Location: Iola, Kansas (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Discovery DHQ 8" dobsonian
Eyepieces: 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (49x), 15mm (81x), 10mm (122x), 6mm (203x)
Time: 10:30pm - 11:30pm CDT (03:30-04:30 UT)
Transparency: Clear (8/10)
Seeing: Stable (8/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the upper 70s. There was a little to no breeze. Relative humidity was very high.
Observing Summary:
BOOTES: NGC-5248
HERCULES: Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
URSA MAJOR: Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
Tonight's weather forecast was iffy. By sunset, however, the clouds had managed to stay away, so I took a chance and set up. I wasn't disappointed.
In honor of flag day, I thought I'd look at some celestial fireworks
tonight. My favorite fireworks displays have comets, spinning galaxies, and big
starbursts. As luck would have it, so does the current nighttime sky.
C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) | Hercules | Comet | 10:30pm CDT
This comet was fairly faint, looking about like a Messier galaxy in terms
of brightness. The shape was difficult to determine. The nucleus was nearly
stellar and perhaps slightly elongated. The nucleus was surrounded by some
nebulosity, but a direction for the tail couldn't really be discerned.
C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) | Ursa Major | Comet | 10:55pm CDT
This comet was
bright, although not as bright as it had been earlier this year. The shape of
this comet reminded me of a greenish globular cluster whose bright core couldn't
be resolved. The shape of the comet was slightly oval, but it was difficult to
tell exactly which direction it was facing.
NGC 5248 | Boötes | Spiral Galaxy | 11:20pm CDT
| RA: 13h 37m 32s | Dec: +08° 53' | Mag: 11.0
| RA: 13h 37m 32s | Dec: +08° 53' | Mag: 11.0
Finding this galaxy was a starhopping adventure. At this time, Boötes was
nearly over the county hospital, and the limiting magnitude was about 4.7. I had
to use a low-power eyepiece to find it. I started at Eta, which was just visible
through my Telrad. From there, I jumped to 70 Vir, and then 71 Vir. From there,
I hopped sideways to the double star Burnham 612, and then finally over to my
target.
This galaxy was just barely detectable from my backyard. In fact, I missed
seeing it the first time I tried to locate it. The spiral galaxy was fairly
large and elongated. With direct vision, it almost disappeared completely. Using
averted vision, a nearly stellar core was visible. The best view was at 88x, but
no spiral structure was visible.
I ended my evening under the stars by looking at M13. This globular
starburst was a good finale to my show. Then I took a quick peek at M57 to catch
a glimpse of the smoke ring left behind by all the celestial fireworks
