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Roger,<BR>
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Eccellent sketches! Yup, that's probably how NGC-891 would have looked according to my notes. Not as much detail though. From the date, I was looking at it in Tipton, Oklahoma and that may be the reason it was so faint in a 16".<BR>
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Your drawing of NGC-3896 matches my notes also. I saw it from Oklahoma and from here in Las Vegas. I have a much better description of it here as it is higher in altitude, even Lake Mead, and the skies are much drier.<BR>
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If I didn't already tell you, my setup until Christmas 2007 was a home-build 16" f/6.4 reflector with an old 32mm Erfle war surplus gunnery sight eyepiece from Edmund Scientific, stopped down from 2" to 1 1/4"<BR>
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I now use a 16" LightBridge f/4.5 with either an Orion 26mm Q70 or the 32mm Q70. As for filters, I now use a Lumicon 48mm O-3 filter and an Orion 48mm H-Beta. I never use the LPR filters because they are too general, and for what I mostly look at (galaxies), they are pretty useless. I'm of the philosophy that if the skies are crummy enough where you need an LPR, you should be looking at something else! I futher this philospophy by stating that I've used them to enhance a view of a nebula before I could afford the O-3, and they didn't help much at all.<BR>
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Of course, there are plenty of people that love LPR's, so who am I to talk?<BR>
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Messier missed a lot of stuff! Then again, he had a pretty crummy scope with a spherical speculum mirror, if I remember correctly. Combined with primitive eyepieces and a field like a soda straw, it's a wonder he found anything!<BR>
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Fred<BR>
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From: drivester@hotmail.com<BR>To: lvas@lvlug.org<BR>Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:29:09 +0000<BR>Subject: Re: [Lvas] FW: Simple sketches<BR><BR>
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Fred,<BR> <BR>I scanned two of the objects that we discussed yesterday. Both sketches were made with a white charcoal pencil on black cardstock. <BR> <BR>The sketch of NGC-891 was made December 26th 2003 from a very dark site in the South Mountains about 35 minutes from my house. Last night from my back deck it was almost ompossible to see. This would indicate that this very LSB galaxy requires very dark skies...more so than what I have from my back deck. The transparency last night I rated as fair with a limiting naked eye magnitude of 4.5 which would hinge unpon being poor. I could easily see NGC-2403 in Camelopardalis through my 50mm Antares finder with an amici prism using a 20mm UO Erfle rather than the standard crosshair eyepiece. I could also see M-81 and 82 easily through the finder. A faint and difficult galaxy when viewed through my 10-inch. <BR> <BR>I have often wondered how Messier could have possibly missed N-2403 which is very bright, large and easy to see with a 50mm scope. <BR> <BR>The next sketch is of the brighter 11.5 magnitude galaxy NGC-3893 in Uma and the very faint 14th magnitude galaxy NGC-3896. This sketch was made with my 10-inch reflector using a 12mm University Optics Konig with a 2x barlow for a magnification of 190x with a FOV of 0.32° and 19 arc minutes. This object is on my list to view again this spring...<BR> <BR>Roger Ivester<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR><BR>
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<BR>From: rayworth1969@hotmail.com<BR>To: lvas@lvlug.org<BR>Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:38:37 -0600<BR>Subject: Re: [Lvas] FW: Simple sketches<BR><BR>
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Roger,<BR> <BR>As for NGC-3893, I observed it on 29 Apr 1998 and 11 Aug 2007. "Faint and round with a bright or relatively bright star at one edge. Seemed to have a companion or an attachment (NGC-3896)." The second time it was just a "faint round ball," but I didn't mention NGC-3896.<BR> <BR>I haven't seen NGC-0188 yet.<BR><BR>As for NGC-7044, I saw it on 04 Oct 1997. "Not much. About twenty stars. Hard to tell from the background."<BR> <BR>As for NGC-0891, I saw it on 28 Sep 1992, and 16 October, 1993. "Extremely faint! Found it by star hopping. Saw a very faint oblong smudge with averted vision. Could not see at all when looking straight on. Jiggling scope made it more apparent." Then "Elongated uneven oval. Faint."<BR> <BR>Since I live in Las Vegas, there is no way I can see much of anything, especially when the local high school has their football field lights on, which is pretty much every weekend. However, I don't mind getting away from town, though as gas prices rise, it tend to take fewer risks on iffy nights!<BR> <BR>Fred<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR><BR>
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<BR><BR>From: drivester@hotmail.com<BR>To: lvas@lvlug.org<BR>Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:01:41 +0000<BR>Subject: [Lvas] FW: Simple sketches<BR><BR>
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Fred,<BR> <BR>Please see the attachments of my "humble back deck" observatory. You may think it odd that a wooden deck that is connected to my house would be a stable platform. It is well built and supported and has no movement whatsoever for visual observing....it amazes me also. I can walk out the back door and start observing the entire northern sky from about -20° south with a complete view to the north. My house faces south with the deck being on the north side. <BR> <BR>Observing last night was great but the temperature was pretty cool as the low last night was 12° but the wind was perfectly calm which allowed me to stay relatively comfortable.<BR> <BR>I have streetlights in relative close proximity but the thick heavy duty fabric shields my two worse. I am fortunate that I can observe without setting foot on the ground. For the southern sky I have to travel to one of our many dark sites...all of which are less than 30 minutes away. When I have to come into the house I put on my red astro-goggles which work very well. <BR> <BR>I actually have a sketch of a 14th magnitude galaxy from my backyard using my 10-inch. The galaxy is NGC 3893 located in Ursa Major which is a companion to brighter galaxy NGC 3893. Do you have any notes on this object?<BR> <BR>Would you share your notes on NGC 188 an open cluster which is 4° south of polaris? What about a H-400 object OC NGC 7044 in Cygnus. I find this to be an extremely difficult object to observe..<BR> <BR>Last night NGC 891 was almost invisible through my 10-inch. <BR> <BR>The short pedestal on my DS-10 works perfect for sitting and sketching as I find it impossible to stand and observe much less try to sketch. Note my LVAS decal on the pedestal post.<BR> <BR>Thanks, Roger <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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<BR><BR><BR>From: rayworth1969@hotmail.com<BR>To: lvas@lvlug.org<BR>Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:44:46 -0600<BR>Subject: Re: [Lvas] Simple sketches<BR><BR>
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Roger,<BR> <BR>Wow! You are a mighty fine artist. My drawings can hardly be classified as doodles, let alone anything like what you do.<BR> <BR>Fred<BR><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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<BR><BR><BR><BR>From: drivester@hotmail.com<BR>To: lvas@lvlug.org<BR>Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:28:53 +0000<BR>Subject: [Lvas] Simple sketches<BR><BR>
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I use a white charcoal pencil on black cardstock, and for many years I used a No. 2 pencil on white paper. I have been fortunate to accumulate over a thousand sketches.<BR> <BR>Roger<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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