mdstuart

Have a look at this for more ideas. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com Enjoy Mark

There is nothing like an evening looking at galaxies with your own eyes IMHO. Join me for an online talk which highlights this at the next BAA deep sky webinar Mark from Bristol

Last night I observed three new galaxies to me in Gemini and Auriga. UGC 3536, UGC 3596 and UGC 3884. Here is an image of UGC 3536 All three were small in my 20 inch dob. UGC 3884 required averted vision but the other two were easily seen with direct vision. Great to spot them in these galaxy poor areas of the sky. They are all about 200 Million light years away based on their red shift figures. Give UGC 3536 a go, it is mag 13 so should be easy enough in a 10 inch in dark skies. Go beyond Messier and NGC, go on.... Mark

So jealous. Wish I was there.

Really enjoyed that! Pleased to see that comet 12p as it speeds towards the earth. Great company, lovely walk to Brecon and a nice meal. Beautiful place and sky. Mark

The sky! 8 second phone shot of the Cygnus area...unguided!

Very good chance of clear skies with a high transparency on Friday and Saturday night. Mark

I have just booked in. Bringing my 8 inch dob and some binoculars. See you all later. Mark ....the galaxy hunter

Mine just quietly ticks..and hums..

Excellent Magnus, will be interested to hear how you get on. Mark

Finally a clear dark sky. My favorite observation of the night was galaxy Markarian 335. You can only see the glow of the black hole. It was about mag 14.5 ish. Here is my observation. Apparently a black hole flare was seen recently. Here is an artists impression of the flare. The galaxy is 320 million light years away in Pegasus which is nicely placed at the moment. Want to look at it? Here is a finder chart. Let me know how you get on. I think a 10 inch dob should pick it out in good skies. My journey with Markarian galaxies continues...

Excellent achievement. Your journey sounds very like my own. Really enjoyed reading your post. I would love to see your spreadsheet to cross reference to my own. I can send you the result. It might yield a list of objects for both of us to try for once the dark skies return. Mark

I checked my notes and I could only see the three brightest galaxies. There are a lot of issues like this over naming in the older catalogues. Some have even written books explaining all the issues. Well done on spotting the galaxy regardless of its name! Mark

Should certainly be some long gaps tonight. I hope the scope exceeds your expectations. Mark...from Pencelli

That 3395/6 are a fine pair. Mark

Wonderful. That edge on galaxy is just left and up a bit from the bottom left stars in the Meliotte cluster. Worth the hunt. So many galaxies and so little time! Mark

John, I thought it was your 8 inch Orion dob. It's an amazing scope. It had an outing to the pencelli star party recently and performed impeccably.

Sorry to hear that Freff, get well soon. Really enjoyed the break, the walk, the great company and observing some lovely objects. Some new friends made and re-established. Mark mdstuart

Lovely time looking around at globulars, galaxies and clusters. M67 looking pretty special and I renewed my acquaintance with the sombrero galaxy. Lovely sky right down to the horizon. Here is a 4 second exposure with my phone. Leo is to the bottom right.

So the last of the rain should come through over the next few hours and behind this frontal showery rain are clearer skies ( see sat image below). No guarantees but I am still hopeful.

I am on 12. Just waiting for the shower to pass before putting the tent up. Mark

So it looks like we may see some stars overnight Saturday to Sunday but its still a long way off in forecasting terms! Mark

I will bring my laser collimator and the pain of years of collimation with me. Mark

Yes it's a lovely sight.

We can always just wander down and take our chances If there is an issue I can get a takeaway from Brecon. Mark