Mike JW

I have been away on a trip, so just spotted your latest contribution - has fired me up to take another look at Arp 316. Last time I looked (2 years ago) I too failed to pick up the bridge and that was with the C11. I might do better with the 15" Dob. Must look at Arp 263 with the 15. Mike

Hi Pat, Just to confirm Martin's reply. I use the Ultrastar with SLL and yes you send the RAW files to Jocular as per your screen shot, that is send them to watched. Jocular then picks them up as they arrive and does all the clever stuff that is needed. This means that the camera is controlled by SLL in particularly the sub time. I run SLL and Jocular concurrently. I make sure Jocular is ready to receive the subs. In SLL I do my GOTO and use focus alignment framing to centre the object - often I will use just a 2 sec exposure but at 2x2 or even 3x3 to detect/centre the object quickly, then go over to image acquisition once I am happy, double check that the sub time is what I wish for and maybe change to 2x2 but generally I operate at 1x1. Once I am happy I set it running and then minimise SLL and go over to Jocular. As the subs come in I play with the Jocular sliders as the image builds, also I will immediately delete any subs that show excessive star wobble. I aim for 20 to 30 good subs to reduce noise. When I am happy with the stacked subs in Jocular I go back to SLL and stop the camera, then back to Jocular to save. I always plate solve with Jocular on the first and second subs just to be sure I have got the DSO that I intended. Once you get use to the work routine it really is very easy. Have fun, Mike

EEVA has certainly caught your imagination. Mike

Always good to experiment. Mike

Hi, Visually, parachute seen in my 20" (former), and in a 24" Dob Einstein Cross is doable. I suspect therefore that using EAA technique both should be able to be observed. I always forget to try for these. Mike

For awhile I used the classic observing chair (beautifully made out of oak) similar to the wooden one as shown earlier in the thread and also used a metal one. Both Ok but sold them in favour of a three legged stool with circular seat that could be adjusted in height as it was on a circular screw thread. Very comfortable, easily adjustable by spinning the seat and I use it all the time. Years old and it will see me out. See picture below, taken off the internet but very similar to my stall. Mike

Here are few more galaxies of interest, simply because they are in the IC catalogue and are around the 1 billion distance and all visible with a large Dob. 2881 and 3848 are both galaxy pairs and 2860 fov has PCG galaxies in view which are 2 billion lyrs or more. The quasar just below it lurks around the 8 billion lyr distance. Mike

Really interesting to see 4267 - never taken a look at it. Mike

Thanks for reminding me of this pair of galaxies. The term flocculent takes me back to chemistry - what a wonderfully descriptive term for NGC 4298. Formal definition: 'having a loosely clumped texture' - describes the galaxy accurately. My shot below from 2 years ago - I have pushed the Jocular settings to clearly show the lumpiness, indicating much star formation. Mike

I use python 3.7 64 bit on my windows 10 laptop. Mike

Hi Pat, Many of your questions will be answered within this EEVA -Discussion thread and within the CloudyNights forum. Software choices - ASILive, SharpCap and Jocular. Jocular has been written by a member of this forum and is specific for EEVA. SharpCap is more for imaging but can do EEVA. There is a Jocular section in the EEVA section. Scopes - use what ever you have at present. Camera - use what you have and get use to what can be done with your current equipment. (Yes mono is better for most EEVA because it is more sensitive but colour is great for Planetary Nebula and star clusters). In the EEVA Reports thread you will see all the examples of what can be done ranging from 6" or less to 15" scopes, AZ/Alt mounts or equatorial, variety of cameras. There is no single ideal scope or camera. Great observations are regularly posted with 8" scopes I spent two years trying to work out what would be best to do. I only really got to grips with EEVA once I decided to give it a go with a cheap camera (borrowed from a friend) and an existing telescope. After giving it a go it helped me understand what was needed and at that point I bought a more expensive camera. Enjoy the journey (and yes it will have its frustrations) Mike Mike

Hi Tony, Thank you for your kind words. It works so well when we each contribute observations, thoughts, questions and our individual reading up on the object in question. The quality of your shots as you know make me envious and they inspire me to take a look again at objects I have previously visited. Mike

Two more distant galaxy groups, this time from Leo Minor. I like to visit these groups as an antidote to the bright DSOs. The distances are mind boggling. This little group has little info, one of the group is 2.1 billion lyrs away, The labelled PGC galaxy is around the 5 billion mark. One of this little group is at about 2.5 billion lyrs away (another in the group is only 750 million lyrs away) and I counted a further 10 fuzz spots that are greater than 2 billion lyrs away. Mike

