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Galaxies and cluster fun with st80


mark81

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Last night I was lucky to have a break in the cloud, but... Anyone who lives by the coast will know that transparency is very hit and miss and plays a big part in what can be seen....

But as they say 'the proof is in the pudding'

I could only look to the East as cloud was all over the place, but that was perfect for me because Leo was rising nicely. I could see the dull haze of the Coma cluster with the naked eye and used the NPL 30mm to bring it to life.  It's not my favourite cluster but there is so much going on.  There doesn't ever seem to be a correct place to start.... A mash of stars of all different mags all over the place, but still great fun to observe. Lots of visual doubles and slight variations in colour (might be a little optimistic there) and even with nearly 4 degrees available in my EP, this thing is huge! 7.5 degrees apparently..

 

I moved from there to have a go at m65 and 66 which after a few checks with my atlas I confirmed the sighting. I spent a good ten minutes looking straight on and then with a bit of averted vision and then rapid back and forth and slowly but surely they popped out at me as two faint out of focus stars with a slight haze around them.... Maybe my eyes were adapting to the dark - which mustnt be underestimated - as I tried this a few months back with Andromeda... Naked eye as soon as I went out, it was very dim and then every ten minutes or so, it became brighter and brighter.... So patience is sometimes the key....

I finished by having a go at m95 m96 and m105

It took me a while to get my head round this as I've been doing so much with the binoculars lately and with the flipped image your mind can play tricks.  M95 was very tough to see - if at all, m96 was very dim but certainly there as a small out of focus star with a glow.  M105 was both dim and small and left me wondering whether I'd seen it or not.... But with the ever changing conditions I guess I did OK. 

Now looking forward to really spending some time locating the galaxies between Leo and Virgo.

Thanks for reading

Mark

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Nice report Mark. You are pushing that little ST80 to its limits I'm glad to hear :)

I've often enjoyed observing with a sea horizonexcellent for getting those low down southern objects if the conditions are good.

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Great report. Leo galaxies always get me excited about the Virgo galaxies to come. My eyes always need a bit of spring training after a winter of easier to spot open clusters and Orion's in-your-face beauties. You've whetted my appetite.

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