Night Under Leo

[andrew63]

Just in after a few hours around leo and some new galaxies for me. The seeing whilst good, a bit of wind, was not so transparent. After a look at some open clusters - M46 47 and 50 headed for leo about 10.30 for an hour.

First new object NGC 2903 - surprisingly bright in fact easier to observe than my new messier's! Not much to be seen in a 4" at 27x but slightly more pleasing at 55x. Then to M95 M96 and M105. Again at 27x with a 26mm plossl given about a 2 deg field, M105 first noticed close to a brightish star quite stellar than noticed M96 larger and more diffuse but did not notice M95 at first, think looking at wrong part of field, but when moved to 55x after a scan found it although it was the most difficult of the three. They are looked better at 55x and when familiarised with them on switching back to 27x could see them all in same field. The seeing started to deteriorate a bit and then M95 was lost again. Still good to have now seen all the messier objects under the lion!

NGC 3384 was observed, very close to M105, smaller and more diffuse!

andrew

[rory]

nice going. i had a scout round for 95 /96, but hit didley squat. thanks for the report.

[andrew63]

I think you will find M105 ok - it's like an out of focus star at low power. Also they will be better to observe when leo is higher in the sky.

andrew

[m_j_lyons]

The galaxies in/around Leo can leave one's todo list full for years!

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[cotterless45]

So many things to see last night, just took out the Telrad map of Leo on which I'd added the most visible NGCs.Just took out a 21mm and 12mm EP .

NGC2903 was really bright, better than a lot of Messiers.

Down the Lion's flank, NGC3626 , brighter than adjacent NGC3607 , not found these two before. At x60 they stood out from the backgound.

Then dropped down to mid thigh and onto the triplet; wow lovely and bright at x60. Then to the underbelly and the M105 and M96 group. These were fainter than the triplet.Then a search below finding NGC3521 and the interacting NGC3169 and 3166.

The wind and cold then set in , so had a quick scan of Canes Venatici and the galaxies in and around Ursa Major. M106 was the high point, really bright, even at x100.

Lovely this time of year and another clear night to come,keep an eye on Leo , it's an easy and earliesh ,Nick.

[Double Kick Drum]

Your account of M105, M96 and M95 reminds me of when I first bagged them a couple of months back. My experience was exactly the same.

Glad to see you also spotted NGC 3384. The first time I saw that, it was by accident - I was only expecting to see the Messiers.