Lakeside, May 25-26th, 2025

 On May 25th, I had agreed with Shane to head to Lakeside. Shane was borrowing my 14" again and I was taking the 17.5".  Shane also was using this as a camping trip with his family so his wife and two teenage sons were with us.  

In the past at Lakeside I would always go to the traditional site by the Bern, which is just off the main road. For years I haven't had an issue there but one night, about 14 years ago I had a run in with 2 drunk men and a young woman who was with them. They had pulled off the main road and come in and saw us and in their pickup put on all their hunting spotlights on the top of the truck and lit up the field. I was with others and at one point they got out of the pickup and I heard the click of a shell being chambered. That was enough and we told them to leave and they laughed but eventually left. 

Anyway, Shane and I wanted to have an area a good way off the main road. When we came out and explored Lakeside area, we found this location. We met there and I got there first and set up the 17.5 and my other equipment. Shane showed up about an hour later with his family. He set up their camp and then the 14" 

What I like about Lakeside is it is an easy drive out. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to get there and all but the last two miles are paved. It is easy to get to and easy to set up at.  Here is the view of the valley after you leave I-80 westbound. It is probably one of the lower spots I observe at, elevation of 4320 feet. It is why in the fall I usually avoid Lakeside because the dew will form up here as it is an ancient lake bed. 

As you can see below the main road is nice and paved and straight. Sometimes you need to navigate through some cows that are allowed to free range out here on BLM land. 

This is where I turned to get out to the observing location. THIS is what I don't necessary like about Lakeside. The dirt is a fine, very fine dirt and it will get its way into everything, even in your car if you drive too fast. 

From the observing site here are the views. This is the view looking south. 

Below is the view looking northeast. 

Here is the northwestern view with sunset approaching. 

This is the view looking south. 

And the view looking south to southwest.

As you can see, the space is wide open and the natural grasses here make for some covering from the dirt. 

Here you can see the dust on my Ascent and the setup I had for this night.  In the background you can see Shane's family tent and setup. 

Shane after setting up his camp with his family and I believe he is making dinner here or getting something out of the trailer. 

Here is the 14 set up looking southwest. The clouds dispersed after sunset. I love this scope. I love it's mirror, its ease of use and setup and take down. 

Here is the 17.5 set up with my observing chair. 

Here I am with the 17.5" after collimating it with my Catseye Collimation tools. 

Shane and I at the 14" 

Here is the 14" at sunset. 

And here is the 17.5" at sunset. 

Sunset at Lakeside. Beautiful. 

Just after sunset at Lakeside, magic time! 

I actually got a LOT of observing in this night and sketched a lot also. As night fell Nate Smith came up to image and take in some views from our scopes with his kids and it was great to meet him!  

For this night here is the standard: 

Lakeside 

May 25th and 26th 2025

17.5" dob f/4.4 

Paracorr Type II on all observations 

SQM L between 21.65 and 21.7 (usually darker but solar max is impacting view). I spent almost all night in either Virgo or Coma Berenices

1. NGC 4438 and 4435, Messier 86, NGC 4425. 

22mm Nagler T$

10mm Pentax XW

NGC 4438 is a roundish oval and tidal tails were observed. Bright inner core that goes to a stellar nucleus. 

NGC 4435 is smaller, rounder and has a brighter inner core with a stellar nucleus. 

NGC 4406 or Messier 86 is round, large and bright with a bright inner core and a nice stellar nucleus. 

NGC 4425 is small, elongated with an even surface brightness. Nice trio. 

2. Messier 87 and NGC 4478 and 4476. 22mm Nagler T4 and 10mm Pentax XW 

Messier 87 showed itself as a bright oval with a bright core. I could discern the jet this night as a thin, bright line extending from the galaxy's bright core. 

NGC 4478 is a bright and up to the upper left with a bright surface brightness and bright core. 

NGC 4476 is very faint, even surface brightness no detail. Bright inner core. 

