More clear moonless skies

[John]

Another decent night here so far.

12 inch dob out again. Spending more time on the other side of the sky from Leo this evening although I've just had a quick look at the supernova in IC 3322A in Virgo and it's still there and around the same brightness (mag 13 ish).

On the other side of the sky I've had some nice views at 338x of the planetary nebulae NGC 6543 (Cat's Eye Nebula) including it's central star, used 122x on M 97 (The Owl Nebula) and teased out indications of it's "eyes" using an O-III filter. With the filter off, I just managed to squeeze the planetary nebula and the galaxy M 108 into the same field of view, which was nice 

Obligatory looks at the galaxies M81 and M82, M51 and NGC 5195. Explored the knots and rifts in M82 at 338x where the galaxy more of less spanned the whole field of view.

Found Messier galaxies 109 in Ursa Major near Phecda (Gamma U. Maj) and 94 (the Croc's Eye) in Canes Venatici. The latter is really bright and showed easily in my 9x50 finder.

Went a bit deeper in this area and picked up NGC's 4490 (the Cocoon Galaxy) and 4485, an interacting pair of galaxies in C. Vn. Coming down a little to find NGC's 5198 and 5173 quite close to the much better known "Whirlpool" galaxy M51.

Popped down into Hercules to find the globular clusters M 13 and M 92. Both well resolved despite not yet having risen that high.

Back up to Canes Venatici to have a look at NGC's 4631 and 4656, the Whale and Hockeystick galaxies, respectively, which I've not observed for a long time.

It's still clear but I think I've had enough for tonight. Another enjoyable deep sky session  

Edited April 13, 2021 by John

[Astro Waves]

You're not messing around there at all! it is indeed a super clear night which is amazing, I've even managed to outlast the cat in staying awake!

[John]

10 hours ago, John said:

.... Coming down a little to find NGC's 5198 and 5173 quite close to the much better known "Whirlpool" galaxy M51.....

Although close to Messier 51 in terms of "line of sight" I ought to have added that NGC's 5198 and 5173 are a lot further away - around 112 million light years distant compared with M 51's 31 million LY's.

 

[Stardaze]

Plenty there John and you’ve given me a tip there with M82, I hadn’t considered such high power. Tried M51 at 157x Sunday night, but it didn’t add anything on that evening. I must try that more!

[Pixies]

Last night here wasn't as good as recent ones. The sky was a little 'milky' and not great for fainter things, even with the new moon. Seeing was great though.

 

[Andrew*]

Great report John - thanks for that. Upping the magnification on galaxies and really exploring within them is something I've yet to try - thanks for the tip.

Yes, @Pixies, I didn't even bother getting the scope out last night as transparency was really poor near Aberdeen.

[Epick Crom]

Nice haul there John, you guys up north are sure spoiled for choice regarding galaxies! I would love to observe the Whirlpool Galaxy but it's a horizon scraper here..

[wookie1965]

What a night I have not seen the "whale" and "hockey stick" for a few years now not been to a dark sky with the 5" yet to see if I can get them and never seen M51 from home. 

Some great galaxies there and the "cats eye" I have never tried. 

[John]

27 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

What a night I have not seen the "whale" and "hockey stick" for a few years now not been to a dark sky with the 5" yet to see if I can get them and never seen M51 from home. 

Some great galaxies there and the "cats eye" I have never tried. 

NGC 6552 is well placed and not too hard to find:

It's quite small but it's clearly not a star at, say, 50x and takes on a sort of eye shape with some magnification. It's close to another star when you come across it in the eyepiece.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by John

[wookie1965]

Thanks John just wonder from my home whether or not I could glimpse it with my 5". 

[John]

12 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Thanks John just wonder from my home whether or not I could glimpse it with my 5". 

You should be able to. I've seen it quite easily with a 100mm refractor. The central star seems to need more aperture than that but the nebula itself is quite bright.