Bill S

That's a good challenge you've set yourself. SHK 85 comes up using an internet linked object search in Cartes du Ciel but that probably does not add anything to Sky Map Pro and Sky Safari. You can get a list of them all from https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/db-perl/W3Browse/w3query.pl and look at individual ones clicking on for example 'o' to get DSS images. Don't know if this is any help. e.g. this for SHK 085-2 https://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/current/cgi/runquery.pl?VCOORD=118.9196,%2B54.7769&SURVEY=Digitized+Sky+Survey Best regards

Great shots, Martin. 'scuse my ignorance - what are the N designations? e.g. N 122 for Berkeley 77 given in the inverted mono shots. I've feeling I should know but can't remember.

Or another place to look to get a similar but slightly smaller distance is https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/byname?objname=NGC 1262&hconst=67.8&omegam=0.308&omegav=0.692&wmap=4&corr_z=1 509.06 MPc 1660 Mly It's definitely a long way.

Mike / Martin That's a mighty haul of galaxies. Mike - what are you using to identify the PGCs in your shot?

Yes indeed a nice one. I see that Wikipedia says it's the most distant object of the New General Catalogue. So another good reason to have a look at it.

Prompted by the interesting reports from alanjgreen (4 supernovae), Cosmic Geoff's comet report and recent reports from others I managed to have a look with my 200 mm f/5 Newtonian + 0.5ish focal reducer and Lodestar together with Starlight Live and Jocular. The only one of the four possible supernovae that was above the horizon was the one in NGC 4441. I was a bit surprised how bright it was. I think it must have brightened but did not find any data. It's close to the core and very obvious. The comet (C/2017 T2) was visible too and I managed a snap. Had a bit of look at a few other things including the Webb Deep Sky Society's Galaxy of the Month for January 2020, which is NGC 2563. https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/2020/ The finder chart is useful for identifying some of the other galaxies in the field. https://www.webbdeepsky.com/images/galaxies/ngc2563/ngc2563_finder.pdf While the sky was clear I could not resist a look at some of the old favourites in Orion. The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae for example. Observing and recording The Flame Nebula benefited from Jocular's scan and exclude subs. There were some intruding trails on some subs (dotted, so an aircraft, I assume). Next question. When is it going to be clear again? All the best

A great set of shots, Mike. Well done Bill

Mike Great job!

A bit of a desperate one here. I managed to snap this a few days ago just before the clouds closed over completely. Arp 123 is the Webb Deep Sky Society's Galaxy of the Month for December 2019. See: https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/ https://www.webbdeepsky.com/images/galaxies/arp123/arp123_finder.pdf I was pleased to have snapped MCG-2-14-15 as well. Always, satisfying to see that visually it is described a challenge in a 15 inch telescope. It's wonderful what EEVA equipment (Lodestar X2) and software (Starlight Live + Jocular) can do with an 8 inch / 200 mm Newtonian. Arp 123 was only just poking over my neighbour's fence too. I'll have to have another look when the skies are better. Best regards

Well, you've certainly captured it. An interesting object and the colour gives added interest. Keep 'em coming!

A fine collection of galaxies you've got there.

That is an interesting group. Thanks.

An interesting object. Well worth a look. Thank you for pointing it out and the information. Bill

Good evening I was rambling round the Starlight Xpress website and noticed that the version of Starlight Live offered for download is version 3.4 (released 16/3/19). I seem to have missed this appearing. It's described as having 'bug fixes and more advanced support for all SX cameras and the SX filter wheel.' Does anyone know any more details of the changes? I've downloaded it and looks the same as 3.3, which is what I have been using. (So hopefully it won't confuse me when I use it.) I did notice there seem to be more colour spaces available (Mono, CYGM, RGGB, GRBG, GBRG, BGGR). There's also a program called 'Starlight Vision' available, which is described as control software for most SX cameras. Again, does anyone know more about this? It crashed when I ran it. Best regards Bill

