Another Galaxy Hunt

[Sam]

Dark Knight posted this which has a great link:

http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,36411.msg373020.html#msg373020

that set me up for my observing last night.

While the rest of the gear was set for imaging M74 I set the big dob (16" Lightbridge) up for viewing some of the galaxies in the East and South. First was a quick look at M31 to calibrate my seeing - looked great with a couple of dust lanes just visible, M32 and M110 stood out nice and bright. I think over time you learn how to view objects and everytime I view M31 I see more and more details. This time the expanse of the galaxy was quite evident with the size of the galaxy going out to beyond M32 (the bright fuzzy blob closest to M31). The first couple of targets for the evening were a couple of small galaxies in Pisces.

The first was NGC524 which is a very bright galaxy, at least the core anyway. It is quite easy to find just inside the pointy bit of Pisces. The next galaxy was NGC488 which was not too far away from NGC524 but below the pointy bit. This galaxy has a quite bright core with a halo of faint fuzziness around it, checking the web shows it's a tightly wound spiral some 90 million light years away.

Next galaxy was NGC772 which is in Aries just to the left of the lower star (which is a nice double - well looks like one, not sure if it's official or not). It has a bright core and a halo - not detail visible though I think this one would make a good imaging target as it is quite big. According to Wikipedia this one is 130 million lightyears away!

The next target, NGC7217, was in Pegasus. It has a small bright core with a faint halo, that looks quite circular - no details were visible. NGC925 was the next galaxy which is in Triangulum. This one appears quite long with a brightish core that is slightly longitudinal. It has some fainter stars in the foreground with make it look speckled. Whilst in the area of Triangulum I had a look at M33 which was majestic as ever and quite bright with the spiral arms quite clear.

That last target on the list for the evening was NGC404, known as Mirach's Ghost due to it's proximity to that star. It was quite bright and circular - a bit like a globular cluster and very close to Mirach.

I had a look at M42 as well which was brilliant loads of detail in the green nebula and the trapesium stars were quite bright, though no sign of E and F. I spent ages looking at M42 and appreciating how big it is. The next stop was M78 just above Orion's belt - quite faint but still quite evident.

I finished of the evening with another look at M31,32 and 110 which stood out even more than before and then a quick tour of the Auriga clusters. Awesome evening!

Sam

[Lady Isabella]

Sounds like a great night of galaxy hunting, reminds me of the days when I had my large reflector. Last night was very good. After taking a friend to the airport, I stopped the car in the middle of nowhere and spent an hour doing naked eye astronomy. M31 was very easy to see, and the double cluster in Perseus was simply spectacular. I even managed to spot M33 as a soft misty patch. The last time I spotted M33 with the naked eye from the U.K. was 20 years ago.

[thing]

Great report Sam, nice to hear what those monsters are capable of.

[Starjumper]

Super report on your night Sam.

John

[kniclander]

my best ever night's observing was galaxy hunting in virgo/coma under very dark skies. There's just something about finding faint galaxies 50 million light years away that just is really special.

great report - enjoyed reading it

dan