Thursday was my third and final night at Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico. Daytime hours saw only a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. After sunset, we decided to let the 30-inch Starmaster reflector cool until moonset. That's when we'd start observing.
I walked back outside as the Moon was setting in the west. I watched the thin crescent disappear behind the low mountains, but, as it did, I saw another nice sight. The earthshine-lit part of the Moon was still easily visible, a testimony not only to the darkness of the site but also to the clarity of the sky.
After assuring ourselves that the drive was accurately aligned, we observed half a dozen or so nice planetary nebulae. Among them were NGC 2346 in Monoceros and NGC 2392 in Gemini. That one, slightly less than 1' across, contained a brilliant central star. OK, it glows at magnitude 10.4, but through the 30-inch scope, it looked really bright. We also saw NGC 2438, NGC 2440, and NGC 2452, all in Puppis.
Several spiral galaxies were next. We observed NGC 2500 in Lynx because of my love of round numbers. We also targeted NGC 2517 and NGC 2525, both in Puppis. The Bear Claw Galaxy (NGC 2537) in Lynx followed. Although this galaxy has a common name, it's tiny — only 1.7' by 1.5'. That means you'll need a large scope to discern any details. Well, we had a large scope, and at 428x under one of the clearest, steadiest skies I've seen, NGC 2537 indeed looks like a bear's claw.
One object I wanted to see through such a large aperture was open cluster Pismis 1 (NGC 2568). I remember being disappointed at its appearance through a 14-inch telescope. Imagine my surprise when I was again disappointed through a 30-inch scope! Unless one of the stars blows its top, this could well be my last look at Pismis 1.
After several more targets, I asked Gene to point the telescope at the Beehive Cluster (M44). He was puzzled until I told him we'd be looking through the cluster to try to see spiral galaxy NGC 2624. This small object (only 36" by 30") glows dimly at magnitude 13.9. "Sounds like a challenge!" he said, smiling. Once the scope's drive stopped moving, however, he reported the galaxy was easy to see. "Oh, and there's another one nearby," he said. The other was magnitude 14.3 NGC 2625. Neither showed much detail, but, hey, it's not every day you get to look through a star cluster at much more distant galaxies.
Next, we observed NGC 3109, a spiral galaxy that's a member of the Local Group. This nearby galaxy measures 19' long by only 4' wide. The galaxy's total magnitude is a seemingly bright 9.8, but its light spreads out over quite an area. That brings the surface brightness down significantly. Well, in most scopes, that is. Through the 30-inch, this object appeared well-lit and thicker toward one end. Gene described its shape as that of a speedboat.
Our next target might have been a worthy challenge on any other night. It was Abell 1060, a distant galaxy cluster in Hydra. At the time we viewed it, Abell 1060 stood only about 15° above the horizon. Even at our lowest magnification (143x), however, we saw a loose chain of about a dozen galaxies stretching from the top to the bottom of the eyepiece's field of view. Among them were NGC 3308, NGC 3309, NGC 3311, NGC 3312, NGC 3314, NGC 3316, and several galaxies from the Principal Galaxies Catalog, also known as the PGC. All we could say was "Wow!"
One other notable object was the Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) even though it sat low in the sky when we observed it. We used all of Gene's eyepieces, but the best view came at 428x. At that power, the inner shell appeared eye-shaped with tiny extensions at the ends. The outer shell was translucent, and the whole planetary nebula glowed with an even blue light.
Such nights are not common even for those of us whose job is astronomy. Still, perhaps to prove how jaded I've become, I claimed the night was the best observing run I've had since October — the last time I visited Rancho Hidalgo!
Previous and related posts:
On the road: The Glass Giant of Rancho Hidalgo
On the road: Party in Pluto Park
Video: Arizona Sky Village
On the road: Working on a classic