ESO 501-102
Image is 15' wide.
RA: 10h 50m 58.4s; Dec: -23° 39' 30"; Mag: 13.3 (P); Size: 1.4'x1.1'
I acknowledge the usage of the HyperLeda database (http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr).

I opened the Uranometria 2000.0 and I noticed a galaxy E501-12 is on the Atlas near the position of the suspicious object. I though that the object marked on the Atlas must be very dark since it belonged to European Southern Observatory Catalog and that it would not be observable using my comet-seeker. The object was a possible new comet!

I felt my heart beating. I changed the eyepiece from Planocular 30 mm 68x to Ethos 13 mm 157x, but still the image was comet like. I carefully compared the position with the Atlas and it turned out that the object was E501-12. I learned that under the excellent sky condition I could observe very dark galaxy.
That was a disappointment, but I enjoyed a thrill. The galaxy was mistakenly described as E501-12 in the Uranometria: the correct name is E501-102 (E=ESO).

Seven minutes later, a bright meteor crossed the FOV! It was third magnitude or brighter and the brightest I have ever seen through the telescope. At the next moment, a galaxy, NGC3621, and the meteor train appeared in the same FOV that lasted some 30 second! It was as if the heaven had celebrated my false discovery.

A solid circle indicates Tohkamachi where I live.
The map is 600km wide.

At 3:35a.m., before the start of the session I observed C/2007 Q3 Siding Spring. The comet was approaching to NGC4216, very elongated 11th magnitude galaxy, and I noticed both objects at first glance. I knew there were many galaxies in the field of view but could not recognize except for NGC4216 due to low altitude.

I started sweeping from Regulus, Alpha Leonid, and in 10 minutes M104 came into the field of view. The galaxy was only 5 degrees above the horizon, nonetheless, the dark lane in the nebula was easily visible!

At 4:40a.m. I watched C/2007 Q3 again, and this time I noticed six galaxies were in the same FOV! What if I had encountered the situation incidentally? Could I identify the comet? Probably, yes. I would check all the galaxies using the Uranometria 2000, though it would take some time. You have to be very careful for identification of doubtful objects.

C/2007 Q3 Siding Spring with galaxies. The ciecle represents FOV: 1.3 degrees.
(c)MegaStar Ver.5.

Monday October 12 (National holiday)

Yesterday, as the forecast predicted clear sky throughout the night, I headed for the best observing site at 5 p.m. On the way to the site, raindrops hit the windshield of my car! Incredible!

I checked the weather information using my mobile phone, and it turned out that the prediction was modified from clear sky to cloudy and rainy. I decided to get back to my house.

The forecast released at 5 p.m. Oct. 11 said it would be cloudy during the night (above), though in the morning the prediction stated the clear sky would continue at night. Rainy trend is not displayed in the chart above but the announcement in the text read there would be shower in some places.

 
NGC5600 (left) and NGC5962 (right). The width of the image is 5’.
The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

However, I noticed a very faint object at the low altitude, some 20 degrees. I could not have recognized it, if it had not come into just the center of the field. The NGC Max identified the object as NGC5600, 12th magnitude galaxy. It was surprising that such a dark galaxy was spotted at the low altitude under the light polluted sky. The contrast looked low, but the limiting magnitude got darker with the help of the high altitude.

Another galaxy I met was NGC5962, 11th magnitude, in Serpens. It passed near the edge of the field, but it was easily recognized.

Till the day before the totality, I heard it had been fine, and it was consistent with my cloud observation over the area using the image of the meteorological satellite.

Just after most people had completed setting the telescopes, it began to rain. It ceased before the totality, and we could enjoy darkness. Several minutes following the third contact, we could observe Venus and partial eclipse through the gap of cloud.

If the gap had opened earlier, we could have observed the totality for a while!

We were disappointed the situation but enjoyed tourism in China.

I would like to try the total eclipse again; however, the totality tour to the Easter Island in 2010 is too far and too expensive. I wonder if I could go over Australia in 2012.

Haneda Airport in Tokyo	Before the totality it was raining.
Some ten minutes following the third contact.	Yu Yuan (Garden in Shanghai)
Shanghai Acrobatics
There were five motor-bikes in the cage!

