Flag Day Fireworks

Observer: Tom Campbell
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

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