Galaxy hunting 06Apr13

[andyboy1970]

Ditched Cartes due to having problems all the time.

Back on Stellarium.

Galaxy hunting….

Observed-

M3 Not great due to the haze.

M63 The sunflower galaxay, nice core with hints of fainter surrounding areas.

M94 Not much of note, fuzzy star more or less.

M51 could see both cores but not the bridge.

Mizar double easily split in 20mm eyepiece, companion looks yellow/green.

M101 despite the hazy sky I could spot the core are and a suggestion of arms but only near the core, dropping down to a 30mm eyepiece made it worse and I found my 20mm best.

NGC5322 just near Mizar was nothing more than a fuzzy star at mag+10

M109 was just visible again nothing more than a elongated fuzz, two stars were noted at one end, turns out to be a star at mag +11.85

M106 The best of the night so far looks huge in the 20mm, sure I can see a dust lane running just below centre from side to side almost. Central bulge is far brighter than any of the nearby stars.

NGC4449 very misshapen to the eye but quite bright.

NGC4490 very small but nice oval shape again quite bright.

NGC4244 very long and slender, obviously edge on, no central bulge noticed.

NGC4631 another long edge on galaxy but significantly wider along 2/3rds of its length, slight hint of a dark dust lane. (The Whale galaxy)

NGC4565 imaged last night, very faint but with avert vision it starts revealing itself, fantastic edge on very wide with a very bright central bulge.

M64 the black ey galaxy, Beautiful, tolerates a certain amount of direct viewing however looking at the star just below and using avert vision it reveals its dark patch.

M53 looked btter than M3, nice compact globby.

NGC5053 another nice globby, not as compacted as M53 with a lot more stragglers around the edges.

M87 compared to the NGC’s viewed earlier it’s a disappointment.

Finished off with Bodes, M81 & M82 changed to 30mm fantastic considering the haze in the air, M82 is a sight to behold.

Great night bagging 12 galaxies in all and 3 globbys.

NGC4449 will be re-visited with the camera at some point.

[Double Kick Drum]

Some choice Messiers and NGCs.

Particular congratulation on seeing NGC 5053. One of those I have simply looked through rather than at. A better sky would help.

Thanks for sharing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very good result! Lovely list of objects

[Stargazer_00]

NGC5053 is a really hard one for me to find. I can see M53 really easily but never this one.

Good list, thanks

[andyboy1970]

I didn't realise NGC5053 was considered so difficult, the report was written at the eyepiece therefore was exactly what I was seeing.

I just started near the Plough and worked from DSO to DSO on Stellarium.