Galaxies galore in Sextans, Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices - 09/10.04.24

[josefk]

So desperate times call for desperate measures and this is a summary of six hours or thereabouts on the evening of the 9th April into the late early hours of the morning the 10th April. I don't think anyone noticed my lack of sleep at work the next day 🙂 . I wouldn't normally entertain such a long session on a "school night". 

The moon had set about 21:15 and sky SQM was 20.66 so this was a perfect night for my larger scope (the 186mm Cassegrain) and a purposeful attempt on galaxies in the constellations of the title [plus the globular cluster -the  Intergalactic Wanderer]. NB i know SQM 20.66 isn't great in the bigger scheme of things but this is a local dark site not a million miles away from house. Nearly all observations are with a Delos 17.3mm EP for 141x/30'/1.3mm exit pupil or a new to me Meade 14mm UWA for 174x/27'/1.1mm exit pupil. I would not normally use a 1.1mm exit pupil for galaxies but somehow it was supremely effective tonight. A great eyepiece. 

Notionally i had a Herschel H400 list open for the session but not everything is a H400 object. I am super happy that i DID add  16 new H400 DSO to my meagre ongoing list though and galaxies in the list (and in general outside of the bright Messier ones) are rare beasts were i live and the skies i live under so i'm quite chuffed.

NGC 2903 was a repeat observation (i observed it two weeks ago with my 130mm refractor). I had come back because i wanted to try and secure NGC 2905 (a bright star forming region) within it. I still don't think i have I'm afraid - not definitely. NGC 2903 itself is relatively bright and "rough" i.e rough edges and with patchy brightness gradients. It has bright star like spots in it but these are very difficult to lock down for precise location... Unbelievably the galaxy remained observable even at x300 and an exit pupil of 0.6mm as i ramped up the magnification step by step to try and find a magnification that shook NGC 2905 lose. No joy i don't think yet.

NGC 3227 (w/ NGC 3226) was also a repeat after a first observation w/ 130mm two weeks ago. With 130mm this was a broad smudge w/ variegated brightness and i logged it as NGC 3227 and called NGC 3226 a miss. With the larger Cassegrain (and at twice the magnified scale versus the 'frac, and at x141 and an exit pupil of 1.3mm) this was clearly two close galaxies. NGC 3227 is the larger and brighter. Together they lie in a NS orientation, both are soft glows without bright cores but with brighter centres if tap makes sense. Like a soft snowman with a slightly leaning head. NGC 3227 is the body, NGC 3226 is the lopsided head. NGC 3222 should also be in this 30' FOV but i couldn't see it tonight (its a very faint - probably out of reach for me Mag 13.7).

NGC 3190/3193 are also available together in the same FOV.  These are quite large soft glows (5 or 6 arc-minutes) and occasionally with averted vision NGC 3190 was obviously elongated at (i haven't checked yet) 135-degrees (i.e  NW/SE).

NGC 3115, 3166, 3169, & 3521 are all lower down and in a direction were the sky on this evening was quite a light grey relatively speaking so all were poorer observations than others this evening.

NGC 3379, 3384, & 3389 are another nice group observable together in the same FOV. 3379 and 3384 are "obvious" softly glowing balls. I had to shake NGC 3389 out with a slightly higher magnification (than 140x) and consequently smaller exit pupil (sp. 174x and 1.1mm). It was a marginal observation and needed averted vision. I could secure the star field though so a definite spot nonetheless.

For the first half of the session i was also sketching and this helps me immensely to maintain concentration and ensure the observations are secured:

I'll be tidying a few of the 12 thumbnails up for my index card records over the next few days.

While sketching is super helpful, on this kind of dark night chasing these (for me and my scope/sky) fainter targets the red light (even a dim one) starts to get bothersome. I was also getting a bit cold and that was effecting my concentration so when i moved up to the Markarian's chain area i tried something i've been wanting to do for a while - i simply sat behind a relatively static scope - eye constantly at the eyepiece - and let the sky scroll past to the West. This was incredibly enjoyable and productive - i have new observations in this area i think due in part to this method. It really enables uninterrupted eye time at the EP and maximum dark adaptation in the circumstances. 

