GALAXY FEST

[mdstuart]

A few lovely transparent evenings. I am now tired!

Working my way through the east of Virgo as the main patch is now behind the house!

These are low down for me so I struggle with mag 11/12 galaxies at times which would be easy if overhead.

29th April five objects spotted...

4981 - Very faint low surface brightness ball - A face on spiral I think

5701 - Oval object which can nearly be held with direct vision

5713/9 - I just love pairs..5719 much fainter than 5713 but edge on

5691 - A tough object requiring AV

30th April seven objects

5012 - Very nice large relatively easy galaxy to spot to the left of a nice diamond of stars

5775 - Edge on dim slither. Could not see 5774 which should be next door.

5869 - Very small but not to hard to spot

5364 - Reminds me of 4981 from last night. Just above a field star...near 5363 which is a 2* object seen before!

5750 - Another small tough one

5831 - Much brighter than 5750, nearly visible with direct vision

5839 - Found without a CDC map. Looking for 5845 but after checking it seems I saw 5839.

So a great hall. This brings me to 655 galaxies now logged. SO AMAZING ...HUNDREDS OF THEM...and these are just the very brightest close galaxies in our local area of the universe....AWESOME...

Hope you are all enjoying the clear skies..

Mark

[Double Kick Drum]

Also had a transparent night on the 30th. 655 is some galaxy count: a fine effort. Exactly 500 more than me... and I thought 155 was quite impressive!

The galaxies listed are unfamiliar to me. I'm guessing they are mag 12 or lower.

[mdstuart]

They are all fairly faint. NGC 5012 was the brightest of this bunch.

It is mag 12.4.

Try 5363 which I mention. I would say that might be possible in a 80mm scope so you should get it in your 127.

Mark

[cotterless45]

That's a neat haul. I have added them to the never ending list ! Faintest here , but with bright centre was around mag13.

Last night and the early hours this morning the sky was terrible, must have been high humid stuff throwing the light around. The night before was superb following the rain and the sky was dark and crystalline.

It's a pain waiting to set up , but there's loads of good spring galaxies around and Cygnus will soon be dominating

clear skies,

Nick.

[swamp thing]

Great stuff Mark, as usual.

Havent got out anywhere near enough myself this (Galaxy) season. Really need a good galaxy fest myself.

[cplee42]

Nice list Mark. I have been out in the back garden 4 nights on the trot trying a new mount and Monday was especially good. I ran through the Virgo/Coma B list but was too much of a tourist to do any serious observing. I am beginning to think ( whisper it quietly) that doubles or clusters might just hold my attention longer than trying to spot the faintness of a dark smudge!

[mdstuart]

Thanks Chris.

I also enjoys doubles..split Porima in Virgo this week which is now widening nicely..2 seconds of arc I believe.

Mark

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[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great haul! Of those mentioned I have only spotted a handful: NGC 5701, 5750, 5775, 5831, and 5869. I should give some of the others a try if I get a chance. I usually use the B_T magnitudes of the revised Shapley-Ames Catalogue to select targets, but these are quite often pessimistic compared to visual magnitudes. The fact that I spotted one hard one in your list suggests I may be in with a chance with some of the others (even with my smaller scope).

[WaveSoarer]

And I thought I was doing well last night picking off some of the Messier galaxies in Virgo: M58, M59, M60, M84, M86, M87, M89, M90 and M91. They are all fairly obvious and observable with direct vision. The sky got better during the evening after a not very transparent start,

[andrew63]

The virgo area is a struggle for me as the southern horizon is slightly more polluted - and the comparatively low altitude does not help. It's not been that transparent also, although clear but not been great. Tried for M101 last night but failed and even a struggle with the brighter Leo triplets. Caught a glimpse of the Owl Nebula though and will look around the brighter objects in the Coma area tonight which are better placed.

Hope you have another good night...

andrew

[mdstuart]

Thanks Andrew.

Looks pretty good here. Might give a few more a go..perhaps in UMA..

Enjoy Coma ...always love that edge on 4565 is it? You could try to see the Coma group elipticals which are 5 times further away than the Virgo ones 4889 I think.

Or try that black eye stunner of a galaxy..! M64

Enjoy.

Mark

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[andrew63]

Rubbish last night - the stars were out but DSO embedded in 'pea soup'.

andrew