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M33 and NGC604 - ST article


Piero

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For those who haven't read it, I attached this interesting article by Bob King (Sky & Telescope) about M33, the triangulum galaxy. 

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/triple-treasure-in-triangulums-pinwheel110320150311/?et_mid=796780&rid=249217521

I wasn't aware of how beautiful NGC 604 is as well as its internal giant star cluster!  :rolleyes:  :rolleyes:

The article also contains other challenges for owners of large telescopes and imagers: the brightest star and the brightest globular cluster in the galaxy M33. 

Piero

M33-NGC-604-comparison-Hubble_ST.jpg

(NASA / Hubble Heritage Team (AURA / STScI) / Wikipedia)

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It's a good article and worth highlighting Piero :smiley:

I've been suprised that NGC 604 has been relatively straightforward to see with my 12" dob. I want to try and find some of the other interesting objecting within M33 when I nexyt get a really clear, transparent night :smiley:

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Thanks Mark and John :)

I bet there are creatures living in some star system over there who must have a lot of fun observing that nebula target, if they enjoy observing the sky like us! :)

Can I ask you how does it look like on a 12"?

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Thanks Piero. I observed NGC604 in the 8" Edge from Devon this year, didn't know what it was until I looked it up. Great to see these objects in other galaxies, I really want to try to see the globular cluster (G1?) in M31 when I get a chance.

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I really want to try to see the globular cluster (G1?) in M31 when I get a chance.

That shouldn't present a problem with your largest scope Stu.

You could probably even manage it from your backyard TBH. It's finding it thats the tricky part, but don't you have nexus on your 16'?

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That shouldn't present a problem with your largest scope Stu.

You could probably even manage it from your backyard TBH. It's finding it thats the tricky part, but don't you have nexus on your 16'?

Yep, I've got the Nexus on it so will give it a go if ever this cloud clears [emoji20]

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Thanks Piero. I observed NGC604 in the 8" Edge from Devon this year, didn't know what it was until I looked it up. Great to see these objects in other galaxies, I really want to try to see the globular cluster (G1?) in M31 when I get a chance.

Are you planning to see that "G1"?

Wow! Is high power needed for distinguishing it from nearby faint stars? 

If NGC224-G1 is mag 13.8, I guess the stars in the image go down to mag 16-17 (??). 

34721.jpg

Depicts: M31, NGC 224, Andromeda Galaxy, G1

Copyright: NASA and Z. Levay (STScI)

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I've searched for G1 a couple of times with my 12" and may well have seen it but I'm still not 100% sure. The challenge I found was that it's a long way out from the visual parts of M31 so it's easy to get "lost in space" as you gradually star hop towards where you think it is. Good challenge though :smiley:

I guess electronic trickery of some sort might make it a little easier though :wink:

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I observed M33 area a couple of times earlier this autumn, under mag 6.0 sky, NGC604 is visible in directly vision without filter in 68x, easier to see in around 120x, it looks to me more like a mag 11 galaxy of size around 2', the higher magnification makes it more prominent even if it gets dimmer. in this 1° FOV through diagonal, the triangle patterned stars left to the NGC604 are easy to identify, the star to the lower-right of of NGC604 is bright too,  about mag 10.

post-30887-0-22496600-1446924745.png

G1 is easy to located with my cheating goto mount :grin: , but to actually see the double stars in G1 for good identification needs a little better transparency than I had.

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G1 is easy to located with my cheating goto mount :grin: , but to actually see the double stars in G1 for good identification needs a little better transparency than I had.

The sketch in the link you provided us with is impressive..! Even a double star! 

It is quite similar to the view I had for NGC 6229 (51x) in Hercules in our galaxy . :)

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The sketch in the link you provided us with is impressive..! Even a double star! 

