Mike JW

Hi Tony, It is these sorts of posts/observations that really make EEVA stand out - sufficiently detailed image of a galaxy to warrant closer inspection to spot the star forming regions and any other details, wider context to pick up those seriously distant galaxies, information and links to articles and then further fascination in this case of trying to spot the dwarf galaxy being consumed and all in 10 minutes. (I agree there is spot of fuzz at the right place). Excellent work, presentation, inspirational - makes me want to rush out there and point the 15 at the area. Maybe Monday night, but it will be so high up I shall be pointing the Dob where it gets very difficult to be accurate. Cheers, Mike

Abell 30 is real challenge. I was only just able to detect this PN. It is however a fascinating object to read up about. It is a rare type of PN that has been reborn. It also has a binary central star. - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/nebula_abell30.html Mike

Well, here I am again. It has been three months since I had some PCGs to post. The collection below are found in Cancer. PCG 091133+291646 - a group of 4 galaxies near to a pair of stars? or are they. The brightest of the four has a red shift somewhere in the 1.3-1.4 Gyr and at mag 18. Its fainter companion is mag 19 and the other two are mag 18. No other info for these three galaxies. In colour images the two stars are very orange and NED gives the lower one as being a galaxy. The mag 19 quasar is at a similar distance. However the other labelled quasar lurks around the 10 Gyr - just blows me away! PCG 091524+213038 is a group of five galaxies which might be a true group as they are all of similar redshift (approx 1.7Gyr). Some of the other fuzz spots in the region are also at a similar distance. PCG 090155+323620 is a group of four, yet we have 5 objects making up a V shape. NED suggest all five are galaxies and in fact the middle fuzz spot on the right (slightly extended in this shot) is actually two galaxies and one other object. Only one of the group has a redshift value which equates to the 1.2/1.3 Gyr distance. This group wins the award for the most interesting shape and we have the obvious additional galaxy above the V. There is one other PCG in Cancer but conditions deteriorated so I shall have to visit at a later date. Mike

and here are 4 Arps located in Cancer. Arp 243 (NGC 2423) A classic S - shaped due to a merger/interaction. It is thought that a merger may well have taken place a long time a go and the galaxy has now settled down. It lacks a well defined core. It is classified as Peculiar galaxy and Seyfert 2 (active core). There are some great images out there, especially the Hubble image. Arp 82 is a pair of galaxies interacting. NGC 2535 is the big one and its companion is NGC 2536. Once again we see the S-shape due to the interaction. NGC 2535 is classified as SA(r)c pec. I was pleased to get a hint of the ring and star forming knots. Wonderful curving tidal stream curving up from 2535 Arp 287 (NGC 2735) is yet another pair of interacting galaxies with the S -shape and finally Arp 247 (IC 2339/2338) are an interacting pair but this time no S shape. This is not all the Cancer Arps, so another rewarding session beckons. This session was difficult due to unsteady seeing. At times I was dumping every sub as the stars wobbled in all directions. Persistence paid off. Mike

Arp 165 - NGC 2418,(Gemini/Cancer border) at first glance looks fairly standard until you look closer. It has just one low contrast spiral arm, which just shows up in my shot (going up). Then further observing reveals a faint/diffuse tidal extension more or less opposite the arm - I started to get a hint of it. The question is, what caused this tidal extension? Presumably some sort of interaction in the past. Arp classified this galaxy as not spiral or elliptical with diffuse elements. Officially it is E-pec - certainly it is peculiar. This large galaxy lies 240 million lyrs away. Note the two other galaxy just to the north of it - no redshift data available. At about 8 o clock and close to NGC2 418 are two stars, the one further away is in fact a galaxy (no data). Mike

Hi Pat, I began EEA using the Lodestar Mono X2 with SLL, then upgraded to the Ultrastar with SLL and got much better results. Then when Jocular came along I switched to using Jocular (still have to capture with SLL), which has revolutionised my captures. Combined with the enthusiasm of the contributors in this forum to make the posts observational/links to articles etc, my 'visual' journey of the last three years has been fascinating and very fulfilling. I shall look forward to more of your posts. Mike

Hi Martin I had spotted the triple nucleus galaxy and then got side tracked with the Arp group, so thanks for adding this info in - I do like it when there are so many objects of interest in the fov. Mike

Thanks for your kind and encouraging comments - as to the pleasure of EEVA, you have summed it exactly. I have just posted Abell 1185 in the Abell thread and as this cluster contains Arp 105, below is the Arp part of it. There is much happening in this area. Arp classified the main galaxies as Elliptical and Elliptical like galaxies that are interacting and in this case elliptical connected to a spiral. The tidal stream is extensive and there is likely to be three interacting galaxies. The whole structure is known as the Guitar. The tiny fuzz right at the bottom is blue dwarf galaxy and is known as Ambarzumian's Knott. The Knot and two other tiny blue galaxies just above it (not visible in my shot) are known as a Zwicky Multiple - intereacting? The upper bright galaxy is NGC 3561A - SA(r) pec, the lower one NGC 3561 is also SA(r) pec,Liner, Sy3. Finally the group is a VV 237 with 6 members. Mike

