Evening of Sunday, September 29, 2002

This was another good night although my overall impression was that it
wasn't quite as good as last night. I did have some trouble with thin
clouds moving through my observing area for a while. They were not
obvious and only manifested themselves as a reduction in the limiting
magnitude of about 1.0 to 1.5 magnitudes or so. I started observing
around 9:30pm EDT and the clouds were pretty much gone by 10:00pm EDT or
so.

I was able to glimpse 5.9 magnitude reference stars in Cyg although I'm
more comfortable claiming a limiting magnitude around 5.7 (5.5 was
fairly easy). My targets for this evening were faint galaxies in Peg; a
dark, moonless sky was necessary. My instrument for the evening was my
75mm Unitron with a 25mm eyepiece (48x) unless otherwise noted.

NGC-7331 (Peg). This object was a little tricky to find. The star fields
in the area were a bit confusing to me. However, once I located the
object it was easy enough to see. This was the brightest object on my
observing list. It was visible with direct vision but averted was
necessary for a good view. It was relatively small with a condensed
center but clearly not stellar. The field of view was reasonably rich
(edge of Milky Way) and interesting. Nice object overall. ds-code:
C(25mm)b3f3d2s3,class=3

NGC-7217 (Peg). This object was tricky to locate because it was small
and fairly faint. Averted vision was required to see it; direct vision
did not show it at all. The object is right near a star making it a
little tricky to identify (it could be mistaken for a faint star
association). It was distinctly round. ds-code: C(25mm)b4f3d3s4,class=4

NGC-7332 (Peg). This object was rather easy to find because it is placed
between (about 1/3-2/3 split) two rather bright stars that are plotted
directly on SkyAtlas 2000. The two stars were both visible in my 25mm
field of view. If not for this arrangement I almost certainly would not
have found this object. It was quite faint (averted required) and small.
It looked roundish and was located near a relatively bright star. This
might be a particularly nice object to observe in a bigger 'scope with a
higher magnification. ds-code: C(25mm)b5f3d3s4,class=4

NGC-7457 (Peg). Not sighted. I spent several minutes studying the area
where I expected this object to be. I did find one particularly
suggestive spot (averted vision required) but there were also a number
of faint stars in that area and I can't say that I wasn't observing a
faint start association. My confidence of seeing this object is only
about 40% or so... too low to officially report it.

NGC-7448 (Peg). This object was difficult. My confidence of a sighting
is about 85-90%. It was a small, round, fuzzy patch not far from a
somewhat bright star. The proximity to the star added some confusion to
the view (due to glare) but careful use of averted vision seemed to
show, clearly at times, this object's diffuse nature. ds-code:
C(25mm)b5f3d3s4,class=4

M-15 (Peg). This object was an amazing spotlight compared to the
galaxies I've been looking at so far this evening. It was round, very
concentrated, and had an above average field of view with several bright
stars nearby. The object was actually fairly stellar and well condensed.
I found myself comparing it with the nearby stars to verify that it was
the cluster and not just a star out of focus. There was no sign of
resolution with the 25mm; none was expected. I did not try to magnify
the view at all. ds-code: C(25mm)b2f4d1s2,class=2

NGC-404 (And). This object was quite challenging due to its proximity to
the second magnitude star Beta And. The galaxy, in contrast, is listed
in the NGC catalog as "12.0 PB" (Pretty Bright). Such objects are
generally difficult for my 75mm Unitron even in the open sky. (For
example, NGC-7448 is listed as "12.5 PB"). However, despite this I'm
about 90% confident of a sighting. I moved Beta just off the field of
view to remove its glare and then examined the space right near the edge
of the field of view with averted vision. I started without any
preconceived ideas about which side of Beta the galaxy was located. By
positioning Beta off the field of view in each direction I was able to
see a small "extra" fuzzy spot on Beta's north side. I was able to get a
better view with the 18mm eyepiece since that tended to increase the
separation between Beta and the galaxy. I found out later, by consulting
an atlas that NGC-404 does, in fact, lie to Beta's north. ds-code:
C(18mm)b4f2d3s4,class=5

Just as I was preparing to go in I observed something very strange. I
happened to look up at And and I saw what appeared to be an "extra" star
in the constellation. It was quite bright, perhaps about 3rd magnitude.
It did not appear to be moving and it held steady for several seconds...
long enough for me to wonder, "now what is that?" Then it started to
fade. Its brightness diminished over the course of maybe five seconds to
beyond naked eye visibility. I got the binoculars and inspected the area
but I saw nothing (no movement and no stars changing brightness).
However, it may have faded outside the reach of the binoculars by the
time I got them. I later checked the atlas and found nothing marked in
the area. The general location was 1h20m +38 degrees. These coordinates
are approximate; they are based on after-the-fact eyeball estimates.