Saturday night I joined Steve Gottlieb for an observing session hosted by Kevin
Ritschel at his
property at Willow Springs. The drive down was a snap, very little traffic,
just the occasional
Sunday Driver going too slow (for me) on the two lane roads. Spring was just
starting to pass
"peak" as the green grasses carpeting the hills was just beginning to brown. It
was still a
spectacular ride, well worth the hour and forty minutes from downtown San Jose.
I was a bit
concerned about wind, as it was blowing hard in Morgan Hill when I stopped to
top off the gas
tank. But it was quite calm, and in the low 80's when I arrived just before 7
p.m. Conditions
looked great.

The first view of the night was Saturn. I used it to align my finders, enjoying
the confusion
having it next to Regulus causes. Saturn looks just slightly brighter the
Regulus, and the color
differences between the two is easily seen. I was also confused by Mars being
up in Gemini.
Having not been out much over the last few months, the planets really throw a
monkey-wrench into
the sky, as I know it. The view of Saturn was very steady and showed lots of
detail. Mars was
lower and softer, although I felt at times I could "feel" a whiter area on it.

I had a list of objects that included some Herschel 400 and 400-II, Arp, Abell
planetary and
Hickson targets. I did not get through most of them, as my (stinking) laptop
once again crapped
out.... I think the adapter is flaky. I resorted to Uranometria and SA2000, but
it is awkward
after years of star hopping in the eyepiece, which is a luxury the computer as
an atlas provides.
So instead, I teamed up with Steve, letting the GoTo on his Starmaster find the
targets, and I'd
then look through his Telrad. We selected targets off my list that appeared
interesting.

Additionally, we enjoyed some very good views through Kevin's behemoth 33.25"
f/5 Dob.

Views of the night....

Kevin pulled in the NGC 2686 group in Ursa Major. At first just the brightest
"3" galaxies were
seen. But given some time for the dimmer ones to start popping, a total of 8
were seen. Of
those, 7 are part of the group. How this one is not a Hickson is hard to
understand. Look at
your planetarium program to see how tight this group is. Observed NGC 2684,
2686A and B, 2687A and
B, 2688, 2689 and MAC 0855+4906. Only the MAC was not seen in an 18".

The Ringtail Galaxy, NGCs 4038 and 4039, were also quite interesting in the 33.
This is the first
time I've seen 4038 as annular, and 4039 clearly trailing away. The "shrimp"
shape of 4038 was
obvious, and the darkened inner portion looked rough, or scalloped. The best
I'd ever seen on
this pair before was the typical hazy glow that most galaxies exhibit. Aperture
rules!

Views of M99, M51 and M83 through the 33 also revealed outstanding detail.
M99's odd shape and
the sharp turned back arms off M83's big bar were very cool.

In the 18's, I think the most rewarding views were of:

NGC 5308 - 12mm - bright compact core with nearly stellar nucleus, long extended
edge-on arms e/w.
NGC 5322 - 12mm - bright compact core with nearly stellar nucleus, slightly
elongated e/w but
mostly roundish, star overlaying outer halo on south edge.
NGC 5430 - odd, almost bifurcated on the south side of a north/south elongation.
Disrupted
galaxy. Perhaps two cores, brighter but not bright, with averted vision.

As the night wore on, I kept noticing an aroma I could not identify. Spearmint?
Wintergreen? It
was everywhere, and pungent. I was really pleasing, and lent an "aroma therapy"
feel to the
evening... I eventually asked Kevin what was going on. Well, the Spring
carpet underfoot turned
out to be Camomile. Like in the tea, good for relaxing, supposedly helps with
insomnia. I
absolutely felt all mellowed out... kind of a sleepy time observing session...

A few other views....

NGC 5585 - 12mm - bright, large, diffuse. Had a bright middle but no distinct
core. Possibly a
face on spiral.
NGC 5631 - small, bright, had a non-stellar core centered in a diffuse roundish
halo. NGC
5480/5481- 5480 is elongated NW/SE with a large bright core, no nucleus, and
surrounded by a small
dimmer outer halo. 5481 in contrast has almost no core, but a bright stellar
nucleus. It is
slightly smaller than 5480, and seems dimmer as its round outer halo makes up
much more of the
galaxy.
NGC 5485 - bright and round with a bright non-stellar core. There are other
galaxies close by to
the N, SSE and further to the WSW.
NGC 5474 - what an odd galaxy! Large, but at first I only noticed a brighter
and dimmer "half".
Turned out the dimmer part was much larger than I initially thought. There is a
bright "core" on
the north side of this one, with the larger dim "oval" extending away to the
south. Worth a look!

The last object I looked at was NGC5395, aka Arp 84. This is another unusual
object. I sketched
it and Steve showed me a photo in the Night Sky Observers Guide, which was
virtually identical to
my drawing. The main galaxy, 5395, is largish, but seems to have a central
brighter section
offset along its major axis. The dimmer part of the galaxy appeared to "splay"
away from the
brighter section, possibly interacting with the smaller and dimmer NGC 5394.
The splay off the
bigger brighter galaxy appeared to contact the smaller one. It was a very
interesting object.

We looked at other targets as well, but by about 1 a.m. or so the sky was
getting pretty well
clouded over, and we were all certain that even the "clear" sections were
actually covered by thin
cloud. So, we called it a night.

It was well worth the trip time down to Willow. Good company, a huge scope, and
fun target list.
By the time I climbed into my truck to grab some sleep, the Camomile had done
its job. I hadn't
had such a good night's sleep in ages!

Looking forward to the Golden State Star Party this summer up in your neck of
the woods...
http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org

Clear skies,

Mark Wagner