M81, M82 and their neighbours - 02.06.24

[josefk]

Here are a few sketches of galaxies observed during nautical dark on the 2nd June 2024. Ignore the SQM value on the sketch - that is an SQM reading from my "dark sky meter" phone app (actually an average of several readings) but it is plainly too dark. I could see 7 stars in UMi but even that overstates how dark the sky was (it wasn't). Theses sketches  are tidied versions of eyepiece sketches in all cases. The phone pics of the sketches over emphasises the contrast in them - in real life these sketches are more true to life subtle.

While they're not brill sketches i'm posting them here because  i bought myself a copy of the Uranometria Deep Sky Field Guide in the spring (thanks again @Franklin 👍) and i'm finding it a superb "next day resource" as a singular source of information on the observed/sketched objects; in the context of observing and crucially sketching I'm finding it especially illuminating to determine what i didn't see and i thought it may be of interest to others.

Example for M81 - a favourite target to observe in the same FOV as M82 normally but here observed at higher magnification alone:

That's about as much of M81 as i typically see - typically slightly bigger than the visual distance between the two prominent stars to it's East-South-East. Generously maybe i'm seeing 5' in size. I know i'm only seeing the core but it really struck me writing my notes up today and using Uranometria that that 5' i see is a really tiny fraction of the spiral galaxy and only a portion even of the brightest part of the core. I'm pretty keen on knowing the FOV of an eyepiece in my scope and that 14mm Meade UWA EP is ~30' across in the ACF scope i was using here. M81 should very nearly fill it side to side and be fully half the EP FOV in its other dimension. Staggering.

Here's M82:

I feel like i'm not doing too badly here to see the full length of M82 but i'm clearly missing at least the same again in width (especially in the central region). On the upside on Saturday with the new 10" Meade ACF i clearly detected the dust lane dark knotty parts in the centre. Not quite as strongly as this pic makes out but confidently and consistently enough not to doubt my observation. This is a first for me (to not be any doubt). I'm looking forward to pointing the ACF at M104!!!

The galaxies NGC 3077, NGC 2976 and NGC 2787 were observed with M81/M82 and sketched but not posted here.

The next sketch here is NGC 2985 - this was another spiral galaxy observed in recent week where the central concentration was uneven and contained brighter spots (at least one other than what i assume to be the core's glow). This is something i will follow up on to see if those brighter spots are anything of note in themselves:

 

Finally the hardest observations of the night - NGC 3065 and NGC 3066 (i couldn't detect NGC 3027 which sits between 2985 and 3065/3066).

NGC 3065 needed averted vision but it was consistently present in one place with averted vision.

NGC 3066 was much harder - i would say detectable less than 50% of the time even with averted vision and possibly as low as 5% confidently appearing in the same place enough to call it a "tick". NGC 3065 was discovered by William Herschel but i believe NGC 3066 was missed. I put my luck down to modern scopes and knowing it should be there rather than observing skill :-). 

 

Anyway - if you got this far thanks for looking - these objects: NGC 3031, NGC 3034, NGC 3077, NGC 2976, NGC 2787, NGC 2985, NGC 3065 and NGC 3066 (and the undetected 3027) are all within a couple of degrees or so of each other so its quite a nice spot just to sit and scroll around while your observing eye gets more and more dark adapted.

Roll on the proper dark nights!

 

Edited June 4 by josefk

[NGC 1502]

Excellent post produced from well executed observations and sketches!
A fine example of how visual observing should be done. Not just seeing stuff and moving on, but really looking hard and long. Sketching makes the observer see more to produce a fine sketch.

Ten out of ten😊

Ed.

[josefk]

Thank you for the very kind words @NGC 1502  - I have slowed right down to a few objects per session typically even where the session is several hours long and due to our lovely uk weather (not) I consider the observing part of the hobby just “the start of it” insofar as enjoying what was seen - I.e I like to follow up in notes and sketches and reading. 
 

i 100% agree on sketching to observe rather than the other way round. It’s transformed how closely I try and look. Other than open clusters I try to scribble something down for almost 100% of observations these days. 👍🏼

[SwiMatt]

Absolutely beautiful stuff! 😍 Your new 10" sounds like the bomb! Thank you for the notes too, very informative.

