[astrospotter (Mark)]

PART 2: After observing the rest of the planned SMC objects and a few list objects in Part 1, this part covers many objects from planned observations selected from assorted well known southern sky lists. This was a very long night of observing.

All objects found with telrad sight except in SMC from Part 1 where manual hops were mostly used.


Arkaroola Tue 16Mar2010 Observations from 9:30pm till 3:50am. 21.5 Mag/ArcSec2

Observers: Mark Johnston, solo trip.
Arkaroola Location: 139 20 East, 30 18 South

NGC 4945 ESO 219-24 IRAS 13025-4911 PGC 45279 cmt: Ngc4945group: con: Cen lst: SSAL,C83
Glxy 9.3b 20.5x 3.8' 43 SB(s)cd: sp RC3 13 05 26.2 -49 28 15
12:05am 16mmNag 95x 20' length 6EL 45dPA Flaring out on NE end. SE edge appears to be faded from being regular in symitry. Brighter slightly in core but not obvious core. Some puffing out on the N end.

NGC 4976 ESO 219-29 PGC 45562
Glxy 11.0b 5.6x 2.9' 161 E4 pec: RC3 13 08 37.3 -49 30 23
12:10am 9mmNag 170x 1' len Has a more of a SCore then 4945. [PostNote: it is a lot larger]

NGC 4945A ESO 219-28 PGC 45380
MltG 13.0p 2.5x 1.3' 55 SB(s)m? sp RC3 13 06 33.3 -49 41 36
12:10am 9mmNag 170x Detection only, a very bright mag 4 star to S blots this out quite a bit.



GSC 8626:2809 SAO 238429 HD 93308 con: Car cmt1: HomunculusNebula:
Star 6.10 0.0.603 --- TYC 10 45 03.5 -59 41 04
12:25am 5mmNag 305x Very bright and yellow-orange distinct color. The 2 lobes are obvious right away. A faint glow surrounds the area with a size of 3-4'. The lobes themselves are tiny but the brighter one has a fairly sharply defined round abrupt cut to darkness. I am not getting much detail so will try this object again another night. The 14" SCT was an even worse view just now.


M 83 NGC 5236 ESO 444-81 MCG -5-32-50 con: Hya lst: M_RO
Glxy 8.2b 12.8x11.4' -- SAB(s)c RC3 13 37 00.3 -29 52 04
12:45am 9mmNag 170x 10' size and mostly round with structure. Out of the south is a broad protrusion of glow that then thins and continues curling to the west. Out of the West comes a strong protrusion with an arm then clearly separated and curling to the north. This arm appears to have a knot well out going west just before the turning point of the arm. Another closer in arm with a gap of darker area between the core and it is closer in to the core. The dark lane for this closer in arm is along the west and loops around over almost all the way up to the north to separate the inner arm. Something comes out of the north and rotates around over the east. This bar has a detectible darker lane running to the east of the core on down towards the south. A very light arm is seen well out from the core looping down towards the south. Three bright field stars with one, then a double, then another single one are to the East and there seems to be the very faint outer arm just detectible with movement and contrast from other side of these 3 stars. I discuss a possible knot out on an arm North of the core. Possible knot 3' NW of core on farthest out arm I can see there.

NGC 4609 Cr 263 con: Cru lst: SSAL,C98
Open 6.9 5.0' 40 10.0 II 2 m LYN 12 42 20.0 -62 59 36
1:05am 9mmNag 170x 5' len Flared Eifel Tower or 'A' look with two base points like tight doubles. In the middle bar are 2 stars. Up on the top [S] is a point star with farther up a few fainter stars just above. There is a tier1 star just off to the west as it it is the point of a triangular flag hung from the top (a 2x1 IsoTriangle with point to the west is the 'flag'). Very bright FStar 5' to the SSE, not part of this I bet.

Scope: 14SctF7 Went back to the dome to use the SCT as I had no telrad on 12" yet.

NGC 3195 ESO 19-2 Henize 2-44 Sanduleak 2-57 PK 296-20.1 PNG 296.6-20.0 con: Cha lst: SSAL,C109
Plan 11.5p 42.0" 15.3 3 STE 10 09 21.0 -80 51 34
1:20am 7mmNag Fairly solid. About 1' len. Not super distinct edge. Get the feel of a slightly darker central area but I do not detect the central star.

END TAPE 1 for this night at tape time 48:00

NGC 6101 con: Aps lst: SSAL,C107
Glob 9.2 5.0' 13.5 16.6 --- --- BAA 16 25 48.6 -72 12 06
1:59am 9mmNag 280x 5' size Faint. Very low concentration, only mildly more concentrated in center. [Said 170x 8' size but that is for 9mm in dob so scale to 5' for this observation]

NGC 6025 Cr 296 Mel 139 con: TrA lst: SSAL,C95
Open 5.1 12.0' 60 7.0 II 3 r LYN 16 03 19.1 -60 25 21
2:07am 16mmNag 156x 15'x8' NSxEW 80 stars. Very open, not concentrated. Stands out well. 6 tier1 stars, 12 tier2 and the rest dimmer. Looks like body of spider with forward leg to NW, couple legs out back.