A few nights back (when it was actually clear!) I was having a bit of look around Pegasus for interesting objects. I had another look at the German faint fuzzies site (Robert Zebahl) and decided to have a look at some thin galaxies. http://www.faint-fuzzies.de/en/observations_thingalaxies_peg.html He defines thin galaxies as ones having an axis ratio of at least 1.5. Here are a couple of the ones I looked at: I was thinking that thin galaxies were the same as flat galaxies but I gather that to class as a flat galaxy the axis ratio has to be at least 7 (and the galaxy has to be at least 40 arc-seconds). See for example https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/FlatGalaxiesClub and references if you are a glutton for details. The list is in various formats in the appendices. There are lots of flat galaxies and more details about them in Alvin Huey's catalogue http://www.faintfuzzies.com/Files/FlatGalaxies v2.pdf Anyway, I've not got very far looking at many but sticking with Pegasus I did have a look at UGC 12281. This is definitely flat (and thin of course). Best regards and clear skies!

Great set of observations. Thanks for sharing the phone shots. I know pictures of M1 taken a few years apart show the change you refer to which is continuing.

Managed to get a bit of viewing done early this morning. My first opportunity for several weeks. I always have a look at what is suggested as the Webb Deep Sky Society Galaxy of the Month. October 2019 is NGC 7778 in Pisces. https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/2019/galaxy/october There is lot of explanation in Owen Brazell's article which I won't repeat. But in the field we are able to see the WBL 727 group. (Martin Meredith has mentioned WBL groups previously, most recently in a posts earlier this month. and This is one of my snapshots of WBL 727 (NGC 7778, 7782 etc) using my Lodestar X2 with a focal reducer on my 200 mm Newtonian collected with Starlight Live and viewed in real time using Jocular. I've put the picture through All Sky Plate Solver to mark up some of the galaxies. I didn't need a long stacked exposure to see everything. I left it running while I was reading up about what I was looking at. I did wonder if I could pick out the very faint RFGC 4209 Owen Brazell mentions but I've come to the conclusion it was outside the area of the snapshot. The Webb Society article refers to this: http://images.mantrapskies.com/catalog/NGC/NGC7778-NGC7779-NGC7780-NGC7781-NGC7782-WBL727/index.htm In these articles we find that RFGC 4209 (RFGC = Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue) is also known as LEDA 091829 and FGC 2548 Something to look for another night, perhaps. I also had a look at the Galaxy of the Month for September 2019 because I had not had a chance earlier. This is/was NGC 750 in Triangulum. https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/2019/ This article points out that the pair NGC 750 and 751 forms Arp 166. Again here's a snapshot that's been plate solved to label some of the galaxies, especially the Arp 166 members.. Once again the long exposure was not really necessary but I continued collecting subs while I was looking at background information. By then it was time for bed. Clear skies!

Thanks for these. An interesting set of images, Martin. Good demonstration of how inversion and addition of colour draw attention to different aspects of the field.

Good snap of an interesting object.

Great range of shots. A good illustration of how it's well worth grabbing a clear night if you can even if it's moonlit especially if you have got the equipment to counteract the sky-glow. Looking at the FLO page for the IDAS P2 filter I see that the reviewers mentioned internal reflections as being a possible issue. You don't seem to have had problems. Any thoughts?

Impressive images. Your setup and technique are beating the light pollution really well.

By Jupiter or rather by Pluto you have got it. Good stuff! Well done! I hope you don't mind my posting a slightly modded version. Pluto shows up just a bit better on my screen - that could be my screen or eyes.

If you can get only one night's image it is possible to put the image into All Sky Plate Solver together with telescope and camera data. Once the image is solved you can move the cursor to the candidate 'star' and check the RA and Dec. It's a bit of a palaver to download and set up ASPS but it's useful for identifying quasars etc. using this technique and it can automatically label NGC objects, which can be handy. I don't think Astrometry Net has solar system information in it. I don't think you normally put date and time information with your image (although some FITS images will have this stored in metadata). Good luck with your search.

Interesting objects. Thanks for drawing attention to it/them. Had a bit of go myself and managed to see them with my 200 mm Newt, Lodestar, Starlight LIve and Jocular set-up. There seems to have been a lot of professional studies. An alternative designation for them is VV254 and this is what is used in Jocular's DSO database. I did have to look up why they are call 'taffy'. All to do with their appearance and resemblance to taffy candy/sweets (US term). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_(candy)

Good stuff in those two shots. Well worth a look. Amazing what you have picked out with such a relatively short time.