A night of galaxies

[Richard N]

Looking at the forecast I decided to go to bed early and get up at 1am. I was rewarded with a clear sky. I took the 8 inch dob out and settled down. It was a lovely evening. In 2.5 hours I saw lots of amazing sights. Best for me was spotting M77 Cetus A and galaxy NGC1023. The latter is 19 million light years away. It’s amazing to think that when those photons set off to head for my eyes, apes had only just evolved. This was the Miocene era.
 

M77 is 33 million light years away. The continents looked recognisable but once again very different in form when these photons set off during the Eocene era.  Many plants and animals would be also recognisable even this far back in time but they would be different in form to those we have today. I felt a sense of privilege that a few photons from these two faint smudges ended their journey in my back garden in Cheshire. To me, that’s the joy of visual astronomy. I was in bed by 04:15am. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Richard N

[josefk]

Superbly poetic Richard. Love it.

[Stickey]

That's a very inspiring report,  Richard. Thank you

[callisto]

Great report, thanks for sharing 👍