Wow, what a haul!!

[Stridor]

It appeared to be that the rewards were there eventually: I had missed out on a run of three clear nights on the trot about a week or so ago due to other commitments which was truly frustrating, and then of course when I had the free time...cloud!!

Anyway, the sky unexpectedly cleared last night so I jumped at the opportunity to get out. There was the 15% waxing crescent Moon making its way down in the West, but the bulk of my time was spent in the Eastern part of the sky.

Before it was fully dark I was able to get good star alignment and proceed; As it wasn't yet fully dark , I attempted to home in on three Open clusters; M50 (ngc 2323) in Monoceros; M 46 (ngc2437) in Puppis, and M47 (ngc 2422) also in Puppis; a nice little tight `double` in amongst the brighter stars of M 47.  Getting darker now, moved round to M3 Globular cluster (ngc 5272) Cvn.  I lingered here a while and then moved up to Leo, M 65 & M66; these to my surprise were nice and bright, AND, it still wasn't fully dark yet; I was hopeful of a good evening; I wasn't disappointed.  I then moved across to The `Sunflower Galaxy` M 63 (ngc5055) Cvn: the bright core evident. M 64 (ngc 4826) The Black Eye Galaxy, a prominent core noted, but the dark patch not visible . Once located, all my objects were observed using a 24mm eyepiece giving 98 x Magnification.  M 61 (ngc 4303) in Virgo, seen as `bright & mottled`.  M 84 (ngc 4374) Virgo; slightly oval. M 89 (ngc4552) Virgo; concentrated circular haze. M 87 (ngc 4486) . M 90 (ngc 4569) Virgo; Oval core in fainter halo. M 49 (ngc 4472) Virgo; bright core & halo. M 60 (ngc 4649) Virgo; bright smooth circular halo. M98 (ngc 4192) Coma Ber: bright mottled halo; elongated. M 99 (ngc 4254) Coma Ber; elongated, broad bright core.  M 100 (ngc 4321) Coma Ber;  bright, but small core. M 85 (ngc 4382) Coma Ber; large bright oval core, very faint halo.  Ngc 4394 Coma Ber; in same FOV as M 85. (24mm/98x mag)  M 88 (ngc 4501) Coma Ber; irregular halo, bright core.  M 91 (ngc 4548) Coma Ber; bright diffuse halo.  M 51 (ngc 5194) + (ngc 5195) `The Whirlpool Galaxy`; Canes Ven; Mottled halo and bright core: the bridge undetectable with my scope.  M 59 (ngc 4621) Virgo; bright halo.  Ngc 4636 Virgo. .................................................................................And.............finally, Jupiter!  now nicely positioned over the roof tops; the equatorial bandings lovely and clear but no red spot; I could hardly complain though could I!!?

[Knighty2112]

Nice catch. I had a similar evening a few days back with pretty similar results in the same areas of sky. Wish I'd had your C9.25 to view through though, but was pleasantly surprised with what I caught too with my smaller Celestron 4SE Mak none the less.  

[Stridor]

3 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Nice catch. I had a similar evening a few days back with pretty similar results in the same areas of sky. Wish I'd had your C9.25 to view through though, but was pleasantly surprised with what I caught too with my smaller Celestron 4SE Mak none the less.  

I'm glad you have commented, I actually read your report only today.....there are a feast of galaxies in the Coma Berenices and Virgo region of the sky. Well done on your haul too.

[triton1]

No you can't complain about that the last time I had a haul like that was.......? I was out for about 6 hours and Mrs Triton moaned "are you coming in yet")?

[estwing]

Fantastic haul indeed, Leo,Coma and Virgo provide a feast for the Galaxy hunter well done....clear skies