Autumn Herschel galaxies in UMa (mainly) - 27th/28th Nov-24

[josefk]

I posted an observing report of a fantastic session chasing Herschel catalogue galaxies on the 27th/28th November, over here - https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/427884-a-wonderful-winter-herschel-haul-2728th-nov-24/#comment-4535742

Apart from a short interruption to untangle the xmas lights (I didn't put them away like that!), tidying up my scope side thumbnails has kept me quiet this afternoon and very enjoyable it has been too. 

As usual the phone pics of the sketches have more contrast than the actual pics themselves have - i'm quiet happy with some of these "in real life" as representative of some of the subtlety seen at the eyepiece. The galaxies bar two all look a bit similar but that is probably because a) they are mostly the same galaxy type, and b) i am almost certainly just seeing the brighter central region of most of them.

The starter of the evening and my principle "hoped for target" NGC 891:

A H400 open cluster that appeared to me like a mini subdued double cluster framed in the pentagon of brighter stars, NGC 1245 in Perseus:

Another H400 non-galactic target - the PNe NGC 1501 in Camelopardalis: 

A start of the dim stuff, a mag.9.89 Elliptical Galaxy in Uma, NGC 2768:

A Spiral Galaxy that must be pretty steeply angled to us, NGC 3079 in Uma:

A very small mag. 10.8 Elliptical, NGC 3610 in UMa. This one had a very subtle hint of a hard but tiny bright core...

There's three-for-the-price-of-one here, there is an NGC 3690a, NGC 3690b and an IC all overlapped to our line of sight. 3690a/b are probably interacting and disturbing each other. I think it will take aperture, transparency, seeing and high magnification to tease them apart visually. I'm a bird spotter and like seeing a Tern in a geography where Arctic Tern and Common Tern overlap but not seeing them well enough to clearly ID as one or the other this NGC 3690 "x" is a tick that got away:

Possibly the most subtle single galaxy of the night though its "stats" wouldn't suggest so, this is NGC 3631 a mag. 10.39 Spiral in UMa. It has a surface brightness of 22.2x:

And here a nice two-inch-view, NGC 4036 (centre of the FOV) and NGC 4041 to the right hand side:

On this one the black card version is quite a pleasing capture of the the EP "difficulty". NGC 4036 was seen for some minutes before NGC 4041 was detected.

All good fun - both at the scope and again today.

Cheers

Joe

Edited November 30, 2024 by josefk

[Trillion]

A really good collection of drawings. 

Your NGC891 matches very much what I saw on the 25th. 

Do I take it you draw black on graph paper at the eyepiece and then copy them white on black later? I generally draw white on black at the telescope, I find it difficult to reverse the image in my head and draw black on white, though I've seen some excellent sketches drawn that way (including yours!).

Like you, I enjoy the write-up stage of things as well. I also like  reading up on the objects I've been looking at.

[josefk]

thanks @Trillion - i'm glad i captured NGC 891 in a way that's recognisable for our skies - it's a struggle to retain the eyepiece subtlety with pencil on paper and strike the balance between being able to actually see the marks you made the next day but avoid the sketch accidentally becoming exaggerated. 

I pretty much always use regular graphite pencils on graph paper at the scope then make a clean and dry white-(or grey)-pastel-on-black version as soon as possible thereafter at the comfort of my desk. I can manage regular pencils on white paper in my half blind dark adapted state (my eyesight is terrible once dark adapted even with my reading glasses on) 🙂 in a way that i can't do very well the other way round. This also gives me the opportunity to tone down the contrast a bit from the field sketch if i need to (which i why i like to do them pretty quickly before the memory fades).

I have used white on black at the scope for Lunar sketches before but i also find pastels that get a bit damp outside in our UK climes also get more than a bit hard to control on the page as well (they get sticky) so i don't do this very often. 

in our unreliable climate its a good job we enjoy the reading time too - twice the fun for the clear sky time we get 👍

[SwiMatt]

Incredible work for a night out @josefk. I really enjoyed your report and your sketches - what I don't enjoy is the hint of jealousy at what you can see with your tools... 

