HYDRA
by Steve Coe
17.5" f/4.5 at 100X unless noted

M48 Somewhat scattered, Very Bright, can be seen naked eye, 12 stars are resolved in 8X50 finder, many chains of stars, little compressed, 7 *'s near center form an arch or boomerang shape. One * 9 mag orange at 60X.
AZ city-- just naked eye, 12 stars in 11X80. 13" 60X (38mm Erfle)--bright, very large, pretty rich, little compressed, stars 9 to 13th mag. No fuzzy background, seems all stars are resolved. There are several chains and bright members. 61 stars counted in cluster.

6" f/6 48 stars counted using 22mm Panoptic, cluster is bright, large, rich, somewhat compressed, has a nice chain of stars in the center of the cluster that forms a "bar" across middle.

6" f/6 S=5, T=6 Eagle Eye Rd. 33mm--bright, very large, 28 stars counted, 12 in bright E-W chain in the middle, pretty rich, pretty compressed, stars of 9th mag and less. 22mm--44 stars counted, few really dim members, no fuzzy background

2610 Pretty Faint, pretty Small found at 100X, better at 165X.
300X too much. Star in neby is easy, neby is comet-shaped. Reminds
me of a small and faint Hubble's Variable Neb.

2642 Found at 100X, Faint, pretty Large , bright Middle, not much

2713 pretty Faint, bright middle, companion galaxy in 30 min field

2763 pretty Faint, somewhat Elongated, bright Middle at 135X.

2781 pretty Faint, somewhat Elongated, bright Middle at 135X.

2784 pretty Bright, Elongated , Large, very bright Nucleus small Andromeda Gal, nice Milky Way field, averted vision makes it grow a lot at 100X.

2811 pretty Bright, very Elongated, much brighter middle at 100X.
faint * in following arm

2815 pretty Faint, Elongated , Small, not much at 135X.

2835 somewhat Bright, little elongated, Pretty large, brighter in the middle, not much

2848 pretty faint, somewhat elongated, not much brighter in the middle

2855 Small, Round, Bright middle, Nucleus stellar at times at 100X

2865 pretty faint, Small, little Elongated

2889 Small, Round, Bright nucleus, pretty Faint companion 100X

2902 pretty faint, Elongated, brighter in the middle

2907 faint, Round, brighter in the middle, double nucleus or star in one arm

2924 pretty faint, Round, brighter in the middle

2935 pretty Bright, somewhat elongated, brighter in the middle

2962 faint, Pretty small, Elongated, Little brighter in the middle incorrectly marked 2967 on Tirion Field Edition first edition

2983 Pretty bright, Round, much brighter in the middle, Pretty small in field of 7th mag stars, like 404

2986 Pretty bright, Round, bright Nucleus, Pretty large companion faint, Small, somewhat brighter in the middle

2989 extremely faint, Round, brighter in the middle, very tough at 100X, better at 165X

2992 & 2993 both Pretty faint, Small, brighter in the middle 2992 Elongated, 2993 Round, in 30 min field

3052 Pretty faint, Round, brighter in the middle

3054 Pretty bright, Pretty large, Elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle

3078 Pretty bright, Round, Small, very bright in the middle, looks globular , several companions in field

3081 very faint, Small, Round, somewhat brighter in the middle, not much

3091 Pretty faint, Elongated, brighter in the middle, companion 20' following

3109 faint, very Elongated, stellar nucleus, averted vision shows some detail

3124 extremely faint, Round, somewhat brighter in the middle, double star nearby is split at 100X, both white

3145 Pretty bright, Elongated, brighter in the middle in field of lambda HYA, easier with Star out of field

3200 faint, Elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle

3203 faint, Small, Elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle incorrectly marked 2303 on Tirion Field edition #1

3242 Wow, Looks like CBS eye, greenish at all powers, Central star easy at 300X. Very bright, large, round. AT 650X on a night I rated 8/10 for seeing, there is a small, dark circular area around the central star. A very nice planetary with lots of internal detail at high power. Sentinel 13" 8/10--100X bright, pretty large, little elongated 1.2 X 1 PA 135, central star comes and goes with the seeing, light green or aqua. 220X--CBS eye obvious
dark background and bright oval that encompassed the central star. Still very light green. UHC makes the central star disappear. 440X--Best view, several bright knots to southeast of central star, bright spots within CBS oval. High power shows the color as grey, not green, but high power brings out most detail, including central star and bright knots in disk.

20" f/4 TSP 13mm Nagler + Parracor Central star 20% of time,
CBS eye feature easy, light green in color, aviz doubles the
size of planetary.

