Pettigrew Day 2

Pettigrew State Park has been wonderful. The rangers and staff have made us feel like we own the place. They recognize that dark sky is one of their most valuable natural resources, and they are specifically interested in supporting astronomy and making a name for their park as an astronomy destination.

In the afternoon, Robert and I went in search of carnivorous plants on the south side of Lake Phelps. We managed to find the underwater type, but none of the "Sundew" plants that are so popular. The land south of the lake is incredibly devoid of anything man-made. In places, you can see for what seems like miles. Check here for pictures of the park and our setup.

As it was getting dark, some campers and a local who lives across the street joined us to look through the scopes. We gave a tour of the Moon, Orion Nebula, Saturn, M46, etc. At about 8:50, we spotted the International Space Station. Robert followed it with his binoculars, and I tracked it in my scope. I used a Panoptic 35mm, giving me 59x. I had no problem following it, but it seemed like a fair amount of time went by without much structural detail being visible. Eventually I saw the solar panels on each side, which seemed to be almost edge-on. I suppose that makes sense if they wanted the panels aimed at the Sun. I could also at that point distinguish at least one cylindrical module in the center.

The Moon did not set until around midnight, and although it was only three days past new, it was incredibly bright. While we waited, Robert got his portable coffee machine setup. The forecast was for a low in the upper 30s, so it was great to have some warmth and extra energy.

9:40pm We can hear red wolves howling. The rangers said there is a den about a mile and a half down the shore to the West. Most of the howling comes from that direction, but some is further North.

Once the moon set, the sky was incredible. Everything was very still and very dark. Note that nearly all of my galaxy observing was done at either 121x or 205x. Here comes the observing list:

54 Leonis: very nice double star- a bright yellow one with a much smaller blue companion
M105: Part of a beautiful galaxy trio including NGC 3384 and the fainter NGC 3389
NGC 3377: Bright, distinct core with a glowing halo. Makes a nice view at 121x with NGC 3367, which did not have an obvious core
Leo Triplet: Stunning trio of galaxies! M65 appears mostly edge-on with a dust lane above the core. M66 appears more face-on with a bright bar across its core. NGC 3628 appears edge-on with a serious dust lane like the Sombrero.
NGC 3607/3608: Two small galaxies that have obvious cores and seem face-on. Like two eyes looking back at you from space! 3607 is slightly brighter and larger.
NGC 3507: very faint edge-on galaxy with a dust lane on the South side
NGC 3226/3227: These interacting galaxies are beautiful, like a pair of breasts in the sky. 3227 is slightly brighter overall but has a smaller core. NGC 3222 is also visible, but faint.
NGC 3245: bright core and halo, very faint extremities at 205x.
NGC 3414/3418: Nice pair of galaxies that apparently didn't merit further description in my notes.
NGC 3504: Great framing of this galaxy inside a triangle of fairly bright stars. A very dull circle was visible around the galaxy, which I now know are two giant spiral arms.
NGC 3432: This is a bright edge-on galaxy that seemed thicker on the West end. I pushed this one to 293x.
NGC 3319: extremely faint galaxy
NGC 3198: large, even halo with a subtle core
NGC 3079: Edge-on galaxy with two dust lanes visible near the core. They seem to form a V shape with the core in the center.
NGC 3184: very faint and expansive galaxy with an obvious core
NGC 3198: faint and long galaxy, mostly edge-on, with no obvious core.
NGC 3726: small core, not quite face-on, with spiral structure evident.
NGC 3877: edge-on galaxy with a big core
NGC 3394/3396: bright pair of interacting galaxies, but I cannot see actual contact. NGC 3424 also appears in the view.
M104 (Sombrero): freakishly good, even at 410x!
Copeland's Septet: This is a very small collection, but at 205x, all seven were plainly visible.

It is now nearing 4am, and I've had two cups of coffee. I almost never drink coffee, but when I do, it has quite an effect!

M13: as incredible as last night. I went to 293x and lost no detail or sharpness.
M92: the other beautiful globular in Hercules, smaller than M13, but still stunning
M5: a spectacular globular which I've always thought is very blue. This globular has less density once you get outside the core than M13 or M92.
M11 (Wild Ducks): Wow! The star field is so dense, it's incredible. It was difficult at first to see where the triangular shape was amid so many other stars.

It is now about 4:30am. I am enjoying another cup of coffee and have committed to observing the rest of the night. Robert is shutting down and preparing for sleep. The rest of my observing session can only be described as a glorious victory march through great Summer objects. I had my Pocket Sky Atlas in hand, a crazy grin on my face, and just browsed the charts for my favorite clusters and nebulae. I was too loopy to plan the rest of my session, due to being tired, really excited, and highly caffeinated.

M17 (Swan): WHOA!!! I saw as much detail in my 8x50 finder as I sometimes see in my scope.  I am not exaggerating!  Then I put an OIII filter on it (the scope, not the finder), and it was mind-blowing. This is at 121x. I then tried a UHC filter, and I was surprised to see it improve some aspects of the view. Until now, I've always preferred the OIII to UHC in side-by-side comparisons. Some of the detail under the swan's wing was less prominent with the UHC, but everything else was brighter.
M8 (Lagoon): All I wrote in my notes was "Life changing."
M20 (Trifid): Insane! The dark veins on the inside were very clear. The nebulosity outside the main disk was also very prominent and bright. If you have the Night Sky Observer's Guide Volume 2, the view was much better than the picture on p. 316. I'd say it looked about 90% as good as this.
M27 (Dumbbell): All I wrote was "Perfect." You could not ask for more detail.
Jupiter: I caught this planet rising in the east, still very low. Its leading edge looked very blue, and the trailing edge very orange.
M28: A smallish globular in Sagittarius.

5:40am "Is the sky to the East a touch brighter than it was a few minutes ago?"

M22: Wow! This globular rivals M3 and M5.

5:46am - Game Over.

As with the first night, there were numerous objects (mostly faint galaxies) that I did not make notes on because they didn't distinguish themselves from the crowd.

Can you tell I had fun? These two nights were really a blast, and I can't wait for my next chance to get to Pettigrew. It's a beautiful place, the facilities cover all of the basic needs, the rangers and staff were very good to us, and of course the dark sky is just incredible.