[josefk]

Thanks @SwiMatt for the feedback i appreciate it. In all seriousness it's all about the sky not the tools. 

My sky regularly measures 20.25 MPSAS (which i think is "only" a middling bortle 4 though i know i am already lucky compared to a suburban location). That means at the moment i can see a smudge for the double cluster naked eye and i can see about 60 to 90 degrees of "milky way brightening" overhead East West. I can see 6 or 7 stars in UMi without too much difficulty. I can't see M31 naked eye. No way could i see M33!!!

If you're anywhere near that you'll get these in your mak.

One recent learning of mine though is do not sketch with both eyes. Even a small does of red light in the observing eye makes these objects disapear for some minutes at a time. I was protecting my observing eye behind an eye patch for the entirety of this session - i get so dark adapted in that eye when i lift the patch near the eyepiece my scope and eyepiece look like they are lit with night vision in that eye!

That does create its own problems with depth perception and other one eyed visual ability when trying to sketch but it really helps in the observing.

BTW I get kit and location jealousy when i browse the CN sketching forum 💚

 

 

[SwiMatt]

53 minutes ago, josefk said:

Thanks @SwiMatt for the feedback i appreciate it. In all seriousness it's all about the sky not the tools. 

My sky regularly measures 20.25 MPSAS (which i think is "only" a middling bortle 4 though i know i am already lucky compared to a suburban location). That means at the moment i can see a smudge for the double cluster naked eye and i can see about 60 to 90 degrees of "milky way brightening" overhead East West. I can see 6 or 7 stars in UMi without too much difficulty. I can't see M31 naked eye. No way could i see M33!!!

If you're anywhere near that you'll get these in your mak.

One recent learning of mine though is do not sketch with both eyes. Even a small does of red light in the observing eye makes these objects disapear for some minutes at a time. I was protecting my observing eye behind an eye patch for the entirety of this session - i get so dark adapted in that eye when i lift the patch near the eyepiece my scope and eyepiece look like they are lit with night vision in that eye!

That does create its own problems with depth perception and other one eyed visual ability when trying to sketch but it really helps in the observing.

I'm still in Bortle 4 until Thursday and I should get one or two good early mornings of observation, I will try to check some of these down. I don't think I ever went for anything in the 10th mag. Thanks for the inspiration! 

53 minutes ago, josefk said:

BTW I get kit and location jealousy when i browse the CN sketching forum 💚

To be frank I often get talent jealousy on there (like here) 

Edited December 1, 2024 by SwiMatt

[AlcorAlly]

Amazing work @josefk, it’s always great to get a glimpse in the process as well, thank you for sharing. 

[lunator]

A very good set of sketches 😀

A good variety of targets.

Cheers 

Ian

 

[YLEM]

Very nice work!

 

I have been struggling to learn how to sketch, and your use of graph paper first is exactly what will help me! 

Thanks!!

 

-Jeff

[DAT]

Beautiful sketches which are really representative of the object's appearance to the human eye.

As others have noted, it's great to get a glimpse of the process involved too, but also of the effort it takes to even get a glimpse of the fainter targets.

Thank you for sharing

[josefk]

Thank you very much for the feedback @lunator @YLEM and @DAT I appreciate it. 
 

Good luck with the graph paper Jeff!  A tidy sketch is definitely easier in the warm and dry 🙂. 

[bosun21]

Fantastic set of sketches Joe. I truly admire your work ethic involved with your observing sessions not to mention your sketching skills. I alas can only draw breath. I hope you intend to keep all your sketches in a binder of some sort to keep a record of your wonderful sessions.

[josefk]

Thanks @bosun21  rough sketches go to a binder chronologically indeed. The index cards fit very nicely in TV eyepiece boxes arranged by RA. 
 

When I fill my current number of boxes = new box = new EP. Win win. 😂