[Rob_K]

Spent a really nice evening last night at Porepunkah airfield with a few from our group, plus John ('xstream') & Anna from Albury. Clear night – seeing was poor but transparency OK (but just a little off). Saw lots of good things – usual culprits such as Omega Centauri, Eta Carinae, 47Tuc, Sombrero galaxy etc, and also stuff such as Trifid & Swan nebulae. Great views through Anna’s scope – top eyepieces and excellent detail.

I was tracking down dim globular clusters with my 4½ inch (114x900mm), and came pretty well prepared with print-outs of FOVs generated in Starry Night. Very successful, adding 5 dimmies to my list, now up to 90. John & Anna were very helpful – I’d find the target in my scope and roughly describe what I was seeing and where, and then John would punch in the NGC number in the GOTO, and bring up the object to confirm. Much brighter of course in their scope, and it was really good to check that I wasn’t imagining things! Gives you great confidence in what you’re doing & seeing, given my very small aperture. The globs we observed were:

NGC5053 in Coma Berenices: The most challenging target visually – in my scope seemed large and very diffuse, vv dim and just barely visible in averted vision. Just fitted in FOV with M53, another glob, in 21mm eyepiece. Not all that much better in Anna’s scope. Mag 9.8.
NGC5466 in Bootes: Said to be a challenging target, but quite clear in 4½ inch – dim, fairly diffuse but did not need averted vision. Much brighter in Anna’s scope. Mag 9.1.
NGC5694 in Hydra: This is one of the most distant Milky Way globs. Mag 10.2 but easy to see – very small and starlike, in fact just like a fuzzy star. Anna’s scope brought up a little bit more of the extent.
NGC6235 in Ophiuchus: Mag 10.2 but reasonably easy to see – the proximity of Jupiter threatened to wash this one out, but even with flare due to atmospheric moisture it was still OK. Small, dim with central brightening. Much better in Anna’s scope.
NGC6325 in Ophiuchus: Another Mag 10.2 – reasonably easy, but needed averted vision to see it. Slight central brightening. Much better in Anna’s scope.

Well, that’s about it. Oh, did I mention I lost my car key? Had to be rescued by John & Anna, who gave me a lift home, but had to leave car, scope etc out at the airfield. Went back this morning and found key out in the paddock, and everything safe & secure! Thanks again folks! Nice to meet more IISers, and put faces to names.

Cheers -