Mike JW

Hi Martin Abell Clusters - now that is another fascinating tour. I once started a tour with the 20" and decided I really needed a 24"!!!!!!!. Wonderful time visually trying to tease out the galaxies using AV and then confirming against a chart. Really needed to be somewhere at altitude and 100 clear nights a year. I wonder what I could achieve with my 7" scope with its wider fov - not enough time to pursue all this fun and interest. Mike

Hi Bill, I too have kept having a look at 2276. I have a cropped image as well which reveals subtle detail. Your 3172 is totally new to me - Sky Safari suggests it is SO. I shall pop this onto my endless lists. Mike

Arp 25 - NGC 2276 is an intermediate spiral – SABc (rs). It is transitioning to a ring structure? It is about 105 million lyrs away and Arp classified it as a galaxy having one heavy arm. Its lopsided appearance is likely due to interacting with its neighbour, NGC 2300 - E-SO (an elliptical/lenticular). The interaction has triggered large amounts of star formation. There is a suggestion that the starburst activity could be caused by 2276 eating up a dwarf galaxy. Chandra located 16 X-ray sources of which 8 are ultra-luminous (ULX), indicating massive star formation regions. These areas are pushing gas outwards (ram pressure) and are likely to be a significant cause of the disruption to the galaxies shape. Some folk think ram pressure is a greater disturbance to the galaxy shape than tidal interactions with NGC 2300. An intermediate black hole was also discovered. See https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/ngc2276/ NGC 2276 is also a member of Arp 114 (2276 and 2300). I also managed to squeeze into the shot, UGC 3661. SHK 175 is very close to Polaris and yes we all regularly look at Polaris and maybe the ancient cluster NGC 188 so what pleasure to view something different (SHK 175 and also SHK174) I never know before hand what a SHK cluster is going to look like. Also I can never be sure if the GOTO will have the faint SHK in the centre of the fov. Thus when this appeared on the screen I just knew it had to be the target - an almost perfect circle - freaky- then I spotted its tail. 10 members in total. Mike

I enjoyed a visual view of T2 with the 15 and then popped in the camera. In a funny sort of way I prefer the visual view - more aesthetically pleasing but not as impressive as my image (which is of course poor compared to the images on the internet). Mike Stars are wonky - windy conditions, poor focus.......

That is kind of you. I have the time to devote to this lark. I prepare detailed lists and check the best times for viewing for the evening. Your list of Messiers is excellent. Take your time on each object - get to know them, just stare at them, try different eyepieces, try using AV to bring out extra subtle detail............. Mike

Great idea to provide this resource. Mike

Thanks Bill. There is so much beauty and fascination up there. Mike

These four shots are a selection of a three hour session working through VV and SHK galaxies in Leo. They are an illustration of the delights to be sampled from little visited galaxies. SHK 154 This group are the centre piece of Abell 1258. The big image are all the galaxies I identified - circled. The red circle is the SHK group itself. The cropped image is the SHK group. Number 12 is at about mag 19.3!!!!!!. The other circled fuzz spots I assume to be other galaxies. SHK 318 in contrast has just 5 members, tightly packed, in a quiet part of the sky. They make for a nice curve. The double pair - the left one is mag 19.2. VV 171. Wow what a lovely surprise. I have no idea what I will find when I GOTO a VV galaxy, other than it will be a pair of galaxies. This one is a gem. So much to view. Galaxies everywhere. The VV pairing is the central pair - UGC 4991 A and B. VV 547 - this a galactic wreck. This collision between the two has destroyed them both but the left one must have been the lower mass galaxy because it is totally splattered. Where is its core? - not the star but maybe near to it. Hints of lumpy bits as well - remnants or new stars forming.? These shots are just a small sample of a wonderful 3 hour session. Mike

Hi Martin, glad you got a decent look at SHK 371. I was rather taken by the group. Nice to see your Hickson 57. Currently clear skies - massive list of targets. Mike

Always good to look back and then assess one's progress. It encourages other folk as well. Mike

Look forward to seeing your results for the Leo Arps. I am currently going through my Leo shots. We could write a guide to Leo using the EAA technique...........? Mike

Hi Bill, thanks for posting. Q3 I feel is likely to be beyond us due to its low position for GB skies. If a suitable opportunity comes along I might try the 15" Dob. Mike

