Back In Action With A Few Galaxies

[cloudsweeper]

What with poor weather, visitors, and a lousy cold, I've not been out for about a fortnight, so when it looked clear, still, Moonless and mild at 4.45am I got the 8SE out of the shed and went into action.  Aligned on Dubhe and Arcturus.  M81/2 were easily spotted, confirming GoTo was performing well.

NGC 4631 (Caldwell 32) - Whale Galaxy, edge-on barred spiral, CVn - a faint "slash" or diagonal as expected, which stood out more on moving the 'scope side to side.  Unfortunately, the fainter and distinctive Crowbar Galaxy to the east was not in evidence at all.

M106 - spiral galaxy, also CVn - a very faint patch, harder to see, being face-on, and anyway, the sky was getting lighter and transparency was deteriorating by this time.

To finish, I targeted the glob M3 in CVn, and it was good to be able to clearly see an object straight away.  Conditions were not great however, so the rich, dense core with a halo of tiny specks I've seen before remained fuzzy on this occasion.

After about an hour, The Plough was hardly noticeable, but the blackbirds were!  It was good to be back in action, even in a small way.  Must start earlier next time!

Doug.

[MarsG76]

Welcome back... 

8SE is an awesome scope... I had some amazing views through it....

[Demonperformer]

Sometimes a short, successful session is just the thing to get one back into the swing of things. Sounds like the session was well worth-while.

[Stu]

Good to be back in the saddle Doug. You certainly do like your early morning sessions don’t you! ???

[domstar]

It sounds like a great way to start the day. Many more of these reports and I might start thinking about early morning sessions myself.

[cloudsweeper]

34 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Sometimes a short, successful session is just the thing to get one back into the swing of things. Sounds like the session was well worth-while.

Thanks DP - it was very worthwhile, as I hadn't managed to see C32 and M106 on previous attempts.  Next time, I hope to crack the Crowbar/Hockeystick (NGC 4656/7) - looks a very interesting shape!

 

28 minutes ago, Stu said:

Good to be back in the saddle Doug. You certainly do like your early morning sessions don’t you! ???

Yes Stu - it's darker then (as long as you're early enough!), and with fewer house lights.

 

23 minutes ago, domstar said:

It sounds like a great way to start the day. Many more of these reports and I might start thinking about early morning sessions myself.

Indeed, Dom.  And I am especially pleased to add a couple more galaxies to my (relatively humble) count.  Get up and join me in spirit!

Doug.

[Eastman]

6 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

NGC 4631 (Caldwell 32) - Whale Galaxy, edge-on barred spiral, CVn - a faint "slash" or diagonal as expected, which stood out more on moving the 'scope side to side.  Unfortunately, the fainter and distinctive Crowbar Galaxy to the east was not in evidence at all.

Nice to be back behind the eyepiece Doug, pushing it until the blackbirds sing.

I had the same experince with the crowbar galaxy, you know you in the right spot but it just won't pop out.