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.
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