18 Mar - Big Dob attempts Supernovae and more Hicksons (Night Vision)

[alanjgreen]

Date: Wednesday 18^th March 2020. 2200-0240am

Scope: 20” f3.6 Lukehurst Dob with Paracorr (fl = 2089mm & f4.1).

Night Vision: PVS-14 with Photonis 4g INTENS.

Eyepieces: Plossl 55mm (f2 x38), Panoptic 35mm (f3 x60), Panoptic 27mm (f4 x77), DeLite 18.2mm (f5.8 x115).

 

Introduction.

This is turning out to be a poor year for observing. It’s been another two weeks of cloud or full moon blocking me from getting outside for the last 17 nights!

The good news is that a clear spell has landed over the UK and new moon is approaching...

Last night I was out for four hours and had drawn up an observing plan of 12 current supernovae and also had my Hickson galaxy group observing list to continue working on.

 

Supernovae (2 from 4).

Unfortunately conditions were not perfect and visibility was not good to the low down south where a number of supernovae targets are located. But I attempted the targets that were well placed and available to me…

• NGC 3395/SN ASASSN-19aea – With the 18.2mm DeLite it was easy to find the two interacting galaxies. One galaxy was clearly larger and had a faint curved appearance where the arms were partially visible. There are 3 faint stars close-by for orientation and the galaxy next to the single star is the one with the SN. This larger galaxy definitely had a bright core which was elongated but I could not split the SN from the core. I tried the 27mm Panoptic (for increased brightness with the night vision device) and the field stars were easier to see but I could still not split the core & SN. FAIL.
• NGC 5371/SN2020bio – My first attempt before midnight was a fail. The galaxy was easily seen in the 27mm eyepiece and its large too. I matched field stars to my view for orientation but there was no sign of the SN.  I revisited this galaxy after 1am and this time the view was improved and I did get glimpses of a faint dot coming and going (mainly going) in the location of the SN! SUCCESS. 😀
• PGC 056547/SN2020dxa – This one was easy to find and see! With the 27mm eyepiece you can see two dots (clearly separated) within the tiny galaxy patch. There is a double star above pointing the way to the galaxy and (unfortunately) there is a bright field star LHS causing reflections in the fov! SUCCESS. 😀
• UGC 10661/SN2020awa – This galaxy is hard to find. It sits in a small field star triangle (one corner of the triangle has two stars, the other corners are single stars). I tried both 18.2mm and 27mm eyepieces but I could not split the SN from the galaxy core. FAIL.

 

Hicksons (7 new to me).

• Hickson 68 – With the 55mm eyepiece, I could easily see three galaxies straight off (two bright galaxies in a pair with the third separate below). Looking around I could also find two tiny smudges to the RHS (each separate).
• Hickson 70 – With the 27mm eyepiece, I could see three galaxies that appeared evenly spaced in a line. There was a close pair of galaxies just below them (uneven brightness). Then one additional faint fuzzy off to the RHS. 6 galaxies.
• Hickson 71 – 27mm eyepiece. Three stars close together are see next to two galaxies that a gap RHS to a tiny galaxy smudge. The last galaxy is in-between (in the gap) and very faint indeed (cannot be held in direct vision).
• Hickson 69 – 27mm eyepiece. Three galaxies in a triangle formation are easily seen. Wow, there are so many galaxies in and around the fov that I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number and have to keep checking Sky Safari to see if I have the right ones targeted!😀
• Hickson 66 – 27mm eyepiece. 3 of 4 seen. Three tiny galaxies seen in a tiny patch in a 2+1 formation.
• Hickson 45 – 27mm eyepiece. A pair of tiny galaxies are found in-between 2 field stars. There is a possible third galaxy faintly seen underneath.
• Hickson 49 – On March 1^st I failed to find this object (due to the moon) but tonight I found it. 😀There is a very tiny patch of faint fuzzies! There seems to be several very close together. I could see two cores intermittently from within the tiny patch.

 

Epilogue.

Cloud started rolling over in patches and I was having to pick my spots (of clear sky) which was painful. With more clear night forecast, I decided to go to bed instead.

 

Clear Skies,

Alan

Edited March 19, 2020 by alanjgreen

[Bill S]

Alan - that's an impressive haul of observations. With clear nights being so rare it's so useful to have techniques such as night vision to make the most of the opportunities. Let's keep our fingers crossed for some more clear nights soon.

[JeremyS]

Good that you made the most of the conditions @alanjgreen