Pushing deep in Pegasus and Pisces

[John]

My original intention tonight was to see if I could pick out some of the brighter members of Stephan's Quintet in Pegasus with my 12" dob under the decent-ish skies that I had here.

After struggling for a while to get my bearings on the Quintet, using the bright galaxy NGC 7331 as a starting point, I found myself examining the immediate vicinity of that magnitude 10 galaxy using more magnification - 122x and 199x to be precise.

I'd heard of the Deer Lick Group of galaxies but didn't realise that they and the NGC 7331 group were the same thing

The ones closer to NGC 7331 have also been dubbed "The Fleas" although closer is a line of sight effect only in this case becuase these smaller galaxies are a lot further away !

Using the higher magnifications, some dark adaptation and Uranometria 2000.0 as a reference, I managed to spot the magnitude 13.5 NGC 7335 and with some more careful study of the field, the dimmer NGC 7337 at magnitude 14.4. Once my eye had fully adjusted to the field on show, I found that I could see both these fainter and more distant galaxies with direct vision though 7337 was probably a mixture of direct and averted vision in reality. NGC 7335 is a whopping 332 million light years distant and NGC 7337 even further off at 348 million light years. Those photons had been travelling for a long, long time before being gulped up by my 12" mirror !

In the same patch of sky, a couple of what looked like stars may well be futher NGC galaxies, possibly 7333 and 7327 but they were so small and indistinct that I could not be certain what I was seeing with those.

As Pegasus moved across the sky the NGC 7331 group got too close my my house roof to be observed so I moved back to a target in Pisces that I observed last night, NGC 315. Here is my report on that encounter:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/254413-little-group-in-pisces/

What I wanted to do tonight was to confirm, or otherwise, my glimpses of NGC 318 close to NGC 315. Again using relatively high power of 199x, I was pleased that I could again see a slight but definite blur of light in the correct position. As another magnitude 14.4 galaxy it was tipping in and out of the threshold between direct and averted vision but I was in no doubt that I was seeing it 

Tendrils of cloud were by now creeping across the sky from Wales and I'd had a "late one" last night so I decided to pack up my scope and come in for a warm drink.

As well as picking up another couple of NGC galaxies during this session, I have demonstrated to myself that, with care and dark adaption and judicious use of magnification, I can see galaxies down to 14th magnitude from my back garden. They do need to be well up in the sky though, to be clear of the dimming effects of the lower altitudes and the Bristol and Newport skyglows.

I'll wait for another occasion to try to find signs of Stephan's Quintet again.

Thinking about those names, "Stephan's Quintet" and "The Deer Lick Group" could easily be names of bands appearing on this chaps show:

"Nice !"

[alan potts]

Great report John, it is something that I would like to try for now my Dob skill are a bit better. I also have the LX to have a go with and the goto system though I don't think the quintet is actually listed, so something near by would be the order of the day or out with the laptop.

As for bands on the show, what about Summer Triangle? Just out of interest was that a send up of any person in particular, if so who?

Alan

[cotterless45]

"Coool !"

[mdstuart]

John I enjoyed that 315 group last night. Once it was nice and high at 11.30 the main galaxy 315 was a lovely bright oval. 311 was relatively easy with the core visible with direct vision. 318 was very much harder. With averted vision it came and went as a faint glow just above a faint field star.

I would say your 12 inch with excellent Orion optics is pretty much matching my 16 inch Meade with its standard mass produced optics!

On that basis the Stephens quintet are going to be very accessible in your scope. You should certainly see the three brightest galaxies and with patience and time and high power the other two.

I finished last night with another look at ngc 891. So long and extended....it's amazing...I saw hints of its dust lane but that might be averted imagination!

Great to hear your reports...keep them coming. I expect to hear about the ngc 708 group next. [emoji6]

Mark

[Piero]

Awesome report! A real pleasure to read!  

As Mark suggested, I also believe that excellent optics can make a difference. I never said this before because I do not consider myself to have sufficient experience in this hobby and optics, but the view through my 60mm F6 (very good optics) is not that inferior than the view through my newton 4.5" F8 (average optics, collimated telescope). The targets are brighter in the 4.5" at the same magnification, of course. However, the stars are not as punctiform as they are in my 60. As for the stars, I suspect this happens for diffuse DSO too.

I will try to explain this a bit better and I apologise if I am not using technical terms. In the 4.5", the light seems to "spread" that tiny but noticeable bit more around the target. As consequence, if the target is sufficiently bright this will be visible. However, when this is faint, this scatter light makes the object more tricky to spot. I am not talking about the airy disc of stars, which is generally larger in my 60mm, but the introduction of small imperfections, or aberrations, which can affect the spotting of faint targets. This also happened when I used my naglers with that telescope.

This was even more evident with my pair of Rev bin 15x70, where my 60mm largely outperforms the bins. All of this is for DSO observation.

I believe your precise optics compared to standard once do a similar thing. They allow you to see some very faint targets (with of course dedication and patience), which otherwise require a larger aperture if the optics are more standard. This argument is not scientific, but it is something that I noticed a few times.

[laudropb]

Very nice report. A joy to read. Thanks for posting.

[swamp thing]

Thoroughly enjoyable report John. Hoping to target the quintet at SWSP.

.I finished last night with another look at ngc 891. So long and extended....it's amazing...I saw hints of its dust lane but that might be averted imagination!

Mark

The dust lane is very doable mark. It's just dependent on skies. The Galaxy is just a long thin smudge at best from my local site even in the 20", but from a proper dark site it's like a B&W photo. The dust lane is plain to see.

[estwing]

from swsp last year it was a heck of a lane...more motorway!