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NGC 4005 group


mdstuart

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Really clear transparent sky with no moon yesterday, yes really! So I had a good session with my 20 inch dob and the new 10BCO eyepiece.

I looked at a mixture of bright objects, a few double stars for Nick but the highlight of the evening was a revisit of the NGC 4005 group in Leo to the right of the Meliotte Cluster.

Here is a picture of the group from Dan G from Cloudy nights.

post-17372-14073038572173_thumb.jpg.0266b7011ab2b8b4d6766b39f98394c6.jpg

 

The group is about 200 million light years away. It is rotating http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1986ApJ...311...25W/0000026P001.html

In the centre is a relatively bright star and NGC 4005 to the right and just above it. This was visible last night in the 10BCO with averted vision but the star made this galaxy hard to see. 

Last night I managed to see more galaxies than ever before (perhaps thanks to the 10BCO but also due to the extra 4 inches of mirror :)). In my 14 inch in March  2014 could just see NGC 4005. With my 16 inch in Feb 2017 I managed to see NGC 4015, 3987, 3997 and actually the brightest object to my eyes, NGC 4022 which I could hold with direct vision in the 20 inch. 

Yesterday with the 20 inch I also managed to see NGC 3993, 4018 and 4023 for the first time. The faintest star I could see was mag 15.1 which shows how transparent the sky was. I can see mag 5.1 stars with the naked eye so the 20 inch takes me 10 mags deeper.

So how many galaxies can you see visually?

Mark

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On 25/02/2020 at 14:03, mdstuart said:

So how many galaxies can you see visually?

I hope to give this a try next time the moon is gone, I believe you can see galaxies better than myself and hopefully practise helps.  Mag 13 ish NGC 3691 in Leo was relatively easy in the 15"/ 10mm Delos the other night. Conditions were excellent however, I had 6.4 mag 20 UMi in direct NELM and 17 UMi flick in and out a few times.

M51 was stunning in the 15" to say the least. Having some ice crystal issues on my secondary, which blows light all over the place so a heater will be installed and with increased heat from the maker. Once resolved in both dobs I'll give a serious try on some small and faint galaxies. The snow is impacting galaxy viewing at the moment-you can literally see everything once dark adapted, from the starlight.

The Sky Commander encoders are being installed today on the 15" which will help me on these faint and small objects.

Excellent report Mark and inspirational- glad the 10 BCO is working out, they really do work IMHO.

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On 25/02/2020 at 20:03, mdstuart said:

Really clear transparent sky with no moon yesterday, yes really! So I had a good session with my 20 inch dob and the new 10BCO eyepiece.

I looked at a mixture of bright objects, a few double stars for Nick but the highlight of the evening was a revisit of the NGC 4005 group in Leo to the right of the Meliotte Cluster.

Here is a picture of the group from Dan G from Cloudy nights.

post-17372-14073038572173_thumb.jpg.0266b7011ab2b8b4d6766b39f98394c6.jpg

 

The group is about 200 million light years away. It is rotating http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1986ApJ...311...25W/0000026P001.html

In the centre is a relatively bright star and NGC 4005 to the right and just above it. This was visible last night in the 10BCO with averted vision but the star made this galaxy hard to see. 

Last night I managed to see more galaxies than ever before (perhaps thanks to the 10BCO but also due to the extra 4 inches of mirror :)). In my 14 inch in March  2014 could just see NGC 4005. With my 16 inch in Feb 2017 I managed to see NGC 4015, 3987, 3997 and actually the brightest object to my eyes, NGC 4022 which I could hold with direct vision in the 20 inch. 

Yesterday with the 20 inch I also managed to see NGC 3993, 4018 and 4023 for the first time. The faintest star I could see was mag 15.1 which shows how transparent the sky was. I can see mag 5.1 stars with the naked eye so the 20 inch takes me 10 mags deeper.

So how many galaxies can you see visually?

Mark

Love reading your reports. As a relative newcomer to the large scope collective, it gives me sessions to look forward to when reading experienced observers reports such as yours.

Was out on Thursday evening and loving the views through the big dob.

 

 

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It is indeed a fun group. My first view of this was back in 1989 a TSP with a 17.5" Sky Designs Dob. It had featured in Deep SKy magazine and also in the Webb QJ so I decided to hunt it down. Iwas as expected quite good from there. I have followed this up on other occasions with both mmy older 20" scopes (the one Mark has now via Callum) and with the 22".

 

Owen

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