Fuzzies like I’ve never seen!

[Sunshine]

It just so happens that every time I have set my sights on the wealth of galaxies in the coma cluster it was with small aperture telescopes and red dot finders (which i love) but they aren’t exactly the best choice for such faint, small objects. Markarians Chain has always been something I have heard others describe while using large dobs but I have never really enjoyed this region, it was something I thought I would one day see under truly dark skies with a large dob. Starsense with my 8” dob changed everything this night, what a superb piece of tech it is. 
 

Seeing conditions were good, while searching through the provided list of highlighted targets for this night I ran across the Sunflower galaxy, a tiny smuge which then led me to the whale, needle, and black eye galaxies. All very faint smudges but now I was on a roll, working my way down I eventually found myself in the middle of galactic nirvana and the amazing wealth that is Markarians chain. Starsense never led me astray or let me down, not once, putting galaxy after galaxy dead center in the eyepiece one after the other. 
 

This was something I had never seen, let me be frank, I saw no spirals and galactic cores from my bortle bad skies, but I did see multiple fuzzies within one field of view and it was awe inspiring. Some so faint that I had to slightly move the scope to detect the galaxy against the backdrop, as counter intuitive as this may seem I have noticed this helps when spotting something so faint. So many galaxies passed through the 70 degrees offered by my 9mm morpheus that I lost count, without starsense and using a red dot finder with my 4” refractor I would have been lost, probably wouldn’t have even bothered. Markarians chain would have continued on as lore, how starsense put some fuzzies barely on the threshold of what my vision, bortle scale, and mirror size would allow, dead centre (and i mean center) of my fov blows my mind.  A memorable night this was, I thought thess galaxies were out of reach from my location and scope size, starsense proved me wrong.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Sunshine

[bosun21]

I also found the Starsense unit to not only be accurate but also a massive time saver. I used it on my 8" dobsonian which I eventually sold and bought the 12" so simply transferred the unit over. Markarians chain is also very rewarding for myself.

[Guest]

The Chain is just cool.  I was trying to see it the other night but the clouds were killing me.  

[Sunshine]

22 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

The Chain is just cool.  I was trying to see it the other night but the clouds were killing me.  

Which scope do you usually observe galaxies with? bummer about the clouds ruining your session.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Which scope do you usually observe galaxies with? bummer about the clouds ruining your session.

I usually run a 10 inch dob.  On better nights i have a 16 inch dob i will use.  Still waiting on a better night lol.  This is Ohio, clouds are just a fact of life.  

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Mike Q

[wookie1965]

6 hours ago, Sunshine said:

It just so happens that every time I have set my sights on the wealth of galaxies in the coma cluster it was with small aperture telescopes and red dot finders (which i love) but they aren’t exactly the best choice for such faint, small objects. Markarians Chain has always been something I have heard others describe while using large dobs but I have never really enjoyed this region, it was something I thought I would one day see under truly dark skies with a large dob. Starsense with my 8” dob changed everything this night, what a superb piece of tech it is. 
 

Seeing conditions were good, while searching through the provided list of highlighted targets for this night I ran across the Sunflower galaxy, a tiny smuge which then led me to the whale, needle, and black eye galaxies. All very faint smudges but now I was on a roll, working my way down I eventually found myself in the middle of galactic nirvana and the amazing wealth that is Markarians chain. Starsense never led me astray or let me down, not once, putting galaxy after galaxy dead center in the eyepiece one after the other. 
 

This was something I had never seen, let me be frank, I saw no spirals and galactic cores from my bortle bad skies, but I did see multiple fuzzies within one field of view and it was awe inspiring. Some so faint that I had to slightly move the scope to detect the galaxy against the backdrop, as counter intuitive as this may seem I have noticed this helps when spotting something so faint. So many galaxies passed through the 70 degrees offered by my 9mm morpheus that I lost count, without starsense and using a red dot finder with my 4” refractor I would have been lost, probably wouldn’t have even bothered. Markarians chain would have continued on as lore, how starsense put some fuzzies barely on the threshold of what my vision, bortle scale, and mirror size would allow, dead centre (and i mean center) of my fov blows my mind.  A memorable night this was, I thought thess galaxies were out of reach from my location and scope size, starsense proved me wrong.

I know what you mean I was in the Brecon Beacons last weekend didn't think I was going to get a clear night but Saturday turned out clear wows all around with my 10" starsense dob really great piece of kit. 

[RobertI]

Great report. You’ve really bought the Starsense experience to life, I’ve read several magazine reviews of the tech, but your report is the most convincing so far! I can see that galaxy hunting is where this tech can really stand out. Regarding your technique of moving the scope, I often do this for really faint stuff and I think it is an accepted technique, though not often talked about. I stumbled on the three brightest members of Markarians Chain with my 4” recently during a really transparent night, which was very pleasing, and plan to have a closer look with my C8 next time out to see if I can see more. 

[bosun21]

9 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Some so faint that I had to slightly move the scope to detect the galaxy against the backdrop,

I found that tapping the scope with my finger caused enough of a movement to detect those faint fuzzies.

[wookie1965]

On 14/05/2023 at 12:40, Mike Q said:

I usually run a 10 inch dob.  On better nights i have a 16 inch dob i will use.  Still waiting on a better night lol.  This is Ohio, clouds are just a fact of life.  

 

Wow  those are nice.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Wow  those are nice.

Thanks.  The ten inch is the Orion variation of FLOs Stellalyra.  Rumor is Orion specs a slightly better mirror, but thats just rumor and i cant prove it.  The bigger one is the Orion XX16G.  The finder is a Stellarvue 13x80.  Nothing like mounting a 80mm frac as a finder for your reflector lol

Edited May 15, 2023 by Mike Q

[wookie1965]

I have put a Telrad on my 10" I dont need a finder .