Usra Major Galaxies

[spike95609]

I got my first chance in a couple of weeks to observe last night, but wasn't overly optimistic as the prospect of cloud cover after midnight meant I had to be out earlier than I would have liked, the wonders of British Summertime not helping here, also the moon was about 75% full though not due to come up until after midnight, and the sky was.... weird. Looking down to the western horizon, Orion seemed oddly dim and the lower it got in the sky the more faint M42 became, eventually I lost both it and Orion's belt completely. Evidently quite a bit of muck over there. On top of this there was a thin blanket of cloud coming across in waves from the north which made me think I was going to have to pack up early. Yet despite all of this the overhead conditions remained remarkably good. I could see the faint grouping of stars towards the bottom of Auriga, and directly overhead, Ursa Major was clearly showing some of its more fainter elements even before my eyes had been given enough time to adjust.

I didn't expect anything to come of it but I started looking for galaxies around Ursa Major, and even with all of the above acting against me I had remarkable success. I had already found a few on previous occasions, but as there are so many I've divided the constellation up into segments and am doing sweeps of each of these in turn. I started off from Megrez and went up past M40 to NGC 4605, a mag 10.9 spiral which looked so bright I was encouraged to keep going. Moving up in the direction of Dubhe I came to 4041 and 4036, both were faint but easily seen in the same fov of my 10mm SLV. As it was nearby I panned up into Draco and got 4125 as well before coming back to where I had been to go to 3945. With this section of the sky mopped up I went down to Mizar and looked for but couldn't find 5204, but I did get 5322. Things were getting a bit faint at this lower altitude though, not helped by the cloud wandering across, yet I was surprised that I could still pick up galaxies. I upped elevation again and went across from Phecda to not find 3877, but I did get 3893, 3583, 3675, 3665 and 3198. Everything I looked at was around about mag 10-11.5, some were very faint indeed, and I might have bagged a few more besides but didn't tick them in my book as I couldn't be sure - can I see it or do I just think I can see it?

The hit rate of this session has encouraged me to look for any galaxy listed in my S&T Atlas as I fancy my chances even on nights like this. 15 months after purchasing this scope and it continues to take me by surprise. Although it will have to go some to better the experience of a few weeks ago when I managed to spot and track NGC 2775 in Cancer, mag 11.3, fairly low in the sky and I could still see it through cloud that got so thick that I couldn't even see the naked eye stars I'd hopped from to find it. Utterly ridiculous.

[John]

Nice report !

I had a session a little while back where I decided to try and see the 9 galaxies listed in the S&T atlas within the "bowl" of Ursa Major. It was a nice challenge on a so-so night but managable

I think it's fair to say that this little star atlas has made a massive difference to my success at DSO viewing - it's just so "useable"

 

[laudropb]

Very nice report. I often look for these galaxies at this time of the year. Ursa Major is well placed from my back garden and is in an area relatively free from sky glow.

[Knighty2112]

Got excellent views of M81 & M82 last night through my ST120 frac. Best I've ever seen. Also bagged another fuzzy in my 15x70 binos in Canes Venatici too, which I think was M106 after checking against Skysafari. Nice report. Well done on your hits!  

[Paul73]

Blimey. You had a good night! 

I normally hide hide inside grumbling about the moon. Only occaisionally do I make it out to glare at the offending orb, planets and a few doubles. Maybe I should make more of an effort.

Paul

[Paul73]

5 hours ago, John said:

I had a session a little while back where I decided to try and see the 9 galaxies listed in the S&T atlas within the "bowl" of Ursa Major. It was a nice challenge on a so-so night but managable

I think it's fair to say that this little star atlas has made a massive difference to my success at DSO viewing - it's just so "useable"

 

You need a better Altas John.??

There are a further 17 that you could bag with your 12"!!

Only joking - Nice little challenge. Which I'll try next time out.

Paul

 

 

[Stu]

There are a crazy number even 'just' down to mag 14!