NGC's 4038 & 4039 - Antennae Galaxies

[StarSapling]

Last night I was hoping to get in a last Galaxy hunt before Luna took over the sky, but the Sky Gods were apparently angry with me - haze and clouds.  I tried to observe some of the Coma Berenices galaxies through the passing breaks in the clouds - frustrating, to say the least.  Even the brighter galaxies were just barely detectable.  I was about to pack it up when I noticed a big break in the clouds which revealed Corvus, so I thought I'd give the Antennae Galaxies a go.  I was not expecting much due to the poor transparency and the galaxies location just within the light dome of Tucson to my south.  I was pleasantly surprised.

4/20/2015 - Oracle, Arizona - seeing fair - transparency poor/terrible - observer good

120mm f5 refractor

Corvus:

NGC4038 & NGC4039 - Antennae Galaxies - 60x - Dim - Seemed to give the impression of a roughly triangular shape with base facing west - Occasional glimpses of dark mottling running through center of triangular shape - Occasionaly, it appeared as if the two sides of the triangle were the oval cores of galaxies with the northern one being the brighter of the two.

[John]

Nice report

I've seen the Antennae Galaxies once under very dark skies with a 6" scope at the SGL star party a few years back. They were quite a challenge I seem to recall. I'll see if I can find them again sometime with my 12" dob.

[YKSE]

Excellent work!

I was observing them with C8 on Friday in my dark site when I saw Corvus, not much better view than what you saw, difficulty for me is that they were just over 10 degrees above horizon.

[cotterless45]

I'd love to see these, they're such interesting galaxies. However Corvus has been flying along over the town lights.waiting for a power cut,

Nick.

[WaveSoarer]

I was inspired by your report and I had a look last night. The sky wasn't completely transparent, and the galaxies are fairly low to the horizon here, but I managed to make out a small dim patch of light just in the right place. I'll try again on a better night as the Sombrero galaxy, M104, is in the same area of the sky and it wasn't as clear as I've seen it previously so better transparency may help next time. Many thanks for the heads-up on this very interesting galaxy pair.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well done. I have only seen the Antennae Galaxies once, as a kind of heart shape in averted vision with my C8. At your location they are of course higher up, which helps a lot