More Galaxies (and a Quasar)

4-5 April 2019, 21:45 – 01:15 BST

A chilly, gusty evening – again, not optimal for imaging. The seeing was excellent (the scope reached ambient temperature very quickly) and condensation wasn’t an issue. Transparency improved as the night went on (aided by all the neighbours’ lights being switched off – for once).

All observations at 133x (9mm Nagler) unless otherwise stated.

Polaris, double star, Ursa Minor
I don’t why it’s taken me so long to point the XT10 at Polaris, but it resolved nicely as a white/pale yellow primary and a much fainter secondary directly above it in the field of view. Both stars showed near-perfect little Airy discs – not bad considering the scope had been outside for less than half an hour. I hope the seeing is this good the next time I look at the moon.

I also looked for high northern planetary nebula IC 3568 but I couldn’t locate it (probably because I was unaware how small it is). But I did find an interesting “headlight” double star in the area.

3C 273, Quasar, Virgo
With only a red-dot finder to assist me (and a distinct lack of naked eye stars to "hop" from) I wasn't at all confident of tracking this down. However, more through luck than judgement I found the area covered by the close-up finder chart in the field of view of the eyepiece, and from there it was a relatively simple matter to locate the quasar. At 133x it was faint, but easily visible with averted vision, a little brighter than the adjacent “G” star. At 240x it was just about visible with direct vision. On a purely aesthetic level it was unremarkable, but it's staggering to think I was looking at something 2 – 2.5 billion light-years away (sources vary) – or, to put it another way, a thousand times further away than the Andromeda Galaxy.

M53, globular cluster, Coma Berenices
Grainy at 240x, some stars resolved with averted vision. Good, but not impressive as globulars go. Two field stars east of cluster. Reasonably bright star on northern edge, separated from main body of cluster by an apparent dark bay or rift. Couldn’t see NGC 5053 for some reason; perhaps I was looking in the wrong place.

NGC 4214, galaxy, Canes Venatici
Irregular, vaguely diamond-shaped galaxy with grainy texture. Two faint stars to west, brighter one east. Central bar aligned east-west.

NGC 4244, galaxy, Canes Venatici
Fairly large, long streak of light, slightly fatter and brighter in the middle. Star on northern tip of galaxy.

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy, Canes Venatici
Best view of spiral structure since 10 Feb, showed particularly well in averted vision. Dark areas between arms just about visible in direct vision. Also found a faint, round little galaxy roughly south of M51 – not plotted in PSA, but later identified as NGC 5198. After this and 3C 273, it’s starting to dawn on me just how much I can see through this scope given the right sky conditions.

M101, Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
Hint of HII/star-forming regions with averted vision; most prominent one appeared to be east of nucleus. Suggestion of discontinuous spiral arms. Each time I look at M101 the view gets fractionally better, but still very challenging. Maybe I’m asking too much of my suburban skies but I feel like I should be getting more out of this galaxy.

NGC 4565, edge-on galaxy, Coma Berenices
Beautiful needle galaxy with narrow dust lane. Otherwise, not much I can add to previous notes.

NGC 4147, globular cluster, Coma Berenices
Small, condensed; grainy appearance with averted vision, but not resolved.

NGC 4293? galaxy, Coma Berenices
Stumbled across this one while sweeping for M85. (I thought I could ease my way into the heart of the Virgo Cluster from the north, but I quickly lost my bearings.) Presented as elliptical blur; distinctive line of stars to north of galaxy.

M85, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Back on track again. An elliptical galaxy with a stellar nucleus. Bright star north of core. Fainter galaxy (NGC 4394) to east.

M100, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Large, round, extended envelope; brighter towards centre. Faint star northwest.

M98, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Extended ellipse – like smaller, fainter version of M31.

M99, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Round blur, brighter towards centre. Suggestion of mottling and reverse-s spiral structure. Might be worth revisiting this one at higher magnification.

