Branden Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Took a look and sketched M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. At first, naked eye, the sky appeared to be clear, crisp, and sharp. However, I could not make out the faint Sagittarius arm band of the Milky Way that usually streaks from South to Northeast across the sky. I could only make out the hazy nucleus in the "spout" portion of the Sagittarius "tea kettle". With 20mm optics I could make out M51 albeit hazy and very dim. Despite poor transparency, I could barely make out the H-II region of M51a stretching towards the nucleus of its companion. M51b was practically a fuzzy blob with only a bright hazy nucleus readily distinguishable. No visible spiraling in the surrounding fuzz. Slight spiraling outward from the nucleus visible in M51a but only slight. Even with standard light pollution within our town of about 6000 people, on semi-decent nights despite not having a high contrast filter of any kind, M51 usually gives up a little more detail than that being a fairly bright, magnitude 8 object. I think the lack of observational detail can be attributed to the high humidity tonight. 74% relative humidity. A lot of moisture in the air to refract light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan potts Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Nice report on M 51, it almost looks like a smiley, it made me smile anyway. I imagine the high Moon would not have helped any even though it was only about first quarter it will have an effect. Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laudropb Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Nice report and sketch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave In Vermont Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Very nice drawings of M51, Branden - looks like the view I had in my 12" LX90. Perhaps a bit better than! Please do share more & many thanks - Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cotterless45 Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Well captured ! M51 is a showcase sight, especially the details that can be seen under dark skies, Clear skies ! Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapstar Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Its an absolute stunner under dark skies. Every galaxy should look like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookie1965 Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 I might get to see it now with my 8" scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mapstar Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 1 minute ago, wookie1965 said: I might get to see it now with my 8" scope. Oh no Another case of aperture fever over here guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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