Sun Jul 12

I have not conducted comet hunting since Sunday June 21 because of my father’s death on June 25. He was 81 and had been in a nursing home for one year due to dementia. My mother and one of my sisters were at his death bed, but he had gone five and half hours before my arrival. It was natural death, and we believe his was satisfied with his life. It seemed for me that the superb sky on Sunday June 21 was the last smile from my father; he used to appreciate my passion for the night sky in my boyhood.

It has been rainy and cloudy for more than a week now that it is rainy season, while the total eclipse is just around the corner. Rainy season has finished in Japanese southern islands of the totality zone, and I think it will be finished soon in Shanghai area, China where I visit the next week.

Clear sky and great totality!

Sun Jun 21

Summer solstice!

It has been cloudy, rainy, and foggy for nearly three weeks during the nights, even if it was fine in daytime or forecasted fine. Contrary to the weather report, the sky was crystal clear at noon.

As I will attend the eclipse tour in China next month, I checked the solar filter and the optics aiming them at the sun. Now, they are ready for the departure! The totality will be the first experience for me. I do not want to take many photos, but to enjoy visual observation.

Instrument for the totality tour in China. BORG125ED and Docter Optic Nobilem 8x50B binocular.

Note that the solar filter is installed in Quik Finder on BORG; it does not work under the sunlight due to lack of LED brightness, though it was OK in the room.

The clear sky lasted till dusk, and I decided to go comet hunting to one of the best sites, in spite of the pessimistic weather forecast that predicted it would be cloudy at night. I arrived at the site during the twilight at 8:20p.m. and looked up the sky; Arcturus looked much brighter than usual that meant excellent transparency! Just when I completed setting up the comet-seeker, I was clouded out as predicted!

I waited for some 10 minutes, and luckily there appeared some gaps in the cloud in the west. It was not wide enough to be able to comet hunt, and I trained the telescope at Saturn. Superb! Seeing was excellent, and I changed the magnification as high as 500x using Ethos 8 mm and barlow. Even at 500x the image was rather clear and the shadow of the ring casted on the body of Saturn was outstanding.

The cloud gaps near Saturn closed, but the amount of cloud reduced with time. C/2008 Q3 Garradd was in the cloud but I aimed at the comet using the NGC Max, and I could observe it! It had large apparent diameter, but disappeared in a minute. I noticed that Scorpius was vim and vigor as if it had included many first magnitude stars. It reminded me of the sky at Mauna Kea, Hawaii!

I finally began to comet hunt at 9:15p.m. but was forced to sweep here and there, since cloud moved into and hide the sweeping area many times.

NGC5248

The image is15’ wide.

The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

One of the galaxies I spotted during the session, NGC5248 with 10^th magnitude, had apparent spiral structure at first glance at 68x! I finished the comet hunting session at 10:20 because I wanted to enjoy watching DSOs. M8 and M20 looked pink and blue colored, and I recognized central star of M57 at 500x: it was twinkling and was seen intermittently with averted vision for one quarter of observing time. M22 and M5 were striking! M17 did not look like a shape of swan but did strange: Omega?! I made a quick sketch.

M17: 46 cm, Ethos 13 mm, 157x

Stars are not drawn.

The limiting magnitude with naked eyes seemed to be 6.5 at most, but the combination of excellent transparency and seeing made the sky superb. I wanted to continue stargazing through the night, however, had to report to work the next morning. I took down the comet-seeker before midnight and got home at 1a.m. I was very excited with the wonderful sky, but exhausted and had a good sleep.

Tue June 2

I got up at 0:40a.m. and started the comet hunting session at 1:30a.m. in front of my house. I lost some 10 minutes before starting the session because of incredible mistake.

To set up the digital setting circles, firstly, I trained my comet-seeker on Alpheratz, Alpha Andromedae, which had just appeared above a forest stand. Secondly, I aimed it at Polar Star, but the NGC Max showed an error message. I tried to again; however, the result was the same. I checked if the setting of the encoder was right and the cables were connected correctly. They were all OK.

I did not know what happened. Anyway, this time, I used a different pair of stars for activating the NGC Max, and finally it worked correctly.

After half an hour, I noticed that the star I believed to be Alpheratz was Algenib, Gamma Andromedae (corrected on June 7, 2009) Pegasi! How careless! Alpheratz is lower right of Pegasus’s quadrangle when Pegasus is in the west, while Algenib is lower right when Pegasus rises from the east. This is one of reasons. In addition, you cannot recognize the asterism of the constellations, when the constellations are low on the horizon and some of the stars are hidden. These are the cause that I made a mistake.


