Galaxy Dash

[Littleguy80]

Last night's forecast of clear skies clashed with an after dark 10k run through Thetford forest for me. I was, however, determined to get some observing in. I loaded the dob into the car and headed off my run. The race itself was fun and I often looked up and found myself chasing Orion or one of the other constellations through the forest. It felt funny using my head torch in white light mode. Normally it's red light only! For those of you that are runners my time was 46 mins and 30 seconds, placing me 20th out of 424 runners which I was really chuffed with. I didn't linger after the race though and headed straight to the car to drive to Norwich Astronomical Society's site at Seething.

Arriving 45 minutes later, I popped the dob out to cool and went to change. It wasn't quite warm enough to observe in shorts and t-shirt! The sky's weren't looking their best with transparency relatively poor. Allowing time for my eyes to dark adapt and for the dob to finish cooling, I went for a couple of brighter targets, M3 and M53. Both resolved nicely at 133x revealing many fine points of light. I had a really good go at NGC5053 too. There was something there, a subtle change in contrast, but nothing that felt like a proper observation. To further test the skies, I moved over to the Leo triplet. I've observed these three galaxies many times in recent sessions and they never disappoint. I had a go at the dark line in NGC3628 but was again unsuccessful.

It was now time for the main event, a trip into Virgo. I centred the finder on Rho Vir. The first galaxy to catch my eye was NGC4596. From there I moved to M58, where I could see three grey fuzzies. Increasing the magnification, to study each individually, revealed that the third of the fuzzies was in fact a pair of galaxies. The Siamese twins, NGC4567 and NGC4568, gave me the biggest smile of the night. The butterfly shape of the intersecting galaxies was very clear to see and was unmistakeable from the images I've seen of them. I lingered for some time enjoying these. 

I centred on M87 to use that as starting point for observing Markarian's chain. The plan was put on hold as I realised there was a lot to see around that Galaxy. I counted up three more galaxies giving a total of 4 in the same FOV. The other galaxies were NGC4476, NGC4478 and NGC4486A. The last of those, NGC4468A, was really fascinating as it was so small and bright that I initially mistook it for a star. It was only when I checked SkySafari that I realised it was another galaxy. 

Using my ES82 30mm to give a 2 degree TFOV, I reached my destination of Markarian's chain. I didn't have my wide field EP's last spring so it was a real treat to see the whole chain in a single FOV. M84 and M86 really dominate the view and the Eyes galaxies are fantastic. I was really happy that I could pick out NGC4458 and NGC4461 although they morphed into a single grey patch at low magnification. I again increased magnification and enjoyed each galaxy in turn all the way down the chain, enjoying the improved contrast. When there are so many galaxies it's hard to stop and spend times on individuals. It's like being a kid in a candy store. 

I left Markarian's chain and carried onto M88 and then moved to M100, picking up NGC4419 along the way. I spent some time with M100 as I'd recently seen an image of it and wanted to see if I could pick out the spiral arms. It wasn't to be on this occasion but I'll try again on a night with better transparency. I left Virgo now and entered Sextans to observer the Spindle Galaxy, NGC3115. It's been mentioned on a number of reports recently. A very nice bright galaxy and well worth viewing. I wanted to see the Ghost of Jupiter planetary nebula but it had already sunk below the tree line. One for next time! To get my spiral arms fix, I went to M51 in Canes Venatici. I was not disappointed despite transparency not being it's best. Every time I see I those dark lanes I'm reminded why it's worth seeking out dark skies. The structure I see in M51 compared to home is stunning. This pair of galaxies has to be my favourite, there's just so much to see and it just looks like a proper galaxy. No grey fuzzy patches here.

I was now given a heads up that it would soon be time to leave. For some quick final viewing, I got M97 and M108 in the same field of view. I added an OIII filter and increased the magnification and tried to observe the the eyes of the Owl nebula. There was definitely some dips in brightness but again nothing I would call a strong observation. Not wanting the session to end I grabbed a quick look at the planetary nebula NGC6210 in Hercules. With that it was time to pack up. A very busy evening where I clocked up almost 100 miles driving but was well rewarded with a very enjoyable session.

[scarp15]

Congrats for gaining 20th place in the run Neil and cracking way to follow up, straight into a dark sky session. Great way to begin with the globular's, NGC 5053 is quite tough, requires really good transparency about the same scale to M53, much fainter, less stars. Good haul of galaxies and groups of galaxies, encompassing Markarian's Chain in an ultra wide field low power eyepiece is a true delight, I hope to gain time on this to this season.  

[Stu]

Nice write up Neil. Well done on the run, excellent result. When I first read the title I thought you had completed some form of Messier half marathon

I think we were observing some similar targets last night, I'll write mine up when I get a chance, but I also tried for NGC5053 in my 14" and could not get it at all. The transparency where we were seemed quite poor though so I expect that didn't help.

[domstar]

Running and stargazing- two of my favourite things. Sounds like a wonderful day and a great time too.

[Paz]

Great report and shows the rewards of making the effort to go somewhere dark. I'm hoping to have a go at Virgo and Leo from somewhere dark this season.

[Eastman]

Great report Neil and good read

6 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

It was now time for the main event, a trip into Virgo

Some nice galaxy hopping.

[mapstar]

In amongst the Virgo supercluster. Terrific report and reminds me of being in there.

M51 is probably up there in my top ten. Best view frim Galloway in feb on a freezing sunday night. 

Well done on the run too and the dob dash. Miles and smiles all worth it ?