Leo Galaxies with a small aperture

[John]

Unexpected clear, dark skies tonight.

I got the ED120 refractor out and had a peruse of the usual suspect double stars in and around Orion. The seeing was decent "above the belt" (Orion's that is) but shaky lower down so Sirius was too much of a fuzzball to split this evening.

Did get the tight pair of Tegmine / Zeta Cancri though so that is Phil Harringtons current "Cosmic Challenge" met 

https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/column/phil-harrington-s/cosmic-challenge-zeta-ζ-cancri-r3286

I decided to switch target type and have a go at some of the brighter galaxies, as the transparency seemed quite good.

I popped the 24mm Panoptic eyepiece into the diagonal and set to work in Leo, starting with his "head" end and working backwards under his belly. I was quite pleased to get this haul with the 12cm aperture:

NGC 2903

NCG 3190 and NGC 3193 - members of the "Leo Quartet" group.

M 95, M 96, N 105 and NGC 3384 - these were all in the same field of view and very nice it was !

M 65, M 66 and NGC 3628 - the famous "Leo Triplet" and again a nice view. NGC 3628 (AKA The Hamburger) is more challenging than the other two with this scope.

NGC 3489

NGC 3367

NGC 3412

NGC 3810

NGC 3705

So 15 Leo galaxies in all so far. None fainter than magnitude 11.5 but some quite challenging nonetheless in the smaller scope.

Not my normal fare with this scope but it's fun to change tack from time to time 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by John

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Great John. Just shows what can be done with a small aperture under decent skies. It's frustrating at times here in the urban jungle!

 

[John]

Switched back to high power to get a lovely view of the fine double star Gamma Virginis (Porrima) and then over to Hercules to get that challenging uneven brightness tight pair Zeta Herculis. Rather unusually the seeing AND the transparency seem good tonight. Zeta split at 225x and upwards.

Switched to the zoom to catch the "glittering prizes" of Messier 13 and 92, Hercules magnificent globular clusters. Both showing a nice spray of resolved outer stars at 125x magnification.

Getting chilly now though ❄️

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by John

[John]

I finished off this session by putting the Ethos 21mm in the 120mm refractor and having a wander around the galactic playground that lies between Denebola and Vindemeatrix (Epsilon Virginis) and in particular the famous Markarian's Chain of galaxies. I must have picked up a dozen or more fuzzy spots, ovals and patches just in a small patch of sky here. I was pleasantly surprised how many of "the chain" were visible in the 12cm aperture.

Hopefully I'll get another similar night soon so that I can get my 12 inch dob in amongst these. You literally fall over galaxies at every turn here and it can be darned hard recalling which ones you have actually seen. Literally "Lost in Space" 

Very nice session, all in all, as the unexpected ones often are !

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by John

[Epick Crom]

Good work John👍. You did well with that haul of galaxies. I was hoping to get my first look at the whole Leo, Virgo region of galaxies last night but was too cloudy. Well done!

[Kon]

As I newbie I did not realise that Leo was full of galaxies cluster so close to each other. It must be a sight! I will try give them a go next time I am out.

[Pixies]

32 minutes ago, Kon said:

As I newbie I did not realise that Leo was full of galaxies cluster so close to each other. It must be a sight! I will try give them a go next time I am out.

Wait till you get a load of Virgo!

Actually, the Virgo supercluster is based around Virgo/Coma Berenices - including Markarian's Chain. The latter is in my bucket list for this year.

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galgrps/vir.html

 

[John]

9 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Wait till you get a load of Virgo!

Actually, the Virgo supercluster is based around Virgo/Coma Berenices - including Markarian's Chain. The latter is in my bucket list for this year.

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galgrps/vir.html

 

Yep - I'm getting my 12 inch dob on "the chain" shortly tonight I hope. I can usually see 10+ galaxies in the same field of view with the 12. I was surprised how well the 4.7 inch refractor did though.

I've spent the last hour going through Ursa Major galaxies while Leo rises - there are quite a few up there as well !

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by John