20.04.12. two messiers in virgo.

[rory]

after picking some tips up on the brighter galaxies in the virgo cluster i gave them a whirl tonight while the rain had stopped and clouds broke up.

this ended up being rather short lived ,as dew stopped play

okay so from a simple telrad hop from vindemiatrix i located a asterism that resembled a question mark,checking with stellarium ,a quick shift west brought me on m60. not much to say ,no detail ,just a grey smear at x31 with averted vision. spent ten minutes trying to pull out m59. at one point i thought i had something, but wishfull thinking on my part i recon .

i moved off westwards again in search of m89,but before i got to it i came to m58. now this was a direct vision galaxy just about,at 9.6 magnitude. i switched to the 18mm e/p giving x55 which i dont often do with my diddy scope,but this messier could take the magnification. at this point im strugling with the dew now and had to call it a night without managing m89/m90.

not an ideal night ,but it was nice just to even have the scope out at all to be honest.

[Mike73]

I had the same dewy problems but still beats going down the pub eh?

[rory]

i contemplated going back out after the scope had time to dry ,but wimp i am , i was pretty tired .

i dont know about the pub equation , perhaps observing from a pub carpark with all lights banned ,and free beer would be a nice idea

[m_j_lyons]

Nothing like having your scope go swimming while star gazing. Hopefully drier weather is inbound...this is galaxy hunting season! Take your time in Virgo - there is a lot to see and I know I missed a lot of it on my first time through.

Happy hunting.

[Double Kick Drum]

You should be able to see M59 on a better night. I actually found it slightly easier than M58 although I wouldn't say there was much in it. M87 is probably the easiest in Virgo.

M89 is similar in brightness to M58 and should be possible. M90 is larger and more diffuse and may well be a challenge for your scope / sky combo.

If you ever get the chance to get to a darker site, you'll be falling over galaxies in Virgo let alone Coma, Canes Venatici and Leo.

Sadly the clouds didn't break until after I had gone to bed so no Astronomy for me.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congrats on getting two fuzzies on a dewy night. Even on a frac, you could extend the dew shield using the tried and tested camping mat approach. Cheap, and can extend viewing considerably.