11th May 2013, Virgo extravaganza

[KevUU]

Yesterday I spent a while working through my references and planning a 'running order' for getting to and through Markarian's Chain. It took me a while bringing together my observing guide (Objects in the Havens), Pocket Sky Atlas, SkySafari+ and notes from other reports on here, but I didn't think doing it on the fly would work very well...

It was a pretty miserable day here so I didn't hold much hope - especially when it hailed late afternoon - but it did clear and suddenly it was a nice clear, crisp looking night.

I'd previously been dethused with galaxy hunting from my garden but discussion on one of Michael's threads encouraged me to get out there.

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2300-0200. Miserable rainy day but now it's cleared to a really clean and clear sky, approx NELM 5.3.

Starting from rho Virginis my first stop is just next door, so in with the 12mm for x100 and off we go

Having struggled with some 9-point-something galaxies previously I was sceptical about 4596 at mag 10.4, but it is immediately apparent albeit faint. Some gradient to the core is visible, and an oval shape can be seen.

I was more sceptical about a mag 11.1 galaxy, especially being only 10’ from mag 4.9 rho, but 4608 was surprisingly easy too.

Encouraged by these early successes I started going off piste. 4660 wasn't on my list but PSA showed it being on the way to M60 so I had a look, and found something. "Pretty sure this is non-stellar, in the right place, v. compact?" Looking it up now I find it's a mag 11.2 EG of 2.1' x 1.7', whereas the others were 4' and 3', so I'm happy with that

Next M60 was easy being brighter, although notably more diffuse (8' x 6'). There are hints of wider haze around the brighter core area too.

I spotted 4638 next, but ignored it while I tried for 4647. This is the faintest yet at mag 11.6 and only 2.5' from M60 (with which it is interacting). I wrote "Oooh, hard to catch. If it's diffuse I saw it. V. faint, v. thin and not that small, but no obvious core." SkySafari+ states "has a 2 arc minutes diameter halo with a weakly concentrated core" - tick

4638 aka 4667 was a surprisingly obvious mag 11.2, having spotted it already as noted above. While looking at it I already see M59 awaiting, completing a nice triangle with M60 and 4638. I tried the 8mm on M59 for x150, and was surprised that there is a difference in terms of how much shape is visible - I expected it to just be bigger and fainter. However I'm sticking to the 12mm as my workhorse, and decided that I don't have energy or time to investigate each object in detail by switching eps if I want to make it to Markarian's Chain - so tonight will be a bagging night not an observing-the-finer-details night!

M58 is obvious, and larger than many have been.

Heading off an a brief tangent now: 4564 is a fairly obvious mag 11.2, on the way towards the Siamese Twins. The clouds rolled across here, and I feared it was all over, but I managed to keep a nearby bright star in the eyepiece through the clouds and 15 minutes later I was back in business! Try as I might I still couldn't separate those Siamese Twins though. I can see one very very faint cloud here, "just barely", and no clear core. I think I'll claim the brighter of the pair, 4568, but I certainly couldn't distinguish a separate 4567.

Back up to M58 to continue along, to M89. This isn't an easy starhop with the 12mm (36' fov) but easy to spot once there.

Off piste again, PSA shows 4550 nearby. I found two faint fuzzes here stacked vertically, close but not too close and similar magnitudes, very definitely two separate galaxies. These made a nice view together, and nicer still with M89 in the fov too I've looked this up and they are mag 11.7 4550 and mag 12 4551, 3' apart supposedly although it looked more than that to me.

M90 is another brief tangent from the main route, fairly easily found although fainter than expected for a mag 9.4 - I wrote "faint, large??" but while it is wider than most at 9' x 4' OITH describes it as "well formed oval; bright core" so that seems odd.

Back to M89, I then got lost hopping to M87, but stumbled across something when I resorted to the 30mm ep and then determined it was, infact, M87! This was reasonably bright (mag 8.8), although I noted "not a strong core even at x150".

Nearby 4478 didn't stand up to x150 but was better back at x100. This is fairly compact at 1.5'.

Now, finally, to hop across to M86 and Markarian's Chain

Not the easiest star hop due to a lack of features (and not bothering to change to a wider ep...) but I drifted past the Eyes and then got M86 and M84 lined up in the fov. The background is lightening as Virgo drifts lower to the West, but it doesn't seem to be stopping me from picking the fainter galaxies out (although the view isn't so pleasing).

M86/M84 are both pretty bright, with diffuse hazes around their brighter respective cores.

4388 completes a triangle with these two, faint but discernable. It's mag 11.3 but at 5.6' x 1.5' it's no gimme. Right in the middle of that triangle is 4387, small and barely visible at mag 12.1 - the faintest of the night. This needs the sort of averted vision where you creep up on it without it knowing you're trying to look...

