Straight to my observing comments from my night observing on July 12 and 13th, 2010.  Pretty much straight out of my notebook.  This is only a partial list, a list of interesting and somehat challenging objects.

July 12, 2010

GSSP

NELM = 6.9, Seeing = 3/5 for objects near the horizon and 4/5 for objects higher.

NGC 6302  (17 13 44.3  -37 06 13   size  85x44”   mag 12.8p  mag* 21.1)

22” (308 and 383x) – Very bright and structured.  Appears much like the photo.  The central area is too bright to attempt to pick off the central star. The east lobe is a little larger than the west lobe.  Two filaments are prominent on the east lobe.  1.4’ long and 0.4’ wide.  PA =90

Henize 2-289  (17 49 48.2  -37 01 28   size 10”   mag 12.0p   mag* 16.8)

22” (308 and 383x) – Very small bright round glow with sharp edges. Located in a very star rich field.  The O-III filters helps a lot in identifying the planetary.  At 383x it starts to appear non-stellar. 1.2’ NW of a 3.7 mag star.  NGC 6441 lies 5.2’ due east of the star.

Henize 2-253  (17 36 29.8  -39 21 57   size 18”   mag 14.4p   mag* -)

22” (308 and 383x) – Fairly bright even surface brightness round glow with defined edges.  It was barely visible without the O-III filter.  The filter brings it out very well.  0.3’ across.  A 9.6 mag star lies 1.5’ west.

Minkowski 1-28  (17 47 38.4  -22 06 20   size 15”   mag 16.8p   mag* 20.8)

22” (308 and 383x) – Very faint round glow visible only with the O-III filter.  About 0.3’ across.  A pair of 12^th magnitude stars lies 1.3’ west.

NGC 6439  (17 48 20.3  -16 27 35   size 5”   mag 13.8p   mag* 20.2)

22” (308 and 383x) – Bright nearly stellar object.  With the O-III filter, it appears about as bright as the nearby mag 12.3 star that lies 1.2’ north.  It becomes distinctly non-stellar at 383x.  About 5” across.  Note: MegaStar incorrectly labels the 12.3 mag star as the PNe.

NGC 6445  (17 49 14.9  -20 00 36   size 44x30”   mag 13.2p   mag* 19.0)

22” (308 and 383x) – Appears like a faint dumbbell with two arcs at opposite ends (NW and SE)  A 3:2 elongated glow with two bright lobes.  The NW lobe is slightly larger than the SE lobe, but the SE lobe is brighter.  About 0.8’ long and 0.5’ wide.  PA = 135   A 12.5 mag star lies 0.8’ NW and a 12.0 star lies 2.1’ due south.

NGC 6765  (19 11 06.8  +30 32 39  size 40”’   mag 13.1p   mag* 16.0)

22” (308 and 383x) – A bi-polar planetary.  PA = 30.  The north lobe is significantly larger than the south lobe.  The north lobe has a 0.2’ long bright part and the south lobe contains a 0.1’ round part.  The PNe is 0.7’ long.  A pair of faint stars at the SW edge and another pair of very faint stars at the NE end. 

Kohoutek 3-27  (19 14 30.2  +28 40 43   size 16”   mag 14.9p   mag* 17.2)

22” (308 and 383x)  - Very faint small round glow with defined edges picked up pretty easily with the O-III filter..  About 0.2’ across.  A blazing 8.1 mag star lies 2.7’ due west and a 11.8 mag star lies 1.3’ north.

MCG-1-53-12  (20 49 52.1  -07 01 18   size 3.0x0.3’   mag 14.6)

22”  (186 and 230x) – Very faint, thin even surface brightness glow with diffuse edges.  No central brightening.  1.3’ long and PA = 0.  A 14.3 mag star lies 1.1 a little north of west from the center.  A pair of 13-14^th mag stars lies just under 2’ to the NE.

July 13, 2010

GSSP

NELM = 7.0, Seeing = 3/5 for objects near the horizon and 4/5 for objects higher.

Wray 16-282  (17 31 47.3  -28 42 04   size 37”   mag 14.9p   mag* -)

22” (308x) – Very faint 3:2 elongated glow with diffuse edges.  Even surface brightness throughout.  0.3’ long and PA = 90. 

Minkowski 1-22  (17 35 10.1  -18 34 20   size 9”  mag 13.3p  mag* -)

22” (383x) – Slightly elongated glow.  About 0.15’ long and PA = 90.  Three stars in a row.  Responds well with O-III filter. 

Henize 2-260  (17 38 57.4  -18 17 35   size 10”  mag 11.0v  mag* 14.2)

22” (383x) – Nearly stellar.  Mild response to the O-III filter.  About 5” across.  A row of 4 16^th magnitude stars lies 30” north.

Henize 2-261  (17 39 54.8  -21 14 14   size 17”   mag 15.3p  mag* -)

22” (308 and 383x) – Faint round glow with diffuse edges.  The O-III filter brings it out.  0.2’ across.  A 16^th magnitude star lies just off the SE edge. 

Henize 2-264  (17 40 26.8  -27 01 03   size 37”   mag -   mag* 20.3)

22” (308 and 383x) – Very faint irregular glow just SW of a mag 12.2 star.  I could not make out the shape, but it definitely looks irregular with two slightly brighter arcs at the north and south edges.  A small triangle of 11 to 14^th mag stars lies about 2’ NE.

PK 28+10.1  (18 06 00.5  +00 22 43   size 36”  mag 16.8p  mag* 16.8)

22” (186x) – Very faint round glow with diffuse edges.  O-III only.  About 0.6’ across.  A very faint star is just off the SW edge.

Kohoutek 1-16  (18 21 52.2  +64 21 53   size 1.9’  mag 14.5p  mag* 15.0)

22” (186, 308 and 383x) – located the star field, but did not see the nebula.  O-III filter was used too.

Henize 1-4  (19 59 18.5  +31 54 34   size 22”   mag 14.1   mag* 21.1)

22” (186, 230, 308 and 383x) 0 Faint, oval with a 10.6 mag star on the SE tip.  PA = 135.  About 0.4’ long and 0.3’ wide.  Fairly well defined edges. 

Kohoutek 3-46  (19 50 00.3  +33 45 53   size 30”   mag 16.4p  mag* -)

22” (186, 308 and 383x) – located the star field, but did not see the nebula.  O-III filter was used too.

NGC 6857  (20 01 48.7  +33 31 32  size 38”   mag 11.4p)

22” (186x) – Appears much fainter than the DSS image.  Irregular box shape, about 1’ square.  Very rich star field.

Hubble VII in NGC 6822  (19 44 55.8  -14 48 55   size ~6”   mag -)

18” (328x with 6mm ZAO-II) – Stellar, field found fairly easily.  A faint star is just 6” SSE.  Steve Gottleib and I used a detailed image to star hop there…it took a little while to fish it out in the sea of stars.  It appeared just non-stellar at 328x.