Galaxies beyond M 44

[Nyctimene]

The afternoon haze and thin clouds had almost disappeared (thanks, Neil, for your good wishes!), when I took out the 18" f/4.5 Obsession for a long planned search for faint galaxies in the background of M 44, the well known Beehive cluster in Cancer. Phil Harrington wrote about those galaxies in his wonderful and inspiring book "Cosmic Challenge" (No. 157). Conditions were not ideal at 21.50 CET: NELM 5.0 (UMi), SQM-L 20.8; but the target was extremely easy to find. Following Phil's suggestions and aided by his excellent chart, I started away from the "heart" - shaped central region of M 44 with  NGC  2647(15.1 mag), with V=205x a small, rather easy to find galaxy, appearing for 60% of observing time with averted vision, sometimes for seconds visible directly. A stellar core region showed up once; the shape slightly elongated (?). Easier for me was, at the opposite west side of the cluster, the 14.6 mag 2624, which appeared to me more extended, round, with a stellar core region and visible directly. Close to the E (4 arc min), the smaller 14.5 mag 2625 was visible in the same field; a round, tiny speck. The search for the  galaxy pair CGCG 89-56 and for IC 2388 failed - partly due to the dewing up of the 10 mmf Orthoscopic eyepiece; but I'm sure, that they are within reach of the 18" under better conditions, and will give it another try. At least - starhopping is very easy in the star-crowded field of M 44, and I didn't even need SkySafari. Tired, but quite content, and so to bed at 23.10.

The three galaxies I've observed seem to be well within reach for a decent 10-12" scope under dark skies, so give it a try!

Attached the map from Phil Harrington's book:

Thanks for reading

Stephan

 

[Demonperformer]

Congratulations on observing these rarely-noticed galaxies.

[jetstream]

Great report and the area is now on my list.Thanks Stephan.