It is quite similar to the view I had for NGC 6229 (51x) in Hercules in our galaxy . :)

Jeremy Perez has managed some amazing observing feats and he describes and illustrates them really well :smiley:

I have to temper my expectations in matching his observations with the reality that my location between Newport (S Wales) and Bristol in the West Country is not quite as good as his options are in Arizona for dark skies. :undecided:

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Thanks Piero. I observed NGC604 in the 8" Edge from Devon this year, didn't know what it was until I looked it up. Great to see these objects in other galaxies, I really want to try to see the globular cluster (G1?) in M31 when I get a chance.

I intend to look for it in my 5" soon. My eyes and OIII filter are ready... The weather less so. But hopefully it will be one more crossed off my list (7800 entries in that catalogue, no way of knowing how many I've seen since my spreadsheet can't count filled cells...)

No idea it was as structured as the image at the top of this thread suggested, though. Reminds me of the tarantula nebula.

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I intend to look for it in my 5" soon. My eyes and OIII filter are ready... The weather less so. But hopefully it will be one more crossed off my list (7800 entries in that catalogue, no way of knowing how many I've seen since my spreadsheet can't count filled cells...)

No idea it was as structured as the image at the top of this thread suggested, though. Reminds me of the tarantula nebula.

It will depend how good your skies are pip. If they are mag 20.5 or better then you might have a chance I reckon.

That's a lot of targets!! [emoji3]

Sounds like to need to explore the COUNTIF function in Excel ie COUNTIF a cell in a particular column equals "Yes" (assuming you enter yes when you've seen the target and that should give you your total for observed objects.

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It will depend how good your skies are pip. If they are mag 20.5 or better then you might have a chance I reckon.

That's a lot of targets!! [emoji3]

Sounds like to need to explore the COUNTIF function in Excel ie COUNTIF a cell in a particular column equals "Yes" (assuming you enter yes when you've seen the target and that should give you your total for observed objects.

Mag 20.5? Guessing that's some SQM reading but I wouldn't know how I find it out...

Visually, my skies are mag 5/5.2 in the best region and just over mag 4 in the worst region (right over plymouth). M33 is in the better region for me.

And yeaahhh. It's a lot of targets, half of them will be in the southern hemisphere as well so I'd need to take multiple hollidays haha.

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Yes, it's a measure of sky brightness. Mag 5.2 is around 19.5 so I think you will struggle.

This is a converter between stellar magnitude and sky brightness in MPSAS

http://unihedron.com/projects/darksky/NELM2BCalc.html

This is a handy visibility calculator for extended objects:

http://www.bbastrodesigns.com/VisualDetectionCalculator.htm

It suggests NGC604 would be all but invisible under your skies with a 5" scope. Shouldn't stop you trying though [emoji3]

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Yes, it's a measure of sky brightness. Mag 5.2 is around 19.5 so I think you will struggle.

This is a converter between stellar magnitude and sky brightness in MPSAS

http://unihedron.com/projects/darksky/NELM2BCalc.html

This is a handy visibility calculator for extended objects:

http://www.bbastrodesigns.com/VisualDetectionCalculator.htm

It suggests NGC604 would be all but invisible under your skies with a 5" scope. Shouldn't stop you trying though [emoji3]

In the "Filter comparions on common nebulae" page it says NGC 604 responds very well to OIII. I'm pinning my hopes on that I'll be honest. I definately didn't see it without the filter... But then I wasn't looking for it. (was surprised to find M33 at all, but it really jumped out at me)

I have a lot of tricky objects on my "To see" list. I'm going to try all of them. After all, it won't kill me if I don't manage them but it'll be amazing if I do. I forsee many hours of looking at blank sky in my future, though. :laugh2:

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In the "Filter comparions on common nebulae" page it says NGC 604 responds very well to OIII. I'm pinning my hopes on that I'll be honest. I definately didn't see it without the filter... But then I wasn't looking for it. (was surprised to find M33 at all, but it really jumped out at me)

I have a lot of tricky objects on my "To see" list. I'm going to try all of them. After all, it won't kill me if I don't manage them but it'll be amazing if I do. I forsee many hours of looking at blank sky in my future, though. :laugh2:

Plenty of doable targets with your scopes grasp so make sure you grab those too to keep spirits up [emoji3]

Dark sky and transparency are king for these targets though.

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