Hi Tony, my view is the whole of the DSO databases need sorting out and for there to be a final agreed nomenclature. Leaving that thought to one side. Below is my shot from a year ago and labelled according to NED. Arp thought IC 694 was part of the main collision of the two galaxies but it is 40 million lyrs further out so currently not involved in the interaction. VV118 is the notation for the area and given a classification as 'N' = three or more galaxies in a tight group. So which are the three galaxies ? note NED identifies 118e and 118d but does not identify a, b or c. Your info suggests IC 694 is 'a' which leaves the two NGC 3690 as 'b' and 'c'. I have seen info that labels either of the NGCs as IC 694 and Jocular labels NGC 3690 W as IC 694. By the way another reference source suggests IC 694 is VV 118c and not 'a' as in your source. To me this make sense as the two NGCs are the brightest and thus should be 'a and b' In reality there are two galaxies carving each other up with the third galaxy (IC 694) currently not in the mix (but might have been in the past because it has very active star formation). VV 118 - ignoring what is now known about IC 694, is thus three tight galaxies and the extras are in fact just part of the big two galaxies (p of g). All this thinking/reading hopefully will keep dementia at bay? although sifting through the info might actually make me insane, certainly confused. P.S. - last night I completed my current round of the UMA Arps - a fascinating collection of cosmic wonders. Mike

Quite clearly aperture makes a difference in detail observed, as seen in your shots. A lovely set of targets to enjoy. I tend to stack 20 to 30 subs to reduce the noise to a minimum. As to the mystery object - slow moving satellite? A great challenge is to visit all the Hicksons in a year - gets you around the sky and out at some very silly hours. Mike

It took me awhile to find the suitable phrase to eliminate chocolate, mobiles, X box....... From my reading box shaped galactic bulges seem to be associated with bars, also likely to be associated with merger of a small companion which results in stuff flying about leading to bulge that is more of a box shape. I have read that it might just be a line of sight thing in visual wavelengths.

Look up peanut and box shaped galactic bulges. My Arp 162 does not show any more details but I have picked up mag 18/19 PGC around it. Mike

VV 454 (NGC 4137) in CVn presents an interesting challenge. A lovely open spiral - SBc with a spiral on its arm. However the VV catalogue classifies it as MM, meaning two satellites on its spiral arms. One is very obvious so where is the other? Zoomed it shot and labelled according to NED, shows the other galaxy on the spiral arm as well as a possible third galaxy but not redshift data available. for these two galaxies. NGC 4137 is 503 million lyrs away but the 17.5 galaxy is 497 million lyrs away - thus not really on the arm - line of sight. Mike

Hi Geoff, that has worked well. Mike

Last night whilst visiting Arps in UMa I remembered there is a NGC galaxy at around the 1 billion lyr distance and here it is - NGC 3950. It is actually 1.026 billion lyrs away and is thought to be an elliptical and possibly a dwarf. The bonus of course is the much nearer NGC 3949, 48 million lyrs away, a classic spiral with plenty of star formation underway. To the right near edge of the fov is a string of galaxies. Mike

Hickson 56 (Arp 322 and VV150) b,c,d an e are between 361 and 369 million lyrs away. a is further out at 375 million lyrs. The PGC galaxy is way out there at 2.655 billion lyrs - it must be big and bright to have so easily picked it up. On the second shot I have labelled up some of the galaxy fuzz spots. The two with no magnitude - no idea if they are galaxies. Mike

Hi Roel, You got the ring structure of 3729 and of course another FGC for me as part of H 56. Mike

I too have been going through the UMA Arps in the last few sessions, so great to see your wonderful collection of shots/info. I always get a thrill out of hunting down edge on galaxies; the FGCs. It always gives me a buzz to find the faint ones so your FGC 1259 does it for me!! (must get a life?). Arp 214 from a few days ago. Tricky to know how best to tweak the sliders to get the best overall view. I have managed to get some detail associated with the curving dust lane (especially on the right). On the right hand side above the curving dust lane is an almost straight dark line (artefact is my first thought) and then on the left side, below the curving dust lane is a dark spot - another artefact. SEE my second shot with red lines indicating these features. Checking against quality images - they are both real - amazed. and finally here is the same shot but with different annotations and tweaked differently - some very faint stuff brought out in this shot. Arp 322 - I think I will post my shot of this into the Hickson thread, as Hick 56 with any suitable info. Mike

Pat - the 22,000 light year bridge between the two galaxies is a hard target. NGC 5218 (at the top) has a counter tail (heading North, up) - just got a hint of it. NGC 5216 also has a counter tail, curving down and to the right - reasonably clear in my shot. These two galaxies are seriously interacting and giving each other a hard time! Here is my recent attempt, prompted by your post. Mike

Martin - excellent to have the view of both. Shows the value of the 8" set up. Mike