M51, M101, M104, Markarian's Chain, Draco triplet, Hickson 56?, M3, M13, Whale+pup

[Martin Meredith]

OK, last in a run of clear nights I promise   . Tomorrow rain is predicted...

Taking advantage of the absence of the moon I wanted to check out slightly darker skies a couple of km away. These are single 60s captures, saved directly from the screen image.

The highly-contrasting Draco Triplet (centre, from top to bottom: NGC5981(edge on spiral, mag 13.0), NGC5982 (elliptical, 11.1), NGC5985 (spiral, 11.1)

M3 in 10 seconds (ignore what it says in caption)

M13 in 10 seconds (likewise)

NGC3718 (mag 10.8 spiral in UMa) (near the centre) and the smaller companion NGC3729 (mag 11.4 spiral) below and to the right. The smallish group at about 2 o'clock re NGC3718 is Hickson 56, a group of 5 galaxies in the mag 15-17 range. I'm pretty sure 4 of them are just about visible here, including PGC35609 (mag 16.4). 

Whale and pup again (NGC4631)

Finally, here's Markarian's Chain in three 60s panels. This is just laying them on top of each other on the screen and screen grabbing so no background equalisation or anything fancy (the joins are pretty obvious!)

Thanks again for looking!

Martin

[DoctorD]

Hi Martin<br />

<br />

Absolutely stunning, despite my jealousy I hope your clear skies continue . <br />

<br />

<br />

CS<br />

<br />

<br />

Paul

[Martin Meredith]

Thanks Paul. I was chuffed with the Sombrero in particular as its always been one of my favourite galaxies on photos, so to see a clean dust lane (as it were) is exciting.

As predicted, a few days of rain have intervened (just as well -- wouldn't want the family to think I was becoming obsessed  ). I spent 20 years just down the road from you in Sheffield so I know about clouds, although the 3 I spent in Manchester were far worse ;-)

Cheers

Martin 

[Paul81]

Another set of amazing pictures Martin! Just shows the effects of dark skies, M101 has way more detail than what I can capture, although I might try 60s next time as well. I really like the field of view you are getting with your 'frac, it nicely frames the galaxies amongst the stars. I am guessing these were at F6 as in the captions?

I certainly think you have had a very productive galaxy season! 

[Martin Meredith]

Another set of amazing pictures Martin! Just shows the effects of dark skies, M101 has way more detail than what I can capture, although I might try 60s next time as well. I really like the field of view you are getting with your 'frac, it nicely frames the galaxies amongst the stars. I am guessing these were at F6 as in the captions?

I certainly think you have had a very productive galaxy season! 

Thanks indeed to LodestarLive! Otherwise I'd just be looking at faint fuzzies as usual   It's certainly the best I've seen M101, for me the most elusive of galaxies. I've memorised the star field to perfection and sought it out dozens of times and have barely seen it visually.

Yes, these are all at F6. Since I removed the diagonal I've been having a few issues with the focal reducer (reflections probably) so haven't used it much recently. Most likely I'll be going the other way and barlowing on some objects to take advantage of dark skies/long exposures.

I'm currently on the hunt for Omega Centauri and Centaurus A. With luck I'll have something to show by the weekend, although there's a weird weather system at the moment: clear until about 11pm then the clouds roll in. To see this pair I need to hold out until about 1.30 when they're just above the horizon...

Martin