22 March 2020, 21:00 – 23:45
Conditions: A very windy night with strong, frequent gusts. Quite cold too by the end of the session.
Seeing: Good
Transparency: Average
A challenging night’s observing to say the least, with star-charts threatening to take off in the wind and stray light encroaching from just about every direction (seriously, why don't people draw their damn blinds/curtains anymore?). All observations carried out at 92x magnification with the Ethos 13mm (it was too gusty to attempt anything higher and I really needed that huge field of view so I didn’t get completely lost). Finding a galaxy in the Virgo cluster is easy; the trick is knowing which galaxy you’re looking at.
Comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas)
Found it at last, lurking very close to the red-hued star Rho Ursae Majoris. On first impression it looked much like one of the galaxies in the vicinity, albeit a little fainter than I was expecting. A stellar nucleus was visible with averted vision, at the centre of a large, extended coma. I couldn’t see any sign of a tail, but the light from Rho UMa made it hard to pick out any kind of structure.
With that out of the way I resumed my expedition into the heart of the Virgo Cluster, this time picking up from near Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis).
NGC 4762, galaxy, Virgo
Small, edge-on galaxy positioned between two field stars. Bright, needle-like core.
NGC 4689, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Large, faint round galaxy, a little brighter towards the centre.
NGC 4654, galaxy, Virgo
Large, amorphous galaxy, a little brighter than 4689. Three bright field stars on western side.
NGC 4639, galaxy, Virgo
Faint, extended galaxy in same field of view as 4654. Stellar nucleus with averted vision and faint star just east of the core.
M90, galaxy, Virgo
Following on from previous observation (it seemed a little fainter tonight). Large, extended galaxy with very bright stellar nucleus. I couldn’t see the “shell” structure noted previously, but there did seem to be a sharper, darker cut-off along the eastern side.
NGC 4571, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Back across the Virgo/Coma border. Very faint galaxy immediately SW of bright star. Barely visible with averted vision.
M91, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Fairly large round galaxy with bright, but not stellar core. Seemed like there was a dark area east of the core, but the wind made it hard to be certain.
M88, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Bright elliptical galaxy with field star NW and two more SE. Slightly extended core. Seemed to be a faint spot east of the nucleus; in some moments it appeared star-like, in others it was fuzzy.
NGC 4474, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Small round galaxy southwest of M88. Brighter towards the centre.
NGC 4459, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Compact little galaxy just west of bright field star. Very bright core, but not stellar.
NGC 4477, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Bright, round galaxy. Stellar core; otherwise featureless. The northern end of Markarian’s Chain, depending on where you take the starting point (some extend it to M88).
NGC 4473, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Elliptical galaxy – smaller than 4477, but with a brighter core.
NGC 4458 & NGC 4461, galaxy pair, Virgo
Close pair of galaxies in Markarian’s Chain. Both small, but 4461 clearly brighter and more elongated than 4458.
NGC 4435 & NGC 4438, interacting galaxies, Virgo
“The Eyes”. Bright, well-matched pair. 4435 has a very bright core, but 4438 is larger, more extended – and also distorted. The core brightness is probably similar to 4435, but less concentrated.
M86, galaxy, Virgo
Large round galaxy. Brightness increases smoothly towards the core; at the centre of which resides a stellar nucleus, but otherwise this galaxy appeared featureless. NGC 4402 suspected with averted vision to the north, but not confirmed.
M84, galaxy, Virgo
Another bright elliptical. Not as large as M86, but has a very bright core.
NGC 4388, galaxy, Virgo
Inclined, narrow galaxy forming an equilateral triangle with M84 and M86 (but not as prominent as those two giants). Brighter towards centre.
NGC 4387, galaxy, Virgo
Faint little galaxy at the centre of the M84/M86/NGC 4388 triangle. (All four galaxies in the same fov at 92x.) Stellar nucleus with averted vision.
NGC 4440, galaxy, Virgo
Bright, round galaxy. Brighter towards core.
M87, galaxy, Virgo
Not surprisingly, the biggest, brightest galaxy observed tonight. Large bright core, but no stellar nucleus that I could see. Large halo extending almost halfway towards NGC 4478. Of course, astronomers have known for a long time about the super-massive black hole at the centre of M87, but now that we've seen it, observing this galaxy takes on a special significance. Truth be told, there's not much to see in the way of detail (you need a very large telescope to glimpse the jet), but that didn't stop me from staring at it for a long time.
NGC 4478, galaxy, Virgo
Companion to M87. Like a smaller, ghostly light echo of its monstrous big brother.
And then, to round off the session, a quick excursion to the southern region of chart B1.
NGC 4665, galaxy, Virgo
Bright little elliptical galaxy. Bright centre; field star to south.
NGC 4636, galaxy, Virgo
Bright compact galaxy with mottled outer envelope hinting at structure (though, looking at online images later, I may have been deceived by an unusual smattering of faint foreground stars). Home of a recent 12th magnitude supernova – though I arrived about a month too late to see it.
There are still plenty more galaxies to see in the Virgo Cluster (and many of the ones I’ve already logged are worth revisiting at a higher magnification), but this feels like a good place to stop for now.
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