Low Elevation Messiers

[David Levi]

I was out at a dark sky site in the Brecon Brecons again last night. I knew that I wanted to check on the progress of the nova V392 Per but apart from that my only instructions to myself were to trawl the seasonal low elevation Messier objects.

My first target was the nova. This meant having to set up in a different part of the field from which the rest of the session would take place as northerly views are obstructed by trees apart from one location and at that point you don't get a great view of the south, once again due to trees. The nova was visible well before the sky was fully dark but I hung around it for about half an hour just trying to see if I could decide it's magnitude and whether a dark sky would help in this matter. After I had had enough of it I was still filled with doubt about my visual magnification estimate but comparing to other stars in the region I reckon that it is now about mag 10. While I was looking at the nova I moved the scope away for a few minutes and got a great view of M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra. I could just make out the 13 mag star close by with averted vision.

After moving the telescope set up about 50m I was ready to tackle the southern sky. Moving from west to east I observed these targets:

I had somehow missed the Sombrero Galaxy M104 during the past few weeks and so I corrected that omission. I could easily see the long flat southern edge (top in my setup) that I imagine helps form the brim of the sombrero.

Globular Cluster M68 in Hydra just below β Corvi.

Galaxy M83, the Seashell Galaxy in Hydra. The worst view of an object during the session. A small, very faint concentration of light surrounded by the faintest of faint fuzziness.

Globular Cluster M107 in Ophiuchus. I also viewed the nice red carbon star V Ophiuchi, mag 9.3, colour index B-V 3.41 which was close by.

Globular Cluster M9

Globular Cluster M80. Tremendous concentration of stars in a dinky cluster. Really liked this one compared to the much of a muchness faint globular clusters with no resolved stars.

Globular Cluster M4. Big and faint. Apparently one of the closest globular clusters to us at about 7200 light years away.

Globular Cluster M19

Globular Cluster M62

After these quite faint targets I treated myself to a brilliant view of the Globular Cluster M5. I know we always say it but this is just a stunning cluster. The mixture of individual stars and fuzziness to intoxicating.

I visited Jupiter a few times through the session with the best views, of course, being at the end of the session when Jupiter was close to its meridian and the sky was really dark. It took 200x magnification without too many problems and I could see some slight detail in the southern hemisphere below the Southern Equatorial Belt which is quite rare for me. The SEB seemed to have a couple of sections where the belt was denser and fatter than elsewhere.

[Littleguy80]

Very enjoyable report, David. I took a look at the Nova towards the end of last week and it was looking slightly dimmer than the mag 9 star next to it. I would think your estimate of mag 10 would probably be about right

[John]

Great report David - a proper "globular fest"

[Mark at Beaufort]

A nice report David. You did well to see M83 which I find very difficult from the UK. When I undertook the Messier list it was M69 and M70 that caused me the most problems.

[25585]

Worth bearing in mind, sky conditions as affected by humans was very little when all the Messier, Hershel etc discoveries were made. 

[David Levi]

36 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

When I undertook the Messier list it was M69 and M70 that caused me the most problems.

I've just looked up those 2 Messier objects. They are low in Sagittarius. I haven't set out to complete the Messier list but now that I'm up to 77 objects  it has suddenly become something to aim for. I'll take it easy though, I hope, and not get too obsessed about completing the list.

[Stu]

20 minutes ago, David Levi said:

I've just looked up those 2 Messier objects. They are low in Sagittarius. I haven't set out to complete the Messier list but now that I'm up to 77 objects  it has suddenly become something to aim for. I'll take it easy though, I hope, and not get too obsessed about completing the list.

Lovely report David. I’ve never really got obsessed with completing lists. I’ve been doing this about 18 years and still haven’t seen all the Messier objects. I’ll get there one day, although first I would have to go through all my reports to see which ones I’ve seen. Probably in the 70 or 80 range, not sure. I treat it as a leisurely journey, stress free  

[Arcturus D]

M68, M83, M69, M70, M6, M7, M19, M62 are tough in the UK, due to them being so low that they get caught in the worst of low skies.

Just travelling 5 degrees lower on the globe makes a massive difference to these objects.

[wookie1965]

Smashing report some cracking objects there.

[Eastman]

Great Report David, Nice list of the lower Globs.

I checked my own Messier list and except from M80 and M4 everthing you saw is missing on mine.

Thanks for sharing, going to have a go on the missing Messiers ?