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(IAAC) Obj: M44, PGC24400, NGC2624, IC2392, NGC2672, STF1254 - Inst: 20" f/4.2 Starmaster dob



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Observation Poster: Dave Bartolini <dbartolini@lucent.com>

Observer: Dave Bartolini
Your skills: Intermediate (some years)
Date/time of observation: 6-Mar-2001 21:00 - 22:00 EST
Location of site: Charlton, MA (Lat , Elev )
Site classification: Exurban
Sky darkness: 5.1 <Limiting magnitude>
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Moon presence: None - moon not in sky
Instrument: 20" f/4.2 Starmaster dob
Magnification: 63x, 150x, 267x
Filter(s): none
Object(s): M44, PGC24400, NGC2624, IC2392, NGC2672, STF1254
Category: Open cluster. External galaxy. Multiple star.
Class: 
Constellation: CNC
Data: mag   size 
Position: RA :  DEC :
Description:
Due to kid duties, I got home unusually early yesterday (3/6). This allowed
me to work on collimating my scope more thoroughly than I have in a while,
and it also allowed me to let the scope start cooling down earlier than I
usually can. The result was my best session of the year despite a very light
haze / cloud cover. I'm estimating that the limiting magnitude was in the
5.0 - 5.2 range.

Instrument - 20" Starmaster dob
eyepieces used - 38mm Rini (63x), 16mm Nagler (150x), 9mm Nagler (263x)

[Deleted descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn, Comet Ikeya-Zhang, as this is a deep sky group :-) ]

After putting my kids to bed at 9:00, I decided to look for galaxies in and
around the Beehive (M44), as I've seen someone post their effort at this
recently. A good dark site would help this immensely, but here's what I came
up with. All of these objects are within 2 degrees or so of M44, and all are mag 15 or under (according to Sky Map).

Wanderings around M44 (Beehive):

STF 1254 - A nice, wide triple/quadruple star in the heart of M44. Nice
color contrast between the three brightest (mag 6.42, 7,59, 9.16). Should
look very nice even in a small scope, perhaps in larger binoculars as well.

PGC 24400 - mag 14.6 galaxy was barely detectable with averted vision, but I
could pick it up consistently at both 150x (16mm) and 267x (9mm).

NGC 2624 - mag 14.7 galaxy barely detectable only with 9mm (267x); not
consistently detected, but I'm fairly certain that I saw it several times.

STF 1249 - not particularly exciting, matched double (mag 10.76, 10.97; sep
25")

IC 2392 - Fairly large, dim (mag 14.6) galaxy. Needed relatively high power
(267x) to get bright star (delta Cancer) out  of the field of view.
 
PGC 24485 - couldn't find this mag 15.0 galaxy even though I'm certain that
I was in the right spot

PGC 24656 - couldn't find this mag 14.8 galaxy even though I'm certain that
I was in the right spot

NGC 2667 - mag 14.9 galaxy. I think I saw it (I think I can, I think I
can...)

NGC 2672 - finally, a galaxy that doesn't require averted vision! mag 12.6,
fairly large and round (2.6' x 2.5'). I could not distinguish the mag 14
galaxy NGC 2673 that is basically visually right on top of it



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