Three Galaxies in Ursa Major

9 March 2021, 20:00 – 22:00

Seeing: Average

Transparency: Average to terrible (deteriorating because of high cloud)

It was relatively mild when I took the telescope outside, but the temperature plummeted over the next two hours (although there was no condensation). Very light wind. Hazy, high altitude cloud increasing steadily over the course of the session.


NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros

133x and 171x. Appeared quite bright considering it had already crossed the meridian (into the more light-polluted part of the sky). Fan-shaped nebula pointing south. Star-like point at apex. No structure visible, but the nebula seemed more diffuse on the western side and sharper-edged on the eastern side.

Sirius: Viewed at 333x (9mm Nagler + 2.5x Powermate), but no sign of the Pup, even when I held Sirius just outside the fov. Possible it might have been covered by one of the diffraction spikes.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini

333x. Central star and shell structure showing well with averted vision. In moments of good seeing the inner shell seemed slightly misshapen with three bright segments, plus a small dark area around the central star (this may have been a contrast effect).

Zeta Cancri was a clean split at 333x, when the seeing allowed. This system is a good test for seeing conditions during late winter / early spring.

NGC 2841, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Large streak of light with a bright core. Star off western end. I’ve seen this galaxy before, but tonight it was a consolation prize after failing to spot NGC 3079 (that one will have to wait for a better night).

NGC 3675, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Oval patch of light aligned north-south. Brighter towards centre. One star off southern end. Appeared to be a dark cut-off on the eastern side.

NGC 3893, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Large oval haze, gradually brighter towards the centre. Faint star of approximately 13th magnitude just west of the core (not to be confused with a supernova). This one is worth revisiting as it has a faint companion galaxy on the opposite side which I might be able to spot on a better night.

NGC 4051 and 4111 were next on my target list, but the clouds got to them first. I did however stumble upon a nice triple star system southeast of Chi UMa: the western component being a very close double. (Identified in NSOG as 65 UMa.)

With haze now blotting out all the faint galaxies (even M106 was barely visible), I decided to quickly revisit a bright double star before packing up.

Algieba, Gamma Leonis

133x and 171x. One of the season’s best double stars. Orange primary (west), pale yellow secondary (east).


Nature note:
At least 11 frogs in the pond, some of them quite vocal. Another unexpected vocal performance came courtesy of a Dunnock which briefly burst into song at 9pm and again at 9:30.