490 Million Light-Years from Home

16-17 May 2020, 22:45 – 3:15

Conditions: no wind; cool (not as cold as previous sessions); some clouds – increasing over the course of the session.

Seeing: Good / average
Transparency: Average

I had no set plan for this session, which was just as well because the clouds largely dictated where I could and couldn’t point my scope.

M97, Owl Nebula, Ursa Major
171x + OIII filter. Large round disc, seemed speckled with averted vision. The dark patches (the “eyes” of the owl) were visible but ill-defined. Faint star north of nebula.

NGC 6058, planetary nebula, Hercules
171x + OIII filter. A third planetary nebula in Hercules; plotted in SA 2000, but not the PSA. Small oval nebula, near the centre of a triangle formed by 2 bright stars and 1 fainter one. The nebula was quite faint even with the filter. Brighter centre with averted vision, but I couldn’t quite tell if this was the illuminating star or a brighter portion of the nebula (immediately surrounding the star).

M61, galaxy, Virgo
Another over-optimistic attempt to look for SN 2020jfo; this time at the higher magnification of 240x, but this part of the sky was really too bright to see any stars west of the nucleus. With averted vision and enhanced breathing I could just about make out the spiral form, but that was as good as it got.

NGC 6166, galaxy, Hercules
Back down to 133x, and back to Hercules, for another object plotted in SA 2000 but not the PSA. Appeared as a very faint ellipse north of 3 field stars, aligned north-south. A little brighter towards the centre with averted vision. A tough object, but the remarkable thing about this galaxy is that it’s the dominant member of the Abell 2199 cluster, whose distance is (according to Wikipedia) a whopping 490 million light years. Other sources put it closer to 400 million light years, but either way it’s the furthest non-quasar object I’ve seen to date (ahead of NGC 4889 at 308 million light years).

From the very faint to the very bright as the ISS made the first of three passes at 23:45.

M92, globular cluster, Hercules
133x. Smaller, more condensed than M13, but still impressive. Appeared to be a couple of dark patches east of the core. If there is colour in this cluster, it’s subtle: a very pale aquamarine.

95 Herculis, double star
133x. Very attractive, bright pair of stars separated by just 6 arcseconds. Pale green primary (that colour must be a contrast effect) and a pale orange secondary (almost as bright as the primary).

NGC 6791, open cluster, Lyra
133x. Rare example of a DSO plotted in the PSA but not SA 2000. I failed to spot this last time out and with good reason: it’s a large, faint misty patch lurking in a rich star field. With averted vision it slowly starts to resolve, and there appear to be some foreground stars overlaying the cluster in direct vision. One for the big scopes, I think.

As more clouds flitted across the sky I swapped one Nagler for another and increased the magnification to 240x for quick looks at M57 and NGC 6543. Not much to add to previous observations although, on evidence of this night at least, the central star of the Cat’s Eye is easier to see in the DeLite.

At 1:20 (shortly after I was distracted by a large frog bumping into the garden shed), the ISS made its second appearance, reaching magnitude -3.3 as it passed overhead.

NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula (Caldwell 4), reflection nebula, Cepheus
133x. Bright star surrounded by an extended haze, elongated in a N-S direction. One of those objects that appears quite obvious once you know what you’re looking for, but could easily be mistaken for condensation otherwise (there are no other bright stars in the field to compare it to). The nebula appeared vaguely mottled with averted vision. There was also a noticeable lack of stars in the space surrounding the nebula.

NGC 6939, open cluster, Cepheus
133x. Better view tonight. Rich, compact cluster; spray of stars overlying an unresolved haze.

NGC 6946, Fireworks Galaxy, Cepheus/Cygnus
133x. Large amorphous haze (as previously described). A little brighter towards the centre with averted vision, but no structure that I could discern.

There was another distraction at 2:10 in the form of 2 bright satellites passing through Aquila. As I was killing time until Scorpius/Sagittarius cleared the neighbour’s tree, I temporarily switched from the Nagler to the Ethos.

M13, globular cluster, Hercules
92x. The Ethos gives an aesthetically more pleasing view of M13, but it’s not quite as easy to resolve at 92x as it is at 133x. The Ethos fov is also large enough to show the two 7th magnitude stars either side of the cluster.

I also had quick looks at NGC 6543, M57 and M4 with the Ethos, before balancing the scope on the table again.