NGC 4374, 4406, 4388, 4459, 4474, 4473, 4477 were all observed in this (relatively) fixed scope fashion and in that order of incrementing RA. Some of those are new observations to me. No averted imagination required - either a smudge is detected preceding west and its ID checked (with one eye in SSP) or it isn't (detected) and it sails by unseen. I should add the method is facilitated for me by using SSP and having a spot on aligned push to set-up. I am going to rope my partner in on "Caroline duties" watching SSP for me while i observe uninterrupted in the warmer spring weather.

NGC 4473 and NGC 4477 in that list are H400 objects and have adjacent Herschel numbers II-114 and II-115 so though i haven't checked them yet i wonder (and like to think) William Herschel actually discovered these two objects one after the other stood at his fixed scope using the same method. 🙂 

Anyway - observing log here with metrics (and a penultimate lollipop obs):

Edited April 11 by josefk

[SwiMatt]

Awesome observation log! Six hours is some serious time under the stars.

I love the idea of letting the sky scroll through the eyepiece. I imagine that with some preparation you could try to move the scope at the right altitude to see particular objects slowly come into your FOV - a bit like it was done in the past with meridian telescopes! 

[lunator]

Very nice report . I am slowly getting into galaxy observing myself.

Cheers 

Ian

[josefk]

9 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Awesome observation log! Six hours is some serious time under the stars.

I love the idea of letting the sky scroll through the eyepiece. I imagine that with some preparation you could try to move the scope at the right altitude to see particular objects slowly come into your FOV - a bit like it was done in the past with meridian telescopes! 

Thats exactly the technique @SwiMatt - very conveniently Markarian's chain is quite linear West to East so you can start at the western end and then go hands free. Depending on your EP FOV you would have to do it in several horizontal bands (which is more or less what i was doing)...

I would make the joke that William Herschel used this technique because he didn't have the benefit of slo-mo controls on his scaffold mounted scope but actually he kind of did - it [the scope] was a bit loose in its mounting and he could kind of swing it a little bit by pulling on ropes even in between resetting it more significantly for each horizontal [altitude] change 🙂

[josefk]

8 hours ago, lunator said:

Very nice report . I am slowly getting into galaxy observing myself.

Cheers 

Ian

Under more ideal skies @lunator and with household logistics that facilitated owing a VERY big scope they would be my favourite DSO to pursue really systematically - i enjoy all sorts of things aesthetically at the scope but galaxies and their characteristics and evolution and interaction in groups and so on are the astro topic that excites me most away from the scope when reading and following up etc. 

When you start to list NGC this and that its a bit blah blah but when you stop to consider what that little grey smudge is (and several of them sometimes in one go) it is mind blowing... 🙂 

[SwiMatt]

18 minutes ago, josefk said:

I would make the joke that William Herschel used this technique because he didn't have the benefit of slo-mo controls on his scaffold mounted scope but actually he kind of did - it [the scope] was a bit loose in its mounting and he could kind of swing it a little bit by pulling on ropes even in between resetting it more significantly for each horizontal [altitude] change 🙂

For sure it's one of the most efficient ways to explore large patches of the sky in detail - but it takes a fair amount of time. Maybe we should teach this instead of star hopping 🤣

[Froeng]

On 11/04/2024 at 09:10, josefk said:

So desperate times call for desperate measures and this is a summary of six hours or thereabouts on the evening of the 9th April into the late early hours of the morning the 10th April. I don't think anyone noticed my lack of sleep at work the next day 🙂 . I wouldn't normally entertain such a long session on a "school night". 

The moon had set about 21:15 and sky SQM was 20.66 so this was a perfect night for my larger scope (the 186mm Cassegrain) and a purposeful attempt on galaxies in the constellations of the title [plus the globular cluster -the  Intergalactic Wanderer]. NB i know SQM 20.66 isn't great in the bigger scheme of things but this is a local dark site not a million miles away from house. Nearly all observations are with a Delos 17.3mm EP for 141x/30'/1.3mm exit pupil or a new to me Meade 14mm UWA for 174x/27'/1.1mm exit pupil. I would not normally use a 1.1mm exit pupil for galaxies but somehow it was supremely effective tonight. A great eyepiece. 