NGC 6087 Cr 300 Mel 141 con: Nor lst: DM,C89
Open 5.4 12.0' 40 8.0 II 2 m LYN 16 18 54.0 -57 53 00
2:10am 9mmNag 280x 9' size. 30 stars, open. 2 Tier1, 8 tier2 and a the rest all dimmer ones. Medium range of magnitudes. Gives a feeling of a tall IsoTriangle pointing roughly NE. A triangle forms SW corner of base. Many triangles seem apparent.

NGC 6231 Cr 315 Mel 153 con: Sco lst: DM,TE,C76_RO
Open 2.6 14.0' 93 6.0 I 3 p BAA 16 54 09.8 -41 50 00
2:15am 35mmPan 71x > 100 stars. 5 Tier1, 20 mid-tier and hundred lower mag. Broad range of magnitudes and looks better than up north because it is so transparent up high. [PostNote: I describe a broader 1' field then discuss the smaller 6231 concentrated area as above]

NGC 6397 con: Ara lst: DM,SSAL,C86
Glob 5.3 31.0' 10.0 12.9 --- --- BAA 17 40 41.3 -53 40 25
2:20am 9mmNag 280x 4' obvious dia but thining continues after that. Non stellar but center is more concentrated for sure. Medium concentration. Circle of stars on west seems to encircle the central section. Lots of resolved stars as this thins out with space between stars.

NGC 6352 con: Ara lst: DM,SSAL,C81_RO
Glob 7.8 9.0' 13.4 15.2 --- --- BAA 17 25 29.2 -48 25 22
2:29am 9mmNag 280x 4' dia with very gradual fade from middle blanket. No resolution. Very low concentration. Fine powder. Much fainter than 6397. Has a mild feel of slight EL at 30dPA

NGC 6193 Cr 310 con: Ara lst: DM,C82_RO cmt1: 6193oc_6188neb:
Open 5.2 14.0' 14 5.7 II 3 p n LYN 16 41 20.4 -48 45 45
2:35am 9mmNag 280x < 40 stars perhaps. 2 Tier1, 5 Tier2 A few dozen more at most. Very bright double EW elongated like 20" spacing of equal mag in the center of cluster. Small number of stars in the cluster.

NGC 6188 RCW 108 con: Ara cmt1: 6193oc_6188neb:
BrtN 35.5x22.5' E+R SKY 16 40 52.0 -48 45 00
2:35am 9mmNag 280x 4' of apparent nebulous area. [PostNote: Actual nebuloscity is far broader in CCD photos]

NGC 6541 con: CrA lst: DM,C78_RO fav: F3
Glob 6.3 15.0' 12.1 15.3 --- --- BAA 18 08 02.2 -43 42 20
2:54am 9mmNag 280x 5' apparent diameter. Sugary appearance. Clearly more concentrated in the core with gradual fade. Not a highly concentrated look but mediuam concentration. Several resolvable stars. West edge may have slightly less outer stars than other edges. Trailing FS by 3-4' A string of stars seems to come out of South and going SSE. Another string comes out of west and generally goes off to the North.


NGC 6744 ESO 104-42 IRAS 19050-6354 PGC 62836 con: Pav lst: SSAL,C101_RO fav: F5
Glxy 9.1b 20.1x12.9' 15 SAB(r)bc RC3 19 09 45.4 -63 51 27
3:24am 16mmNag 156x 15' length 30dPA. Very concentrated core that seems slightly elongated NS. Some structure is presenting itself. 9mm not giving up much more. 9mm allows some dark areas to be made out. Transparency not so good as it is low.

NGC 6752 con: Pav lst: SSAL,C93_RO fav: F5
Glob 5.3 29.0' 10.5 13.8 --- --- BAA 19 10 51.8 -59 58 55
3:30am 9mmNag 280x 7' apparent size. Medium concentration. Several spikes of stars out of it. One spike out of NW. Loop of stars 2' dia comes out of N and loopw CW back into core. Spidery 5-star 3' out of SE. Leg out of SW bending south. In the center there is a 1' strong line of stars going E and another 1' strand going SSW.

trans: 5

NGC 5823 Cr 290 Mel 131 con: Cir lst: DM,SSAL,C88_RO
Open 7.9 10.0' 100 13.0 II 2 r LYN 15 05 30.6 -55 36 30
3:35am 9mmNag 280x 10' size. 50-100 stars. Fairly well defined cluster limits. Fairly open look. A few Tier1, Tier1 member on SW and one on far N. 20 or so Tier2 but not a huge range of mags.

NGC 5822 Cr 289 Mel 130 con: Cir
Open 6.5 39.0' 150 10.0 II 2 r LYN 15 08 01.2 -55 36 51
3:40am 16mmNag 156x < 50 stars, not very distinct. 4x size or more of 5822. Very broad area with much higher mag stars than 5823. Which stars are part of this cluster are difficult to say. I am not so sure what is part of this cluster and what is backdrop. May be a broader 40' area that has couple hundred stars. Not so sure.

3:50am Close down and very very tired.