M6, open cluster, Scorpius
133x: Large, loose collection of bright stars. A slightly better view tonight, but still only just clearing the fence, and atmospheric turbulence made it hard to find the best focus. The brightest stars seemed to form the outline of a watering can. At other times the cluster looked like a fat dragonfly or the flapping pages of a book thrown into the air. (Yes I know I'm over-reaching here, but you try finding the right words to describe a shimmering star cluster at nearly 3 in the morning.) The cluster was also visible in binoculars as a faint hazy patch with at least three stars resolved. I still couldn’t see M7, though.

The third and final ISS pass took place at 2:55; this time lower in the sky and at a less bright magnitude of -2.9.

With the clouds gathering again and the sky starting to brighten, I just had time to screw the OIII filter into the 24mm Panoptic (I’d used every other eyepiece tonight, so why not?) and take a very quick look at some summer nebulae (three of which I’d only previously seen years ago in the SP-102).

M8, Lagoon Nebula, Sagittarius
50x + OIII filter. Large and bright (prominent in the finder and in the binoculars). Nebulosity to the west, star cluster to the east, with a very obvious wide dark lane dividing the two.

M20, Trifid Nebula, Sagittarius
50x + OIII filter. Smaller and fainter than M8. Nebula surrounding tight cluster; mottled with averted vision. Needs higher magnification.

M17, Omega/Swan Nebula, Sagittarius
50x + OIII filter. Very bright nebula and quite large. Like a number “2” with an extended tail.

M16, Eagle Nebula, Serpens
50x + OIII filter. Three-pronged cluster of stars with associated haze of nebulosity. (Unlike the previous three objects, it’s the cluster which grabs the eye before the nebula.) Not nearly as prominent as M17, but at this stage the sky was too bright to really do this one justice.

Sagittarius presents a lot of interesting objects to look at in a limited time, so hopefully I’ll get at least a few clear moon-free nights over the next couple of months.

The Cat's Eye Nebula and other Highlights

14-15 May 2020, 22:30 – 3:15

Conditions: Chilly, breezy; sky noticeably lighter along the northern horizon.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Good overhead, average to poor everywhere else

M61, galaxy, Virgo
With the Virgo cluster already sliding past the meridian by the time it gets dark I wasn’t expecting to look at M61 again this year, but I’ve never seen a supernova before so I had to at least try to spot SN 2020jfo. After several minutes of careful observing (at 171x), using averted vision and enhanced breathing and all the usual tricks, I could intermittently see one or two faint stars west of the nucleus. So did I see it or was my mind filling in the gaps? Difficult to say, so I’ll leave that as a “maybe” rather than a definite “yes”. Had it exploded a month or so earlier (away from the Thanet light-dome) I think I would have caught it. (And yes, I know there was a brighter supernova in neighbouring Leo, but I’d like to be able to see the host galaxy as well. There will be other, better opportunities.)

M51, Whirlpool Galaxy, Canes Venatici
Having the galaxy almost directly overhead made for awkward tracking with the dob, but structure was clearly visible at 133x and 171x. The core of NGC 5195 appeared more condensed and stellar than that of M51, with a dark cut-off on the eastern side. The bright area noted last time was more apparent tonight, with a definite clumpiness to the spiral arm east of M51’s core.

M106, galaxy, Canes Venatici
171x. As per previous sightings. Northern spiral arm brighter as usual; appeared to be a dark lane on the western side of the galaxy, slanting diagonally south. At this higher magnification the core itself seemed slightly elongated in a NW-SE direction.

Using Sky Atlas 2000 I found three of the neighbouring galaxies (two of which I’ve seen previously):

NGC 4346, galaxy, Canes Venatici
171x. Small spindle galaxy with a bright stellar core aligned E-W. Located east (and a little south) of M106.

NGC 4220, galaxy, Canes Venatici
171x. Faint elongated galaxy N and W of M106, aligned NW-SE. Brighter towards centre with averted vision.

NGC 4217, galaxy, Canes Venatici
171x and 133x. Faint streak of light west of M106, aligned NE-SW. I missed this one last time, mostly because its visibility is hampered by a bright 9th magnitude star to the north and another fainter one west, lying almost on top of the core. Easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention.

NGC 4144, galaxy, Ursa Major
133x. Large, faint smudge of light. Brighter towards centre with averted vision. Close double star to north.

