5 April 2021, 21:30 – 00:30 (BST)
Seeing: Average
Transparency: Average / good
A very cold night for April (there was even a light shower of sleet and snow during the day), with a strong gusty wind blowing from the north. No surprise then that I was wearing full winter gear, but at least the grass was dry and relatively mud-free. As I wanted to minimise the time spent taking my gloves on and off, I stuck with just one eyepiece for the entire session: the 13mm Ethos (a proven galaxy catcher) at 92x.
While my eyes were still dark-adapting, I warmed up with a couple of double stars in Ursa Major:
Nu Ursae Majoris (Alula Borealis)
Pale yellow-orange primary with a faint (possibly blue) secondary quite close to the south (10th magnitude at 7 arcseconds). A third (presumably unrelated) star nearby. An attractive sight to begin the session.
Xi Ursae Majoris (Alula Australis)
White “elongated” star, like a filled-in “8”. Not quite resolved at 92x, but enough to tell it’s a double.
At this point, while glancing away from the scope, I spotted two meteors. The first one (at approx. 21:45) passed through Sextans, heading southwest. About five minutes later another one flashed high overhead through Auriga, heading west. The second one was very bright, although not bright enough to leave a trail or be classed as a fireball.
On a less interesting note, the sky was crawling with satellites tonight, though I suppose we’re entering that time of year when they’re visible for longer.
M81, galaxy, Ursa Major
For once I didn’t allow myself to get distracted by M82 and, after a while, there was a suggestion of a hazy extended halo, doubling the size of the galaxy. The spiral arms themselves remained elusive, but the haze on the eastern side seemed slightly more prominent, separated from the core by a darker area. The effect was so subtle I can’t really count it as a positive identification of spiral structure, but it does illustrate that most of the time when you’re looking at M81 through a small-to-medium scope, you’re really only seeing the galaxy’s innermost regions.
NGC 3079, galaxy, Ursa Major
Rather faint streak of light aligned roughly north-south. Somewhat brighter towards the centre with averted vision. Similar size to M82. Also: colourful orange / yellow-white double star in same field to east.
NGC 3432, galaxy, Leo Minor
Long, very faint streak of light aligned roughly NE-SW between two field stars. At least three faint field stars superposed over the galaxy.
NGC 3294, galaxy, Leo Minor
Large oval blur, roughly aligned east-west. A little brighter towards the centre with averted vision.
NGC 3310, galaxy, Ursa Major
Small, bright round galaxy south of a bright star. Bright core with averted vision.
NGC 3631, galaxy, Ursa Major
Large, round and diffuse; bright core with averted vision. Suggestion of asymmetry in the halo – I’m guessing this is a spiral galaxy. Also: a bright double star to the southwest.
NGC 3938, galaxy, Ursa Major
Another large round blur, gradually brighter towards the centre. Again, like 3631, a very vague suggestion of spiral structure – seemed brighter on the eastern side. This galaxy is a long way from any useful field-stars, making it tough to find via star-hopping.
NGC 4051, galaxy, Ursa Major
Amorphous round fuzz east of a field star. Star-like nucleus with averted vision.
NGC 4013, galaxy, Ursa Major
Small, lens-shaped streak of light aligned NE-SW. At first glance it appears to have an intense star-like nucleus glinting like a diamond, but I strongly suspect this is a foreground star. (Subsequently confirmed when I looked up the spectacular Hubble image of this galaxy.)
NGC 4111, galaxy, Canes Venatici
An oval smudge of light just over the border from Ursa Major. Bright core with averted vision; another double star to the north.
Next, a detour to Coma Berenices for one new galaxy and one old favourite:
NGC 4494, galaxy, Coma Berenices
Round fuzz ball near the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111). Bright core, stellar nucleus; looks a lot like a stray elliptical from the Virgo Cluster. Surprised I haven’t seen this one before, but there is a very distracting galaxy nearby…
NGC 4565, Needle Galaxy, Coma Berenices
Beautiful edge-on galaxy, a spring favourite. Dark dust lane visible with averted vision, becoming harder to see the farther it extends either side of the core. Field star NE of the core.
This was followed with a few more favourites in the shape of M101 and M51 and a quick trek along Markarian’s Chain in Virgo. I’ve had better views of these galaxies before so didn’t take any notes on this occasion. At this point the constellation of Corvus was emerging from behind the neighbour’s tree, so I made my annual attempt to track down the Antennae galaxies…
NGC 4038 and 4039 (Caldwell 60 & 61), interacting galaxies, Corvus
With the exception of M83, spotting galaxies south of about -15 degrees declination is a real challenge from my location. But after carefully sweeping north-northeast of 5th magnitude 31 Corvi I spotted an extremely faint glow within an upside-down y-shaped asterism of stars. With time and averted vision the glow took on a vague shrimp-like appearance, with the northern component looking slightly brighter. I made a rough sketch of the field just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. Of course, the famous tidal tails would be beyond the reach of my telescope even if the galaxies were overhead, but I was pleased to confirm that the view tallied pretty well with Phil Harrington’s sketch on his challenge page , albeit much, much fainter.
I rounded off the session with quick looks at the globular clusters M5, M3 and M13. Compared to the other two with their tightly condensed cores, M13 looked like a bonbon coated with sugar crystals. (It was late; I was ready for chocolate.)
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