Too many galaxies

[mdstuart]

I think I have over done it getting a 10 inch.

I am working my way through the galaxies I can see, started with turn left at Orion, then Astronomical wonders, then got started on Catre due ciel, so far up to 128 but I am really not getting through these things at 5 a night. I still have over a dozen to go in leo minor...

Last few were NGC3377/NGC3412 and my favorite of the night NGC 3489...

And of course at 5 a night when night means a clear night with no moon I will be really old before I get through...

Cloudy tonight so time to select the next five galaxies...perhaps 3198/3319/3294/3432/3430..

Mark

[Beyond_Vision]

You know what they say 5 a day keeps the doctor away

Regards

Kevin

[beamish]

What's the rush ?

[Doc]

What's the rush ?

I agree. You have your whole life to enjoy this hobby.

Btw 5 a night is pretty good.

[mdstuart]

True, I will take my time a bit more...

[moocher]

The more you "look" the more you "see"....

Alan:)

[Talitha]

No such thing as too many galaxies, Mark. It took me about 4 years to go through the two combined Herschel 400 lists with my 8" SCT and although there were obviously some which were out of my reach (even on the best of nights), it was a great learning experience which made me a better observer. Here's to many happy memories for you at the eyepiece.

[661-pete]

You have a daunting task ahead of you, Mark, but the best plan is to simply enjoy it! Judging from the galaxies you have already bagged and listed, you have no problems with an integrated magnitude down to below 10 and a surface brightness down to 13 or beyond. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, in the NGC/IC, within that range! How long you spend on each one, how much effort you put into trying to pick out detail, is up to you: it's your choice (I'm not really 'visual' so I can't really advise).

[acey]

Herschel discovered 2,000 DSOs (mostly galaxies) in 3 years - pretty much all of them should be visible with a 10-inch. There are also lots of things visible with that aperture that Herschel never spotted.

For a while (with an 8-inch) I did the Herschel 400, which is a nice observing list, but with any list you find after a while that you've done most of what you can and are left with a whole lot of "to-do's" that are out of season, so then you have to start some other list to keep you going...

I also tried the constellation-by-constellation approach and that's fun if you stick to the brightest and don't give yourself too much of a completist challenge (otherwise you go insane in Virgo).

Once I'd done most of the Herschel 400 I extended my project to everything he catalogued in Classes I and IV-VIII , and I'm still working on that. But with my new 12" I've also started on Abell Clusters, and I'm going to work my way through the brightests Arps and Hicksons.

I take a much more leisurely pace than Herschel, though. First session I did on Abells a few weeks ago I logged something like 20 galaxies. Last trip I made, I managed to identify just one, having been looking for things that were too faint for me. You get busy nights and slow nights, but every night's worthwhile.

Andrew

[mdstuart]

Thanks for all the replies, I now have a list (from RC3) of about 80 galaxies above -20 dec that have a surface brightness below 12 so I am going for those next.

Mark