Galaxies and Planetaries 19-20/9/09

[SAB]

One of my longest haul sessions to date, as it was actually clear all night for once. The day (Friday 19th) was clear, but just as the sun was setting of was mortified to see high cloud moving in, I just couldn't believe it. Lucky I checked the satpics, because it was apparent that the cloud would clear, and thus avoiding mass rage. Sure enough, by 9-9:30pm, all cloud was gone.

Seeing however had deteriorated greatly throughout the night, and by 3-4am stars were unfocusable even at 64x. Transparency however was fantastic, among the best I've seen.

Time: 7:45pm - 4:30am

Scope: 12" F4.6 dob

Seeing: 5/10, grading to 0/10 thru out the night.

Transparency; 5/5

IC4846

PNe, Const: Aquila, Mag 12.7, Size 2"

A very tiny PNe but its HSB rendered it visible at 44x as a "star". It appeared stellar at all magnifications up to 353x, but considering the seeing, other field stars were being smudged making them look like "planetaries" aswell! Nonetheless, in moments of good seeings stars appeared as tiny airy disk while the PNe remained a tiny fuzzy orb.

Minkowski 1-59

PNe, Const: Scutum, Mag 13.3, Size 4.6"

Visible as faint star at 176x without filter. Being so tiny, I had to blink with OIII to seperate it from the field stars. Visible as a tiny patch of haze at 566x with OIII. Such magnification was overkill for the seeing at hand but it helped reveal the nebula's nonstellar form.

Minkowski 4-11

PNe, Const: Scutum, Mag 13.8, Size 21"

Suspected without OIII but the OIII filter at 283x revealed a small faint round glow with even surface brightness.

IC 4997

PNe, Const: Sagitta, Mag 11.6, Size 1.6"

An exceptionally tiny object, just 1.6" in diameter. Unfortunately, with the seeing deteriorating and the object being only 30º above the horizon, I couldn't pump up the magnification. Forms a "double star" with nearby mag 10.6 TYC1631-1973-1 . Without OIII at 44x, you couldn't tell which was the PNe! At 283x, while still largely stellar, the PNe exhibited a slight fuzz which helped differentiate it from its 'companion' star. Too small to resolve it into any form, but DSS images show two bipolar lobes with a bright central star.

NGC 7090

GX, Const: Indus, Mag 11.0, Size 8.1x1.6'

The edge on spiral appeared as an elongated NW/SE, sausage-shaped streak at 217x weakly concentrated towards center. I'd estimate the length to width ratio as around 4:1 as seen at the eyepiece. A faint star was seen superimposed onto the galaxy SE ofthe core.

ESO 240-10

GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 12.6, Size 3.4x1.8'

1st of 3. Easy to find being located just 6' N of a mag 9.6 star. Quite bright, with hints of a stellaring in core at 217x. The core region appeared as a sausage shaped glow, elongated SE/NW, superimposed on a larger, fainter oval halo. A mag 15.15 star was seen at the northwestern edge of halo.

ESO 240-11

GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.2, Size 5.6x0.5'

2nd of 3. Visible at 217x as a needle-thin streak of light oriented NW/SE, and is easy to find just 4' S of a mag 9.6 star. Relatively bright.

ESO 240-13

GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 14.02, Size 1.5x0.9'

3rd of 3. Very faint and round at 217x. Located approx 8' E of -11.

IC 5332

GX, Const: Sculptor, Mag 10.6, SB 14.5, Size 6.0x5.8'

A large and very low SB (mag 14.5) face on spiral galaxy. Similar in size and structure to nearby NGC 7424, but this one is fainter. Easy to find using mag 7.2 HD221609 to the SW. At 176x I could just barely make out an extremely faint round patch of haze, located exactly halfway between a mag 10.1 star 5' to the SW and a mag 12 and 14.6 pair. I'd estimate this haze as about 1.5' across.

HICKSON 90

NGC 7176

GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 11.3, Size 1.2x0.9'

NGC 7174

GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 11.6, Size 2.5x2.2'

NGC 7173

GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 12.0, Size 1.9x1.5'

This tight group of three galaxies was easily seen at only 44x as a hazy spot. At 217x, 7176 and 7174 could be seen 'attached' to each other, with 7176 appearing slightly brighter. 7174 was clearly elongated E-W and a stellar core could be seen within 7176. I increased magnification to 404x to get a clearer view of the 7176/4 pair, and I could now see that 7174 appeared semi-detached from 7176, i.e. not fully detached but there appeared to be a narrow dark void nearly splitting the pair. The western tip of 7174 curls slightly to the north. An extremely faint star was seen located midway between 7176 and 7173. Tried to look up the magnitude of this star on wikisky but it's not listed. Anyone can help me out here?

