Galaxy Hunting

[Sam]

What a night for Galaxy Hunting. The sky is clear, the neighbours lights are out and the scope is freshly collimated and ready to go.

For the warm up:

A bit of a go at drift aligning - seemed to work ok but only observing tonight so didn't test it. To start the evening off I thought I would go for M81 (12m lyrs) and M82 (12m lyrs) as usual - they are my favourite galaxies at the moment. Time was about 2145 so they were nice and high in the sky. Found M82 first with it's distinctive cigar shape and could even make out a bit of a darker patch in the middle. I put the 10mm eyepiece on and it was nice and impressive filling the whole FOV. Then up to M81 for a wee look and again with the 25mm and the 10mm - there's something about having both galaxies in the same field of view.

Off to M108 (45m lyrs) which stood out better than the other night and wasn't too hard to find - couldn't find the owl nebula this time though (not to worry it was galaxy night anyway). M109 (55m lyrs) was next on the list and that was very easy to find - now I know where to look.

The new ones:

The first one I had a bash at was Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) found it around 2200 as a round fuzzy with quite a bright core - and a star close by. Did a re-visit about 30mins later and the near by star also looked like a fuzzy the second time around - I guess that's M51's little companion (NGC 5195). With M51 (51m lyrs) a bit higher I could just make out a hint of spiral arms - quite impressive and very much worth a look.

Then off to M63 (37m lyrs), the Sunflower galaxy (didn't really look like a sunflower to me - might have to get a bigger scope). This one had a very bright core which made it very easy to find. It was quite easy to find because it's on a line from the bottom star of the big dipper to another bright star to it's right about a fist width away.

While I was in the vicinity I went back to the Big Dipper and had a look for M101 (27m lyrs). That's a very tricky little fuzzy to find (actually it was quite big but very very faint). I nearly missed but realised that the dirty smudge I thought was on my eyepiece was moving with the rest of the sky. No detail at all visible on this fuzzy, just happy I saw it.

Next stop was M94 (14.5m lyrs)- another easy to spot galaxy, then it was up to M106 (25m lyrs) at about 2300 - getting a bit cold and tired at that point so I thought it was time to wind things up. To finish off the beehive cluster called - I very much like that cluster - had a look for M67 cluster but no luck so packed the scope up and went back inside.

9 Galaxies, all in and around the Big Dipper (or Ursa Major if you like) - might have to buy the 16" lightbridge sooner than I thought - I think I developing an addiction for galaxy hunting. My little bucket of light collected a lot of really old photons tonight - the oldest being about 55 million years old - the mind boogles.

cheers

Sam

[GazOC]

Great report, are you staying out for Leo?

[jgs001]

Sam, Great report. You had a marvelous session from the sounds of it. Good set of ancient light gathering.

[Astroman]

Nice report, Sam.

Aperture helps with galaxies for sure, but so does magnification. It tends to darken the background, increasing overall contrast. Quality eyepieces are a must, but think of it as an investment.

[GazOC]

Its fine line between using magnification to darken the background but making the galaxy too faint to see, esp. with face on spirals.

[Astroman]

This is true, and waiting for seeing, but it does work for a lot less dosh than a 16" lightbucket. It's a technique that requires practice and eyeball Mk I training.

[Sam]

Thanks Astroman - I think I'm going to have to invest in some better eyepieces as I was pushing them to the limit last night. I also discovered the other day that my primary mirror is quite dirty - lots of dust an paint chips from when the scope was manufactured so after I've cleaned it up I think it will make a bit of a difference - bit nervous about that though so I might not clean it for a while. Hopefully it's clear tonight as well!

Gaz - I had a quick look at Leo but wasn't having much luck with finding anything - plus Saturn was too much of a distraction which I kept looking at - amazing view and quite neat how the moons are always changing.

cheers

Sam

[Casus belli]

Excellent report. I've done one night of fuzzy searching and cant wait for my next opportunity. Nothing beats seeing a distant galaxy for the first time.

Leo is an excellent area for fuzzy searching especially once it rises out of the horizon muck. I was tripping over galaxies right left and centre in that constelation so much so that I was able to (nearly!) ignore the delights of saturn.

As for E.P.s, I kinda get that feeling too. (More expense!) I use the 2" 26mm meade 4000 for hunting galaxies and the pentax xl14 for a more detailed look. I do feel I need something in the 6mm range (Hint for Santa. Naglers are nice!) I do have a plossil in that range but the small fov works against my manually guided efforts.

Hopefully the skies will clear up here soon. Its looking good for almost the whole of england with clear, calm frosty weather. Good luck on future hunts.