After quick looks at M5 and M13 I then turned my attention to a selection of the summer objects rising into view:

Epsilon Lyrae, “the Double Double”, Lyra
My previous views of this famous multiple system in the XT10 have been hampered by poor seeing, but tonight the stars were clearly split at 133x and 171x. Obviously the better view came at the higher magnification, with lovely contrast and clean space between the respective pairs.

M57, Ring Nebula, Lyra
171x. I was mostly plotting field stars in preparation for a sketch, but I also took a moment to jot down the key features of this famous nebula: bright oval ring of light, elongated NE-SW. Faint 12th or 13th magnitude star just off the NE edge. The NW and SE edges (on the minor axis) are noticeably brighter than the rest of the ring. The central portion of the ring is not completely dark, but has a slightly glazed appearance.

I took a break at 1:20 to watch a bright pass of the ISS, also noticing a few small clouds scudding across the sky. Then I returned to another planetary nebula:

NGC 6543, “Cat’s Eye Nebula”, Draco
Viewed at 133x and 428x (7mm DeLite + 2.5x Powermate) in preparation for a sketch (above). The seeing perhaps wasn’t quite good enough to justify such a high magnification, but the view occasionally came close to the one I got on 20 April. I notice that getting the correct eye placement is a lot more critical at 428x. Key features: pale green oval disc (at 428x); bright and sharp-edged. Seemed to be a hint of a yellow tinge to the central star, but this might be a contrast effect. When the seeing steadied there was also the suggestion of a tiny dark gap between the central star and the nebula, but oddly this seemed more apparent at the lower magnification. The “arm” features weren’t quite so apparent tonight, showing fleetingly as bright fringes, but the western (long) edge of the nebula did seem slightly misshapen, appearing to extend beyond the main disc.

NGC 6826, “The Blinking Planetary”, Cygnus
A beautiful sight at 171x, much improved on the last time I saw it. Bright central star, dominating the view in direct vision. The nebula was very bright in averted vision; rounder and softer-edged compared to 6543. Colour was less intense too, appearing as a pale green-grey.

At 1:50 a lovely meteor flashed through Cygnus, heading towards the eastern horizon.

M4, globular cluster, Scorpius
133x. A little washed out (as usual), but still plenty of stars resolved. The central N-S “bar” was very prominent tonight.

M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, Scutum
133x. A wonderfully rich cluster, one of the very best in the sky (or at least, the part of it that I can see). Bright lucida surrounded by a somewhat squared-off dense mass of stars. The overall impression is that of a fractured globular cluster.

The cloud cover was increasing at this point – and in a haphazard fashion, effectively pushing me from one clear part of the sky to the next.

M26, open cluster, Scutum
133x. Small cluster somewhat overshadowed by M11 to the north. The brightest 4 stars make a kite shape, surrounded by a swarm of fainter stars, although the central part of the cluster seems strangely vacant. I also noticed a curved tail of stars on one side before the clouds got in the way.

M107, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
133x. Follow-up observation. Faint (for a globular) – washed-out appearance. Grainy in averted vision with a brighter, mottled core.

M14, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
133x. Large, reasonably bright globular. A few stars on the outskirts resolved with averted vision, but otherwise unimpressive.

M80, globular cluster, Scorpius
133x. As noted previously: small, bright, condensed and grainy – but not resolved.

The ISS made another dazzling pass at 3 AM, travelling almost directly overhead. With the sky starting to brighten, there was just time for a quick look at a couple of prominent open clusters.

IC 4756, open cluster, Serpens
133x. Large, loose cluster comprised of bright stars. Not really suited for the XT10.

NGC 6633, open cluster, Ophiuchus
133x. Bright, wedge-shaped cluster. Comprised of bright stars, loosely arranged. Shows up very well in finder and binoculars.

I also used the binoculars to look for M7 and Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN), but the sky was too bright to see either. Realistically I think my only chance of seeing the latter is by making a trip to the North Foreland lighthouse (from where I saw Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught), but the latest reports suggest it isn’t bright enough to justify the effort.

Nature note:
The usual pale frog in the pond (surrounded by the ever-growing tadpoles). The local herring gulls were restless tonight, frequently taking off and occasionally calling for no apparent reason. Perhaps their eggs are close to hatching…

Galaxies near the Zenith

26 April 2020, 22:00 – 00:30

Conditions: Chilly, very light breeze. Patches of high cirrus and vapour trails lingering across parts of the sky (fortunately not the part I was looking at). Very heavy condensation by the end of the session.

