[ngcles]

Hi All,

Well, what better way to celebrate 1000 posts on IIS than with an Observing report? (In fact I've been saving No 1000 up for this very purpose!)

Our usual New Moon Saturday night, which would have been on the 12th February was washed out by a torrent of rain that fell on southern Sydney that weekend. So, desperate for a fix and needing to conduct a some bit of field testing on an eyepiece I'm reviewing .. and being a desperate tragic who needed to make some observations for a specific article about this time next year, as a late decision we took the odds for the 19th even though there would be a 4-day Moon that would set about 10.30pm.

Saturday the 19th was a fairly humid Sydney day and the cloud waxed and waned most of the daylight hours, but by 5pm (at home) it was almost completely clear, so packing the 'scope was a joy.

By the time I got to my spot in the southern highlands at 8pm ... you guessed it, 100% low, slow overcast. I set up defiantly ... and waited impatiently. I was pretty confident we'd get a clearing and we finally did.

When it was almost 10pm a few stars began to poke out and by 10.30pm, it was mainly clear sky. Not bad seeing, not as good as it could be -- but seemed to be slowly improving as the cloud evaporated. Not much dew, no wind.

Mars was as underwhelming as usual -- small, strong polar cap, a bit of detail here and there and spent a bit of time on a few fav PNE like NGC 2392, 3132, 2440 and IC 418 before I went to the Homunculus.

A magnitude estimate put it at 4.5 -- the same as a month ago. At x247 however it seemed to me a little different again ... (I know I seem to report this a lot but I do look at the Homunculus a lot). The brighter lobe has for about a decade had a family of very small dark spots snaking away from the central star. Maybe I've never noticed it before ... maybe it's a contrast effect but there seemed to be a new, very small very dark spot just above Eta so that Eta on that side of the hourglass seems to sit in a tiny black hole. Maybe it's not new, maybe it's just new to me or a "contrast effect" but keep an eye on it folks -- change happens here very quickly (in astronomical time-frames).

That done, I spent about half an hour road-testing an eyepiece and then decided to check out a few galaxies in Hydra before the bit of sky I really wanted to research for a future article was high enough.

So ... here's the galaxies, which included a couple of very nice, small spindle-spirals:

x185 27'

NGC 2561 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 19m 37.2s Dec: +04° 39' 25"
Mag: 14.1 (P) S.B.: ---B-V: --- Size: 1.1'x0.6' Class: SB?
P.A.: 138 Inclination: 5 R.V.: +4073 Source: RC3 *

This is a fairly small eg that isn't too hard to see. Small, slightly elong halo, oval in PA 150 40 x 20" growing broadly and slightly to centre with a small faint stellaring in the centre that is only just visible in the centre of the halo.



x185 27'
x247 20’

NGC 2590 IC 507 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 25m 02.1s Dec: -00° 35' 26"
Mag: 13.9 (B) S.B.: 13.4 B-V: +0.89 Size: 2.2'x0.7'
Class: SA(s)bc: P.A.: 77 Inclination: 6 R.V.: +4990

This one is pretty obvious in the ep, just to to the W of a small RA tri of mag 14 *s that is about the same size of the eg. Reasonable size, lengthened spindle-shaped halo in PA 90, 2' x 15" with a broad slight concentration to the axis nr centre where there is a small, weakly brighter streak-like core zone no real nucleus.



x185 27'

IC 510 Multi-Galaxy Sys *
RA: 08h 32m 10.8s Dec: -02° 09' 45"
Mag: 14.7 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 1.0'x0.6' Class: SB
P.A.: 150 Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: RC3 *

This is a very small, faint and non-descript eg, no more than about 20" diameter, round patch 20" diameter grows slightly to centre without zones, core or apparent nucleus. No stars of note nearby or involved.



x185 27'

IC 514 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 22.3s Dec: -02° 02' 49"
Mag: 15.3 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 0.4'x0.3' Class:
P.A.: 166 Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

This is a pretty tiny, extremely faint eg pretty much at threshold. There is a narrow "V" or "U"-shaped asterism of 6-7 *s open to the SSE just above it to the N that takes up a fair part of the field, mags 11 to 13th. The eg is toward the open end of the asterism. 15" diameter ephemeral scrap of haze with no structure apart from a weak central brightening.



x185 27'

IC 517 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 36m 22.2s Dec: -02° 03' 20"
Mag: 15.4 S.B.: ---B-V: --- Size: 0.5'x0.2' Class:
P.A.: 39 Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