Once all four are found, that triangle of M86/M84/4388/4387 is a really pleasing view in one fov

Near to this triangle should be 4425 (11.8) and 4413 (12.3), but I can't spot either.

Next along the chain is the Eyes: 4435 and 4438. These are fainter than I expected at mags 10 and 10.8.

4461 (aka 4443) is even fainter, although it should be at mag 11.2, and I can't see 4458 at all (mag 12.1).

4473 and then 4477 are next down the line, both nice and bright, at 10.2 and 10.4.

4459 is easy to find next to a star, and makes for a nice view.

4474 is faint, at 11.5, but I got there eventually! The sky is getting quite grey over here now... 4468 should be next door, but this is another off-piste one and there's no sign; at mag 12.8 it wasn't very likely.

Lastly, M88 to finish things off, brighter and a nice easy one to end on.

I scanned up and down the chain a few times while working out what was what, it's a nice little pathway of stepping stones to meander along, and easy to navigate. Really pleasing

The rest of the sky was very black and crisp, so I had a quick go at M51/5195, where the two cores were obvious but no detail was forthcoming.

Next I hit M13 for the first time in this scope - wow! I would say this is easily better than M5, it's so big and so deep, absolutely amazing! I also spotted the nearby galaxy 6207, but went back to M13 pretty soon! I could feel my eyes giving up as I tried to see the details though, and since it was just past 2am I called it a night here.

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It took a lot of planning yesterday to be able to do this session - and a lot more sorting through today to make sense of it all - but it was really worth it. 3 hours, 29 new galaxies, 2 revisits and one new-to-this-scope: I'm absolutely chuffed with that The 5 failed-to-finds are less than I expected too!

Sorry this has been so long - I'm not used to having so much to report! - and thanks for reading.

Happy Hunting

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Awesome haul of galaxies, well done. You really made the best of the night! Note that there is no real separation between the Siamese Twins. I spotted a sort of fat, distorted L-shape (from a dark site, outside of town, mag 6 skies). NGC 4458 is very diffuse as I recall. A very difficult averted vision only object under conditions in which NGC 4461 popped out quite easily. NGC 4425 is about as easy as NGC 4461, or perhaps just a bit harder, but NGC 4413 (or 4407) is very difficult indeed

[cotterless45]

Yo Kev, you're to wear that Dob out !

Lovely report, what you need is a nice fork mounted C8 !

Now you know why I was blaringly enthused about f6 8" Newts !

M13 is breathtaking from a dark site.

Wait until Cygnus flies into view, you'll blow your socks off !

Nick.

[KevUU]

Cheers guys

Michael, thanks for the notes. I'm looking forward to another visit, hopefully getting to the chain more directly before it gets into the greyness: will have another go at my fails. I'll have another look around M86/84 too, as 4388 and 4387 were the most pleasing squints of the night and I've realised I had 4402 on my list but forgot about it.

Nick, really looking forward to the summer/autumn stuff, especially cygnus and even more so lyra which I got sort of fixated on last year. As for M13, wow!

[Double Kick Drum]

Let me guess. You are quite a happy bunny after that lot.

Congratulations on that bumper haul. It's amazing that once you get a foothold, everything in that area falls into place. I think you managed about five that aren't yet on my list. NGC 4550 and NGC 4551 are beyond me from my back garden. Bagging a magnitude 12 object is a great effort.

All the stats looking more comrehensive too. Already a way past 100 DSOs. That session has surely inspired you into going further.

Thanks for sharing.

[KevUU]

Cheers DKD

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Let me guess. You are quite a happy bunny after that lot.

:bunny:

Just a little bit, it was quite an effort before and after, but really good to get that sort of session in at last.

The mag 12 was really tough, I don't think I could have seen it without having the triangle of M84/M86/4388 and knowing it was right in the middle, and even then it was impossible to keep a hold of, if that makes sense.

I'm staggered that you've managed most of that lot with a 5” scope though.

As for the stats, I was creeping up on the century but have now cleared it by so far in one session that it almost seemed daft to mention, so thanks for noticing and giving me an excuse for a victory dance

You're right about feeling inspired by it: I was almost getting a bit down with some of my results, even with Saturn and M3/M5 blowing me away I didn't really feel I was getting into the 'proper', serious hunting sessions I'd been expecting. Now I'm thoroughly buzzing, still, and it's two days later. Love it love it love it, roll on the next time

[WaveSoarer]

That's a great report and many thanks for sharing that. It makes me enthusiastic to search the area again for the non-Messier galaxies - especially "the eyes".

[KevUU]

Thanks wavesoarer you're very kind. There's certainly loads there with an 8" scope, and many are nearly as obvious as the Messiers albeit generally smaller. If I can pass on even a tiny fraction of the enthusiasm I've picked up from others on here, I'm happy