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(IAAC) Obj: ngc 2419 (Intergalactic Wanderer) - Inst: 8" f/10 SCT




Observer: Lew Gramer
Your skills: Intermediate
Date and UT of Observation: 1997-11-29/30, 05:00 UT
Location: Miles Standish State Forest, MA, USA (41N, elev 30m)
Site classification: rural
Limiting magnitude: 6.6 (zenith)
Seeing: 9 of 10 - excellent
Moon up: no
Instrument: 8" f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain, fork equatorial, 8x50mm finder
Magnification: 80x, 170x
Filters used: None
Object: ngc2419 (Intergalactic Wanderer cluster)
Category: Globular cluster (possibly extragalactic)
Constellation: Lyn
Data: mag 10.4  size 4.1'
RA/DE: 07h38m  +38o53m
Description:
The LOCATION of this famous interloper in our Milky Way was easy
enough to find tonight. Slewing the (unaccustomed) finder due N
of Castor about 3o, the pretty trio omicron1, omicron2, and 70
Geminorum swing into view. Continuing NE beyond these I hit a
pretty pale-orange finder-pair of mag. 6 stars, PA 135o (NW-SE).
Just NW of the pair (and maybe only noticeable under a dark sky)
were a pair of mag 8 stars pointing E. Switching to a wide-field
view (80x) in the 8", I looked for n2419 immediately E of these.
There was no sign of it at first, so I tried switching to 170x.
Just visible to averted vision a few arcminutes E of the pair,
the Wanderer was extremely easy to miss! Once found though, it
was an irregular blur, exhibiting a possible "lobe" of haze to
the S. It appeared in the midst of a "Cancer box"-like asterism
of four mag 13(?) stars, looking intriguingly like a naked-eye
view of the famous Praesepe or Beehive Cluster (M44)! Certainly
a less-than-thrilling object visually. But as I mentioned in a
previous observation with 20", this mysterious globular is worth
the hunt, if only for knowledge of its vast distance from us...