HCG 55 in the 15"

[jetstream]

A really mild day today with evening temps of -1c. Nice and clear out there and I managed an averted glimpse of 17 Umi at 6.8 mag, not bad seeing its not near zenith, but its easy to locate.

Interesting setting up the Sky Commander- its initially off a fair bit in both truss dobs? The re align on object feature straightened it out but more investigation needed- I think its the operator!lol!

So...a quick sky tour including M57's Owl eyes, the ol' Monkey Head and the Eskimo for a warm up. Over to the Leo Triplet with the 14 Nikon HW and then the favourite Needle galaxy. Back into the Ursa Major area and a swing over to M81/M82 -and- this put the idea in my head for HCG 55, but wait I forgot M51 - great compact spirals tonight in the Nikon. Can't leave M101 behind as those delicate spirals are too hard to ignore.

I have observed Hickson 55 a fair bit in the 24", getting 4 separated galaxies in direct vision. I figured why not in the 15"? The blurred chain was easily spotted with the 14 HW and with the Sky Commander putting me right on target. After seeing the target so well I figured its ortho time. A Circle T 12.5mm immediately gave a brighter view, so back in the seacan for the beloved 7mm KK ortho. This  eyepiece shows the central star in M57 with the 15" and low and behold I got 3 of HCG 55 with this eyepiece! I could hold two in direct vision but the 3rd in averted. The averted view would then make me lose the 2 direct visions and all would become averted at times. It was quite a sight thats for sure.

I'm actually really pumped that I got the separations like this with the 15".

[Kon]

Very nice report and a lot of exciting targets you bagged there.

[estwing]

Fantastic Gerry...I have certainly caught 3 with fleeting glimpses of a fourth in my 18" but the transparency was at it's best...but then again it was easier in @mapstar22"

[mapstar]

One of my favourite groups to test sky conditions. We looked at this when the mob travelled to the Isle of sky as Calvin says. 

NGC3735 which is what I use as a guide post to star hop to it. It's about twice the size of all 5 of the HCG 55 galaxies.

4 definitely but that 5th is really difficult to tease out. I may get out and try for it the next new moon.