Nagler (327x) figuring that I could get away with this. Saturn was the first object (because I knew Jupiter would obliterate my night vision) and was very nice. The equatorial band stood out distinctly against the rest of the planet. The conditions allowed moment of good seeing which allowed me to see the Cassini division throughout the entire ring system, not just at the edges. The Crepe ring was also readily apparent and I even got my first glimpse of Enke's Minimum. That was a treat. I tried to view at 654x with a barlow but the seeing just wouldn't support it.

Jupiter was next but first I put on the polarizing filter set to reduce the intensity of the light bouncing off of  this gas giant. I was treated to seeing Ganymede grazing the planet. Both Ganymede and its shadow were visible, with the former looking like a small orb on the limb of the planet. I took a picture (with the Mavica, of course). The cloud structure in the bands was really sharp, but only for brief periods. Looking at the cloud bands and remembering that this planet's rotation at the equator is about 10 hrs reminded me that the beauty of this planet is belied by it's violence.

One last look at The Great Orion Nebula in natural color (yes, 20" of aperture does allow you to actually see the blue and green hues). Not a bad night, but it did get a bit cold (desert cold - low 30's) at the end.