Seeing: Good / average
Transparency: Very good (condensation aside)

Having imaged M101 and its companion galaxies the previous night (see below), I was keen to see how much of this view I could replicate visually in the XT10, especially with M101 nearly overhead after nightfall. I used Sky Atlas 2000 to get my bearings and left the PSA indoors for once (and with hindsight it was just as well I did, because the pages would have been a soggy mess by the end of the session).

The eyepiece of choice for such a large, low surface brightness galaxy was of course the Ethos 13mm (92x).

M101, Pinwheel Galaxy, Ursa Major
This was, without doubt, the best view I’ve ever had of this often frustrating galaxy. With averted vision the spiral pattern was vaguely discernible for the first time, even if it did look a bit like an untidy old spring (and it still didn’t come close to the best views of M51). The eastern spiral arm was particularly loose, though it’s easy to confuse this with the nearby curving line of field stars, which gave the galaxy the appearance of a ragged number 6.

I didn’t have to nudge the scope too far to find the first companion galaxy:

NGC 5474, galaxy, Ursa Major
Visible to the south-southeast of M101 as an amorphous round glow. Gradually brighter towards the core with averted vision, but the core itself appears offset from the centre in the direction of M101.

NGC 5473, galaxy, Ursa Major
Very small, round, condensed galaxy near a bright star, north and a little east of M101. Easy to overlook because of its diminutive size. Bright core.

NGC 5485, galaxy, Ursa Major
Same distance again, roughly east of NGC 5473, but larger and fainter. Brighter towards centre with averted vision. Apparently a background galaxy rather than a physical companion of M101.

NGC 5422, galaxy, Ursa Major
North-northwest of M101, opposite side to NGC 5474. Small needle-streak of light pointing back towards M101. Forms a near-rectangular trapezoid with three field stars of equal brightness. Bright core with averted vision. Most likely another background galaxy.

I’d spent over an hour studying this small patch of sky (and I was impressed by what I’d seen) so I took a break from the eyepiece to check the transparency. Looking directly towards the zenith, the faintest star I could see was 82 Ursae Majoris, which has a listed magnitude of 5.46. This is about as good as it gets for my observing location. Unfortunately the condensation was on its way to becoming about as bad as it gets for my location: the steel tube of the telescope already had a light coating of moisture, and beads of dew were forming on the Sky Atlas.

As I was pushing the scope towards the next target, I saw a bright meteor at 23:25: a late Lyrid burning a trail towards Polaris.

NGC 4236 (Caldwell 3), galaxy, Draco
Emboldened by my success with M101, I thought I’d have another attempt at NGC 4236. Tonight it was visible as a very large (even for the Ethos fov) and long streak of light, of extremely low surface brightness. It was only through tube-tapping that I was able to spot it; had I not known it was there I wouldn’t have seen it at all. After staring at it (and around it) for several minutes I could start to detect a very vague brightening towards the centre, but nothing more than that. Visually, the only thing interesting about this galaxy is its size, and - unless it it plays host to a supernova - I doubt I'll revisit it.

NGC 4128, galaxy, Draco
Small, faint streak of light near a gathering (not a cluster) of bright stars. Bright core with averted vision. Not far from NGC 4236.

NGC 5982 & 5985, galaxies, Draco
As per previous observation: short bright streak (5982) and a round faint glow (5985). No sign of 5981.

NGC 5963 & 5965, galaxies, Draco
Faint round galaxy (NGC 5963) with a field star just southeast of the core. The other galaxy (NGC 5965, in the same fov) is fainter, larger and more elongated. Apparently their proximity is just a chance alignment: NGC 5963 is 40 million light years away; NGC 5965 is 150 million light years away.

NGC 5907, “Splinter Galaxy”, Draco
Large, razor-thin, edge-on galaxy. Not bright (compared to say, 4565) but still an exquisite sight. Brighter towards the centre with averted vision. The eastern side of the galaxy seemed to have a sharper cut-off when I looked at it, even though photos show the dust lane to be on the western side (perhaps in this case it has a feathering effect).

NGC 5879, galaxy, Draco
Faint oval glow south of bright star. Bright core with averted vision.