A fantastic little group and surprisingly bright aswell!

HICKSON 98

NGC 7783

GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 13.0, Size 1.3x0.6'

MCG+0-60-59

GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 15.0, Size 0.8x0.5'

Both galaxies seen at 283x. The northwestern member (NGC 7783) was the largest and brightest of the two, elongated E-W and a stellaring in the core was visible intermittently. MCG+0-60-59 lies just to the SE of 7783, seperated by a narrow gap. It appeared elongated NW/SE and is very faint. The group is located only 3' S of a mag 10 star, which interfered with observation somewhat.

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NGC 128

GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 11.8, Size 3x0.9'

At 176x this galaxy appeared strongly elonged N-S with a condensed core. DSS images show a strange looking thing with a peanut shaped central bulge.

NGC 125

GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 12.9, Size 1.7x1.5'

Faint, circular patch of haze at 176x located only 1' N of a pair of 13th mag stars. Small bright core.

HICKSON 7

NGC 192

GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.0, Size 1.9x0.9'

NGC 196

GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.6, Size 1.3x0.8'

NGC 201

GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.6, Size 1.8x1.4'

NGC 192 is the brightest member of this group. At 283x it appeared relatively bright, elongated N-S with a concentrated core. The northernmost member NGC 196 is smaller than 192 and also elongated, slightly fainter with a stellar core that could be held in view intermittently. NGC 201 was best seen at 353x, with a stellar core surrounded by a very faint round LSB haze. A 4th member, NGC 197 was not seen.

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UGC 439

GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.8, Size 1x1'

Quite easily picked up at 176x, appearing as a small, faint round patch of light. Better contrast at 283x. A mag 14.5 star is located approx 3' to the SE.

M33

GX, Const: Triangulum, Mag 6.36, Size 61x36.3'

The Triangulum Galaxy. HII Region NGC 604 clearly visible at 108x as a tiny hazy clump. A mag 11 star lies at its SE edge. A UHC filter only mildly improved contrast whereas the OIII actually ruined the view. The core of M33 could be seen as a large circular, mottled patch of haze and 5 faint stars to the south seem to "cradle" the core. The core appeared slightly brighter than NGC 604.

HICKSON 22

NGC 1199

GX, Const: Eridanus, Mag 11.5, Size 2.4x1.9'

NGC 1190

GX, Const: Eridanus, Mag 14.2, Size 0.9x0.3'

NGC 1199:- bright, with a round concentrated core at 353x. NGC 1190 was extremely faint, visible only intermittently at 353x with no shape or form detectable due to its extreme faintness. THe other 2 members, NGC 1191 and -92 were possibly detected aswell, but not with certainty.

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NGC 89

GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.5, Size 1.2x0.6'

Quite easy to see at 283x, elongated NW-SE, slightly fainter than NGC 92 located 2' to the NE.

NGC 92

GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.0, Size 1.9x0.9'

Slightly brighter than NGC 89 2' to the SW. Seen as round at 283x.

Part of a quartet of galaxies with NGC 87, 88 and 89. -87 and 88 not seen with certainty as I had no maps of their location and consequently unsure of exactly where to look.

NGC 1566

GX, Const: Dorado, Mag 9.8, Size 7x4.7'

A very nice spiral, clearly visible at 44x as an oval haze, but large and bright at 217x, large circular patch of haze increases in brightness towards the stellar core. Hints of spiral arms, a large knot adjacent the NW side of the core was seen- is this the northwestern arm?

IC 434/B33 Horsehead Nebula

Using the H-Beta Filter at 64x, it was easily picked up as a dark notch in the triangle-shaped IC434 cloud. Contrast wasn't particularly good, but it was nontheless quite easy to see.

NGC 1977

This is the reflection nebulosity just north of M42. Incidentally, the H-Beta filter greatly improved the view of this one over the unfiltered view! Visually, it was barely visible - akin to viewing a star cluster with a lightly fogged EP, but with the H-beta it was greatly enhanced. I was stumped - how can a reflection nebula be so much more obvious with a H-beta, of all filters? This one has me scratching my head thats for sure!

[Doc]

Wow what a night you had.

It's great you saw the Horsehead visually as this is very hard indeed. Did you try to see it with a O111 filter as well as the H beta filter if yes did the O111 work? How clearly defined was the horsehead?

Once again a very detailed and well written report.