3. Messier 89 and NGC 4451 and 4450 in Virgo. 22mm Nagler and 10mm Pentax XW

Messier 89 shows a round shape with a bright inner core region. 

NGC 4451 is small round to oval shape, more oval and is bright and diffused. 

NGC 4450 is elongated and diffused. 

4. NGC 4371 in Virgo. 14mm Pentax XW.  

NGC 4371 is an elongated, small oval with a bright inner core and a stellar nucleus. 

5. NGC 4274 in Coma Berenices. May 26th 2025. 10mm Pentax XW

NGC 4272 is an elongated oval with a core region. No structure. The outer halo fades quickly into the background. 

6. NGC 4274, 4248, 4283 in Coma Berenices. 22mm Nagler T4. 

NGC 4274 is the brightest of the three galaxies. It is oval in shape and has a bright inner core. 

NGC 4248 is the faintest of the three galaxies. It is small, round and smaller than NGC 4283. 

7. NGC 4313 and 4308 in Coma Berenices. 14mm Pentax XW. 

NGC 4313 is a round, bright galaxy with a bright inner core. 

NGC 4308 takes dark adaptation with averted vision but is seen then very faintly.  In the sketch it is down to the left of NGC 4313, up to the right to the two stars near the middle. 

8. NGC 4150 in Coma Berenices. 22mm Nagler T4 and 14mm Pentax XW.  

This is a very small, oval shape galaxy with a bright inner core. 

9. NGC 4414 in Coma Berenices.  May 26th, 2025; 14mm Pentax XW 

NGC 4414 is a small, oval galaxy with a bright inner core and a stellar nucleus. 

10. NGC 4203 in Coma Berenices. 22mm Nagler T4; 14mm Pentax XW. 

NGC 4203 is an oval shape galaxy with bright inner core and a stellar nucleus. The core is visible with direct vision and is in a nice field. 

11. NGC 4435, NGC 4438 or ARP 120 The Eyes. 

NGC 4438 is very bright and large and lays SSW to NNE. It has a bright inner core to a small stellar nucleus. Tidal tails observed with averted vision. Faint SW plume not aligned along the main axis of the galaxy is viewed also. 

NGC 4435 appears bright and large and oval.  It lays SSW to NNE with a bright core with stellar nucleus. Makes with NGC 4438 as ARP 120 and are interacting galaxies often called "The Eyes." 

12. Messier 17 the Swan or Omega Nebula. May 26th, 2025, 3:00 a.m. Lakeside. 22mm Nagler T4; 14mm Pentax XW; 10mm Pentax XW with Thousand Oaks OIII filter. 

WOW!!!!! Messier 17 showed it glory tonight! The contrast was incredible with the Swan fulling seen with it's crown.  The eb and flow in the shadows and bright sections made me sketch this. One of the best views I have had of Messier 17. 

13. NGC 6960 The Veil Nebula.  3:30 a.m. Lakeside. SQM L 21.71. 26mm Nagler; 22mm Nagler T4; 20mm Pentax XW, Thousand Oaks OIII 2" Filter, 1 1/2" filter. 

The Veil showed all it's splendor tonight. Tons of filaments at the end of the broom and throughout. Bright region past Cygnus 52. It provided a wonderful view and I showed Shane who was just amazed at the view. 

I car camped over in the back of the Ascent. When I am going to go home the next morning I break down everything but the scope which I cover. I store my eyepieces and equipment on the front seat and behind the back seats. I got up and left before Shane and his family. It is so wonderful to have someone to share the excitement of observing visually with. 

May 21st, 2025 Observing Night

 Okay, I've been super busy of late and so I haven't kept my blog updated. That will change this week. I have quite a few posts to do so I'll try to do them in order.  This is from May 21st, 2025 when I went to my favorite observing spot in the Sheeprock Mountains called Little Valley FR006.  Elevation is at 7800 plus feet and it is up out of the muck of the desert. Great views all around. It is isolated and no one usually is up there at night. Actually I've never ran into anyone up there. 