IC 2657 is a distant galaxy (EO) at about 2.1 billion lyrs away. It is the larger galaxy in the small group - see the inset. Hickson 57 A lovey collection of eight galaxies. HCG 57a 57b 57c 57d 57e 57f 57g 57h "Name" NGC 3753 NGC 3746 NGC 3750 NGC 3754 NGC 3748 NGC 3751 NGC 3745 PGC 36010 Type Sb SBb E3 Sbc SOa E4 SBO SBb Mag. 14.0 14.3 14.8 14.5 15.4 15.2 15.8 16.7 SHK 371. A delightful small curve of faint galaxies (1 = mag 19)

Hi, I took a peak at NGC 3115 - what a beauty. Next up was to have another look at NGC 3044. This is as I saw it on the screen. Not captured q2 or q3 - not really a surprise as Sextans low down for me. Spotted q1 - pleased. Also galaxy 19.6 is there as well. Thanks Martin for the challenge. I wonder if I could get q2 and q3 with the Dob on a good night. Pleased with the detail on 3044. Mike

Hi Neil, thanks for linking folk to my post. The comet is nice visually in my 15" Dob and yes after 30 mins you should be able to detect that it has moved. Sometimes I will look at a comet at the start of a session, do a quick sketch with ref stars and then go back to it at the end of a session. Cheers Mike

Enjoyed your report. Mike

Hi Martin, NGC 3115 - lovely capture. Not on any of my lists - an oversight? NGC 3044 - visited that one early in March. I did not think about checking for the quasars so not evident in my image. The tilted lane is a very nice distinguishing feature. Until this easterly stops I cannot observe anything in the south. Hoping tonight to hunker down at the back of the house and look north. Mike

Superb skies last night. The best they get in my part of GB - mag 5.7 stars easily visible BUT so windy that I could only find one place to use the camera. Even visual with the Dob was tricky. In the end I had to abandon observing Bill's recent comet post inspired me to comet hunt -actually about the only target worth going for as the telescope and I were hard up against the house. Had to be very careful with hitting GOTO as the scope would have rammed into the front door. Nice visual observation, then popped in the camera. Comet has slight asymmetry, no obvious tail, very tight inner coma, then less bright area surrounding it. The montage below is a time difference of 15 minutes - look closely and you can see the comet has moved. The time difference between picture 2 and 3 is just 3.5 minutes and shows movement of the comet. This thing is motoring (as they all do). The galaxy on the far left above the two stars is possibly UGC 5061. Mike

Your observation worked out well. Here is my observation from 2nd March. Just missed the percentage sign galaxy. Yes possibly interacting with the Arp galaxy. WOuld make sense if they are similar distance

Hi Martin, useful link to galaxy classification.

There are so many wondrous sights up there. This one is from 2 nights ago. (Cleaned up in photoshop). Mike Constellation: Coma Berenices Classification: Galaxy in S-shape (integral sign) Name: NGC 4615 (4614 to left, 4613 below) Mag: 13.1 Distance: 230 million lyrs away Type: Scd Comments: All three galaxies (all spirals) are at about 230 million lyrs away and form a true group. Why is 4615 S-shaped? Some sort of interaction or it is that way naturally? Much star formation in NGC 4615. (knots evident)

Hi Martin, I too was impressed with the detail in my image of Arp 82. I think I am getting better at deciding on the length of subs, number in a stack to tease out the detail. Anybody following our posts hopefully is able to get a clear idea of what different scopes/subs/stacks can achieve, as well as the fun/fulfilment of using the EAA approach. Thanks for posting your shot. Mike

I went chasing flat galaxies last night in Leo and thought I would post UGC 5173 for three reasons. 1. Look very carefully and you can just get a hint of the dust lane 2. It is a nice shape (very scientific observation?????), even arms and very rounded even core. 3. Pleasing shot with the extra galaxies on view, including another edge on galaxy If I get time I will hunt out extra info. Mike

Hi Bill, thanks for the link. It seems to me that a selection of scopes for use with EAA is a useful approach (and expensive). The C11 certainly makes the SHK groups easily doable but then a smaller scope gives the wider fov for star clusters, comets, bigger galaxy groups. I find using the 15" Dob even better for faint DSOs except it does not track very well compared to an equatorial mount. Mike

A recent target in cancer was another look at the Flat Galaxy UGC 4856 (RFGC 1508) which is part of Hickson 37. So two for the price of one. Arp 82 classified by Dr Arp as spirals with a high surface brightness companion. The inset reveals star formation knots, arms do not come off the core. Instead they come off the ring structure (hint of it in this shot). The companion is also a ring galaxy. They are about 200 million lyrs away. My final offering is SHK 185. Tricky to locate.