[Paddy (Patrick)]

A couple of "clear" nights recently. The first last Friday was more than a little trying due to seeing and transparency. Still, I did manage some obs. Here is the report of that adventure!

Observation notes 24/9/11

Telescope 400mm f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Night Sky Observer’s Guide (NSOG) and Uranometria

2230

Seeing extremely poor due to high winds – even low magnifications show stars as boiling blobs. Transparency abysmal due to smoke.

Who but a fool would observe galaxies under these circumstances?

Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy

175X Faint 5’x3’ haze elongated E-W with a line of 3 faint stars along the southern edge, one on the NW corner and one on the NE

NGC 7492 GC in Aquarius

175X Faint round 6’ haze with 3 faint stars just resolved (possibly foreground). Foreground stars also preceding and following the GC in an otherwise sparse star field. No core and poorly concentrated.

Neptune

135X Seeing very poor. A faint bluish disc.

NGC 7172/7173/7174/7176 GX in Pisces Austrinus

175X 7174 and 7176 at first appear as one 2’x1’ SW-NE ellipse, brighter at the NE end, but averted vision and patience reveal 2 galaxies, 7176 the brighter with stellar core and 7174 as a faint oval glow. 3’ to the west is the core of 7173 which looks about 1’ across and might be a elongated N-S. 7’ to the NW of 7173 is 7172 which is larger and fainter 2.5’x1.5’, a SW-NE oval with a nucleus just discernible in a faint halo

NGC 7201/7203/7204 GX in Pisces Austrinus

175X This is a nice SSE-NNW line of 3 galaxies of similar size and magnitude. 7201 is at the southern end and looks 1.5’x0.5’ E-W with a bright nucleus. 8’ to the north is 7203 which is a tad larger and rounder with a bright nucleus. A further 10’ to the north is 7204, a fainter 2’x1’ E-W oval with no nucleus.