Here are images of the site: 

These are two panorama images I took. The top is looking from the southeast to the south and just past the Ascent would be the southwest. Elevation here is perfect at 6980 feet and you are up out of the muck and have great views all around. Their is LP to the east but not as bad as my other Forest Road 006 sites have become. In those it is up to about 20 degrees in the eastern sky. At Little Valley it is only up about 15 degrees in the northeast sky. 

Below is from Little Valley looking east at Mt. Timpanogas. 

Below is Little Valley looking SE (left) to almost S (right). 

Below is Little Valley southeast to south again, a better look. We had outstanding skies this day and night!

Little Valley observing site looking directly south. The little hill doesn't block the view though. 

Below is Little Valley looking Southwest

Little Valley Looking northeast

Deep sunset looking NW at the Little Valley FR006 Observing site. 

A marvelous sunset at Little Valley FR006 looking west. 

In addition to this scenery, we were greeted by a lovely batch of wildflowers. There were a variety from Indian Paintbrush (first picture) to the Little Sunflowers, to Silvery Lupin and Wild Flax. It truly was a wonderful display of spring in Utah's mountains, even in her desert mountains. 

My friend and observing compatriot Shane was with me so we had both the 14" and the 17.5" up there. 

Here is the 14" just after Shane set it up. 

Here are the 17.5 and the 14 at Sunset looking south. 

17.5 looking southeast. 

Me with about 15 lbs of layers on since it would get cold that night and was just starting to chill with the 17.5 looking SE. 

Me with my 14" looking SE with all those layers on. Latter I would put a bib on and a coat to go over everything as it dropped into the low 30's that night. I want to share that of all the sites I will observe from, this has been my favorite personally. I love the sky here and I love being up in the mountains. Don't take me wrong, I like the other locations on FR006, and I use them frequently as this spot takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes to get to. It really isn't usable if we have a wet winter. 

I have decided to redo the Herschel 400 in the 17.5, all of them so this night was work in Virgo. I have to admit I struggled at first in my star hopping and I did a lot of testing of eyepieces this night initially. Despite that I had a wonderful time observing. I did make sketches but I am still trying to find a missing sketch book (I need to organize my office and they will show up) and I'll add the missing sketches to this report. Here is what I have. 

Scope for the night: 17.5 f/4.4 dob 

Little Valley, FR006, West Desert Utah 

Antoniadi I (all night) 

SQM 21.68 to 21.72 on the best. 

Paracorr II used on all viewing. 

1. NGC 4216, 4206 and 4222.  Two of the galaxies have faded enough that the camera did not pick them up. 

My notes: 

NGC 4216 is a very elongated galaxy with a bright inner core region and easily held with direct vision. 

NGC 4206 is also seen with direct vision and is elongated with an even surface brightness. 

NGC 4222 took averted vision for me to see and elongates and is very faint. 22mm Nagler T4 and 16.5 Pentax XW. 

NGC 4254, Messier 99, St Catherine's Wheel.  22mm Nagler with 10mm Pentax XW.  This is a bright face on galaxy with an arm bending north to east. This galaxy has a bright inner core and is a wonderful galaxy to observe. 

NGC 4654, 4639, 4659, 22mm Nagler T4 with 10mm Pentax XW. 

NGC 4654 is oval in shape with a hint of brightness near the core with averted vision. 

NGC 4639 is somewhat brighter with a bright inner core. 

NGC 4659 took averted vision; is roundish in shape and has an even surface brightness. 

NGC 4866 in Virgo; 22mm Nagler T4 and 10mm Pentax XW. This is a bright and elongated galaxy laying east to west. It has a bright core region with a stellar nucleus. A 10th magnitude star is on the eastern end. 

As soon as I find my other sketches I will image and post them. Again, these are right off the pad with no enhancement.