Galaxies in Leo Minor

[Nyctimene]

Was out in the garden with the 18" Obsession yesterday evening under sub - average conditions (NELM 4.9; SQM-L 20.9), but with a lately cleared SE horizon - a high spruce tree in the neighbourhood had been felled two weeks ago. During the astronomical dusk, I was warming up with the two Leo triplets, at 85x mag (ES 24/82°). Still somewhat dim views, but I was able to make out the 11.9 mag gx 3389. Over, starting from Xi U Ma (Alula Australis) to the galaxy 3430, a rather diffuse 11.7 mag patch, close to a conspicuous chain of three stars. The fainter (13.1) 3424 close to the SW was clearly elongated E-W 2.5:1, and almost more conspicuous than it's brighter neighbour. 3413 was the next 13.1 member in the chain. Best views I had with the 12.5 mmf Docter, giving 164x mag. Located at the edge of the 0.5° field was the nice interacting galaxy pair Arp 270. 3395 (12.0) was elongated and visible at an angle of about 120°  in contact with the fainter (12.6) 3396. I could not spot the brighter core region of 3395. Some views in a starfield I've never visited before, and nice spring targets beyond the Leo groups. Finished after 11/2 hours at 23.00 CEST; pleased with the now unrestricted  (from E to S) horizon.

Thanks for reading

Stephan

[mdstuart]

That 3395/6 are a fine pair.

Mark

[jetstream]

Excellent! Now I'm off to NGC 3395 next time out, hopefully tonight. I cant wait to be able to get the big scope out finally.

[Nyctimene]

4 hours ago, jetstream said:

I'm off to NGC 3395 next time out,

I came across another impressive galaxy in Leo Minor, just 3.5° N of 3395 - NGC 3432 or Arp 206 (at least I think it is it - lost the target, when swapping eyepieces). Mag 11.1, a bright and large 5:1 edge-on galaxy, superimposed stars, mottled. Will revisit it next time, seems a rewarding target (NSOG rates it with four of five stars).

Stephan

Edited April 12, 2023 by Nyctimene

[jetstream]

9 hours ago, Nyctimene said:

I came across another impressive galaxy in Leo Minor, just 3.5° N of 3395 - NGC 3432 or Arp 206 (at least I think it is it - lost the target, when swapping eyepieces). Mag 11.1, a bright and large 5:1 edge-on galaxy, superimposed stars, mottled. Will revisit it next time, seems a rewarding target (NSOG rates it with four of five stars).

Stephan

Thanks Stephan, I marked this one for next time out as well, cant wait to get on these.

Gerry