Galaxies?Nebula?

[jetstream]

Inspired by YKSE's success and with the sky clearing I decided to go for a jaunt to one of my dark sites,about 40 miles North.Early on the transparency was below avg,but the SQM gave up 21.6,not great for the Horse head but I gave it a go.....and failed.The Flame neb easily visible,but no sign of the HH,too low in the sky when dark now esp with the transparency poor.Some time was spent on M42,nice and bright in the 17mm,Carolines Rose was visted for a good 10 minutes as was M37.

The next target with the H beta was the Flaming Star nebula.....here is the deal,I saw some nebulosity around a chain of stars....no idea if this is the right description,or if it was the object.Any input appreciated.

And now to the galaxies(the sky now had improved) I saw and am not sure what they are either!In Leo I saw NGC 3686,3684,3681,a nice triplet.So any advice on the next ones would be great.In between Zosma and Chertan I saw another triplet-NGC 3608 and NGC 3607 but the other?This is a picture borrowed from Mod mdstuart's excellent site ,it shows four,but I only saw the 3 in a row-any ideas people?

I have to say that M81,M82 were awesome very bright,and M51 spirals the best yet,not sure why and the Leo triplet was contrasted so nicely,they stood right out,brightish.All these ones were observed for an extra bit of time.

So a failure,a maybe on the Flaming Star neb and some galaxie questions...You know the night turned out really well,glad I went

[Qualia]

Great stuff, Gerry. Sounds like you had a good night. Not sure what the photo identifies, but if you haven't seen it already, there's a nice group between Algeiba and Adhafera which can be picked out even from inner-city. Most dominent are NGC 3190 & 3193 but with a little care, or dark skies, NGC 3187 and I think it's NGC 3185 can be tweaked. I think this cluster is called the Hickson 44 and is well worth checking out.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The Flaming Star nebula is hard, but it sounds that you found it. There is a faint but extended glow associated with a group of stars, but funnily the best way to spot it is by noting the darker areas where there is no nebula. I remember seeing this dark patch surrounding a group of fairly bright stars and realizing the haze around the stars at the top of the FOV had nothing to do with glare, because otherwise the glare should be present in this darker area. The haze also got (relatively) worse when I inserted a UHC filter. This clinched the case for me: there must be an emission nebula where I spotted the extensive haze. The same observation holds for the California Nebula: very extensive, and hard to spot, until you realise the surroundings is darker.

[jetstream]

Hi Michael the object seen had a kind of triangular shape to it (the nebulosity),my 18mm is a bit low on exit pupil with the H beta will try larger one when I get another EP down the road.I went back and forth from darkness to the nebula edge to viewing the whole thing,almost looked like part of a kite.I was in the right spot as I practised from the backyard here,I must say it was not a visually stunning object to say the least!lol!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That shape fits what I saw

[scarp15]

Interesting report Gerry. I was out two nights ago and had also used my H-beta filter for the first time. Concur with much you have said really, Orion was not best placed, combined with some thin cloud so I got to position and familiarise with the star pattern but could not, even with averted vision, detect any trace of the HH. Not surprised though as a bit too late this season perhaps. The Flaming star  pretty much fits in with yours and Micheal's  description. I had also not researched it (as to what to expect in the eyepiece) but think I might have hit it. The California to was detected but too large to appreciate. These are all objects I will go for again on  a night of better transparency. I stayed mainly at X62 and X80.

M51 / NGC 5195 was also the best encounter I have had to of this, revealing much structure. M94 very nice and bright to. Unfortunately my chosen site was a bit exposed to wind, which affected my observing a little towards Leo. Look forward to any further encounters with your H beta filter. 

[jetstream]

There was another object visible with the H beta,much easier....well not sure again what it is.Keeping M36 -using my 18mmBCO (.81 deg TFOV)- just in the FOV I could see a brightish round fuzzball-easily seen.Right now I'm looking in my Pocket atlas and it says NGC 1931 is there and Starry Night just said its about .7 deg fron M36 edge.Anybody else see this?At first I thought it was just a star cluster,but it was so visible with the H beta that I figured there is more to it.

[scarp15]

Yes it sounds about right, a small cluster with nebulosity. I think I encountered this to, one to investigate again.

[YKSE]

I've just had a closer look at the area a moment ago, C31 showed with UHC  faint nebulosity(no H-alfa which should be better), then on lower part of chain of brighter stars, there's a RED star(through UHC, orange without) flashing vigorously, checking my tristar chart, it should be STT103, I pushed up to 290x, splitted it in a red and blue component through UHC(no split without UHC even up to 339x). and the mirror-side of the these bright stars, NGC1410 is there with oen cluster NGC1893 inside it. very interesting area.

[YKSE]

a picture copied from here

http://www.skyfactory.org/ic405/index.php

shows this STT103

 

[jetstream]

Great catch Yong!

[jetstream]

Well with the help of a friend we figured the third galaxy in the picture is NGC 3605,which lists as very faint.http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/attachments/4621443-N3608%206-2-11.JPG,http://bristolweather.org.uk/galaxies/find.php?obj=NGC%203605.I will re confirm my sightings (always do) the next time ths sky allows.The other pic in first post was from Marks site NGC 3607.What a great site.