Alpheratz, Alpha Andromedae and Algenib, Gamma Pegasi.This figure is added on June 7, 2009.

During the one hour and forty five minutes session, I identified only one DSO, M2. There are few DSO around the region, i.e. the east of Jupiter to Pegasus.

To change the subject, it was pretty cold this predawn. Air temperature was only 9 degrees Celsius with breeze. I wore light down jacket and pants upon starting the session, but 20 minutes later I changed them to heavy ones (cf. Comet hunting wear). On the contrary, in daytime, air temperature rose as high as 30 degrees! You have to pay much attention to large temperature gap and lack of sleep in this season.


Sat May 30

Regardless of optimistic forecast, it had been cloudy during the nights this week. This predawn I got up at 0:40a.m., as I did a couple of times this week, and finally, I had a chance to conduct a comet hunting session.

Transparency was pretty good without cloud. I hoped that this situation continued until the daybreak, but when I completed setting up my comet seeker, cloud began to spread! The only cloudless area was Sagittarius, and I was forced to search the area.

The first object I encountered was M24. There are quite a few of star clusters and nebulae in this region, and I had a good time with observing them. M22 was always striking, but the most impressive object I identified during this session was a globular cluster, Palomar 8 (about 2.5 degrees east of M25: RA: 18h 41m 30s, Dec: -19°49' 33"). Maybe, I caught it for the first time. It was very faint with dark surface brightness, 11^th magnitude and some 2’ in diameter. When I observed this cluster at 2a.m., thin cloud began to cover the area, and I was forced to turn my scope from the south to the southeast.

Palomar 8

The image is15’ wide.

The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

In the new sweeping area there was 22P Kopff, but I could not spot the comet probably due to thin cloud that began to cover the area, and the defused image of the comet; it was reported that the comet had a magnitude of around 10 with DC (degree of concentration) 2. At 2:35a.m. the cloud spread my sweeping area, and I must change the search area again. I trained my comet seeker on the constellation of Pegasus.

In the twilight I took a break to observe C/2006 W3 Christensen. It was lovely and bright with a graceful wide tail!

I finished the session at 3:05a.m., when Venus rose above the SE horizon.


Wed May 13

I have had a clod since Saturday (or maybe the flu but I do not know how to distinguish them), and took sick leave on Monday and Tuesday. I consulted a general practitioner, but could not get rid of it with ease. I reported to work today, though I still have slight nasal inflammation with sore throat.

When I finished today’s work, the sky was getting cloudless with superb transparency. I decided to go comet hunting. I spent one hour drive from my home to the observing site where the altitude is some 800 m above sea level. Before I started the comet hunting session, I tried to observe two comets: C/2009 F6 Yi-SWAN and C/2008 T2 Cardinal.

I did not prepare the finding charts to introduce these comets, and depended only on the digital setting circles inputting the R.A. and R.D. with a magnification of 68x. At 8:20 p.m., 10 minutes before the end of the twilight, C/2008 T2 was identified easily. I felt it was discoverable during a comet hunting session, and estimated the magnitude was 11^th with a diameter of 3’ by intuition. While I could not observe C/2009 F6, probably because light pollution and the low magnitude of the comet.

I swept in the constellation of Gemini mainly, and spent one hour and thirty five minutes. I caught a planetary nebula, NGC2371. The irregular shape of the nebula was obvious at first glance. As usual, I overlooked Eskimo nebula, NGC2392, since it is so bright with small apparent diameter of 50” that you cannot tell the nebula from a star.

NGC2371

The image is10’ wide.
The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

M101
The image is processed so that it is similar to the visual image of 46 cm 157x. The image is15’ wide.
The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

The session itself was comfortable, but light pollution was serious than at predawn especially near the horizon. I completed sweeping before 10 a.m. and then, enjoyed DSO using Ethos 13 mm with a magnification of 157 till the moonrise. The spiral structure in M51 and M101, which was apparent with a direct vision, was impressive that looked like photos. Five or more spiral arms were recognized in M101with bright HII regions. A swarm of stars in globular clusters, M13, M3 and M5, gave an impression of 3D.

I finished taking dawn my comet-seeker at 11p.m. and got home before midnight. I had a good sleep with attaining the peace of mind of satisfaction.

