18 April - Big Dob fancies a Hickson or two...

[alanjgreen]

Date: Wed 18th April 2210-0230am        Scope: 20” f3.6 Lukehurst Dob with Paracorr (fl = 2089mm)

 

Time to Setup

The crescent moon had made its way over to the west and the sky was beginning to reveal plenty of stars, so I headed outside around 10pm. [ It was hard to decide exactly what to wear as I had been too warm last time out and it was surely warmer still this evening? ]. There was a slight breeze and there seemed to be less of a wet reflection coming from the lower southern sky than last time out.

After removing the scope cover and inserting the Paracorr2, I quickly collimated the scope with just a tiny tweak to one nut on the primary needed. I slid the roof back with ease (its so much easier when the warmer nights arrive!) and locked it down.

After performing a 2-star alignment, I tested out Nexus on a nearby bright star and did a quick star test to assess the situation, diffraction rings looked good and not too many bubbles from the air currents in the tube.

 

Be Prepared

My targets for tonight were a supernova in NGC4151, Hickson 55 & 56 then to grab a galaxy fest in Leo.

 

No time like the present

My first target was a revisit to the supernova in NGC4151 (SN2018aoq) which I had bagged last time out. Tonight it was much harder to get the SN in direct vision. Even with the ethos6 (x348) and ethos8 (x250) the SN came and went from my view. I did revisit this later in the evening but it was no easier to hold the SN in direct vision than earlier.

 

Let the Lion Roar!

Next, I headed into Leo to target some different galaxies from Saturday night (when I had been in Ursa Major).

NGC3190 + 3193 – Ethos10 (x200), nice pair, one edge-on and the other side-on

NGC3226 + 3227 + 3222 – A nice “pair” with a separated companion.

NGC3344 – E6,8 & 10. E6 showed black areas where inner arms are located. Seems to be a miniature whirlpool galaxy!

NGC3605 + 3607 + 3608 – E8. A nice trio of galaxies. Two bright and one small and faint.

NGC3628 – E6,8,10. Huge, thick side-on. Large black lane running through the galaxy off centre. Very nice.

M65 – E6,8. Small bright side-on. Seems circular with arm blackness visible.

M66 – E8. Huge side-on fills the fov at x200. Arm blackness seen but no curvy ends.

NGC3367+3377 – E8. Not quite in the same fov. One bright side-on and the other a fainter fuzzy patch. Nice.

 

Next up, a cruise (nudge) around M60 area bagging NGC4647, M59, NGC4606+4607

Siamese Twins+ NGC4564 – E10. Lovely trio of galaxies. Twins appear a good size and nicely shaped. 4564 is small & bright underneath.

NGC4491+4497 – E10. A pair of faint galaxies but well separated.

M87+NGC4478+4476 – E10. A bright trio of galaxies.

M89+NGC4550+4551 – E10. A nice pair of faint galaxies with M87 standing nearby.

M90 – E10. Huge! Lovely side-on galaxy.

Markarians chain – Now to try something not done so far with big dob. In with the Ethos21 (x100) and cruise (nudge) around the chain area. I saw what seemed an endless stream of bright small galaxies with the occasional “pencil” shape of an edge-on here and there. Glad I tried this!

NGC4762+4754 - E10. 4762 is an incredibly “thin stick” of an edge-on galaxy! Small side-on galaxy 4754 nearby.

Back to my “planned” observing

Hickson 55 (ARP329) – After taking a while, I found the fuzzy patch in the E13, I slipped in the E8 for a bit more magnification. I was unable to pull any details of the individual galaxies out of the fuzzy patch.

Hickson 56 – After locating the patch of galaxies with the E13, I tried E6 and E8 to reveal some galaxy members! With the E6 I saw two (maybe three) cores but with the E8 I saw 4 cores playing a strange glimpsing game. They seemed to appear to me two cores at a time, blinking in and out of vision in a random melody!

Ursa Major won't be ignored!

