Mostly galaxies in a 6"

[Dave R]

Suburban location about mag 4-4.5 w/ naked eye.

150mm f/5 Newtonian.

Old / New.

M53 (globular cluster): Easy to see at 30x. Didn't really see any detail and it didn't seem to improve with more magnification.

M60 (galaxy): Slightly easier to see than M66 and M65. At 83x could just about distinguish the brighter core.

M49 (galaxy): Easier to see than M60. Smaller with no detail seen.

M66/M65 (galaxies): Both faint but could make out the elongated shape. Easier to see at 83x than 30x as the background is darker. Couldn't see the third one at all, as usual.

M104 (galaxy): Barely visible at 30x but improved with higher powers. Faintest one of the bunch, although that may be due to it being lower in the sky, towards the LP.

Alpha Hercules (double): Split at 125x. The brighter one looked more yellow and the fainter one looked more orange, but apparently it should be the other way round.

Beta Cygnus - Albereo (double): Somehow never got around to this before. Split at 30x but mostly used 125x. The yellow and blue colors were very clear with averted vision or when moving or adjusting the focus. The blue was a bit less convincing when looking directly at it.

Finished off with another look at M13 and M57. Seemed to get a better view of both than usual, probably the contrast after looking at the faint fuzzies.

[Nexus 6]

You did a fine job with finding so many dso's there Daz, I did a scan around using a Celeston cpc 925 a few weeks back and found M104 to be quite bright showing a nicely defined and familiar shape which we all know from the great images of it we see.

Great post

[swamp thing]

Hi Dave

Nice report.

Good to read.

Did you manage to see the dust lane in M104?

regards Steve

[Dave R]

No, it was much too faint to see the dust lane. I could just about make out the overall shape during the best moments of clear seeing / averted vision.

[swamp thing]

No, it was much too faint to see the dust lane. I could just about make out the overall shape during the best moments of clear seeing / averted vision.

That's a shame. frustrating Lp

Your 6" would show it from a dark sky.

Regards Steve