Hi Martin, 610 is well worth a second visit to tease out more galaxies. Below is a shot of my recent visit to Abell 1185 (UMA/Leo border). This view is of the main collection of brighter galaxies. Abell 1185 is around the 400 million light year distance and is part of the Leo supercluster. It has 82+ galaxies in it and has been described as being lumpy, which I take to mean there galaxy groupings within this cluster. It has many bright elliptical galaxies. The interesting galaxy pair on the left of shot is Arp 105 - I shall post a zoomed in version in the Arp thread. Mike

Hi 'Catburglar' You chose a hard one for your first Arp. My first attempt was not worth posting. The low surface brightness of the galaxy really means it is best to wait until there is a transparent night to get the required contrast and then as you did go for at least 30 subs to reduce the noise. My second attempt is posted earlier in this thread. Great to see you getting into the spirit of EEVA with the additional info you have provided - makes for added interest and also adds an observational flavour to the post. You mention colour - for star clusters and PNs it adds a great deal, also for star forming regions in galaxies. My feeling is colour is best left for true imaging although as software/cameras advance colour EEVA for galaxies is getting more worthwhile. Have fun Mike

24 hrs later and I manged to grab another short session in unsteady conditions (yet again). This time Abell 610. The obvious brighter galaxies in the centre are still only mag 17/18. I checked several of them for distance and apart from one they probably are a group lying at about the 1.2Gyr distance. One of them lies further out at 1.3Gyr. Abell 610 is poor in X-ray luminous galaxies, is a low mass cluster and appears to have two main clusters within the overall cluster. Mike

Hi Tony , that has come out well and in 5 minutes Mike

Great to see your progress at sorting the set up. As my C9/C11 scopes were equatorial mounted I dispensed with a diagonal as well but that is not an option for you on a fork mounted scope. Have fun, Mike

Abell 615 lies in Gemini and is small enough for my set up to get it all in view. It lacks any obvious bright galaxies but its compact nature makes for a pleasing result. I have captured about 20 galaxies in my shot - at first I thought I had got more but cross referring to Aladin/NED they are stars. Two quasars also marked. Mike

I will be interested to see if you get on well with the 3.3 reducer - I never properly succeeded - way too much coma and as you have discovered tilt is also critical. Mike

Hi Achim, Captures the view so well. Mike

Hi Geoff, progress indeed. I once used a flip mirror and for me it was a waste of time. I soon sold it. I found/find that if I align accurately and two star sync, then sync to a known star or DSO in the region of interest then the DSOs I am planning to hunt down are always in the fov. If I then go off to a different area of the sky I will GOTO a bright (ish) star in that region, sync to it, then maybe head to a bright (ish) NGC to check the sync and then head off to the really tricky targets that interest me. Have fun, Mike

Hi Geoff, I have used a C9.25 and a C11 for EEVA and found working at f6.3 (i.e. using a focal reducer) worked well for capturing all sorts of DSOs including PNs. I did once try the f3.3 reducer but that introduce too much coma. Mike

I take the view that to encourage each other and to offer helpful thoughts (positive criticism) is a far better way to live life than to mouth off, be critical/negative...... as so often happens in forums and of course social media. I feel I have much to learn both in the observing as well as the sketching. Many thanks for your encouragement. Mike

Mike - only just spotted your sketches. (A bit late to the party). They work well and capture the feel of the various craters. I wish I had your artistic talent. Mike

Bill/Martin Interesting to follow your experimentation. Visually on the nights that allowed for it, then to up the magnification on PNs, detail would be revealed - so Bill going to f7 is probably the right approach. Mike

Bill - still good to see colour for 2022 but as you indicate it lacks the detail. Roelb - the detail is there, in the second shot, just need to zoom in. I have put it on my target list but so few clear spells. Mike

Hi Martin, that is a good result. Mike

Hi Achim, Thanks for the feedback. I use a white gel pen to do the stripes but it got dulled down when I scanned the sketch, so I added them back in using Photoshop. Mike

Hi, You might be better off looking through the dedicated EEVA threads (discussion and reports) to see what people are doing and what gear they are using. Your question has often been asked eg.https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/287-discussions-eeva-equipment/ (there is some technical discussion in this thread as well). For EEA (EEVA) mono camera and larger pixels works very well but it will depend on the scope size and what sort of targets you wish to go for. Mike