#300

What is special about NGC 2681? Well, it's a pretty average Sb0 galaxy (seen at left) in Ursa Major. Fairly bright as the average galaxy goes, a couple of arc seconds across in an amateur scope. Nothing too special cosmically. For me though, it has a special significance: it is my 300th observed Herschel 400 object!

Friday night/Saturday morning saw me down at Naples with my 8" dobsonian searching for some of the 33 galaxies on my list left in Ursa Major. I decided to try Naples (and the shorter drive time) since the moon was coming up about 2:00 am local, and to minimize setup time by leaving the Obsession at home. This maximized my observing time under the circumstances. The downside was that many of these galaxies are hard under less than perfect sky conditions. I'm having a ball with the Herschel 400, but going is slow since it's not something I can do from home. I am deeply indebted to Stephen J. O'Meara and his fantastic guide to the Herschel 400.

After driving down and waiting for a few clouds to pass, I set up my gear. NGC 2681 was the first of the evening, and as I said my 300th H400 target. Shortly after observing #300, I was privileged to see a bright flare only a few degrees away from 2681 by a satellite Starry Night 6 identified as Cosmos 1812. When I glanced at my UT clock, the time was: 0300! Apparently I was being saluted :) A cool breeze throughout the evening kept dew and mosquitoes away, something that won't be very common as we approach the summer.

More galaxies followed, but I fought hard for most of these. It seems like the glow from Naples gets brighter each time. NGC 2768 was fairly easy, but I spent more than half an hour scanning the location of NGC 2742 before finally and barely making out the galaxy's phantasmic glow with averted vision. NGC's 2950, 3613, 3619, 3610 were next. After this I saw a very fast, bright white meteor in Scorpius I estimated at mag. -6. What was really cool was seeing the meteor breaking into two pieces before disappearing behind the treeline! After that was NGC 3310, a very planetary nebula-looking Gx, and an unsuccessful attempt at NGC 3198. After a brief look at Saturn (you can still see the rings), I located NGC 5322. I decided to make a couple of galaxies near M101 my final targets of the morning before moonrise. Alas, they proved too faint for these skies. Final total: 308/400 Herschel 400 targets observed, only 92 left!

Clear skies and great seeing!