Markarian’s Chain, galaxies in Virgo
Counted ten galaxies in total, starting from NGC 4459. Almost an embarrassment of riches. It’s hard to give one galaxy your full attention when another one is creeping into the field of view. Maybe this section of the Virgo cluster needs to be viewed at low magnification or high magnification to get the best out of it – not intermediate.

M87, elliptical galaxy, Virgo
(Yes, that galaxy.) Appeared as a large oval blur, brighter towards centre. Sharing same field of view with NGC 4478 – smaller, fainter.

M104, Sombrero Galaxy, Virgo
Streak of light, bright core. Long, straight dark lane seen very clearly with averted vision south of nucleus despite low altitude.

Moved down to Corvus to look for the Antennae galaxies again. Didn’t see them (again), but I did find:

NGC 4361, planetary nebula, Corvus
Faintly visible at 133x, but still obvious. The OIII filter improved contrast, but hard to make out any detail other than a rough round shape with ragged edges. Still, it's encouraging I can see planetary nebulae this far south; perhaps the Helix Nebula is a possibility after all.

NGC 6210, planetary nebula, Hercules
Small, bright little disc of light; seemed slightly elliptical. Very bright in OIII filter; a typical summer planetary. Would need very high magnification to show significant detail, I think.

Other notes:
Also saw two meteors falling N to SE through same part of sky (Virgo), separated by at least half an hour.

Galaxies in Canes Venatici

31 March 2019, 21:15 – 00:15 BST

A windy, slightly chilly night with occasional strong gusts (so unsuitable for imaging). A few small clouds scudding quickly across the sky. Transparency better than Thursday, but still nowhere near as good as the memorable session on 10 February.

All observations at 133x (9mm Nagler) unless otherwise stated.

Y Canum Venaticorum (La Superba), carbon star in Canes Venatici
Bright little red-hued star, like a glowing ember. I think descriptions of the colours of stars are sometimes overstated – particularly when there isn’t a nearby companion to contrast it with – but this one was very distinctive. A refreshing starter before I got into the main course of galaxies.

M63, Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Stellar core; extended, mottled envelope. Two bright stars to the west, a close grouping of three fainter ones to the east.

M94, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright core with a circular extended envelope (brighter overall than M63). On first impression it might be mistaken for an unresolved globular cluster, or the Eskimo Nebula (2392) with an additional shell of nebulosity. One bright star some distance west of the galaxy.

NGC 4490/4485, interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici
Elliptical misty patch with smaller, fainter companion, like two fish circling each other.

NGC 4449, irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici
Following on from Thursday's observation – boxy shape, grainy texture. Averted vision appeared to show three “knots” or condensations arranged in a line, the middle one being the brightest. Increasing the magnification to 240x (5mm Nagler) suggested dark mottling and bays around the edge of the galaxy. Also a brighter central bar running diagonally across the face of the galaxy. Averted vision at this magnification showed a bright spot on the eastern corner – hard to tell if this was another condensation or a foreground star. I wish more galaxies showed this much detail.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Viewing at 240x showed a large bright core and a shallow s-shaped spiral – the northern arm was easier to see. Averted vision seemed to suggest a dark area just north of the nucleus. Switching back to 133x and sweeping around the area revealed a couple of neighbouring galaxies:

NGC 4346, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Roughly due east of M106, with a bright star midway between the two. Elliptical fuzzball with a stellar core.

NGC 4220, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Roughly northwest of M106. Small and faint spindle of light.

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici (with NGC 5195)
Tonight the two galaxies had an almost ghostly aspect about them; the spiral arms seemed to fade in and out of existence independently of averted vision. The view wasn’t substantially improved at 240x, other than highlighting some of the brighter areas with a milky glow. The sketch above (compiled from observations carried out over three separate nights) gives an impression of what you can see with careful, prolonged study - even if you don't have the darkest skies (or the largest telescope).

NGC 5005, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Small, but fairly bright galaxy. It’s hard to be sure of detail when you’re looking at an object for the first time, but there seemed to be a suggestion of an inclined spiral and possibly a bar running through the core.

NGC 5033, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Southwest of NGC 5005; similar size but fainter. Stellar nucleus.

