17 Apr - Big Dob does the "GalaxyQuest" (Night Vision)

[alanjgreen]

Date: Friday 17^th April 2020. 2320-0410hrs

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.

The last three sessions outside have been focused on Supernovae, tonight I wanted to focus on the grade 3 (rated by me “the best of the best” galaxies to view based on my experience with Night Vision on >150 galaxies).

I did not get through the whole list as the sky just keeps on turning and some targets were deserving of long lingering looks!😀

After connecting Sky Safari to my Nexus wifi unit, I completed 2-star alignment and loaded the 55mm Plossl (for fastest possible “effective” focal ratio of my system), selected my Grade 3 observing list (using Sky Safari) and headed to the nearest target…

 

Observing Report.

• NGC4051 – The galaxy showed as a superb “S” shape. The core had a tiny black circle around it, straight bar and arms curve away both ends. A good start!
• NGC4449 – bright core, bright-ish inner halo, fainter larger outer halo with a detached arm curving on the lower side.
• NGC2403 –large mid-brightness circular central region, long arm exits @3 (o’clock), curves back over top and down left hand side (LHS) to 6 (o’clock).
• M81 – large with a bright core section & inner halo. Long arm sweeps from 6 up LHS to 10. Much fainter arm exists (just visible) exits 12 and comes down RHS to 4.
• NGC3631 – Mid-size faintish patch. Tiny core & hazy spiral structure (hard to see directly). Looks like a circle then glimpses of “more”!
• NGC3726 – Faintish bar-spiral galaxy. Tiny bright core, bar and arms on both sides come & go from view.
• NGC3893 – Nice. Tiny but has a clear arm running underneath 3 to 9 (o’clock).

Time check – 2356hrs

• NGC3953 – small and bright. Dot core & brighter inner halo (seems to be circular). Averted reveals the galaxy as a bright oblong shaped patch suggesting more content further out too.
• M109 – Bright bar and plenty of arms to view. One (then two) arms seen exiting @9 and up over top to 3 (& beyond). Lower arm seen intermittently. No arms seen leaving the bar @3 end.
• M106 – Super bright galaxy. “S” shaped arm structure and central bar. Lower arm clearer to see, upper area has more brightness hiding the arm although thin bright lane is visible within the upper area with averted.
• NGC4217 – small but perfectly formed edge-on galaxy. Bright core seen in upper section. Long black dust lane runs along the leading edge full length.
• NGC4618 & NGC4625 – Two galaxies (one small and one tiny), both displaying clear arm structures. 4618 is larger and has a long single arm RHS which seems to leave the lower end of the bar. 4625 is tiny but has a clear circular structure surrounding it. Nice.😀

Time check – 0031hrs

• M94 –

1. 55mm = Bright core & inner halo. Seems to be surrounded by a black circular area with a faint circular section around that.
2. 27mm for more magnification to see detail within the bright halo but not much to see. Black circular section and outer ring disappear (due to loss of “effective focal ratio” caused by change to higher power eyepiece).

• NGC4216 – A lovely trio of edge on galaxies in the same fov (all different sizes) dominated by the largest/brightest 4216. I see a bright core on the topside, tiny spec underneath (a field star). A long flat disk with black dust lane running the full length. Nice.😀
• M61 –

1. 55mm = Small & beautiful. Bright bar spiral galaxy with obvious arm structure. With some time a long arm is seen exiting at 8, it runs right and up past the other end of the bar. Shorter arm exits at 2 and runs down LHS to 10. 
2. 35mm Panoptic and was surprised that there was still plenty of arm structure on offer + increased scale. It was harder to see the arms than with the 55mm Plossl though.

• M99 –

1. 35mm = Large galaxy with clear anti-clockwise arms.
2. 55mm = Like a "two legged octopus" (if there was such a thing), long arm leaves at 4 anti-clockwise over top to 10. Second arm leaves at 10 and heads down to 6 (a less curvy arm).

• M100 –

1. 35mm = inner spiral arms clear. Outer arms partially there. Upper arm heads out to a field star. Tiny galaxy patch at 5 o’clock catches the eye.
2. 55mm = Outer arms are easier to see. Lovely elongated arms!

• M98 – 55mm. Bright core and bar section. “T” bar at top end. Hints of circular arms but not clearly seen.
• NGC5248 – small bar spiral. A long arm appears to leave @6, swings up RHS and over top and back down to 9.
• NGC5746 – Lovely edge-on. Core seen on the top-side. Black dust lane runs full length of the leading edge.
• UGC10528/SN2020ekk. SUCCESS. Supernova observed using 27mm Panoptic and my star chart notes from last time out. This is a bright supernova set well away from the galaxy disk (once you know where it is!)
• M13 globular – It would be rude not to pop in and see M13 while sitting nearby! With the 27mm eyepiece it almost filled the fov with stars resolved right to the core. The propeller (more of a “1970s space invader”) was obvious. Hope to spend more time on globulars next week…
• M101 –

1. 27mm = Surprisingly showing a large amount of arm detail, mostly faintish but more as you keep looking. Galaxy completely fills the fov at this magnification. All the arms are there plus a couple of internal NGC/IC patches too.
2. 35mm = Harder, 27mm view was better.
3. 55mm = Brightest view with reduced scale but the arms are all there and the internal NGC/IC too.
4. Reckon 55mm wins then 27mm second place.

Time check = 0258hrs.

• M51 –

1. 27mm = Bridge to the interacting neighbour NGC5195 is almost complete. Increased scale is nice too. View is not sharp but plenty to see so I spend some time tracing the full length of the arms in finite detail.
2. 35mm = Brighter image than the 27mm. Bridge is now all there.
3. 55mm = brightest and clearest view. NGC5195 has a lovely oblong shape with bridge details at NGC5195 end much enhanced.

• NGC5371 – 55mm. A central dot core with a large disk. Swirliness in the disk. Possible long arm seen on the RHS.
• NGC5907 – Long edge-on galaxy. Core sits on the top-side. Black dust lane runs the length of the leading edge.
• NGC6214/SNAT2020gpe – A toughie. Brightest and best view was with the 35mm Panoptic. The SN is very faint and right next to the core @11 o’clock. The SN was glimpsed several times but I could not hold it in direct vision. Perfect star pattern match to my sketch from 15^th April.

 

Milky Way is pulling me away…

By now my fingers were pretty chilly and all I could see was the bright wide Milky Way rising South to North and constantly pulling my attention away from the scope. On the 15^th I had moved to some x1 handheld Night Vision with an 7nm Ha filter. Tonight it was all too much and I added a Chroma 5nm Ha filter to the front of the Paracorr2 and targeted the scope for some much magnified views of the few parts of the spiral arms that I could get to over the tall side of the shed...

As this is the “GalaxyQuest” report, I will not write about my observations here.

 

Epilogue.

The weather forecast next week seems unbelievable and it is showing me several clear nights plus its new moon. Just need to keep my fingers crossed that it actually happens, maybe then the barren months of January & February will be long forgotten!😀

 

Clear Skies,

Alan

Edited April 19, 2020 by alanjgreen

[Marvin Jenkins]

Absolutely ridiculous. Every time I read one of these reports I know the direction my future observing is heading. Feels like the cutting edge of observation.
Alan, you are a lucky man and I hope those skies are clear for you over the new moon.

Marv

[Bill S]

An impressive report with lots of tantalising detail. Some good suggestions for others to look at.

The forecast does look promising. That’s probably put the hex on it.

Bill