Four More Galaxies In Virgo

[cloudsweeper]

Evening of 26th April, with 8SE, aided by Stellarium.  Mag mainly x48, for decent exit pupil and TFOV.

I aligned on Spica and Denebola, then tested the GoTo targeting Jupiter - spot on.  Jupiter was shimmering even at low mag, so I didn't think I'd improve on the previous night's observing when I saw the GRS, and looked elsewhere.

I've easily found elliptical galaxies M84 and M86 (in Markarian's Chain) several times recently, and wanted to bag a few others! 

M49 and M87 proved to be quite easy to confirm by recognition of nearby star patterns.  (Two more ellipticals, M87 being described as a giant.)

But I wanted more in Markarian's Chain, and the best candidates seemed to be NGC4435/4438, a pair of spirals, known as The Eyes.  Moving east from M86, there was no sign, but a little further I spotted a guide star, so I aimed the 'scope where The Eyes were meant to be and looked - and looked - and used AV - and two very, very faint smudges popped into view.  Result!

Like everything else in this hobby, it seems to get easier with experience, and galaxy hunting fits well with this philosophy.  My count has now gone up by four!

The six galaxies mentioned here were only seen as small, faint (or very  faint) smudges, but as has often been noted, it's the thought of what you are seeing that provides the thrill.  And seeing these objects at all in not-so-great skies is satisfying.  I'm sure a larger aperture would bring several more out for me....the fever is getting worse!

Doug.

 

[Knighty2112]

Well done Doug. Nice catches mate. Wasn't feeling up to observing last night even with nice clear skies, so had a night off instead. 

[spike95609]

I was also galaxy hunting around Virgo last night, and somehow I managed to avoid all of the ones you saw, but if you get the chance I'd recommend having a go at NGC 4526 and 4216. They were both quite bright in my 10", more so than a lot of messier galaxies I've seen, so they should show up in yours. I liked them so much I put an asterix next to them in my book to remind me to look at them again when I can.

[cloudsweeper]

13 minutes ago, spike95609 said:

I was also galaxy hunting around Virgo last night, and somehow I managed to avoid all of the ones you saw, but if you get the chance I'd recommend having a go at NGC 4526 and 4216. They were both quite bright in my 10", more so than a lot of messier galaxies I've seen, so they should show up in yours. I liked them so much I put an asterix next to them in my book to remind me to look at them again when I can.

Thanks Spike - they are near M49 and M84.  I'll look out for them next time!

Doug.

[Cosmic Geoff]

I was looking for galaxies with a C8 SE on the 18,19, 22 &23 April, from a fairly dark site (while on holiday). This was the first time I have managed to use this scope at a dark site and I was impressed by the number of galaxies I managed to see.  This is a GoTo scope with the Starsense accessory, so to align I just had to lug it into my sisters backyard and turn it on. I have not made a count, but I have three pages of notes in my logbook. The Starsense put every object into the FOV, leaving me to figure if I could see anything or not.  I used  a 25mm eyepiece for initial sighting, and for a few objects I used a 15mm eyepiece which gave a better view of smaller galaxies.  I saw M51 and its companion looking almost connected.

I used the Starsense's Galaxies list on the 18th, and starting with M81 worked down to successively fainter ones - dozens of them, and the C8 was still showing galaxies fainter than mag 10.2 when I called it a night.  I'm very impressed with the quantity of galaxies this instrument can reveal in a dark sky. The basic GoTo on the C8 SE works quite well, but I use the Starsense for convenience and hopefully more accuracy.

[John]

Nice report Doug and more galactic success

"....it seems to get easier with experience..." = Absolutely applies 100% to this hobby I reckon 

 

 

[YKSE]

Nice haul Doug

You may bag a few more galaxies in Makarian chain, if you go a little higher mag, say 70x or even 100x. Those smaller ones may benefit from higher mag, despite fainter.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Nice report Doug. Its always good when you can follow Galaxies from M84 to M88 and everything in between. I have not visited the Makarian Chain this year so I am hoping for a few more clear nights. Doug I have never used a larger SCT but would a f6.3 focal reducer help getting a slightly larger FOV?

[cloudsweeper]

1 hour ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Nice report Doug. Its always good when you can follow Galaxies from M84 to M88 and everything in between. I have not visited the Makarian Chain this year so I am hoping for a few more clear nights. Doug I have never used a larger SCT but would a f6.3 focal reducer help getting a slightly larger FOV?

Thanks Mark - that's something I've often considered.  I can only go by what others have said, and it seems that reducers are not so good at long EP focal lengths.  It's even been said that they are less useful with 2" EPs.  These are the reasons I've not bought one, but if anyone has actually used one on an 8SE with a long FL 2" EP I'd like to hear!

Doug.

[estwing]

nice catch and a great read...here's my fave in Virgo...https://dso-browser.com/deep-sky/6876/ngc-5746/galaxy

[mapstar]

Lovely to read of delving deep and gaining more observing experience in finding those faint fuzzies. 

Arp210 is very interesting and goid that you managed to tease it out. 

[mdstuart]

Enjoyed reading your post. Try about 150x to darken the background sky and try M59/60

Mark