Thu Apr 30

It has been clear for three consecutive days! I swept the predawn sky today and the day before yesterday: yesterday, I went mountain-climbing with my friends from early in the morning, and I gave up comet hunting with painful reluctance. I often go one-day hike and skiing for fitness that is a basis of all of my activities including comet searching. Taking a balance among many activities within limited time is a critical issue at any time.

As the summer solstice approaches, you have to get up earlier for the predawn comet hunting session. I went out of the bed at 0:55a.m., and drove to one of the usual observing sites. The sky was cloudless. Transparency was moderate at the high altitude but bad at the lower part of the sky.

I began to sweep from the east wing of Cygnus; the north-eastern sky seemed to be less light-polluted in comparison with the other direction. Soon after the beginning, I encountered a huge nebula, Veil Nebula. Only two comet-like objects, galaxies NGC7217 and 7331, came across the field. The highlight of the session was to have identified C/2006 W3 Christensen. Impressive! The comet was bright with 9^th magnitude by intuition, and had a short wide tail. I cannot remember the time when I caught a known comet last during the comet hunting session.

When I completed the session, Jupiter was in the south-west, and Venus, as dazzling as Jupiter, rose above the horizon.

Sat April 11

C/2009 G1 STEREO was discovered from the image of the STEREO satellite. My search area on Monday, April 6, covered the position of the discovery.

As I described in my diary that updated on Wednesday, I identified M15 during the comet hunting session at Monday predawn. The comet was located at almost the same azimuth with M15; strictly speaking, the difference in the azimuth between the two objects was 0.2 degrees at 4:15 a.m., the time when I supposed M15 came into the field of view. I remembered that M15 passed through the field of my comet-seeker twice, as I overlapped it enough.  This means the comet also must cross the field, since I swept the sky vertically as usual.

I could not spot the comet as a result, because it was 20 minutes after the beginning of the twilight when I reached the comet with the magnitude of 10-11 and the altitude of 13 degrees above the horizon. Even worse, transparency was moderate.

In my diary I wrote that ‘long-term devotion and good luck’ are necessary for discovery. This time I could not due to the absence of good luck.

 

Mon Apr 6 – Tue Apr 7

I could comet hunt for two consecutive predawns. At Monday predawn, transparency was moderate, but scintillation was steady and I could concentrate on weeping the sky. The deep sky objects I identified were NGC6934, a globular cluster in Delphinus, M2, NGC7006 also a globular cluster in Delphinus, and M15. As the sky condition had been poor for one month, this comet hunting session was satisfactory.

When I finished comet hunting session, the great triangle in summer rose high in the sky and Jupiter was above the horizon.

At Tuesday predawn, the time difference between the moonset and the start of the twilight was only 10 minutes. The waxing moon was bright, nevertheless, I began to search the heaven 20 minutes before the moonset. The sky was much dustier than that of yesterday, which made light pollution serious. I employed the light pollution filter, IDAS-LPS-P2, to enhance contrast. Usually, I do not use the filter since it causes color aberration and spoils the beauty of star field.

The limiting magnitude for comet-like objects seemed to be 10^th or brighter under such poor sky. I felt fulfilled for the session with fine star ground in the summer Milky Way.

A new comet, C/2009 F6 Yi-SWAN, was discovered by Dr. Dae-am Yi and SWAN. The position was out of my search area. I have yet observed this comet, but Seki reported the magnitude was 11.5 using 15 cm refractor. I believe both C/2009 E1 Itagaki and this comet could be discoverable using 46 cm comet seeker under good sky condition.

The alarm-clock woke me up at 3 a.m. It was rather warm that implied cloudy, but unexpectedly, the sky was clear with excellent transparency. I was happy to go out to set up the comet-seeker.

I was bewildered at the outside! The quarter was encompassed with dense fog. I did not feel cold in the bed because it must be foggy or cloudy just before I got up, and accidentally, it was fogless when I had a look at the sky from the window.

I had no choice. Instead of comet hunting near my house I drove 20 minutes to one of the usual observing sites, however, it was cloudy there. I did not give up the hunting session and decided to set up the telescope, as there were some small gaps among the cloud. Just when I completed setting up the comet-seeker, starry sky started enlarging in the north north-east.

