April 17, 2015: Milestone in Virgo; galaxy count tops 500!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I just spent some time outside with my trusty C8, after having scouted out the skies before with the 15x70 bins. I easily picked up M51, M81, M82, and M3 and M101 with some more difficulty. That suggested the skies were clear enough for more serious kit. As my galaxy count stood at 496, I was VERY eager to get at least four new galaxies. I started out near Porrima, and readily picked up NGC 4691. Moving west and south, NGC 4593 was next up. This first new target of the night was harder, but a slightly irregular hazy patch, with faint hints of central condensation suggested the presence of a fairly face on spiral or barred spiral. A brief google bore this out (barred spiral): galaxy #497 bagged! Moving north again, NGC 4517 was next up. Tricky again, but an elongated patch of haze seemed to be attached to a foreground star. Another swift check confirmed this: galaxy #498. It also gave the precise location to look for NGC 4517A just a touch north, within an arc of three stars. I quickly located the three stars, and lo an behold a little mag 12 patch of fuzz could be seen, especially when moving the scope slightly. Because of its small size, the galaxy is a bit easier than the magnitude would suggest. Nearly there: galaxy #499!!

I tried nearby NGC 4420, but no luck. Further north still NGC 4457 proved much easier. Clear patch of fuzz, fairly rounded. YAY, galaxy #500!! I then swung east to NGC 4586. This was much harder, but a small, slightly elongated patch of fuzz could be spotted in the right position, again most easily by moving the scope slightly: #501. I had a quick look at M61, which was an easy, extended patch of fuzz, before swinging north to a promising pair near M100 (which is a nice large fuzzy patch). NGC 4340 and NGC 4350 form a lovely pair of compact galaxies, well worth a look. Quite easy pair: #502 and #503. I tried nearby NGC 4383, but no dice. I decided to have a last look at some old friends in Markarian's chain: M86 and M84, and the Eyes NGC 4435 and NGC 4438.

Finally I left Virgo to have a look at M3 with the big scope, and ended up on M51, always a good finale to a galaxy fest! Nineteen galaxies, with seven new ones, and a globular is a nice nights work. The two failures cannot mar that.

[Uplooker]

Well done that man!!! Great report. Congrats on meeting / passing a milestone of 500. I can rest assured that is something I will not achieve.

[AustinR]

Wow. How do you keep track of which ones you have already observed? Some sort of map?

[cotterless45]

Lovely report, certainly some beautiful targets. Send clear skies here !

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks everyone.

Wow. How do you keep track of which ones you have already observed? Some sort of map?

That's simple: I keep a log, both digitally, and with pencil marks in my star atlas and my copy of the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalogue of Bright Galaxies.

[FenlandPaul]

Congrats, Michael - what a milestone! Always enjoy your colour coding - what you DON'T see is just as interesting as what you DO see (within reason - after a while you need to check you've removed the dust cap!!)!

[YKSE]

Great work Michael, congrations   My galaxy count with C8 has just reached over 200, still having great potential

[goodricke1]

Only about 200 billion to go

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Only about 200 billion to go

I am developing software for that