A detour “across the border” for two showpiece galaxies:

M101, Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
Large, low surface brightness. Very subtle S-spiral hinted with averted vision (needs exceptional conditions and/or an Ethos to get the best out of this galaxy, I think). Field star superposed on face of galaxy, north of nucleus.

NGC 5907, Splinter Galaxy in Draco
Faint, very narrow edge-on galaxy, well deserving of its nickname. Quite impressive with averted vision. Faint star west of nucleus.

And back to the southern region of Canes Venatici and beyond:

NGC 4631, Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Large, “fat” galaxy (particularly compared to 5907). Foreground star on northern edge of galaxy near centre (I can’t really call it a nucleus) and a very faint blur just beyond that – fleetingly visible with averted vision (confirmed later as the dwarf companion NGC 4627 “the Pup”).

NGC 4656, Hockey Stick Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Faint streak of light southeast of 4631. No condensations that I could see, but one half of the galaxy is brighter than the other, with brighter areas towards the centre and one end (corresponding with the “hook”).

NGC 4559, galaxy in Coma Berenices
An overdue first look at number 36 in the Caldwell list. First impressions: large irregular blur, brighter towards core, but not condensed. Southern side of galaxy framed by three stars of varying brightness.

As Hercules was rising in the northeast, I rounded off the session with a look at two of the northern sky’s best globular clusters.

M92, globular cluster in Hercules
As per previous observation from last year: rich, bright condensed, well resolved. Slight oval shape – not circular. Bluish tinge?

M13, globular cluster in Hercules
Large and “sprawling” compared to M92, not as condensed. Very well resolved. Couldn’t be certain of seeing the dark “propeller” feature, but I did see NGC 6207 for the first time: visible as a small, faint lens-shaped galaxy with a stellar nucleus (I later found out that this is actually a foreground star). As is often the case with these objects, it seems obvious now I know where to find it.

Nature note: heard two foxes screeching at each other a couple of streets away. One frog in the pond (the tadpoles seemed to be purposefully avoiding it).

Spring Galaxies

28 March 2019, 22:00 – 23:30

The priority for the evening was testing the new autoguiding system – which (despite a few early glitches) went better than expected. I even got an hour’s worth of data (90-second subframes) on M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Conditions: hazy, heavy condensation, and my eyes were never fully dark-adapted (because I had to keep checking the laptop), so quick observations only.

I began with a sweep of the Virgo Cluster and quickly became lost in a sea of galaxies. The paucity of naked-eye stars in that region makes it difficult to navigate using the red-dot finder, but I definitely saw the brighter galaxies in Markarian’s Chain – M84, M86 etc., plus plenty of fainter ones nearby. I think the best strategy for future sessions might be to galaxy-hop rather than star-hop, using the 24mm Panoptic as a finder. The challenge then will be to find a recognisable starting point.

M64, Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Quite large, “black-eye” seen with averted vision.

While sweeping through Coma Berenices I found a bright, tight double star – either 24 or 2 Com, looking at the chart.

NGC 4490/4485, interacting galaxies in Canes Venatici
Two elliptical blurs forming a rough right-angle, one galaxy larger and brighter than the other.

NGC 4449, irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright and boxy, hint of structure. Definitely coming back to this one.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
One bright spiral arm.

Rounded off the evening with quick looks at M51 and M13. (Nothing new to add to previous notes.)

Nature note: the frogspawn is no more and the pond is now full of tadpoles. Also heard lots of distant squeaks and whistles – presumably from migrating birds.

Three Globulars and a lot of Galaxies

26 February 2019, 19:15 – 22:15

Very mild for time of year, a little hazy; some condensation, but not as bad as the last few sessions. All observations with the 9mm Nagler at 133x.

M79, globular cluster in Lepus
Grainy fuzzball – small and condensed, but quite distinctive despite the light pollution in this part of the sky. A single faint star resolved on northern edge (and it is a cluster member, not a foreground star; see the DeepSkyVideos take on M79). I was amazed I could see it so well given its declination (-24 degrees = about 15 degrees above the horizon at culmination).

