Another new beginning...observing at Saratoga Gap, NorCal 23rd December 2014

Seems like a tradition now to spend a dark sky getaway on the eve of the eve of Christmas. This time round, thing were slightly different. Well for one I am no longer observing from my fave site away from home at Solstice Canyon in Malibu. I have been observing from orange zone Malibu since it was introduced to me by a now old friend of mine, Terry Nakazono back in 2011. Has it been that long? I have had some very memorable observation sessions from that site. Even started my imaging craze there.

"M93 Open Cluster, Puppis"

But the winds of change were blowing once again. In my case , it has been far too often. I am not one for change and just hate having to start over. Good thing our friend's over here in NorCal are familliar with the local surrounds. My original plans were to observe from Gilroy, close to my other close family friend's home. This site is in the orange zone but is situated on a bluff right above suburban homes, so while it was plenty dark, there were still light filtering in from the homes earlier in the night. Not the most ideal imaging site (visual it is really good though...see older post!). The suggested site had many things going for it. Firstly it was only 11 miles out from where I was. The drive there would only take between 20 to 23 minutes seeing that I will be driving up a ridge.

"NGC 1973, The Running Man in Orion"

Secondly the elevation. Unlike Solstice Canyon which was at sea level, this site is situated about 3000 feet above sea level. That means, theoretically anyway, the skies should be better as you are looking through less atmosphere. Of course all these would be meaningless if the site was not clear around the horizon and the area unsafe. Turns out the parking lot at Saratoga Gap was similar to what I experienced at my Mount Pinos site, just with less pine trees ringing the parking lot, less elevation, orange zone skies and a much shorter drive. And the skies were on par, if not better than what I got at Malibu. Gone was the glow towards the east from downtown LA. Skies all around were plenty dark. Looks like its all systems go.

"NGC 2261, Hubble Variable Nebula in Monoceros"

I did not really have a whole heap of objects to image since I just bagged most of the ones I wanted to image in my final two sessions at Solstice Canyon in Malibu. The next imaging window would be when the galaxy fields in the Coma-Virgo region rise, later in the year. I have quite a number of bright and not so bright galaxies on my to image list with my new/old Meade DSI II OSC. That said I still endeavored to make a short list, and came up with objects mostly in Monoceros, since this is one of the constellations I pretty much ignored in my past sessions. I had on my list the rather large and faint Rosette Nebula and its embedded cluster, Hubble Variable Nebula (NGC 2261), which believe it or not, I have never bothered hunting down...don't ask me why. I also had the Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) in Monoceros on my list (yes I know its the season right?). To these I added southern open cluster M93 in Puppis and a galaxy in Aries the Ram (NGC 772).

"NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster in Monoceros"

I also wanted to spend some time doing visual with my C8, and that is precisely what I did after completing my short imaging run of the few objects I mentioned in the last paragraph. The views in the C8 is definitely comparable to the bright views I got in my 10" GS dob. The only difference is the narrower FOV as the C8 has a much longer focal length 2000mm versus the 1250mm on the dob. This will soon be remedied with a longer focal length eyepiece in the 2" range. I had two eyepieces in mind, the Orion WideView 42mm 3 element and the Orion 38mm SWF Q70 degree 5 element. The latter was on backorder and might not make it in time for the current accessory sale they have on ($20 off each eyepiece...big savings), which only applies to "in stock" items. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to bite the bullet and get the 3 element 42mm WideView. While the FOV is much narrower at 52 degrees, there is less glass in this eyepiece, and from experience with simpler eyepiece versus their more expensive wide-field exotic brethren, the ones with less elements usually give up a much brighter view, at the expense of the FOV. Oh well will have to test it out and write-up another observing report.

"Rosette Nebula and open cluster NGC 2244 in Monoceros"

Spent the next two hours perusing the winter milky way, and some fall objects. Started off with M31 in Andromeda and its companions (M32 was sooo bright!!!), which were setting to the west; M42 (rusted hues detected in the outer parts of the nebula, with the main area appearing an intense green) and its surrounds (yup Flame Nebula was visible, with the dark streaks running through it, and M78 was nice and defined). Hubble Variable Nebula was a bright wedge shaped nebulosity. Also spent some time looking at galaxies in Leo and Ursa Major. All the major galaxies show some sort of detail through a scope as large as an 8". The standout for me is M82 in Ursa Major, with some intense mottling along its body, and dark lanes crisscrossing the galaxy. M65 and M66 also showed some detail at higher magnification, as did planetaries M97, the Owl Nebula and M76, the little dumbbell nebula. Used the OIII filter for the latter two and they looked really bright. Finished off the night with a nice long look at old jove through the C8. So much detail in the cloud surface! I really do enjoy the whole sit down and observe experience, much more comfortable than bending over and observing through my awkward height 10" dob!

So overall it was a very enjoyable session and I hope to have more of these in the future. Watch this space...next change Comet Lovejoy Q2 and the realm of galaxies!