Leo trio - how easy to find?

[Orange Smartie]

On Wednesday, I was blessed with a nice clear night, during which one of my targets was the Leo triplet (M65/66 and NGC3628).

I thought I saw some faint hint of a DSO in the search area, but nothing very obvious, and this was on a night so dark that I couldn't see my hand in front of my face! 

How bright should these 3 be in a 6 inch dob? 

[kev100]

Hiya. I've seen two out of the three with my 10x50 binoculars, but failed on Wednesday with the 20x80s. I felt that this was due to humidity/very thin cloud to the north and east. In fact I failed with other galaxies in those directions, including M51. Looking east, M31 and M33 were obvious. On a good night, the triplet will be very obvious in your scope.

Kev

[Zermelo]

Hi,

I saw M65 and M66 for the first time on Wednesday.

I have a 6" newt operating under Bortle 4 skies, though transparency wasn't perfect. I agree with @kev100 that there seemed to be some thin, high cloud that won't have helped.

I found them almost immediately, I just pointed with the Telrad and they were visible in a wide EP - admittedly only smudges, I could see a hint of shape but no more. I couldn't see NGC3628 at all, though I believe it is the hardest of the three.

[wibblefish]

I shall have to add them to my list, I might get a night out tonight though weather app is highly changeable at present and its also reporting some cloud cover so who knows what the seeing will be like! Be good if so since it looks like wall to wall cloud and snow here for the next week!

Edited February 5, 2021 by wibblefish

[Orange Smartie]

Many thanks, both.  I'm Bortle 4 as well, but as you say, may have been high cloud in the way - many stars were visible to the naked eye, but I guess that doesn't give the whole picture. 

Do you think I'd pick them up with 8x42 binoculars?  If so, might be worth checking with these first next time, so I'm sure I'm in the vicinity.

Pete

[Orange Smartie]

2 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

I shall have to add them to my list, I might get a night out tonight though weather app is highly changeable at present and its also reporting some cloud cover so who knows what the seeing will be like! Be good if so since it looks like wall to wall cloud and snow here for the next week!

Good luck with that!  I've got maybe 1-3 hours tonight when it might be ok, but other than that it's all red on clearoutside until Wednesday night, which is perfect.....but I'm busy with something else!

[Tiny Clanger]

I had a try at them, as Leo was in a fairly convenient easterly no-tree-or-lamppost line of sight from my garden, but it was rather low , and I couldn't see them either ... 99% sure I clocked Vesta a little later though , just as the ragged clouds began to roll in, which made up for it . 🙂

Heather

[Orange Smartie]

3 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I had a try at them, as Leo was in a fairly convenient easterly no-tree-or-lamppost line of sight from my garden, but it was rather low , and I couldn't see them either ... 99% sure I clocked Vesta a little later though , just as the ragged clouds began to roll in, which made up for it . 🙂

Heather

Nice one!

I can't complain - I had my first look at the double cluster in Perseus, and M44.

[John]

I've seen these reasonably often with my 4 inch refractors. The brighter pair can be spotted with my 11x70 binoculars but I think would be quite a challenge with 8x42's.

My skies are around bortle 5.

While you are in the Leo area, at the "head" end of the lion NGC 2903 is a good one to try for with a small scope:

As you can see from the above, Leo is a rich hunting ground for galaxies with something like an 8 or 10 inch scope

 

[Orange Smartie]

That's amazing....aperture fever is starting to grip me!  If I'm not careful, my house will be like Jodrell Bank by the end of the year.

[John]

6 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

That's amazing....aperture fever is starting to grip me!  If I'm not careful, my house will be like Jodrell Bank by the end of the year.

Just wait until you see what is in the Virgo / Coma Berenices area !

Markarian's Chain for example

Edited February 5, 2021 by John

[Tiny Clanger]

It's the art of the possible isn't it ? 🙂

A complicated combo of what seeing conditions we have, if the Moon is out, what bloomin' trees and houses and street furniture get in the way, and what happens to be in a 'good' area of viewing from our back gardens at a time when the clouds actually roll away ... and the limitations of a small 'scope  ...

I wasn't properly prepared the night before last, because the forecasts didn't actually forecast  😞, I only saw the clear sky when my feline despot came in for her dinner, so it was all a speedy scrabble to get the scope out to cool and decide on likely targets while eating my own dinner. Not ideal !

[Tiny Clanger]

6 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

That's amazing....aperture fever is starting to grip me!  If I'm not careful, my house will be like Jodrell Bank by the end of the year.

Yep, I've been thinking .... hmm, is there room in the corner of the living room for a 200mm dob ... ?

[wibblefish]

Hehe, I often just stick my head out as well but luckily the refractor whilst small has almost zero cooldown 

Unfortunately my brain keeps looking at the bigger 127S Bresser / 120 Evo or ST / 127 Skymax or just a really big 200P Dob and thinking now I would see more of xyz. Its traitorous and wants to spend more of my pennies! I am not sure I even have room for a second scope stored  nor the will to set up more than one on a night or the patience to wait an hour for the bigger things to cooldown 😛 

Edited February 5, 2021 by wibblefish

[Orange Smartie]

11 minutes ago, John said:

Wow!