[Andrew]

Nice report - sounds like an amazing night. Almost 9 hours observing? Do you stop for something to eat at some point?!

[SAB]

Wow what a night you had.

It's great you saw the Horsehead visually as this is very hard indeed. Did you try to see it with a O111 filter as well as the H beta filter if yes did the O111 work? How clearly defined was the horsehead?

Once again a very detailed and well written report.

Hi Doc,

I didn't try the OIII filter, just the H-Beta. The Horsehead itself wasn't too hard to spot, it appeared as an indentation in the IC434 nebula. The snout wasn't visible. I have seen the snout clearly durign an observation made with an 18" obsession at a dark sky site.

After I packed it in, it turns out I made this HH observation with an absolutely FILTHY mirror!!! Apparently towards the end of the session, some of the dew that was accumulating somehow dripped onto the primary mirror, leaving two broad streaks as the water made its way down the surface. Now, these two streaks seemingly polished the mirror of dirt, making the affected surface look shiny new compared to the rest of the mirror! I was totally shocked at how a dirty a mirror I've been using all this time without even knowing it!

you can see how much cleaner the bit is where the water ran down - you can see how much better the contrast of the reflection of the black surface is

in the streaks, you can also see the "banks" of dirt pushed to the side by the water as it made its way down the mirror

A clean is in order this weekend! Can't wait to get it out under the stars afterwards. Last time I cleaned the mirror on my other scope, the difference in image quality was noticable, so I'm excited

Nice report - sounds like an amazing night. Almost 9 hours observing? Do you stop for something to eat at some point?!

Thanks Andrew - it was a nice night! Very rare in Melbourne unfortunately. I usually go inside and grab a snack and hot chocolate every 2-3 hours. One of life's simplest, yet greatest pleasures.

[acey]

What an epic session - an inspiration to us all!

I've heard that H-Beta is de rigeur for Horsehead and I've never managed it without so maybe I'll finally treat myself. I've heard there's not much else that the filter is particularly useful on, though(maybe California Neb?).

The state of your mirror is a reminder of how over-fussy we can get about dust. If you could see so many objects in such excellent detail with that mirror then a little bit of muck can't really be so bad. But when you get it sparkling clean again - wow!

[mdstuart]

Great report, you clearly have a lot of experience in finding things. I am presuming you star hop to them all....?

You must also have good skies getting to some of those fainter fuzzies.

I am hoping for a clear night tonight to continue looking for galaxies to the left (technical term) of Pegasus...

Regards

Mark

[Doc]

SAB that mirror looked like mine after the Salisbury Star party, we had really bad dew and like yours my mirror was covered in dew spots. I took my LB apart and cleaned both mirrors, really easy to do.

But I agree with acey, there cannot be to much wrong with it considering how deep your mirror goes.

[SAB]

Yes but after cleaning it'll go *deeper* I'm impressed with its performance given its condition. I've seen mag 15.9 stars with it in this condition, so after cleaning I should be able to crack 16! That's not caused by dew, that is pure unaulderated dirt! I got this scope second hand, about a year and a half ago and wasn't cleaned in that time, and who knows when the previous owner cleaned it last....that's if he did at all.

What an epic session - an inspiration to us all!

I've heard that H-Beta is de rigeur for Horsehead and I've never managed it without so maybe I'll finally treat myself. I've heard there's not much else that the filter is particularly useful on, though(maybe California Neb?).

The state of your mirror is a reminder of how over-fussy we can get about dust. If you could see so many objects in such excellent detail with that mirror then a little bit of muck can't really be so bad. But when you get it sparkling clean again - wow!

I can't see it without the H-beta, given my outer-suburban skies, so if you have light pollution the H-beta is mandatory. I havent attempted it from a dark sky site without using the filter, but I suspect it would be faintly visible. The H-beta is actually useful on a number of objects, this link might be helpful: http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1520

Great report, you clearly have a lot of experience in finding things. I am presuming you star hop to them all....?

You must also have good skies getting to some of those fainter fuzzies.

I am hoping for a clear night tonight to continue looking for galaxies to the left (technical term) of Pegasus...

Regards

Mark

Yep I starhop to everything. I use the Millenium Star Atlas and printouts from CDC. My skies are actually pretty decent for a suburban location, but i'm in the outer suburbs. The LMC and SMC are plainly visible to the naked eye on good nights.

[PeterW]

LMC and SMC.... ah your definition of 'outer suburbs' maybe slightly darker than those that Europeans are used to. Any idea of your limiting magnitude?

All the best

PEterW