As I saw at my house transparency was pretty good, but filmy clouds crossed the sweeping area from time to time. I expected to identify a few galaxies in this region, Draco and Cepheus. Unexpectedlly, NGC6951 was the only galaxy I caught; the galaxies would be hidden by the cloud. Nonetheless, delicate autumn Milky Way in the region was impressive and I had premium time.

NGC7133. Reflection nebula in Cepheus.

The image is 15’ wide.
The Digitized Sky Survey copyright (c) 1994

At the t beginning of the twilight a sparkling and exquisite open cluster came into the field. I did not know what the cluster was. The NGC-Max told me it was NGC7789 in Cassiopeia. The next object that made me excited was reflection nebula. It looked like so at a glance since the object was superposed on some bright stars. I checked it out using the digital setting circles that said the object was NGC7133, a reflection nebula, as I thought.

I completed the session at 5:15 a.m. more than 30 minutes following the start of the twilight. The sky turned into cloudless before I knew it.

Last dusk there were two kinds of forecasts for the coming predawn, one said it would be clear and another stated cloudy. I worried one more thing, fog. Anyway, I went to bed early at 9p.m.

I wake up at 3a.m. It was rather warm that often implied cloudy weather. I approached the window, and it turned out that the outside was encompassed with a dense fog. I gave comet hunting up, and went back to the bed.

Sun 22 Feb

I got up at 2:30a.m. Since the sky was crystal clear, C/2007 N3 Lulin was easily recognized with naked eyes from the window! When I began to set up my comet seeker, the comet could be seen with direct vision with an apparent diameter of about 10’. In five minutes, suddenly, thin cloud spread all over the sky. I waited for around one quarter, and the gap of the cloud enlarged. I started comet hunting, however, transparency apparently reduced in comparison with twenty minutes before.

I began with the constellation of Scorpius as the gap opened only in the region. An impressive double star, Beta Scorpii, which was dancing coincide with scintillation, and many globular clusters, M80, M4, etc, came across the field of view. Even through the thin cloud I enjoyed many summer showpieces.

This predawn I looked forward to observing C/2007 N3, nonetheless, the comet remained being hidden by the cloud. I patiently waited for its appearance out of the cloud while I was sweeping the sky. Finally, the comet got out from the cloud, and again I could see the comet with unaided eyes, but looked dimmer and smaller because of thin cloud. With my comet seeker the dust tail of the comet stretched as long as over one degree. The ion tail was difficult to observe, and I could identify only a hint of it.

I resumed the hunting session, but transparency got worse with time. I finished the session 10 minutes following the beginning of the twilight when the thin moon with Earth light rose.

Thu 5 Feb

As I worried, it was a little bit foggy around my house this predawn, and I spent 20 minutes to drive to one of the observing sites. The transparency was good but not excellent with thin cloud at the low altitude. It was not so cold, but from time to time a breeze robbed me of my body heat. Every time when it blew I wore a hood of my polar jacket, since a woolen cap was not warm enough.

Before starting the session, I tried to observe 210P Christensen. The comet was introduced in the center of the field by the digital setting circles, however, I could not recognize it. Using a finding chart that I printed at home, I could manage to confirm the comet that had about 10” in apparent diameter with 12th magnitude. It was too small to identify during the comet hunting session. On the contrary, C/2007 N3 was bright with long tail. The iron tail looked 1 degree or more but it was not sure how long it was since very thin cloud covered the region.

I began with the hunting from the left hand of Hercules: he held snakes and apple branches with it. As the same with last Thursday I detected M27, M57, M56 and Albireo, all of them looked more beautiful than a week ago because it was in the twilight a week ago. In the constellation of Lyra I came across a very faint object that I would have overlooked if the object had not entered at the center of the field. It seemed to be a galaxy judging from the appearance. The NGC Max said it was NGC6675 with 12th magnitude. Probably, this is the first time I observe this object. After a while, another faint object astonished me. It had some 10’ in diameter with low surface brightness, and seemed to be an open cluster. Again, the NGC Max identified it as a known object in a several seconds: NGC6791, an open cluster in Lyra. After I got home I wanted to know if the object is listed in the Seki or the Tago Catalog: it is not listed in the Seki Catalog but in Tago’s that reads ‘a magnitude of 11.5 with a diameter of 7’ and diffused’.


NGC6791. The image is 15' wide.