36" f/5 TSP 96 Larry Mitchell's scope 14mm Meade UWA--Bright,
large, lots of detail, 3 levels of brightness, central star held
constant, dark ring around central star, very dim outer section
with averted vision. Great view, medium green at all times.
A few bright knots in the brighter nebulosity that forms the
CBS eye.

Hydra Galaxy Cluster I, on a night near Kitt Peak that I rated 8/10 for seeing and 9/10 for transparency, all observations done at 165X.

End of Hydra I Galaxy Cluster

3464 faint, Pretty small, somewhat elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle

3585 Pretty bright, Pretty large, elongated, brighter in the middle
stellar nucleus

3621 Bright, Large, elongated, much brighter in the middle, seen in finder and 10x50 binocs, nice

3673 Pretty faint, Pretty large, elongated, brighter in the middle pretty faint, double star in following arm

3717 Pretty bright, Small, elongated, Star in North arm

3885 faint, Small, somewhat elongated, brighter in the middle looks like a globular

3904 Pretty bright, Pretty small, somewhat elongated, brighter in
the middle

3923 Bright, elongated, Pretty large, averted vision helps

3936 faint, Small, very elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle

IC 2995 extremely faint, Large, somewhat elongated, not brighter in the middle, not much

4105 Pretty faint, Round, Pretty small, a little larger than 4106

4106 Pretty faint, Round, Pretty small, averted vision helps

IC 764 extremely faint, elongated, Pretty large, not much brighter in the middle, very dim, drifts in 3 min from 4106

4304 extremely faint, Pretty small, Little brighter in the middle

M68 Pretty bright, Rich, Compressed, seen in finder. Resolved at all powers. "Kidney-shaped" with steamers on one side. About 50 stars resolved at 165X. Many stars at the limit of 17.5", averted vision makes it grow. At 300X the core has about 10 stars resolved and the central area is very grainy. Entire cluster looks like a garden sprinkler, with extremely faint stars seen as a set of curved chains that exit the main body and swirl around.
Sentinel 13" 8/10-- bright, large, extremely rich, extremely compressed, bright middle, irregularly round, stars 13th mag and less. Easy in 11X80, very comet-like in finder.
330X--20 stars resolved, several nice chains, curved edges are ragged at high power.

5061 Pretty bright, pretty small, round, very suddenly much brighter in the middle with an almost stellar nucleus at 150X.

5011 Bright, Pretty small, somewhat elongated, much brighter in the middle

5078 Pretty bright, elongated, Small, Little brighter in the middle

5085 faint, Pretty small, Round, Little brighter in the middle, mushy

5101 Pretty bright, Pretty small, somewhat Elongated, stellar core, bar structure with averted vision

5135 Pretty bright, Small, somewhat elongated, somewhat brighter in the middle

5150 faint, Small, brighter in the middle with double nucleus; companion very faint, not brighter in the middle, Round

M83 Very Bright, Large, elongated, very bright in the middle easy in finder, three arm spiral structure visible at 165X.

20" f/4 13mm Nagler and Parracor spiral arms obvious, core blazing
with 3 to 4 arc sec in size, many bright areas in arms.

36" f/5 20mm Nagler TSP 96 spiral easy, aviz makes the spiral structure more obvious and increases size 30%. Many small knots in the arms. Amazing amount of detail. Core a very light yellow.

5328 Pretty faint, Small, somewhat elongated, brighter in the middle

IC 4351 faint, pretty large, much elongated, brighter in the middle

5464 faint, Small, Round, not much brighter in the middle

5556 extremely faint, Pretty large, Round, not brighter in the middle, DIM

5592 Small, faint, Round, somewhat brighter in the middle

5694 Pretty bright, pretty large, Round, brighter in the middle; 165X and 320X, very grainy, no resolution on a night I rated 5/10. At a much better site on an evening I rated 8/10 the 17.5" would show 6 stars superimposed on a hazy outer corona.

Double Stars

Struve 1245 easy split, yellow and light blue

Epsilon Hyd not easy at 165X, yellow and orange

Struve 1270 an split at 165X, white-white auto headlights

15 Hya nice multiple star, white and two blue, forms almost a equilateral triangle

27 HYA Triple system, two wide components split in finder. Dimmest component is easy at 100X, Yellow, white and light blue.

Struve 1347 easy split at 100X, yellow and white

N Hya Matched pair, easy at 100X, both light yellow

W Hyd wide double, orange and blue, very nice colors

Red Stars

U Hyd very orange in nice field

V Hyd WOW a gorgeous red star with a dimmer blue companion, easy split at 100X, 7.5 mag est.

Even in 6" f/6 with 22mm Panoptic at Eagle Eye Rd. it is a deep burnt orange.
A.J. says "vivid"