Finally getting to see some Galaxies :)

[lunator]

For most of my observing life I have lived in pretty bright skies but now I am in Bortle 4 I am aiming to see my shares of galaxies 😀.

I am still at the phase of enjoying seeing the faint fuzzies but will aim to get better at teasing out detail. 

At the start of the session I focussed on some doubles in Sextans, the report is in the double star section. 

As Leo cleared the tree to the East I wanted to start to view the galaxies but when I looked up M44 was as bright as I had ever seen it, so I took a quick detour to M44 & Tegnine. I was hopeful that the view of M44 would be a good sign for the galaxies.

I switched from the baader Zoom to the 24mm Baader so I had about 1.4 degrees.

I started with 2 galaxies that I have observed recently M65/66, they are both quite obvious in my darker skies. Seeing them well gave me the confidence that fainter targets would be visible. 

My next target was NGC3872. It is a fairly faint galaxy near Denebola. You can use the 2 bright stars below Denebola to track it down. It is an elliptical galaxy of magnitude 11.81 so I was pleased to see it.

I moved onto M98/99 as you can follow the line from Chertan through Denebola to 6 Com and M98 and 99 are either side of it.I also spotted NGC4302 am 11.15mag spiral galaxy.

If you head east from 6 Com there are 2 fairly bright starsbthat lead to M100 a nice fairly bright spiral.

Starting from 6com again. Follow 3 stars south and then a 4th star to the east, follow that line and you will find M84 and 86. 2 bright galaxies. I also saw NGC4438/4435 2 close galaxies know as the 'eyes galaxies' they are close but NGC4435 appeared fainter to me. 

Heading south you come to M87. A bright elliptical galaxy. It is very close to the star HD108915. I didn't see any of the NGC galaxies nearby.

I headed back north to M86 and then the Markarian chain upto M88 and M91.

I returned to look at the fainter galaxies of Mararian chain.NGC4461/4473/4477. They get progressively fainter as you move along the chain north eastwards.

Overall I was pretty happy with my first foray into the Virgo /Coma realm of galaxies. Although I confess I had a quick peak at Porrima as old habits die hard. 😀

Cheers

Ian 

[Spile]

Did you check out M105 and NGC 3384 whilst you were around M98 and M99? I checked them out last night in moderately light polluted skies.

[Epick Crom]

Hi @lunator and congratulations on moving to darker skies! Darker skies bring the biggest improvements to visual observing. Enjoy!

 

Clear Skies

Joe

[wookie1965]

Great report Ian going to check those doubles out, what scope was you using?

[lunator]

Hi Paul it is my 8" F6 newt. On a homemade Dob base. 

Cheers 

Ian