From the Moon to 100,000,000 Light Years Out

[John]

Following on from observing the Moon and Jupiter earlier this evening, report here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/242926-great-seeing-conditions-this-evening/

I've now "gone deep" with my 12" dob and picked up quite a varied clutch of deep sky objects, a number of which are new to me

Skipping around the sky a bit but here goes:

Canes Venatici

NGC 5353, 5354, 5350, 5355, 5358 ( the Hickson 68 group of galaxies), Discussed in this thread started by mdstuart:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/242811-hickson-68-10-inch-v-16-inch/

The last was right on my limit tonight at around mag 13.6. But this group is 100,000,000 light years away ....

Virgo

M104 (Sombrero Galaxy) Famous, bright and easy to find.

Hercules

M13 (globular cluster of course !)

NGC 6207 (galaxy near M13) This faint small oval smudge was in the same FoV as M13 at 76x with the Ethos 21mm. 1st time for me

NGC 6229 (globular cluster 100K LY distant) Not resolvable even at 199x with the 12" scope. An "outer rim" globular I think.

M92 (globular cluster, well known of course)

NGC 6210 (planetary nebula) Tiny blue oval object around mag 9.7 with a mag 12 central star resolvable at 199x. Easy to overlook at low power, as I did quite a few times before realising that it was in my FoV all the time !.

Lyra

M57 (planetary nebula, The Ring) Just saying "hello" again to this famous object.

M56 (globular cluster) Nice little globular of around mag 8.5. Not spectacular really compared to some this evening.

Serpens Caput

NGC 5962, 5970 (faint) A couple of galaxies I'd not seen before.

M5 (globular cluster) Lovely resolution of stars. A condensed core behind a wider veil of stars. Very nice

Thats it for tonight. An interesting variety of DSO's and quite a few 1st observations. It's still clear but I need some sleep. Saturn can wait awhile

[alan potts]

Great report John sounds like you had a really good time, there are a good few globulars getting back into the sky now at a reasonable time, something I have missed with Orion being dominant for so long, it will be nice to see M57 again with the Dob. I am finding it a little difficault at the moment as I have a problem with my eye and though it is not hurting I just can't get comfortable at the eyepiece, I'm in a worse state than China as my Mum would have said.

Alan

[cotterless45]

That's a superb report John. Think I'll sell all my fracs and get a big Dob. Not !

It's a struggle to see galaxies beyond +9 from home,

Nick.

[FenlandPaul]

Sounds like a great evening, John. Lovely to see M57 again.

[YKSE]

Excellent report, John.

I realized that NGC 6207 not so far from M13 not long ago   missed easily when the great globular in FOV.

[estwing]

Great report John did you throw any power at M5?hoping to bag M22 soon which is king of the globs??!

[John]

Great report John did you throw any power at M5?hoping to bag M22 soon which is king of the globs??!

Thanks Calvin. My favourite "globular buster" eyepiece is the 8mm Ethos and M5 looked really quite spectacular with that at 199x. It does wonders for many DSO's actually because, despite the relatively high magnifications, you still see half a degree of sky.

[estwing]

The 8E gives me 255x almost the perfect power for our skies..really start to "climb inside" with this ep!