 

[Tiny Clanger]

2 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

Hehe, I often just stick my head out as well but luckily the refractor whilst small has almost zero cooldown 

Unfortunately my brain keeps looking at the bigger 127S Bresser / 120 Evo or ST / 127 Skymax or just a really big 8" Dob and thinking now I would see more of xyz in that. Its traitorous and wants to spend more of my pennies! I am not sure I even have room for a second scope stored  nor the will to set up more than one on a night 😛 

Ah, well your profligate brain really shouldn't be told the 127 mak itself is a very neat little package (it even comes with a handy padded bag ...)  ,and I've hardly ever set up both it and the heritage 150 (only had the mak since November, so this may change later in the year when it's less cold & muddy out) . If there are planets to see , or the Moon is up, the mak goes out, if no planets on the menu and the sky is not illuminated by the moon, little dob it is.

Honestly from what I've read the smaller 102 mak would probably be just as nice for lunar & planetary stuff, and being lighter could go on a lighter cheaper mount too.

I suspect that the pair of 'scopes I own are limited partly by light pollution , and partly by user ineptitude ,so I should probably stick to the free upgrade route of getting better at observing, while eagerly waiting the opportunity to drive down the road 10 min's to a darker rural spot when 'these unprecedented times' ease ...

[wibblefish]

17 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

Wow!

 

Seconded, thats a lot of stuff in one place blimey

[wibblefish]

12 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Ah, well your profligate brain really shouldn't be told the 127 mak itself is a very neat little package (it even comes with a handy padded bag ...)  ,and I've hardly ever set up both it and the heritage 150 (only had the mak since November, so this may change later in the year when it's less cold & muddy out) . If there are planets to see , or the Moon is up, the mak goes out, if no planets on the menu and the sky is not illuminated by the moon, little dob it is.

Honestly from what I've read the smaller 102 mak would probably be just as nice for lunar & planetary stuff, and being lighter could go on a lighter cheaper mount too.

I suspect that the pair of 'scopes I own are limited partly by light pollution , and partly by user ineptitude ,so I should probably stick to the free upgrade route of getting better at observing, while eagerly waiting the opportunity to drive down the road 10 min's to a darker rural spot when 'these unprecedented times' ease ...

You should try the Skymax on double stars, they are really fun though sometimes a challenge to find and totally not affected by moon / LP  

Ah I nearly bought a 102 as my first telescope on an EQ mount (that could do AZ), kinda glad I avoided it now due to stock limitations as get some lovely views out of the refractor. Its a shame there are no real star parties / I don't really know anyone with something like a Dob / Mak to go and have a nosey about how the compare so I will just have to rely on SGL  

Back on topic (sorry @Orange Smartie) it alas looks like my weather window has closed according to my app even though its clear skies and sun out, guess it'll be a stick head out of backdoor situation later! Its on the master list of targets though ready!

Edited February 5, 2021 by wibblefish

[Orange Smartie]

21 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

Back on topic (sorry @Orange Smartie) it alas looks like my weather window has closed according to my app even though its clear skies and sun out, guess it'll be a stick head out of backdoor situation later! Its on the master list of targets though ready!

No need to apologise!  Being on topic is over-rated anyway.

Do you have Turn Left at Orion?  I got hold of it in the last week or so and it's very useful for giving an outline of seasonal targets (and stuff we in the Northern Hemispher can see all the time).  Of course it doesn't help you if you're looking in the wrong direction, as I have proved!

[wibblefish]

8 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

No need to apologise!  Being on topic is over-rated anyway.

Do you have Turn Left at Orion?  I got hold of it in the last week or so and it's very useful for giving an outline of seasonal targets (and stuff we in the Northern Hemispher can see all the time).  Of course it doesn't help you if you're looking in the wrong direction, as I have proved!

Lol I always feel bad waffling off-topic on threads that arent my own!

Yeah I have it, I really need to have a re-read at some point but I have plenty of targets for the moment. Mine is a bit tricksy with the back garden having bad LP in one direction, high trees in another and not being so big so I am going for volume of things to look at and working down the list of a night with my app going nope nope depending on how low / obscured stuff is  

Edited February 5, 2021 by wibblefish

[DaveS]

I've seen the triplet in my old Megrez 90 from here, and when I turned my 180 Mak-Cass on them M65 and 66 looked like a pair of headlights. couldn't get the Hamburger in as well, too small a field.

And I'm nearly 100% imager, so my visual expertise is near zero. A more experienced observer would have seen more I'm sure.

[Orange Smartie]

29 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I've seen the triplet in my old Megrez 90 from here, and when I turned my 180 Mak-Cass on them M65 and 66 looked like a pair of headlights. couldn't get the Hamburger in as well, too small a field.

And I'm nearly 100% imager, so my visual expertise is near zero. A more experienced observer would have seen more I'm sure.

It's sounds like I was looking in the wrong place then maybe.  I'll take another look tonight, weather permitting.

[DaveS]

CO has my SQI as 21.66, so the dark end of Bortle 4, very nearly Bortle 3.

[Pixies]

Earlier in the year, when all this was new to me, I couldn't find the triplet. Star hopping was new to me, too - but I was pretty certain I was in the right place. The target was due south at the time, which was an area of some local light pollution, though.

Last month, during one of the rare clear nights without a moon I tried again. This time I landed on them straight away and could get all 3 in one view. M65 and M66 were clear in direct vision, but NGC 3628 needed averted vision to see it. They were SE, though, and in darker skies.

This is Bortle 6, by the way.

[Muc]

😲

I caught 2 of them nicely in a 4" really fast F/4.2 Newtonian. Couldnt catch the third onethat night though.

It was 3 o clock in the morning and when I came back into the kitchen I was weirded out by the 35 million year timeframe of what I just saw.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene  

Edited February 5, 2021 by Muc