Hickson Compact Groups

[VilleM]

Hi! I observed these last weekend during Ursa Astronomical Association meeting in Tähtikallio Observatory, Finland. Fantastic weather, 3 nights of clear skies and good transparency. Milkyway was bright from horizon to horizon, a lovely sight! Unfortunately the scope didnt co-operate, on the first night declination axis popped 4 teeth from the gears so I had to move scope without goto. Its very difficult because the scope is so big and bulky. I need a ladder to reach the finders too! Also the dome didnt open on the last clear night, clutch slipped out of place but we managed to fix it before astronomical darkness.

I observed HCG 10, HCG 93 and HCG 94. Now Ive observed 4 of these in total (HCG 92 last spring), very faint but intresting objects to see.

Clear skies!

[barkis]

I've a great respect for those who sketch details of objects at the eyepiece.
These you list are obviously quite faint objects, so pretty demanding, even with that superb looking
telescope. It is a large aperture, and the seeing quite good. 
I respect your dedication, you have achieved something remarkable here.
Well done, you must be a very patient guy Ville, I hope I got your Christian name correct, .

[VilleM]

Thank you barkis! Sketching for me is good way to make myself look in the eyepiece much longer than usually, teasing out substle details I might miss if I just take quick look. Of course its also useful for seeing what objects they actually were after Ive sketched them. This scope reveals alot of galaxies. Expecially in Virgo / Leo region so "plate-solving" using stellarium or TheSkyX is necessary afterwards. Unfortunately scope isnt mine, but Ive had plenty of opportunities to use it during amateur astronomy meetings.

Yes you did get my name right. I hope I can sketch more Hickson Compact Groups in the future.