Overhead galaxy spotted

[mdstuart]

Last night I spotted NGC 6127 in Draco. Right overhead at midnight making it fun in the Dob!

It was visible with direct vision in the dob and the faintest star visible in the FOV was m14.6. Its a well concentrated circular object. I could just see it in the new maxvision 24mm eyepiece but it was much easier in the old faith full 6mm.

http://www.ngcicproject.org/dss/n/6/n6127.jpg

This is the famous Steve's notes....

NGC 6127 = NGC 6128 = NGC 6125 = UGC 10345 = MCG +10-23-065 = CGCG 298-029 = I Zw 142 = PGC 57812

16 19 11.5 +57 59 03

V = 12.0; Size 1.4'x1.4'; Surf Br = 12.7

17.5" (6/15/91): moderately bright, fairly small, 1.5' diameter, round. Sharp concentration with a small very bright core containing a stellar nucleus, faint round halo.

Tired today as it does not get dark until 11.30!

Mark

[Double Kick Drum]

Good stuff. I was lucky enough to get one good night down in Cornwall in the week just passed. Other than that it is weekends only - 11:30 is very late to get started.

[acey]

Well done - three NGCs for the price of one. It's a Herschel class II - must give it a go if I get a chance for any more viewing before the solstice. Sounds like a good target for this time of year.

[cotterless45]

Lovely, waited until after midnight for some dark stuff. Played around with Cepheus clusters as it's well placed and Cygnus clusters.

Will have a go at Draco , thanks for posting , galaxies aren't easy targets in mid summer. We need more

clear skies, Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. It's looking clear here, so might trawl that area tonight

[David Smith]

Did well to see m14.6. Think the faintest I have managed in my Revelation 10" is around 13.3. Whilst following 1998 QE2 last night I was trying to pick out stars at 14th & 15th mag and failing. This was quite low elevation though.

[mdstuart]

David

14.6 is the limit overhead on a clear night. I can usually get to about 13.5 to 14 above about 45 degrees..with averted vision of course!

I tend to struggle with galaxies below about mag 13.5.

Now if I could get a larger dob!!!!

Mark

[acey]

Inspired by Mark's report I had a go at this last night with the 12" and saw it pretty easily despite the lightness of the semi-twilit sky at my rural site. I measured the SQ as 19.1, comparable to what can be had in many suburban light-polluted sites. So it has raised my expectations of what can be seen in light skies - as long as there are no glare sources to spoil dark adaptation.

[mdstuart]

A first for me. I have inspired someone to do something!

Come on everyone have a look at NGC 6127..

It must be special as it is on the Chandra observing list.....

Subject Category: NORMAL GALAXIES

Proposal Number: 10610898

Title: A Chandra Study of Field Early-Type Galaxies

PI Name: John Mulchaey

Recent Chandra observations show that a large fraction of early-type galaxies in groups and clusters retain hot gas halos. However, the properties of these halos are consistent with the idea that they have been significantly reduced by environmental effects like ram-pressure stripping and evaporation. To quantify the importance of such mechanisms, we need to compare the properties of ellipticals in rich environments to those in the field where these mechanisms are not expected to be important. Unfortunately, very few field ellipticals have been observed by Chandra. We propose to rectify this situation by observing a sample of 9 nearby field early-type galaxies.

R.A.

Dec.

Target Name

Det.

Grating

Exp.Time

0:15:30.90 17:19:42.30 NGC 57 ACIS-S NONE 10

6:48:19.00 -64:16:23.90 NGC 2305 ACIS-S NONE 10

7:10:32.60 75:19:36.00 NGC 2314 ACIS-S NONE 10

16:19:11.50 57:59:03.20 NGC 6127 ACIS-S NONE 10

22:05:54.80 -50:07:09.60 NGC 7196 ACIS-S NONE 10

[mdstuart]

Acey

I spotted another one overhead last night. It's ngc6155 in Hercules. I tried two others first with no success but this one was not too hard. It's a spiral galaxy.

it is within a triangle of stars in my 6mm lens. A nice double star is just visible nearby.

warning check your eyepieces are properly clamped before watching these galaxies at midnight with a dob at the moment!

Mark

[acey]

NGC 6155 - ok thanks Mark that's another I haven't viewed, a Herschel Class II. Will look out for it.

6127 is special because of its 3 NGC numbers - it was discovered by Herschel, then twice by Swift, who didn't realise he'd re-recorded an object he'd seen previously. There are only about 5 other objects in the NGC (I think) which have a triple designation.

Know what you mean about checking the eyepieces are secure. I recently began using a Speers-Waler zoom which is the longest and most unstable thing I've ever put in my focuser. Not something I'd want to see falling out.