Planning for the autumn.

[cotterless45]

Since we've be declared " drought affected" it hasn't stopped raining, that was 2 weeks ago. That and decreasing night time mean it's project/planning time.

I start with a few lists and get researching;here's one to kick off with

The 15 Best Visual Arp Objects

I also found NGC891 on p2. of the Pocket Sky Atlas.

Anyone else for planning challenges ?

I also liketo give folk out a list/challenge at star parties, nice.

Although this year I'll be glued to the Olympics, not.

Nick.

[Double Kick Drum]

I work from a database of DSOs customised to my sky / aperture (5" refractor) capability. The Autumn plan is not entirely finalised but will include:

Galaxies:

NGC 891 and NGC 404 (And)

NGC 7217 and NGC 7331 (Peg)

NGC 6946 (Cep)

M74, NGC 524 and NGC 676 (Psc)

NGC 936, NGC 157 and NGC 1052 (Cet)

NGC 821 (Ari)

NGC 890 (Tri)

Planetary Nebulae:

NGC 7009 (Aqr)

NGC 6818 (Sgr)

NGC 6891 (Del)

NGC 40 (Cep)

NGC 7048 (Cyg)

Globular Clusters:

M22, M28, M75 and NGC 6642 (Sgr)

NGC 6712 (Sct)

NGC 6760 (Aql)

NGC 7006 (Del)

M30 (Cap)

There are far too many open clusters to list but these have been comparatively neglected by me so far and I will be picking these off from August.

After all this, I will definitely need a bigger scope!

Hope some of those numbers are useful to others. Happy hunting!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Interesting list. Just a few comments: NGC 4038 and 4039 (Arp 244) can be picked up in an 8" scope (I did under good conditions). The kidney shape was evident, the tails not.

NGC 891 is hard in my book! You need very clear skies, as its surface brightness is not great. It took me a while to hunt it down, even though finding the location is easy enough. NGC 404 is easy, despite nearby Mirach (beta And).

[acey]

A lot of the Arps are accessible to medium apertures, I've observed more than a hundred of them using 8" and 12" scopes (though in many cases they look pretty ordinary). The Hicksons also offer a lot of possibilities (there are a hundred in the catalogue and I've viewed more than thirty).

When autumn comes I'll continue working my way through the Shapley Ames catalogue, which is a good representative sample of galaxies down to about mag 13. The full catalogue has about 1200 objects (north and south hemispheres) of which I've seen 501 so far.

Shapley Ames Catalogue (Epoch 1950) is here:

http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Shapley_Ames/frames.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That is a very handy catalogue, thanks for that.

[acey]

I picked up a secondhand (ex-library) hardbound copy for not very much off the internet. Worth having if you don't feel like printing it all off. Certainly makes a great observing list.

The original catalogue by Shapley and Ames (1932) is here:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1932AnHar..88...41S

This has some errors (corrected in the Revised catalogue I previously linked to), and is also Epoch 1950, but it's all in a single pdf, easily printable for use at the telescope.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I picked up a secondhand (ex-library) hardbound copy for not very much off the internet. Worth having if you don't feel like printing it all off. Certainly makes a great observing list.

The original catalogue by Shapley and Ames (1932) is here:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1932AnHar..88...41S

This has some errors (corrected in the Revised catalogue I previously linked to), and is also Epoch 1950, but it's all in a single pdf, easily printable for use at the telescope.

Just ordered an ex-library copy of it. Should be here well before autumn. Thanks for the tip.

[nytecam]

Since we've be declared " drought affected" it hasn't stopped raining, that was 2 weeks ago. That and decreasing night time mean it's project/planning time. Nick.

Nick - shame on you - I'll not abandon summer obs down south

[cotterless45]

EEEeeyup ,tha's been nowt but cloud and rain in t'Middle Earth for t'last 3 weeks.

It's not a question of abandoning!! Just got so mardy that I got out the charts and the note books. Kinda virtual stargazing!!

Just looking through "The Herschel Objects" by James Mullany, excellent.

Also been looking in the shed at the scopes,nice.

Nick.