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini
The “leaf” cluster, as described previously. Looked a little hazy tonight.

NGC 2266, open cluster in Gemini
Rich little cluster. Shape resembles a triangle with caved-in sides. Brightest star at southern apex.

NGC 2129, open cluster in Gemini
Two bright stars with a retinue of fainter stars in two lines arranged roughly east-west (southern line straight, the northern one wavy – like an approximation symbol).

M35, NGC 2158, open clusters in Gemini
Latter partially resolved with averted vision; M35 fills the field of view at 133x.

NGC 2419, globular cluster in Lynx
Found it at last (on the third attempt!). The so-called “intergalactic wanderer”. Faint round blur in line with two bright stars. Averted vision increases its size but little else. A few faint foreground stars sprinkled around the cluster, but obviously not associated with it.

NGC 2841, galaxy in Ursa Major
Elliptical shape, stellar nucleus embedded in what looked like a bar-shaped core region. Faint foreground star on western end. Dark lane on southern edge of galaxy?

NGC 2681, galaxy in Ursa Major
Small, round galaxy, fainter than 2841. Stellar nucleus with faint outer envelope. Two stars on western side of galaxy and a fainter one to the east.

M108, galaxy in Ursa Major
Large, extended, seems “mottled” with averted vision. Foreground star near nucleus and another one to the west.

M109, galaxy in Ursa Major
Hazy round blur. Seems kind of faint for a Messier object (albeit a belated entry), especially given all the much more obvious NGC galaxies in and around the same constellation.

NGC 3613, galaxy in Ursa Major
Faint round blur midway between two field stars. Bright, bar-like core. This area (in the bowl of Ursa Major) is one that would benefit from a 50mm finderscope alongside the EZ finder (I was actually looking for 3619).

NGC 3898, galaxy in Ursa Major
Another one inside the body of the Bear. Bright, stellar core; faint outer envelope. Overall, similar in brightness to 3613.

At this point I took a temporary break from galaxies to revisit some familiar double stars:

Mizar / Alcor, Ursa Major
Famous double star in Ursa Major: Both stars well-framed at 133x; Mizar resolves into a pair of icy blue stars.

Cor Caroli, Canes Venatici
Nice split at 20 arcseconds (similar separation to Mizar). Pale yellow secondary?

Gamma Leonis
Closely-paired double. Narrow separation and variable seeing made it tough to discern colours but the primary seemed pale orange and the secondary seemed pale yellow.

Back to the galaxies...

NGC 3607, NGC 3608, galaxies in Leo
Another Leo pair, fairly close together in the field of view. The smaller one (3608) forms a triangle with two stars. Both with stellar cores. Seemed like there were other galaxies in vicinity, but transparency and condensation (and tiredness) made it hard to be sure.

NGC 4565, Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Well this one snapped me out of my tiredness in a hurry. I may have been hasty in stating that M82 was the best edge-on galaxy. After star-hopping to what I hoped was the correct region, it suddenly appeared as a long stiletto of milky light sliding into the field of view. The central bulge was clearly visible with a field star just to the north. The dark dust lane was visible without too much difficulty using averted vision, offset slightly to the north. Easily the night’s highlight despite the conditions and the less than optimal placement. On this evidence, much better than NGC 891, the other well-known edge-on galaxy in Andromeda.

NGC 4631, Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Large, extended. Western end brighter and fatter. Star on northern edge of central region.

NGC 4656/7, Hockey Stick Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Extended blur, smaller and fainter than its neighbour (4631). Tired eyes prevented me from seeing more detail.

I started the evening with a globular, so it seemed apt to finish with one:

M3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici
Rising into view out of the east. A dense fuzzball of stars, well resolved with averted vision despite conditions/tiredness and other factors. After all the colourless galaxies, it seemed to have a distinctly bluish tinge. Weather (and moon) permitting, I’ll be coming back to this object, so it will be interesting to see if this is a real effect (over-abundance of blue stragglers perhaps?).

As I was starting to pack up, the night was capped by a slow meteor which left a brief trail as it descended past Polaris towards the northern horizon.