NGC 5866 (M102), galaxy, Draco
As per previous observation of this object: small and relatively bright spindle galaxy.

With the eye-lens of the Ethos rapidly succumbing to the condensation, I swapped it out for the DeLite, but quick looks at M92 and M13 in Hercules confirmed I was fighting a losing battle, so I called it a night. The scope was dripping wet, the Sky Atlas was heavily beaded with dew and my notebook was almost too damp to write in. With hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t try any imaging tonight. That would not have ended well.

With a new lunar cycle already underway and bad weather forecast for most of the following week, that might be the end of my galaxy season for this year. If so, it’s been better than I could have hoped for, with lots of new observations added to the log, including several (NGC 4889, M83 etc.) I didn’t think were possible from my location. And I’ve probably still only seen a fraction of the spring galaxies that are available to my scope.

Nature note:
Two bats flying over the garden at dusk!

Galactic Multi-tasking

25 April 2020, 22:15 – 00:30

Conditions: Cold, with a light breeze

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Average

Lately I’ve been using one telescope at a time (i.e. observing or imaging, but not both). On the evening of 24 April, with clear skies forecast for the entire night, I hauled both rigs into the garden and began the careful process of assembling, balancing and polar-aligning my astrophotography set-up. An hour later I was ready to begin imaging … at which point clouds rolled in from the north and completely covered the sky. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, and it probably won’t be the last, but that’s English weather for you.

Undaunted, I repeated the process the following evening and this time the skies stayed clear. My imaging target was M101 (more on that in the next post), and while that was in progress I used the XT10 to track down some more galaxies around the Virgo/Coma border. (As I’ve discovered this spring, there are always more galaxies…)

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

NGC 4212, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Smooth oval glow, gradually brighter towards the centre. Possible extended bar-like core. (Photographs show no such feature, although there does appear to be a brightening along the long axis, which is possibly what I saw.)

NGC 4216, galaxy, Virgo
Pretty impressive edge-on (or close to edge-on) galaxy with very bright core. Suggestion of dark cut-off on eastern side.

NGC 4267, galaxy, Virgo
Round haze with bright core. Averted vision revealed stellar nucleus and several faint field stars.

NGC 4168, galaxy, Virgo
Faint round haze west of NGC 4216. Brighter towards centre with averted vision.

NGC 4178, galaxy, Virgo
Very faint extended haze west of bright star. Low surface brightness object; easier to see when the star is out of the field.

NGC 4124, galaxy, Virgo
Another very faint oval haze, aligned roughly east-west. Brighter core and stellar nucleus with averted vision.

NGC 4293, galaxy, Coma Berenices
As per previous observation of this object. Extended lens-shaped galaxy. A little brighter towards the centre with averted vision.

NGC 4147, globular cluster, Coma Berenices
I’ve seen this cluster before, but it makes a refreshing change from all the galaxies nearby. That said, it’s a typical NGC globular: round, condensed, grainy with averted vision, but not resolved.

24 Comae Berenices, double star
Attractive pairing. Yellow primary and a pale blue secondary (some 20 arcseconds west).

NGC 4651, “The Umbrella Galaxy”, Coma Berenices
Large oval haze, aligned east-west. Brighter towards centre, mottled envelope.

NGC 4710, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Edge-on “spindle” galaxy, quite bright, aligned SW-NE. Field star east of nucleus. Seemed mottled with averted vision, particularly north of the core.

NGC 4689, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Large round haze, low surface brightness. A little brighter towards the centre with averted vision, but otherwise featureless. Two field stars to north.

I took a break from galaxies to look at M5 again, before revisiting one of the galaxies I saw on Monday.

NGC 5846, galaxy, Virgo
Appeared as before, but this time I could just about see the bright spot (corresponding with NGC 5846A) south of the nucleus with averted vision. It almost looks like the core of NGC 5846 has split into two unequal parts.

With the imaging run nearing the end of its sequence, I changed the Nagler 9mm for the DeLite 7mm (171x) and rounded off the session with a look at two planetary nebulae in Hercules.

NGC 6210, planetary nebula, Hercules
Very bright blue-green ellipse. Seemed brighter on the western (leading) side.

IC 4593, planetary nebula, Hercules
Very small, almost stellar disc of blue-grey light, east of bright star. Best seen using averted vision (because the 11th magnitude central star overwhelms the nebulosity in direct vision). Nice close double star to the east.