Galaxies and snow

[acey]

Finally got a forecast of clear sky last night (March 30) and with the Moon not rising until after 11pm it was a worth a trip to my dark site, where I found the ground still covered with snow. I decided to go for some relatively bright galaxies (Herschel Class I) spread around the sky: the one I found most interesting was NGC 5012 in Coma. At low power it struck me as being somewhat comet-like, while higher power revealed two points of light: the NGC description is "bi-nuclear". At high power I could see that one point was the galaxy's own core while the other was a foreground star superimposed on the galaxy.

NGC 2880 is a galaxy I had previously failed to see with an 8" but with the 12" (seen nearly overhead) it was very easy, resembling an unresolved globular cluster in appearance. NGC 3682 was more interesting, showing some mottling in its central part. These overhead objects required a certain amount of neck-craning at the finder, made all the harder since I was trying to avoid kneeling in the snow.

NGC 4800 in Canes Venatici was easy to find, being very near a pair of stars visible in the finder. The galaxy has a star very close to the west, and at low power looks like a double object. At high power the inner region was irregularly round with a stellar nucleus.

NGC 4900 in Virgo has an even nearer foreground star, which appears attached to the galaxy and intrudes somewhat on the view, making it hard to see much detail in the galaxy, though I could perceive an elongated inner region. Images show this galaxy to have a highly unusual appearance.

NGC 4958 and NGC 4995 lie close together in Virgo, near a distinctive line of stars that made for an easy star-hop. 4958 was the brightest and most interesting, being much extended with a bright inner region, while 4995 appeared more uniform.

With the moon about to rise I finished with the only Herschel Class II galaxy of the night, NGC 5016, but the sky was beginning to mist over and all I could see was a faint round patch without detail.

As the Moon rose above the distant trees I became flooded with light and it was time to pack up. The thermometer showed -6 and when I lifted the base of my dob I found it packed solid with ice underneath, which I had to bash off. Only my second session in March (none since the first of the month) but fingers crossed for more clear nights in April.

[cotterless45]

Yep, superb night, very interesting galaxies here. Kicked off at 8.30 through to 2.30, stood on some old throws to keep the frost away!

nick.

[scarp15]

Interesting account, it truly was cold last night with some good seeing periods for observing galaxies. First proper session for myself this year, but well worth the journey out.

The moon to was stunning on the journey home.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report, Acey. Some interesting object in that session.