Finally managed some spring galaxies

[RobertI]

I finally managed to do some EAA - my first session since September last year. It was really a test run to make sure the equipment and my brain were still operating correctly! I had cleaned the sensor and reducer earlier in the day using the superb Baader Wonderfluid, so was all set. I aligned the mount using the finder only (rather than using the camera) for speed and to my amazement the subsequent slews were spot on, so thankfully the finder was still well aligned with the camera. I selected some galaxies at random and was very pleased with the results. It was a very easy session - just 'point and go' - however there were some things I need to improve which I will outline in a separate post in the equipment section. All results with Starlight Live - I haven't managed to get Jocular working yet, but will have another go this week.

M100 in Coma Berenices with NGC4132 nearby. A number of other galaxies are visible in the FOV ranging from mag 14 to 17.

M104, the 'Sombrero', was hanging over a neighbour's garage roof, but came out ok.

Interacting galaxies NGC4435 & 4438, or Arp120 or 'The Eyes'. NGC4435 has the long tidal tails from interacting with its neighbour:

M90 with its small irrelgular satellite IC3583:

[Martin Meredith]

Hi Rob

Congrats on getting a session in. I'd forgotten what a beauty M100 is with the other galaxies in shot too.

I've never tried aligning simply with the finder. I always get it dead centre using the camera, but my slews are almost always off anyway... so perhaps I'll give your technique a go next time.

Martin

[Mike JW]

Hi Rob, Enjoyed looking at the shots. Particularly impressed with you getting the tidal plumes on Arp 120. My earlier attempts this year failed to get the plumes, so well done. Interestingly I read somewhere that these two galaxies are no actually interacting? I wonder what the correct situation is?

Noting that it has been a long while since you got a chance to do any EAA. Here in E. Anglia myself (and fellow observers) think we have had one of the  cloudiest periods we can remember. Very little observing achieved from October 2018 until now and we suspect climate change will mean this becomes the norm - depressing. Mike

[SIDO]

Nice session indeed, waiting for my next clear day 5 days out now they say, like Mike I have had a lot of cloudy nights, my next session will only be my 5th outing doing eaa with a proper camera...Just frustrating becouse the first two sessions were spent on camera and reducer spacing issues, now those are resolved the cloud is that much more dismaying...

Best of Luck and Clear Skies all,

                          Freddie.

[RobertI]

10 hours ago, Martin Meredith said:

I've never tried aligning simply with the finder. I always get it dead centre using the camera, but my slews are almost always off anyway... so perhaps I'll give your technique a go next time.

Thanks Martin. For all its faults (excessive noise being the biggest) the CG5 does perform very accurate gotos. The keys seems to be using at least 3 stars and finishing centering with the 'up' and 'right' arrows. Famous last words.....

7 hours ago, Mike JW said:

Hi Rob, Enjoyed looking at the shots. Particularly impressed with you getting the tidal plumes on Arp 120. My earlier attempts this year failed to get the plumes, so well done. Interestingly I read somewhere that these two galaxies are no actually interacting? I wonder what the correct situation is?

Noting that it has been a long while since you got a chance to do any EAA. Here in E. Anglia myself (and fellow observers) think we have had one of the  cloudiest periods we can remember. Very little observing achieved from October 2018 until now and we suspect climate change will mean this becomes the norm - depressing. Mike

Cheers Mike. I think you may be right about weather. An observing friend of mine is adamant that there is more cloud now than in the late 1970's when he started observing. I honestly haven't done any research into the stats, I suspect that increasing cloud is not as high on scientists' agenda as us astronomers

3 hours ago, SIDO said:

Nice session indeed, waiting for my next clear day 5 days out now they say, like Mike I have had a lot of cloudy nights, my next session will only be my 5th outing doing eaa with a proper camera...Just frustrating becouse the first two sessions were spent on camera and reducer spacing issues, now those are resolved the cloud is that much more dismaying...

Best of Luck and Clear Skies all,

                          Freddie.

Thanks Freddie, I am all too familiar with camera and reducer spacing issues, a real pain, a learning experience, but not one I necessarily want! I wish there was a retailer offering a service where you could send your scope, camera and reducer, and it would come back cleaned, collimated, de-tilted and with spot on spacing for perfect imaging, so we dont have to worry!!

[RobertI]

Just a quick update, I popped the image of M100 into Astrometry.net and it appears the scope was actually operating at F3.6 not F4.5. Interesting the coma is not as bad as I would have expected at that level. I think I prefer the results I have previously got at F4.5 - the image scale is better (objects larger) and the detail a bit better, even though it is slower. Might try reverting to F4.5 (if I can remember how!) and look at the same objects for comparison. 

[Martin Meredith]

Hi Rob

Just read about a new SN in M100. See image here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/659748-first-light-with-altair-hypercam-294c-pro-tec-cooled/?p=9333418

Wondering if you captured it? It looks like you did to me! (Maybe the first?)

Martin

[RobertI]

43 minutes ago, Martin Meredith said:

Hi Rob

Just read about a new SN in M100. See image here:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/659748-first-light-with-altair-hypercam-294c-pro-tec-cooled/?p=9333418

Wondering if you captured it? It looks like you did to me! (Maybe the first?)

Martin

This is very exciting, thanks for the heads up Martin! It certainly does look like I’ve got it. Is there a primary database where supernovae get recorded? 

[Mike JW]

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html?#2019bic has all the supernovae data  and well done. Mike

[Martin Meredith]

https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2019ehk

Discovered on the 29th April, same day as your session.... 2019-04-29 22:27:50

 

[RobertI]

5 hours ago, Martin Meredith said:

https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2019ehk

Discovered on the 29th April, same day as your session.... 2019-04-29 22:27:50

 

Thanks Martin, well, it would appear that I captured the SN at 22:17 UT,  which was 10 minutes before the official discovery date! But I don't think I could claim discovery as I really didn't know until Martin pointed it out! Fantastic to have seen it, and have been one of the first to capture it. It has always been an ambition to achieve something like this and this has demonstrated (a) what EAA can achieve and (b) why I should check every image carefully having gone to all the trouble of capturing it! I would love to be able to say I discovered a supernova one day.

Is it likely that the FITS files would show the SN brightening over the 3 minutes I observed?

[Martin Meredith]

So near so far! Agreed, well worth checking. I don't do enough of it myself.

I think it is worth at least estimating the magnitude from the FITS data and comparing with other estimates. There seem to be plenty of comparison stars.

Martin

[Bill S]

A great set of shots but catching the supernova as well is the icing on the cake. Marvellous.

[HiloDon]

Hi Rob,

I was a bit late reading this, but as soon as I saw your M100, I looked for the SN.  I think you got it!  We had something similar happen to my friend and me a couple of years back at the VIS.  We captured the Leo Trio and there was a new SN in M66.  This was a couple of days before the discovery.  My friend did submit it after the fact and they acknowledged the submittal.  It helped to establish the approximate start date of the SN.  We didn’t discover it, but we did have the earliest capture of it.

Don