Notionally i had a Herschel H400 list open for the session but not everything is a H400 object. I am super happy that i DID add  16 new H400 DSO to my meagre ongoing list though and galaxies in the list (and in general outside of the bright Messier ones) are rare beasts were i live and the skies i live under so i'm quite chuffed.

NGC 2903 was a repeat observation (i observed it two weeks ago with my 130mm refractor). I had come back because i wanted to try and secure NGC 2905 (a bright star forming region) within it. I still don't think i have I'm afraid - not definitely. NGC 2903 itself is relatively bright and "rough" i.e rough edges and with patchy brightness gradients. It has bright star like spots in it but these are very difficult to lock down for precise location... Unbelievably the galaxy remained observable even at x300 and an exit pupil of 0.6mm as i ramped up the magnification step by step to try and find a magnification that shook NGC 2905 lose. No joy i don't think yet.

NGC 3227 (w/ NGC 3226) was also a repeat after a first observation w/ 130mm two weeks ago. With 130mm this was a broad smudge w/ variegated brightness and i logged it as NGC 3227 and called NGC 3226 a miss. With the larger Cassegrain (and at twice the magnified scale versus the 'frac, and at x141 and an exit pupil of 1.3mm) this was clearly two close galaxies. NGC 3227 is the larger and brighter. Together they lie in a NS orientation, both are soft glows without bright cores but with brighter centres if tap makes sense. Like a soft snowman with a slightly leaning head. NGC 3227 is the body, NGC 3226 is the lopsided head. NGC 3222 should also be in this 30' FOV but i couldn't see it tonight (its a very faint - probably out of reach for me Mag 13.7).

NGC 3190/3193 are also available together in the same FOV.  These are quite large soft glows (5 or 6 arc-minutes) and occasionally with averted vision NGC 3190 was obviously elongated at (i haven't checked yet) 135-degrees (i.e  NW/SE).

NGC 3115, 3166, 3169, & 3521 are all lower down and in a direction were the sky on this evening was quite a light grey relatively speaking so all were poorer observations than others this evening.

NGC 3379, 3384, & 3389 are another nice group observable together in the same FOV. 3379 and 3384 are "obvious" softly glowing balls. I had to shake NGC 3389 out with a slightly higher magnification (than 140x) and consequently smaller exit pupil (sp. 174x and 1.1mm). It was a marginal observation and needed averted vision. I could secure the star field though so a definite spot nonetheless.

For the first half of the session i was also sketching and this helps me immensely to maintain concentration and ensure the observations are secured:

I'll be tidying a few of the 12 thumbnails up for my index card records over the next few days.

While sketching is super helpful, on this kind of dark night chasing these (for me and my scope/sky) fainter targets the red light (even a dim one) starts to get bothersome. I was also getting a bit cold and that was effecting my concentration so when i moved up to the Markarian's chain area i tried something i've been wanting to do for a while - i simply sat behind a relatively static scope - eye constantly at the eyepiece - and let the sky scroll past to the West. This was incredibly enjoyable and productive - i have new observations in this area i think due in part to this method. It really enables uninterrupted eye time at the EP and maximum dark adaptation in the circumstances. 

NGC 4374, 4406, 4388, 4459, 4474, 4473, 4477 were all observed in this (relatively) fixed scope fashion and in that order of incrementing RA. Some of those are new observations to me. No averted imagination required - either a smudge is detected preceding west and its ID checked (with one eye in SSP) or it isn't (detected) and it sails by unseen. I should add the method is facilitated for me by using SSP and having a spot on aligned push to set-up. I am going to rope my partner in on "Caroline duties" watching SSP for me while i observe uninterrupted in the warmer spring weather.

NGC 4473 and NGC 4477 in that list are H400 objects and have adjacent Herschel numbers II-114 and II-115 so though i haven't checked them yet i wonder (and like to think) William Herschel actually discovered these two objects one after the other stood at his fixed scope using the same method. 🙂 

Anyway - observing log here with metrics (and a penultimate lollipop obs):

Very nice report and sketches!