Adapted from Akarsh's observing report
On the afternoon of 22nd April 2006, four of us, Akarsh, Nitesh, Hari
and me went out to Hosahalli to "wach" 73P/Schwassman Wachmann.
When we left Bangalore at about 3:00 PM on 22nd, the sky was 100%
cloudy, though it was fairly sunny. There was a fairly thick haze covering the sky. Ignoring this
fact and going by the weather report which said "Partly Cloudy", we went on to see some clear
patches by the time we reached there (5:30 PM). By the time the sun set, we had our equipment
set up and our optics aligned. (I did some animal service in the meanwhile
feeding ants ;-) ). Late
evening, as the sun set, we had some parts of the sky clear - especially the west - we could see a
wonderful Orion Nebula. I so far not sure about the position of M43 in
Orion, saw it then !!
Subsequently, the sky began to clear except for a thick haze in the
south, that very soon vanished! We had very good skies indeed! By about
7:45, we had already seen M42, M43, M78, M44, Saturn, Mars, M35, M
79 and the tiny NGC 2158 near M35.
We had dinner at 8:00 and resumed observing by about 8:30 or so -
picking on Whirlpool Galaxy and companion (These are interacting galaxies which share a common arm!). We
could slightly make out the common arm.
The Government School headmaster, our observing ground arrived by that time with a
few of his teachers and we spent till about 10:00 showing them the constellations, the planets,
Beehive Cluster, Omega Centauri, M3, M81-82, the Comet 73/P Schwassmann
Wachmann 3, Mizar in UMa etc.
The headmaster and teachers left us at about 10:00 and we started off
with the comet. We could see BOTH BRIGHT FRAGMENTS - B & C. I have
sketched them too, and they are quite ordinary sketches as I'm not
experienced in drawing celestial objects.
After the comet, we went back to galaxies. We saw quite a few in Ursa
Major, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, though very very few in Virgo. We also saw Centaurus A. Much later, when Sagittarius rose, we started working on globular
clusters. Much of the clusters were beautifully resolved. I complimented
Akarsh's telescope,
about its quality having really gone up after re-aluminization. We saw several globulars.
We also saw few planetaries. The moon rose by 3:30
or so, and I was awake whereas others must have all gone to sleep.
Objects and Descriptions:
1. 73P/ Schwassman Wachmann fragment 'C':
This object was very bright - the nucleus especially. Nice tail... It had
distinct coma and nucleus. My description of it, below.
2. 73P/ Schwassman Wachmann fragment 'B':
No distinction between coma and nucleus. Similar tail. Slightly more
faint... more diffuse.
3. M81 - M 82:
Bode's Galaxy (M81) was as usual - large and bright. The cigar galaxy
M82, was more interesting. But, in the same
field of view, they offered an exceptional sight, indeed!
4. Omega Centauri:
Beyond words, as usual.
5. Leo Triplet of Galaxies:
This beautiful triplet, strangely, fitted in the same
field of view in the telescope. On the top, we could see the elongated, diffuse glow of NGC 3628 and below,
distinct, were M66 with the star on it to the left and M65 to the right. EXCELLENT, indeed!
6. Whirlpool Galaxy:
Not much - both M51 and its companion could
be seen... Could slightly see the
shared arm.
7. Globular Clusters:
Nearly every globular we saw was resolved
at least at the outer edges. M
13, the Hercules
Cluster, was almost completely resolved. Omega Centauri followed suit.
M4, M92, M22, etc. were
partially resolved.
8. Other Galaxies:
We saw about three extremely faint galaxies.
But more interesting was NGC 4565 (For the first time in an NGC
galaxy, I actually SAW the equatorial dust lane in the galaxy and
central bulge as is common in all edge-on galaxies.
Akarsh felt it was
there, too. It appeared in our eyepiece
as it does in the photo!!! (minus color, of course). This was so evident
that I felt it just looking around 3-4 seconds in the eyepiece.
9. Palomar 9:
The Palomar catalog is a catalog of about 20 globular clusters at the
extreme halo of the Milky Way. They are tremendously difficult because
they are one of the remotest globulars in the Milky-Way. However, we have an easy
one: Pal 9 in Sagittarius - which I easily found and showed others.
10. Jupiter:
I felt I saw Great Red Spot... Akarsh couldn't.
11. Centaurus A:
Centaurus A was bright. We could see the dark lane in the galaxy spanning obliquely across.
12. Other objects:
We also saw Cat's Eye Nebula, The Coathanger, Dumbbell Nebula and few
other stuff
