Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Andromeda galaxy companions


Bodkin

Recommended Posts

I am in from observing early because some mist is drifting down from the Cambrian Mountains.  Hopefully I will get out again later, but here is a taste of what I have been up to.

A first for me at my current location;  snagging NGC147 with the ten inch. NGC185 is really easy here, but the low surface brightness of 147 has caused some problems.  These two, also known as C17 and C18, are in Cassiopeia, a short hop from the main galaxy. It is pretty easy to find the field, which makes it all the more frustrating to know that you are looking straight at 147 without seeing it.  This time it required averted vision initially but once located it seemed to become easier.  There was a small brightening/nucleus in averted vision, but no other features.

Other early evening catches included the Veil, a good starter at this time of year, and the Crescent nebula which was only just visible.  Mirach's ghost showed up well plus a couple of fainter galaxies, NGC499 and 507.  These two are members of a galaxy cluster on the Triangulum/Andromeda border.  Again the location is easy to find; just drop about halfway between Mirach and M33.  M33 itself looked good, with a number of brightenings, including NGC604, the huge emission nebula. A pity this nebula isn't in the Milky Way, but not too close perhaps.  

An old favourite, NGC891 looked lovely, with a hint of the central dust band across much of its length.  Finally across to Perseus A (NGC 1275).  There are so few stars in the field that it seems to jump out more easily than the magnitude might suggest. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats a nice report Johnathan :smiley:

It's prompted me to study M33 myself this evening - it's a nice clear, cold night here.

I found NGC604 visible quite nicely with my 12" scope but it really "popped" when I used my O-III filter. You loose a lot of the galaxy with the filter in place but the nebulae certainly benefit :smiley:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats a nice report Johnathan :smiley:

It's prompted me to study M33 myself this evening - it's a nice clear, cold night here.

I found NGC604 visible quite nicely with my 12" scope but it really "popped" when I used my O-III filter. You loose a lot of the galaxy with the filter in place but the nebulae certainly benefit :smiley:

I admit that I have never owned any filters, but that is something I will rectify this season.  The second half of the session, from about three, highlighted the gap a bit. 

I started in Orion, which was the first time I have seen him with a telescope this season.  M42 and surroundings showed lots of detail.  The flame nebula was pretty good with the central dark channel clearly visible in averted vision.  No sign of the Horsehead; I probably need an H-Beta to have any hope in reality, unless I get out the 20 inch.  M78 showed its fan-shaped structure well. 

Next into Monoceros.  The Rosette nebula showed a small amount of nebulsity, but only on the western side.  I think an OIII may help here?  I moved north up to the Christmas Tree cluster in search of more nebulosity.  I saw the faintest scraps around 15 Mon and the around the trio of stars to the southwest of 15 Mon.  However, no sgn of the Cone nebula itself.  I would interested to hear what intruments and conditions people have had to observe the Cone. 

I finished up with a birt of general tourism around the winter skies ending with Jupiter.

It seems like months since I got the telescope out under a good and moonless sky. A few fine sights (and failures) are locked away in the memory until good conditions next come around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jonathan

Thanks for the report. Loads of interesting targets. And, a good read.

Can you remember what magnification you used on NGC604? For some reason I struggle with the internals of M33.

Good call re NGC891 - one of my favourites! The edge on galaxies often seem a bit more satisfying.

I failed on NGC185 & 147 last night. Possibly due to the schoolboy error of not dressing for the conditions and then getting lost in a spectacular M42 & friends. Didn't even bother with the filters last night - just enjoyed a lovely natural view. By the time that I surfaced from Orion's sword, I was frozen and the faint fuzzies were off the menu.

10 mins on a pretty steady Jupiter perked me up after the disappointment of the absence of the, hoped for Galaxy fest.

Paul

PS. If you like Nebula, get a good UHC or OIII. I wouldn't be without mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Paul above nebula filters can really make a huge difference to your observing pleasure, impressed you managed the crescent and the rosette without  one, thats good eyes :)

The cone nebula.....i thought i had a hint of it one very transparent night with a 16" and  UHC filter from a very dark site, but it may have been the old averted imagination :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jonathan

Thanks for the report. Loads of interesting targets. And, a good read.

Can you remember what magnification you used on NGC604? For some reason I struggle with the internals of M33.

Good call re NGC891 - one of my favourites! The edge on galaxies often seem a bit more satisfying.

I failed on NGC185 & 147 last night. Possibly due to the schoolboy error of not dressing for the conditions and then getting lost in a spectacular M42 & friends. Didn't even bother with the filters last night - just enjoyed a lovely natural view. By the time that I surfaced from Orion's sword, I was frozen and the faint fuzzies were off the menu.

10 mins on a pretty steady Jupiter perked me up after the disappointment of the absence of the, hoped for Galaxy fest.

Paul

PS. If you like Nebula, get a good UHC or OIII. I wouldn't be without mine.

I often struggle with M33 as well but the galaxy was ideally placed last night and it was a very good night for galaxy viewing here, for a change.

NGC 604 did not need much magnification to actually locate, 51x (Nagler 31) was fine and it stood out even more at 76x (Ethos 21).  It's alongside a mag 11 star a little to the N of the core region of the galaxy. I could see some other suspect brighter spots across the face of M33 last night and they too seemed a little more clearly defined with the O-III filter, possibly becase it removed most of the M33 galactic background "glow" as much as enhancing ay nebulosity. I'm sure a UHC would be worth trying too.

