Leo and Centaurus

[Epick Crom]

Hi my fellow stargazers! After enduring a torrid two and a half weeks of overcast skies, finally got a nice clear sky last night. Giddy with anticipation, I brought out my 10 inch dob into my backyard to undertake some much needed observations. I decided this session was exclusively for studying the constellations Leo and Centaurus. Here's what I found:

Leo 

Algieba: A mesmerising sight! Love the colour of this double 

Leo Triple: NGC 3628, M65 and M66 all seen in the same field of view at 70x. Wow, my first time observing the Leo Triple galaxies, fell in love with this group. Incredible feeling to view three galaxies in one go!

Regulus: Wide double, just spent time soaking up the view and appreciating getting to observe again 😊

Leo 1: This faint dwarf galaxy is located close to Regulus, and is a member of our Local Group. Just detected it as a faint round glow with Regulus moved out of my FOV.

Vesta: This Asteroid is currently located in Leo, not far from Chertan. I'm so pleased to have nabbed my first Asteroid! It is in line with a star of equal brightness to Vesta, so will be interesting to track its motion in the comming nights! God I just love Astronomy 😁

Centaurus

NGC 5286: First time observing this beautiful globular cluster. The view is great because the yellow star M  Centauri is close by. Wonderful.

Alpha Centauri: Beautiful double star, blazingly bright in my 10 ".

NGC 3766: The Pearl cluster.  What a nice cluster, stars strewn everywhere!

NGC 5139: The big daddy of all the globulars, Omega Centauri. I wish I could put into words the view of this incredible cluster. First time looking at it through my dob, OMG the density of stars is insane! This just blew me away.

All up 1.5 hrs was spent observing. Extremely satisfied with my session. Hope you all have lots of fun and enjoyment observing our lovely night sky, and thanks for reading!

Joe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kimboman]

hi Epic Crom  I spent many hours looking at Centuras for my back garden in Perth what super skies you have.

[Epick Crom]

Hi Kimboman. Yes Perth skies are great! Clear skies to you 👍

[Nik271]

Thank you that was a nice read @Epick Crom, I enjoy your reports! Vesta is quite fun to track - it moves very noticeably from day to day and right now is about the brightest it gets. 

Enjoy the southern skies, they seem so exotic from here! 

[Kon]

Excellent report again Joe. It sounds you had a great night with all the galaxies. NGC 5139 must be full of colours in your 10".  Fingers crossed to more clear nights.

[Epick Crom]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

Thank you that was a nice read @Epick Crom, I enjoy your reports! Vesta is quite fun to track - it moves very noticeably from day to day and right now is about the brightest it gets. 

Enjoy the southern skies, they seem so exotic from here! 

Thanks Nik! I'm looking forward to tracking the movements of Vesta. This is another first for me in our wonderful hobby 😊 Clear skies

[Epick Crom]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Excellent report again Joe. It sounds you had a great night with all the galaxies. NGC 5139 must be full of colours in your 10".  Fingers crossed to more clear nights.

Thank you Kon! Yes, Omega Centauri shows nice star colours. Hopefully there are lots of clear nights in store for the both of us!

[SuburbanMak]

Thank you great report & gave me a proper Scooby-Doo moment when I realised you were on the other side of the planet. 
I had my first view of the Leo Triplet this week too - it’s a mind blowing hobby this, staring 35 million years into the past across unimaginable distance almost at the same time as someone on the other side of the globe observes the same thing, & you’ve other stars (& Magellanic Clouds!) to see that are completely unknown to me, but we can all share it on here - tiny humans united in wonder at the vastness. 

[Epick Crom]

7 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

Thank you great report & gave me a proper Scooby-Doo moment when I realised you were on the other side of the planet. 
I had my first view of the Leo Triplet this week too - it’s a mind blowing hobby this, staring 35 million years into the past across unimaginable distance almost at the same time as someone on the other side of the globe observes the same thing, & you’ve other stars (& Magellanic Clouds!) to see that are completely unknown to me, but we can all share it on here - tiny humans united in wonder at the vastness. 

Very well said! Indeed this is a mind bending hobby, it is awe inspiring to think about it all. People seperated by vast distances on Earth observing the same patch of sky from different hemispheres plus the millions of light years distances reaching us from deep space. Astronomy is food for the mind!