Stephan's Quintet passes the grunt test.

[domstar]

I think I got it. I really think I got it. Here is some background.

Four nights of observing with Stephan's Quintet as my main focus. That's over three hours of staring at the space where it should be- every night more and more focused on the exact spot. Last night the seeing was poor but the transparency was great. The milky way showed detail. It was windy and chilly but dry as a bone. @jetstream had given me great advice (not for the first time) to up the magnification. At first at 90x magnification. There was a faint fuzz just to the right of where I was expecting (refractor view), which I managed to resolve as two stars. Maybe some glimpses of my target but probably not. Then I went up to 100x. Still looking when my nose gave an involuntary grunt. The same grunt I gave when I managed the Trapezium F star for the first time. I managed three more involuntary grunts, one after upping the mag to 112.5x. I think I got glimpses in different places but mostly the lower part (unfortunately the nearest galaxy). I had a break and checked out the Splinter Galaxy in Draco. It was the first time I'd been able to see it and it was clear to me. It is brighter than Stephan's Quintet but it's surface brightness is less. I went back and had the same feeling again about the Quintet.

Did I see it? I can't say for sure. I'm about 85 percent certain. Does it matter? Yes and No. After I'd ticked off the numbers of the Messier list I didn't really know what to do next. These last couple of week has clarified this. I think I get most pleasure from trying to see faint stuff. I haven't got the patience to tease out detail. I'm getting better but I rarely do more than 10 minutes on Jupiter and half an hour on the moon. I enjoy old favourites like the Wild Duck but not for long periods at a time. However, some of my most enjoyable and rewarding sessions have been objects where I know where they should be but can't quite see them. In spring it was the Siamese Twins and this autumn it was Stephan's Quintet.

Thanks for reading.

p.s. Can anyone confirm the two very faint stars to the left of Stephan's Quintet. They are too dim for Stellarium and pictures are inconclusive.

[jetstream]

Congrats!

I don't remember for sure but I do think those are the right stars, I'll check. Great observing Dom! For you to be getting these objects in a 100mm indicates a natural ability to observe galaxies. Orthos rule here IMHO and is what I use to confirm very faint Pn and galaxies. The 10BCO barlows so well and I have a bunch of orthos that made the short list.

Get hold of a 7mm KK (Fuji) ortho if you can which gives a useable .8mm exit pupil. At some point it goes the other way- ie too much mag but from experience I think you can use a 7mm ortho or the 10BCO barlowed 1.5x.

Keep up on this target Dom, over and over and over to build object recognition. and over again...

[domstar]

@jetstream Thanks very much. Yes, you are absolutely right. The proof will be if I can see it next time. I'm itching to have another go at it.

 

[John]

It's great to read reports of folks really pushing their equipment and themselves on really challenging targets

I had a look at that area last time out with my 12 inch dob but the transparency was so so and I was not clear that I saw it. There were some suspect hazy patches in the right place though.

Time for a re-visit I think

[domstar]

I had another look on Friday night. I got the same feeling at 100x. There's something there. It could be an unresolved star.

[Marvin Jenkins]

2 hours ago, domstar said:

I had another look on Friday night. I got the same feeling at 100x. There's something there. It could be an unresolved star.

Just wanted to know your thoughts about The Splinter? You mention it in passing. I realise that the post is about the Quintet, but I was gob smacked with the splinter. So much so, I did a three hour imaging run on it not realising how faint and distant it really was.

I need to look through my observing diary, but I am sure I was trying for the Quintet when I ended up frustrated and discovered the Splinter. What is it about seeing something so distant for the first time?

Marv

[jetstream]

The Splinter NGC 5906 is longer than NGC 7331 and a bit less than half the width and 2 magnitudes fainter. This is a great catch by Dom under his vg skies. The sky makes all the difference IMHO, along with the observer. Knowing your scope and what eyepiece to use with it also can make a tremendous difference.

Edited September 20, 2020 by jetstream

[domstar]

@Marvin Jenkins I really like the Splinter (I saw it again last night) It has a nice shape that looks good in a frac, it's far away, it has a (good) name and it is easy to know where it should be- just above that line of 3 stars. That's important for me as I can feel confident that I'm in the right place and it's my eyes I need to train. When I'm not sure exactly where a galaxy should be I have a much harder time seeing it, of course. 

Third time last night on the Quintet. I can see the same thing as before. This time I could sometime hold it in averted vision for a second or more. I looked at some pictures and it seems there are no foreground stars outshining the galaxies so I'm pretty sure I saw maybe two of them but I still couldn't swear to it. One of the galaxies is foreground but the others are about 233 million light years away. Just off out now. Wish me luck.

[Marvin Jenkins]

🤞

[mdstuart]

The quintet is hard to find. I normally go from NGC 7331 and then hop. There is a right angle triangle of stars and the quintet are along the hypotenuse of that triangle. I struggle to split the five with my 20 inch so you are doing really well spotting them.

Do try again as some nights are more transparent and of course wait until they are as high in the sky as possible. Try averted vision, tapping the edge of the focuser and relatively high power.

Really enjoyed your post.

Mark

[domstar]

@mdstuart Thanks. NGC 7331 has become very familiar to me over the last few weeks. I even feel a bit guilty just using it as a jump off point as it's magnificent in its own right. I tried again tonight but the conditions weren't quite as good. I know I have the right spot. I feel so close but I'm not 100 percent sure. In the past, by the second time I'm sure of what I've seen and the third time it's easy but not this time. 

Anyway, thanks for the tips. You seem to be a guy who knows his galaxies. Successful or not, it's been thrilling just trying.