triple trips

[YKSE]

My best week so far this year, three steady clear nights in straight. It's most welcome since my targets for new faint fuzzies are starting to look too far off. C8 with mirror diagonal (about f11) is the scope to take the challenge.

 

Monday 3/10

Humidity 82-90% (forecast 65%-75%), dewheater needed later on.

Temperature: 10°C - 7°C

Wind: 3-4 m/s

SQM 20.7-20.9 in zenith, transparency above average in the early hours then dropped to average.

 

Starting with some PN and HII in Aquila and Vulpecula, UHC filter in the diagonal directly.

 

NGC 6772(mag 12.5, 1.1'x1.1'): none stella even in 71x, 123X looked a bit better.

NGC 6778(mag12.3, 16"x16"): 123x showed none stella shape, 246x more obvious, still direct vision (DV).

NGC 6804(mag11.0, 35"x35"): 123x up to 246x worked just fine as well.

NGC 6813(HII, 36"x36”): easy DV, 123x up to 246x

NGC 6852(mag 12.7, 28"x28"): a bit tuffer than the above, just barely visible in DV in 123X, up to 246x needed averted vision (AV).

NGC 6962(mag 12.5, 2.9'x2.2'): absolutely nothing in the FOV after some minutes, then I realized the UHC filter was still in place. Removing it helped, 6962 was detected in AV in 71x, 123x worked too. Also the nearby galaxy 6964(mag 12.9, 1.7'x1.3')

NGC 6968(mag 12.5, 1.5'x1.1'): only in AV, 123x, elongated.

NGC 7025(mag 12.9, 1.9'x1.2'): AV, 123x, the bright asterism ”Star 27” made it a bit more difficult.

NGC 7052(mag 12.5, 1.5'x1.1'): DV in 123x, roundish shape, AV showed elongated.

 

 

Tuesday 4/10

Humidity 65-80% (forecast 60%-75%), dew heater on (not necessary, no dew on the car windows)

Temperature: 8°C - 6°C

Wind: 3-4 m/s

SQM 20.6-20.8 in zenith, average transparency

 

A little longer time for better alignment in North for Comet C/2015 V2, (thanks to @andrew63 heads up)

 

Comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) (mag 11.3, 2.2’): Tried 71x up to 150x in over half an hour, no luck. Reasonably sure about searching in the right area,

NGC 7010(mag 12.9, 1.9'x1.0'): difficult, 71x, AV, only seen about 50% of time, elongated.

NGC 7013(mag 11.4, 4.5'x1.1'): 71x, DV, almost round, AV in 71x to 123x showed more elongated fainter outer.

NGC 7051(mag 12.7, 1.4'x1.1'): 123x, AV, bright core, zooming between 123x and 246x distinguished it from some faint stars there

 

 

Wednesday 5/10

Humidity 70% (forecast 65%), dew heater not used.

Temperature: 9°C - 7°C

Wind: 5-6 m/s

SQM 20.7-20.8 in zenith, average transparency.

 

A quick slew to M81, M97 and M108 for confirming alignment precision there, SQM showed 20.1 there(City direction), compare to 20.7 in zenith. The big bear is over 30° high.

 

NGC 3583 (mag 11.2, 2.5’x1.5’): galaxy in Ursa major, not far from the Comet in position, also quite close in mag and size. DV in 71x, AV got elongated PA60. (I think I’d better learn to keep note on position angles of elongated shape from now on).

 

Comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) (mag 11.3, 2.2’): 71x up to 130x, noticeable more difficult than 3583, faint round patch in AV, no tail detected.

 

Two more galaxies not far away:

NGC 3595 (mag 12.1, 1.6’x0.7’): AV in 71-123x, bright core, elongated PA30.

NGC 5667(mag 12.4, 1.7’x1.1’): AV in around 123x, elongated PA120.

 

When checking up my note for Monday, Ii dawned to me there’re more galaxies near 6962, 8 of them in this 0.5° TFOV (can be useful for members with bigger guns in a dark site):

 

NGC 6959(mag 13.8, 36”x18”): AV in around 123-150x, elongated PA30.

