30-something galaxies. - 7th April report

[Andrew*]

It's been a while! I've been distracted from observing for some time, with the arrival of my 2nd daughter Juniper in February, but last night I had the opportunity to get out for a proper observing session.

I put out my 12" f/6 David Lukehurst dobsonian to cool at 8.30pm - a beautiful crescent moon hung in the orange twilight sky:

I took a closer look around 9, when the earthshine was very obvious. I never tire of the moon, and its rugged mountainous landscape. Spent a while drifting across the thin terminator, but the seeing was awful.

At 10pm, the sky was still not quite dark, with a combination of moonshine, twilight and thin cloud taking the edge off the night. This steadily improved as the night went on.

I started with some decidedly underwhelming views of the Leo triplet. At 114x, M65 and 66 were mere smudges, with no discernible structure, and unusually similar to each other. NGC 3628 was only barely discernible as a single long thin streaky haze. Galaxy count: 3.

Next in the eyepiece was Lion food: NGC 2903, right in front of the Lion's mouth. To me, this was considerably brighter and larger than M66, and even showed a little structure. Viewed at 76x. 4.

I decided to try something new, and picked the close pair of galaxies NGC 3607/8 in Leo. At 114x, a pleasing pair separated by just 6'. 3607 clearly larger and brighter, and just off to SW I noticed the sliver of NGC 3605, and to the SE a sweet little grouping of 5 stars. 7.

A large jump away lies M108, and as a bonus the planetary nebula M97, the Own Nebula nearby. The latter nebula just showed its eyes thanks to an OIII filter, which I confirmed by means of a little sketch.

M108 is a long thin galaxy. It showed no real structure, but I noticed a fairly bright star just off-centre, very close to the core to the SW, in the plane of the galaxy. It was very slightly brighter than nearby TYC3827-3-1, so around mag. 8.5. I know there is a mag. 12 star embedded in the galaxy, but this was definitely brighter. I don't know if the star is variable, or if there's maybe a supernova...? Anyone else noticed anything unusual in M108 recently? 8.

Fed up of navigating Dobson's hole, I went back to the tail end of Leo, spreading down to Virgo. This area is not for the fainthearted, and rather than risk getting stranded in deep space, I have always opted to view it "defensively". Sweeping around the view at 45x, galaxy after galaxy swims in and out of the field of view. Some are small, some large, some thin, some round. They seem to be endless. One day, when I'm feeling more courageous, I will tackle this area armed with a better sky, a more detailed map, and plenty of time and patience. For tonight, a leisurely sweep had to suffice. At least 18.

On my way to the second Leo triplet, M95/96/105, I stumbled across small faint NGC 3489 at 45x. I'd say M95 is the faintest of the three, then M96 and M105 marginally brighter still. All were small, relatively round, and lacking in structure or texture. Very close by is NGC 3384, which is longer and much fainter than M105. At least 23.

Edging northwards towards Leo's underside, one comes to NGC 3412, fainter 3367, and further east, 3338. NGC3377 proved too faint. At least 26.

I'd been waiting for Saturn to rise to an acceptable level all night. Now was the time. However, this was a disaster. Seeing was abysmal and even the gap between the rings and planet was not obvious. Even a star test to get collimation right proved tricky as the diffraction rings were mauled by the seeing. What a shame, as I'd been looking forward to viewing it around opposition.

Staying within our own galaxy, I found M3 just inside the border of Canes Venatici. This is a must-see globular, which I spent some time on. A slightly oval, fat, sprinkly, packed core sits amongst a shrouding halo, which spread out far into the surrounding star field, getting sparser and sparser. My 12" resolved this beautifully at 225x.

I decided to finish with a bang on the Whirlpool galaxy, M51, which was directly overhead. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed, but could clearly see larger and a smaller round hazes, and a hint of material in between. At least 27.

I noticed the Cat's Eye galaxy, M94 was nearby - an object I've not yet seen for myself. I could not resist, and I found it easily. A pleasant surprise - a bright oval core, surrounded by a large, well-defined even halo. At least 28.

And still I couldn't stop! Another unseen Messier, the Sunflower Galaxy, M63 was next. Smaller, less defined and fainter than M94, but more oval. At least 29.

Finally - really this time! - I stopped at M109. I was clearly getting tired now as the last entry in my observing journal says, simply: "q. sm. and f." At least 30.

And with that, at 1am, I called it a night and packed up. A very successful galaxy hunt, spanning tens of millions of light years!

Goodnight!

Andrew

[Doc]

What a great night Andrew, it just goes to show that galaxy hunting is way too much fun.

[WayBig]

Brilliant, well done, I got 24 in one evening last week, it's easy to get lost in the virgo cluster and not know which one you're seeing. Great fun though

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great night indeed! NGC 2903 is such a sight, and from a dark spot shows structure even in a C8. I got no further than 12 yesterday. I also was torn between the "just one more galaxy!!" feeling and fatigue.

Cheers

Michael

[John]

Lovely report Andrew and a great photo to set the scene !

Mark and I had a similar night last Saturday at SGL6 - I think you would have enjoyed it but I know you've had plenty of other priorities

Nice to read your reports again though

[GazOC]

Nice session Andrew, sounds very much like my Wednesday night.

[Andrew*]

Thanks for reading, folks

Yes, I'm enjoying this galaxy hunting malarky - rather moreish!

John, I'm gutted I missed SGL6. I've literally been looking forward to it since SGL5 finished, but yes, other priorities.....

Cheers

Andrew

[Mark at Beaufort]

A great observing night Andrew it must be good to get observing again.

Hopefully, Juniper is now fully recovered.

Mark