This is in a field adjacent to IC 514 (previous) and is basically similar in appearance. Very tiny ephemeral scrap of haze, maybe slightly larger, approaching 20-30" diameter brightening slightly to centre without nucleus.



x185 27'

NGC 2616 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 34.1s Dec: -01° 50' 56"
Mag: 13.5 (B) S.B.: --- B-V: +0.99 Size: 1.5'x1.2'
Class: SAB(rs)0^? P.A.: 145 Inclination: --- R.V.: +9000 Source: RC3 *

IC 515 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 31.3s Dec: -01° 54' 03"
Mag: 15.3 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 1.1'x0.6' Class: S
P.A.: 30 Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

IC 516 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 50.7s Dec: -01° 52' 16"
Mag: 15.7 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: --- Class:
P.A.: --- Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

PGC 24135 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 41.7s Dec: -01° 45' 24"
Mag: 15.1 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 0.8'x0.7' Class: Sb
P.A.: --- Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

Of this group of four eg's, the dominant member is the NGC object. NGC 2616, not hard to see, no worse than mod faint, no more than 40" diameter, round with a * appended off the southern edge of the halo -- mag 15. Round, 30-40" diameter growing broadly and slightly to centre with no apparent nucleus.

IC 515 and -516 are to the S and ESE by about 3' each and look virtually identical, about 20" diameter, round growing broadly and slightly to centre. Both are faint. PGC 24135 is similar, but a little fainter and of lower SB to NGC 2616's N by 6'.



x185 27'
x247 20’

NGC 2618 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 35m 53.7s Dec: +00° 42' 25"
Mag: 13.0 (P) S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 2.4'x1.9' Class: (R')SA(rs)ab
P.A.: 140 Inclination: 1 R.V.: --- Source: RC3 *

This eg forms the RA of a RA tri with two =br *s to its NNW and ENE mags 10. The tri is about 2-3' long. Occasionally with DV it almost seems like a fuzzy star, with A.V it seems about 1.5' diameter low SB patch of haze growing slightly to centre but at centre is a small mag 15 stellaring surrounded with a little fuzz. Nice.



x185 27'

NGC 2662 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 45m 32.0s Dec: -15° 07' 18"
Mag: 14.5 S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 0.8'x0.8' Class: E
P.A.: 38 Inclination: --- R.V.: --- Source: PGC *

This isn't hard to see at all. There are two stars with which this eg forms a "hockey-stick" style asterism that looks like Alpha, Beta and Gamma Areitis (with the eg in the position of Gamma. Very small round eg, 30" diameter grows mod and evenly to centre where occasionally you get the hint of a very faint spot in the centre. Very diffuse edges.



x185 27'

NGC 2690 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 52m 38.2s Dec: -02° 36' 10"
Mag: 14.0 (P) S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 1.8'x0.4' Class: Sab: sp
P.A.: 19 Inclination: 6 R.V.: --- Source: RC3 *

This is a fairly small well defined spindle shaped eg in about PA 30, probably 1-1.25' x 10" growing broadly and mod to the axis nr centre where there is a small round or possibly oval in the same PA slightly brighter core but no apparent nucleus. Pretty easily picked up, reasonable SB.



x185 27'

NGC 2706 Galaxy *
RA: 08h 56m 12.3s Dec: -02° 33' 47"
Mag: 13.8 (P) S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 1.8'x0.5' Class: Sbc? sp
P.A.: 167 Inclination: 6 R.V.: --- Source: RC3 *

This eg is a couple of arc-mins W of a mag 12 * and pretty much in PA 0. The halo seems just a little longer on the N side. Spindle shaped eg about 1.5' x 10" growing broadly and slightly to the axis nr centre but no real core or nucleus. It seems to be that the N end is a little bigger (longer) than the S end.



x185 27'

NGC 2723 Galaxy *
RA: 09h 00m 14.2s Dec: +03° 10' 41"
Mag: 14.2 (P) S.B.: --- B-V: --- Size: 0.9' Class: S0^:
P.A.: --- Inclination: 1 R.V.: +3725 Source: RC3 *

This is a very small eg about 20" diameter, reasonable but not good SB. Round, growing slightly at first, but nearer centre more moderately to centre, but no real core, or zones. There is a mag 13.5 * just off the E edge, maybe 20" from centre and another fainter point just off the NW edge.

Cont ...