April 29, 2013: Galaxies, a Globular, and a Planet

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

On the evening of the 29th it was wonderfully clear, but at first with a hint of haze. I set up the C8, and was planning to do a session near zenith, focussing on some areas of Ursa Major and Draco that I had not studied in detail, and mopping up the odd brighter galaxy in UMa I had somehow skipped before. I first turned the scope towards the famous Leo Triplet. M65 and M66 shone out quite clearly, and much to my surprise, the third member, NGC 3628 stood out quite well, in particular in averted vision. That meant that the haze was not that bad, so I decided to scour Coma and Virgo for some galaxies I had not yet found, but which were still within range of my 8" scope. Before that, I dropped down to the nice little curved asterism formed by 80, 82, 83, and 84 Leonis, moved westward a bit and found NGC 3640. It was fairly round, quite compact, with a farily condensed core. It was quite easy in averted vision. Slightly southwards, and to the east of a mag 7 or so star a little elongated patch of fuzz flickered in and out of averted vision: NGC 3631. Both fit into a single FOV of the Nagler 22 in my scope (0.9 deg). Further to the west I tried NGC 3495, but that was probably lost in the glare of 58 Leonis. Moving north from NGC 3640, I spotted NGC 3705 quite easily, but no sign of NGC 3692 (well, the odd hint, but nothing firm enough). I must try that from a darker spot some time.

Over to Coma Berenices. M98 showed up first, as a ghostly elongated glow. This again is a good sign, as M98 is always a bit troublesome, I find. Moving north and a bit west of M98, NGC 4152 showed up as a difficult, compact object, averted vision only. No detail spotted. Further north NGC 4147 showed up very easily in deed. Not a well known globular but a nice, compact fuzzy glow, with a hint of "diamond dust". To the west of this NGC 4064 could be made out in averted vision. It is elongated, and not too difficult.

Moving back past M98, I went for NGC 4237, which is a compact oval, not that easy. M100 hove into view as a large, quite diffuse oval glow further east, and NGC 4312 showed up in averted vision almost due south. It is far more elongated than NGC 4237. Further east, I spotted NGC 4379, fairly easy oval, not much elongation. Further south lay NGC 4377, hadrer, averted vision, almost round. M88 was a bit further east, a lovely elongated blotch, with clear condensation in the nucleus. Nice break from the tougher ones. Moving east again I spotted NGC 4710: very easy, highly elongated. It is a side-on spiral by the look of it. NGC 4866 was south and east again. Easier than 4710, a lovely elongated galaxy, showing some structure. To the south NGC 4880 spoiled a perfect run of 12 out of 12 fuzzies by not showing up. As Spica was now well above the trees to the south, I decided to have a go at M104. I found it easily, and the dust lane showed up quite distinctly in averted vision. Lovely sight, but rare, given its low altitude here. I had never before seen it from my garden because of that.

I then turned to Saturn, which had just cleared the trees. Always a lovely sight, but the seeing was far from good. Using the 10mm XW, I could occasionally make out the Cassini division, and banding on the planet, and a distinct darkening at the pole, but the views were far from perfect. Atmospheric refraction also added some unwanted colour. I stared at it for at least 10 minutes, waiting for those elusive moments of good seeing. After satisfying myself that no more detail was forthcoming, I packed up the scope, tired, but very pleased indeed.

A tally of 10 new objects, 10 old friends and just the odd failure has brought me to a total of 698 DSOs (not including double stars and variable stars) logged.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Very good night!

You always amaze me by how much you can find lol. I have passed up the last 3 clear nights now, just trying to find motivation to go out knowing i have to be up at 530 the next morning.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very good night!

You always amaze me by how much you can find lol. I have passed up the last 3 clear nights now, just trying to find motivation to go out knowing i have to be up at 530 the next morning.

I know that feeling. In this case a new king was going to be crowned on the 30th, so I did not have to rise early

[Matt Scunthorpe]

If i wait for Charles to become King before my next session, its going to be a while .

How do you log all of the DSOs you find? I have an excel sheet for Messiers, but theres not many of them.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

If i wait for Charles to become King before my next session, its going to be a while .

How do you log all of the DSOs you find? I have an excel sheet for Messiers, but theres not many of them.

I make a session log using a hardcover notebook (A4), and then add all new objects to a home-brew spreadsheet (.ods), see attachment.

I have attached it as an XLS, as for some reason the forum software does not allow uploading .ods files.

DSOlist.xls

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Thats a pretty impressive spreadsheet i must say.

[swamp thing]

Not seen that glob myself. Nice one buddy

[Double Kick Drum]

Great to hear from the regulars again on the observing report front. It had gone a bit quiet (yet again).

Another great haul. Most of which I haven't seen with the notable exception of NGC 4147. If memory serves me correct, that's the globular quite close to M85? One of those that slips under the observing radar. It looked more impressive than I anticipated when I first viewed.

The Herschel treble century is closing in!

Thanks for sharing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great to hear from the regulars again on the observing report front. It had gone a bit quiet (yet again).

Another great haul. Most of which I haven't seen with the notable exception of NGC 4147. If memory serves me correct, that's the globular quite close to M85? One of those that slips under the observing radar. It looked more impressive than I anticipated when I first viewed.

The Herschel treble century is closing in!

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks DKD. NGC 4147 is north of M98 (nearest Messier I can find). I just noticed I had logged it before. So it is 10 new and 10 old friends and one off the Herschel 400 count, but slowly getting there

[jason.p]

That's a heck of a session and a great haul!

I really must plan my trip around the Virgo galaxies and put a few names (and numbers) to add to my slowly growing list.

It's good to read these reports for inspiration. I must try harder:rolleyes:

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk HD

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That's a heck of a session and a great haul!

I really must plan my trip around the Virgo galaxies and put a few names (and numbers) to add to my slowly growing list.

It's good to read these reports for inspiration. I must try harder:rolleyes:

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk HD

Thanks Jason. Hopefully the skies will clear this evening again.