Hi Steve,
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveG
Thanks for posting your session, Les. Always interesting to compare our notes. I've even had an opportunity to observe a few of these galaxies through my friend's 48-inch (122cm) f/4.0 in west Texas.
The showpiece was NGC 1073. The designations and separations in brackets were looked up afterwards, but here's what I logged
The central bar is very bright and well-defined, extending ~1.0'x0.3' SW-NE. An easily visible spiral arm is attached at the northeast end of the bar and extends at a right angle to the northwest, passing through a mag 16 star [50" N of center]. The arm then dims but sweeps clockwise around the west side, and merges with the second arm attached at the southwest end of the bar. As a result, the galaxy appears to have a single continuous arm rotating ~270° and ending on the southeast side, ~1.2' from center! The outer part of the halo has a low surface brightness but extends at least 4' in diameter. Another mag 16 star is on the southwest side of the halo [1.4' from center].
At least three HII complexes were visible. The brightest is NGC 1073:[HK 83] 6/9, an elongated patch ~13"x8" E-W, situated at or just beyond the southeast end of the spiral arm [1.4' from center]. A small, fainter knot close west, [HK83] 19, was difficult to resolve. [HK83] 69, a faint 10" knot, is on the west side of the halo (beyond the arm) [1.4' due west of center]. Finally, [HK83] 49 is a third 10" knot of low contrast in the northwest outer halo [1.9' NNW of center]. These designations are from Hodge and Kennicutt's 1983 "An Atlas of HII Regions in 125 Galaxies".
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Yes, I value your notes too and it is nice to hear how an object looks in a monster 'scope. I think your notes explain why I gained the impression that the halo of this eg seemed to be vaguely mottled or undulating in brightness. Considering that it is overall quite bright, it is a little odd that I'd never observed it before, but I was working from a list I'd printed ten-odd years ago.
Do you have any notes on NGC 1048 using a similar aperture?
BTW, I am coming over to observe the eclipse in August and several days afterwards, we are coming to San Francisco. Any chance you could spare a night to show Gary Mitchell & I a few northern sky highlights? It would either be the 24th or 25th August.
Best,
L.