Great Galaxy night!

[jetstream]

Finally my sky has turned around from above avg seeing to fantastic dark and transparent skies. 21.7 SQM and excellent, excellent transparency.

Needless to say I was like a kid in the candy store....   no set plan except to cherry pick the galaxy clusters in UMA, Coma, Virgo and Leo. A very satisfying set of triplets made a great night superb- the Leo Triplet was better than I have ever seen it and the nice triplet in Leo's triangle - NGC's 3681, 3684 and 3686 gave themselves up easily.

Markarians chain was spectacular and a couple of new faint ones were seen, I'll have to figure out which ones, this is one of the best galaxy views in the sky IMHO...

I didn't draw stars to identify the galaxies or anything like that, I just cluster cruised - a rough count, including the 15 seen in Marks Chain, would be 60 or so... even a few more maybe as UMA was being very kind tonight

I couldn't pass up some clusters under these conditions and Auriga never disappoints, with M35 becoming a favorite target- I love those dark lanes cutting through the gleaming diamonds! The Monkey Head and the Rosette nebs were amazing too, I just couldn't pass them up either... and... and...

What a gift tonight was!!

[cotterless45]

UMa and CNv are so well placed and some nights are just for galaxies, neat !

Nick.

[swamp thing]

Galaxy observing rules. 

When you're at a dark site and it's truly transparent it just all comes together. Nights like that stay in your memory for a very long time. 

You find you're no longer fiddling with eyepieces you're just observing. Wonderful.

[Qualia]

Great stuff, Gerry. Galaxy season is truely upon us and hunting them out is a fascinating and humbling experience. I wanted to nip out last night but was too shattered after work (didn't get home till midnight). Next time I'm out I will try to view Markarian's chain. I'm sure I've never seen it - nor heard of it - so it'll be great to see what can be done .

Thank you for a lovely report

[swamp thing]

 Next time I'm out I will try to view Markarian's chain. I'm sure I've never seen it - nor heard of it - so it'll be great to see what can be done .

Oh you're in for a treat Rob

[John]

Great report Gerry

I overlooked Markarian's chain when I had my big galaxy hunt a couple of weeks back. Sounds like I'd have topped 70 if I'd visited it. One for the next such occasion.

[scarp15]

That is the kind of sky each of us would relish to be underneath Gerry, acts as a reminder and positive account that steps into the next phase of the astronomy seasons. 

Noted those Leo triangle galaxies that is NGC 3681, 3684, 3686 for when I hope to find myself under a more favourable UK sky.

[faulksy]

sounds brilliant gerry, could realy feel what you were seeing. lovely finds

[mdstuart]

Amazing report...In Virgo with a big dob you can put in a 24mm wide angle eyepiece and just watch galaxy after galaxy drift by like clouds on a fair weather afternoon!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report of a great session in a great section of sky.