the sombrero chase . 15th may.

[rory]

nice clear evening,rain clouds fast dissapearing to the south.so out with the scope for a couple of hours.

i wanted to get my first glimpse of the sombrero galaxy.however too catch it before it goes behind trees and houses i knew id have to get it early on. so it was a case of getting focused in on the star field and hope to view it before it floated below my field of view. trouble was it was still dusk at 22.00hrs, so i had to follow the spot id know it would show up in and hoped it would be dark enough to see something of note before it dissapeared behind slated rooftops !

well i managed m104. but i didnt do it justice. it was just not dark enough, and seeing wasnt good tonight either. orange skies were the order of the night. i fancied trying to sketch her,but decided it wasnt showing enough this time round. i shall have to travel out to a better horizon for a better view .

from there on,i jumped back into the virgo bunch once again. and first off found m61. direct vision was possible little more than a circular grey patch. after scanning around in hope,and coming across another galaxy higher up ,i checked and noted m100. another faint ghostly circle,best at x66 and averted vision.

last up was m85. this had a reasonably bright central area,quite small, but quickly fades away as you focus away from it nucleus.

i noted another faint smudge close by. checked stellarium once id got back in and found it to be ngc4394. mag11 circular smokey smear. i feel the orange sky and poor seeing didnt help with these objects tonight ,but at least its not RAINING..

so four new messiers to tick off, but ive not done them much justice, so promise to revisit.

[Double Kick Drum]

Another good haul!

M104 should look good on a better night. One of the most impressive galaxies in the sky IMO.

I also managed NGC 4394 on the weekend though it was close to my limit and wasn't at all impressive.

Happy hunting!

[MadAlbert]

...so four new messiers to tick off, but ive not done them much justice, so promise to revisit.

I've been back to M13 and M57 twice this week...!

[Mike73]

I visited M104 on Friday and Saturday night, it really had the wow factor on Friday but didn't blow my sock off on the Saturday. I think it was slightly higher when I viewed it on the Friday and maybe the seeing conditions were better.

Great object though, its in my favourites list as far as galaxies are concerned.

[m_j_lyons]

Le Sombrero is surely a treat to observe when conditions are good...and still a fine target under less optimal skies. There are two fun asterisms in the area that I enjoy seeing also...a rocket and a shark.

Happy hunting.

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