One for your target list?

[mdstuart]

Lovely clear night with no moon yesterday. During the day I stumbled accross this Texas star party list of targets.

tspcluba_p.pdf

Owen B from the Webb Society kindly gave me the skytools file to add the targets to my star atlas software.

My favorite observation from last night was Markarian 231. Even after years of observing and looking at over a 1000 galaxies sometimes something comes up that you have not seen before which is amazing and this was one of those.

It is apparently the closest quasar pumping out matter towards us which makes it visible even at a distance of 581 million light years.

My observation 

Here is the hubble picture of the galaxy.

It's just under mag 14 and was visible with direct vision in my 20 inch dob but I think it would be possible in a 10 inch.

So when you are next looking towards the plough have a look at Markarian 231 and think about the two black holes spinning around within this galaxy which one day will merge and send out a gravity wave.

Here is a chart for you to use.

 

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Interesting Mark I will give it a go with the 12" Dob . Unfortunately light pollution has increased at home over the past 12 months so I have dropped into bortle 5.

[Mr Spock]

Nice target. What an interesting galaxy.

2 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I have dropped into bortle 5.

Lol, I've gone from 5 to 6...

[RobertI]

Great report and background info - thanks. The Hubble pic seems to show a very bright core of the galaxy - so bright it has spikes - is that a field star that happens to lie in line of sight or the actual core? Looks like the core?

Edited January 30, 2022 by RobertI

[Littleguy80]

Thanks for sharing, Mark. I’ll give it a go with the 10” dob. I quite agree that it’s great to find some new targets like this. Was out myself last night which was very enjoyable. 

[mdstuart]

38 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Great report and background info - thanks. The Hubble pic seems to show a very bright core of the galaxy - so bright it has spikes - is that a field star that happens to lie in line of sight or the actual core? Looks like the core?

The bright core is typical of markarian galaxies. I think it's the manic star formation which results in the bright core of this one. Have a read of this link.

https://sci.esa.int/web/hubble/-/42663-markarian-231

 

[John]

Excellent stuff Mark - thanks for the sketches and notes on this target

I will give it a try with my 12 inch when the next opportunity arises.

As with @Mark at Beaufort though, I suspect that my skies from home are not quite as good as they were 2-3 years back. My town keeps on growing !

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by John

[wookie1965]

No chance in my 5" and the weather has been rubbish supposed to be clear Friday. 

[mdstuart]

Just now, wookie1965 said:

No chance in my 5" and the weather has been rubbish supposed to be clear Friday. 

Yes I think it needs an 6 inch. I could see it in my new Orion 8 inch from a town sky.

Mark

[Daf]

Thanks for sharing Mark. Definitely one I'll be trying out when I get a chance. 8" dob from 'reasonable' town skies, so will see how it goes 😁

Edited February 6, 2022 by Daf