[josefk]

8 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Absolutely beautiful stuff! 😍 Your new 10" sounds like the bomb! Thank you for the notes too, very informative.

Thanks!!! The 10" wasn't the bomb on the double double earlier in the evening but i'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and looking forward to gathering up a good number of Herschel galaxies with it 👍

[Froeng]

On 04/06/2024 at 18:28, josefk said:

Here are a few sketches of galaxies observed during nautical dark on the 2nd June 2024. Ignore the SQM value on the sketch - that is an SQM reading from my "dark sky meter" phone app (actually an average of several readings) but it is plainly too dark. I could see 7 stars in UMi but even that overstates how dark the sky was (it wasn't). Theses sketches  are tidied versions of eyepiece sketches in all cases. The phone pics of the sketches over emphasises the contrast in them - in real life these sketches are more true to life subtle.

While they're not brill sketches i'm posting them here because  i bought myself a copy of the Uranometria Deep Sky Field Guide in the spring (thanks again @Franklin 👍) and i'm finding it a superb "next day resource" as a singular source of information on the observed/sketched objects; in the context of observing and crucially sketching I'm finding it especially illuminating to determine what i didn't see and i thought it may be of interest to others.

Example for M81 - a favourite target to observe in the same FOV as M82 normally but here observed at higher magnification alone:

That's about as much of M81 as i typically see - typically slightly bigger than the visual distance between the two prominent stars to it's East-South-East. Generously maybe i'm seeing 5' in size. I know i'm only seeing the core but it really struck me writing my notes up today and using Uranometria that that 5' i see is a really tiny fraction of the spiral galaxy and only a portion even of the brightest part of the core. I'm pretty keen on knowing the FOV of an eyepiece in my scope and that 14mm Meade UWA EP is ~30' across in the ACF scope i was using here. M81 should very nearly fill it side to side and be fully half the EP FOV in its other dimension. Staggering.

Here's M82:

I feel like i'm not doing too badly here to see the full length of M82 but i'm clearly missing at least the same again in width (especially in the central region). On the upside on Saturday with the new 10" Meade ACF i clearly detected the dust lane dark knotty parts in the centre. Not quite as strongly as this pic makes out but confidently and consistently enough not to doubt my observation. This is a first for me (to not be any doubt). I'm looking forward to pointing the ACF at M104!!!

The galaxies NGC 3077, NGC 2976 and NGC 2787 were observed with M81/M82 and sketched but not posted here.

The next sketch here is NGC 2985 - this was another spiral galaxy observed in recent week where the central concentration was uneven and contained brighter spots (at least one other than what i assume to be the core's glow). This is something i will follow up on to see if those brighter spots are anything of note in themselves:

 

Finally the hardest observations of the night - NGC 3065 and NGC 3066 (i couldn't detect NGC 3027 which sits between 2985 and 3065/3066).

NGC 3065 needed averted vision but it was consistently present in one place with averted vision.

NGC 3066 was much harder - i would say detectable less than 50% of the time even with averted vision and possibly as low as 5% confidently appearing in the same place enough to call it a "tick". NGC 3065 was discovered by William Herschel but i believe NGC 3066 was missed. I put my luck down to modern scopes and knowing it should be there rather than observing skill :-). 

 

Anyway - if you got this far thanks for looking - these objects: NGC 3031, NGC 3034, NGC 3077, NGC 2976, NGC 2787, NGC 2985, NGC 3065 and NGC 3066 (and the undetected 3027) are all within a couple of degrees or so of each other so its quite a nice spot just to sit and scroll around while your observing eye gets more and more dark adapted.

Roll on the proper dark nights!

 

Very nice sketches and observing records!