NGC 6961(mag 13.6, 36”x30”): AV about 200x, round patch.

NGC 6967(mag 13.4, 0.9'x0.6'): AV in around 160x, about round.

CGC 374-011(mag 15.7), NGC 6965(mag 13.9), UGC11626(mag 14.0) couldn’t be detected in varies mag, despite very accurate chart.

 

NGC 7102(mag 12.9, 1.6’x0.9’): AV in around 123x, elongated PA30.

NGC 7111(mag 12.8, 1.0’x0.7’): AV about 123x-200x, about round.

NGC 7156(mag 12.4, 1.7'x1.4'): AV in around 160x, about round.

NGC 7167(mag 12.1, 1.7'x1.3'): AV in around 160x, about round.

 

A quick two stars align again on Eastern meridian, slewing to M31, M33, M2, M77, good precision confirmed, also a way for quick check if there’s noticeable change of transparency.

Some easier OC in Cassiopeia observed, in waiting for the important NGC 157 and 247 to come to position.

NGC 103, 71x, easy seen, AV showed more faint stars.

NGC 133, 71x, easy seen some brighter stars, AV showed more faint stars. Together with NGC 146, OC “

King 14” forms a nice triangle in 1° FOV, just above kappa Cas.

NGC 189, 71x, easy seen, AV showed more faint stars.

 

Now the two Herschel 400:

NGC 157(mag 10.2, 4.1'x2.7'): The most easy galaxy for the night, direct visible, 71x-246x, slight elongated, PA60.

NGC 247(mag 8.8, 21.0'x5.6'): among the most difficult for the night, spent over half an hour on it, tried 71x(exit pupil 3mm), 55x(4mm), 44x(5mm). 4mm exit pupil gave the best overall view in averted vision. Elongated, PA0, felt smaller than stated 21’, somewhat brighter in lower part (turned out to be the core when checking pictures later on). The glow on southern horizon made 5mm exit pupil quite bright background, still, the brighter core was somewhat easier seen than 55x. 71x felt a bit too much to see anything.

 

Looks like there might be another chance for galaxy-hunt before the full Moon, fingers crossed

 

Thanks for reading

[Piero]

Great report Yong! I like the way your notes are concise and complete at the same time! Also your report shows clear guidelines about how to deal with small faint galaxies. Very interesting work! Thanks for sharing! 

 

Question(s): why did you find NGC 247 particularly difficult? Do you think it is due to its low position from your location or the low surface brightness at the core itself?

From this link (http://observing.skyhound.com/archives/oct/NGC_247.html), it looks like one of those targets which are quite misleading from their specs: quite high visual magnitude, large-ish shape, and very low average surface brightness. 

[andrew63]

That's fantastic Yong - so glad you saw Comet Johnson    Not seen many reports, if any to date, but a tail is forming. I'm sure this will be a regular sight in the coming months.

 

andrew

[estwing]

cracking report Yong and a super list of targets, well done...clear skies!

[FenlandPaul]

It sounds like you've had a busy week, Yong!  Some great targets in there. Congrats on Comet Johnson; from my garden at the moment I'd have to move the scope onto the grass to see it well, but that's beginning to get a bit boggy. 

Paul

[YKSE]

Thanks for the nice words, folk

23 hours ago, Piero said:

Question(s): why did you find NGC 247 particularly difficult? Do you think it is due to its low position from your location or the low surface brightness at the core itself?

From this link (http://observing.skyhound.com/archives/oct/NGC_247.html), it looks like one of those targets which are quite misleading from their specs: quite high visual magnitude, large-ish shape, and very low average surface brightness. 

My thoughts was the combination of low SB and low latitude, until I observed Sculptor galaxy(NGC 253, mag 7.2, SB12.2) last night, it was only 6° above horizon up here, but it was clearly brighter than M33, so the low SB for NGC 247 seems to be the primary reason for the difficulty.