M81 – E13. The full scale of the side-on galaxy was apparent. I traced around the outer rim easily but no arm details were observed.

M82 – E13. Looking very bright in the centre. The black “dart” was obvious. A better view than Saturday night for sure.

I then slipped in the E21 and tried to get them both in the same fov. Alas I did not quite make it and had to see them one at a time.

NGC4236 – E13. Back to revisit this huge flat edge-on galaxy that I happened upon on Saturday. I found it less visible strangely but its sheer size was apparent. I tried the E21 and it was visible but fainter.

M51 – Time to try the whirlpool with the E21. It was surprisingly good! Appearing bright with arms very clear. The whole bridge was not quite there though. Switching to E13, E10 & E8 I found that both the E8 and E10 showed the full bridge connection to the companion NGC.

M101 – Starting with the E21 I found the galaxy easily and could make out the top/right arm. I noticed a couple of NGC “internal to M101” twinkling at me (that I had not noticed on Saturday). Switching to the E13 revealed three lovely curving arms, a view that was not bettered when I tried the E10.

 

Over to Coma Berenices

Mice galaxies – E10. Finding the mice was a real challenge! I had found them easy and bright on Saturday (but not tonight). After plenty of nudging I finally located them but they were very faint indeed.

NGC4657+4656 – E10. This was an interesting sight. A long thin edge-on with a little “flick” at one end (the companion). Nice.

Whale + companion – E10. The whale was big but not as bright as Saturday. The companion was there but again “less” than before. Seems the conditions were deteriorating…

NGC4625+4618+IC3668 – E10. There are two galaxies and one of them has a bright nebula superimposed on top of it giving a strange brightness at one end.

Moving on through the Silver Needle, Cocoon, M94 & M106…

M109 – E6,8 & 13. I desperately tried to get some structure in M109. Nope. I get areas of blackness where the arms are but could not tease out the arms.

M13 – E6,8,10 & 13. Over to the Hercules where I found the best view from the E10 (x200). A lovely bright core observed with a nice “bulge” and 3D effect in the centre. The conditions made the higher powers less bright and pleasing.

 

What a SURPRISE to finish!

NGC6166 – What a find to finish with. I centred the NGC and noticed some faint patches of “other” galaxies nearby. After checking sky safari, I was surprised to find this area is “packed” with galaxies. I threw in the E8 and could easily pick out 4 or 5 small galaxies around the vicinity of 6166. I have added this to my “observing list” to come back on a better night to see how many galaxies can be teased out in this area.

By now my eyes were tired and my ability to stay at the eyepiece was becoming shorter. With MORE clear nights to come (I hope), I decided to head for bed to recharge my batteries…

 

Clear Skies,

Alan

[MarsG76]

That reads like a awesome observing session.. talk about a smorgasbord of objects.. very nice report

[alanjgreen]

7 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

 smorgasbord of objects..

I couldn’t have put it better myself  

[estwing]

a very good report Alan..me and Mapstar have had a few bashes at H55. Can't remember how many it was in total (I think it was 3) .The fuzzy patch isn't too hard to find with a 18"+ scope, in Damian's 22" its not easy and as you know most of its down to conditions up there...@mapstar any input mate?...https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/the-arp-atlas-of-peculiar-galaxies-a-chronicle-and-observers-guide-book.html

a cracking book if you haven't got it.

[mapstar]

Yeah another cracking report Alan Hickson 55 is a toughie and we both spent a bit of time on it in Skye.

We managed to tease out three cores but with magnitudes of 14.9 to 17.4 they're out of the reach of many scopes.

NGC3735 is the key to finding them and can be found quite easily. Amazingly all five of them aren't a third of the size of this.

Proper eye strainer and transparent skies make all the difference. Skye is perfect when the conditions allow.

Arp atlas is brilliant as Calv says 

[niallk]

Great report Alan - nicely done, some targets duly noted for trying in future sessions