While it's quite faint at 3,000,000 LY's away apparently NGC604 would appear as bright as Venus and around 40x as extensive as the visual part of M42. What a sight it would make if it were in our galaxy !

Thanks again Johnathan for a motivating report :smiley:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paul,

I viewed M33 and NGC604 at about 70x.  M33 itself was very easy with direct vision, so the night was pretty dark.  I believe there is a lot more internal detail to hunt on M33, but I need to get hold of a good map to try to track them down.

NGC147 was certainly the highlight for me as I have struggled so often before.  When I first saw NGC147 I thought I had landed on NGC185 by mistake.  They are both large and diffuse which makes them really difficult in poorer skies. 

I think an OIII is going to get ordered today.  I am tempted by an h-beta but there are so few applicable objects.  I am pretty obsessed about observing the Horsehead with my ten inch, but it is probably not a good idea to feed that obsession too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Paul above nebula filters can really make a huge difference to your observing pleasure, impressed you managed the crescent and the rosette without  one, thats good eyes :)

The cone nebula.....i thought i had a hint of it one very transparent night with a 16" and  UHC filter from a very dark site, but it may have been the old averted imagination :)

Good skies rather than good eyes probably :smiley: . Mid Wales has some pretty good viewing when it isn't raining.

I am glad to hear that the Cone visibility problems are not limited to me.  I would like to say that I observed the Rosette, but I only got a small part of it on the western side.  Without the central open cluster of the Rosette to guide me I would have struggled to get it.  The Crescent is another one that has the benefit of a clearly identifiable field.  It amazes me that most of these objects were first discovered visually given that I generally need to know exactly where to look to find them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.....I think an OIII is going to get ordered today.  I am tempted by an h-beta but there are so few applicable objects.  I am pretty obsessed about observing the Horsehead with my ten inch, but it is probably not a good idea to feed that obsession too much.

I have a Lumicon H-Beta and spent a good couple of hours searching for traces of the Horsehead Nebula with it last night using my 12" dob. I didn't see any recognisable trace of it although I was looking in just the right place and picked eyepieces that had maximum light transmission and optimum exit pupil (20mm TV plossl and 18mm Baader Classic Ortho). I could pick out the 12th magnitude stars that frame the dark nebula even with the H-Beta filter in place but no clear contrast variation in the background sky to indicate the nags head itself. I did see traces of the nearby Flame Nebula and the nebulosity NCG2023 that surrounds the  nearby 7th magnitude star HD 37903.

Your 20 inch would have probably cracked it last night :smiley:

The night was about as good as it gets from my home last night so I've concluded that I'm going to have to take my 12" scope somewhere darker if I'm to make further progress on this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a good piece Jonathan - the linked 2004 article is a gold mine of information on M33 and it's treasures :smiley: :

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/digging-deep-in-m33/

That is excellent.  I think I remember getting it in the magazine, but didn't have much use for it at the time. 

I used to love those crazy articles in Astronomy and S&T about deep, deep sky objects.  They seemed to get more extreme in time, presumably mirroring the growth of the monster dob.  I kept waiting for the ultimate guide, such as the 10 best double quasars in Hercules for backyard scopes or the best gravitational lensing objects for southern skies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I have decided to be a beta-tester for the new Explore Scientific OIII filter.  I like their eyepieces, so I thought I would give them a go.  Unfortunately I have no experience with OIII filters, so cannot do any comparisons, but I will let you know if the Cone and other irritatingly absent nebulae magically appear :smiley: .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Inspired by this post, decided to take a gander at the M31 companions with my 120mm f5 refractor:

NGC147 - Gal - Dwarf companion of M31 - 60x - Extremely faint, elongated? Oval of Nebulosity - just detectable with A.V. - larger than I expected - triangle of stars north of it.

NGC185 - Gal - Also a dwarf companion of M31 - 60x - Much brighter than 147 - easily detected round patch of nebulosity brightening towards center - with A.V., appeared granular? - faint star on northeast edge
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Beautiful report and great Map for M33, As a newbie, last night I homed into Andromeda then went searching for M32 with no joy using my Skywatcher Evostar 120 with EQ5 mount using a BST 18mm eyepiece and 8mm BST eyepiece, but I didn't see anything that related to my Starmap that detailed the ANdromeda Galaxy?

Is the Evostar 120 to small an aperture for these deep sky objects?

Many thanks,

Julian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Julian

You should be able to observe M31,M32,& M110 all in the same field of view in your 5" scope. :)

Of the other Andromeda companions, you will struggle with a 120mm unless the skies are very good. C18 should be visible under really good skies, but C17 is likely to be out of reach due to its low surface brightness. Well worth a try though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful report and great Map for M33, As a newbie, last night I homed into Andromeda then went searching for M32 with no joy using my Skywatcher Evostar 120 with EQ5 mount using a BST 18mm eyepiece and 8mm BST eyepiece, but I didn't see anything that related to my Starmap that detailed the ANdromeda Galaxy?

Is the Evostar 120 to small an aperture for these deep sky objects?

Many thanks,

Julian

M32 is really quite close to M31, right alongside it really. As Steve says, you can see M31, M32 and M110 in the same field of view with a low powered eyepiece. I could see all 3 last night with my 102mm refractor which has the around same focal length as your 120mm. M110 is a lot fainter than M31 and M32 though and a little further away from the core of M31. Still in the same low power field but on the other side of M31.

M33 is large but can be challenging under anything but dark skies as it's light is spread out. I've seen it in instruments as small as 35mm binoculars but even my 12" dob struggles a bit with it when there is light pollution about, or any moonlight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.