[Rob_K]

Had a good (if cold!) time last night at our group’s monthly get-together!

Time: 9pm-10:30pm, Wed 22 Oct 08 (UT+11)
Location: Porepunkah airstrip, Porepunkah, Vic
Telescope: Tasco 4.5" f8 reflector on Alt-Az mount
EP: 21mm Celestron X-Cel
Transparency: Excellent
Seeing: Poor – fair, wind blowing

M31 Andromeda Galaxy in Andromeda, mag 3.5 – always special to look at, though it never gets high in my northern sky! Despite the abundance of binoculars on the field, I didn’t actually get a peek at it through them, the best view IMO. Through the telescope, the large bright core showed up well, and the faint extensions were visible, extending for more than two FOVs. Its companion galaxies NGC221 & 205 were visible, the former small, bright and round, the latter a dim, elongated diffuse blob that really required averted vision. This galaxy blows me away so much that I always seem to forget to check out the nearby Triangulum Pinwheel galaxy M33 at mag 5.7 – never seen it!!

M27 Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula, mag 7.3 – best view I’ve ever had of it, very strong & bright with dumbbell shape clearly showing. Called the others over & they were impressed (or said they were, LOL! )

NGC7293, Helix Nebula in Aquarius, mag 7.3 – very large planetary, but strangely the view was pretty ordinary despite it being very high. My eyes couldn’t seem to focus on it properly, and bits of it would come in and disappear again. Perhaps it is more prone to poor seeing? After M27, I was expecting great things and I’ve seen it really well through this set-up before…

NGC253, Sculptor Galaxy in Sculptor, mag 8.0 – superb, a bright cigar-shaped smudge that spanned nearly half the FOV. Called the others over again for a look, and then we all had a look through binocs. A large bright smudge even through them.

NGC55, galaxy in Sculptor, mag 8.4 – superb again, a long bright smudge, more elongated than 253, and showing a lack of symmetry in having more of the faint extension on one side. The galaxy extended for about half the FOV.

NGC1527, galaxy in Horologium, mag 11.7 – a supernova has recently been seen in this one. The galaxy showed as a tiny faint smudge in my scope, and seeing the supernova is well beyond my set-up. But I satisfied myself with the thought that a proportion of the light entering my eye came from a catastrophic detonation that occurred millions of years ago!

Nova Musca 2008 – after imaging this one over the past few weeks, it was good to make an acquaintance with it visually. I know the field like the back of my hand, LOL, so it was easy to find. Dimming right off now after climbing up to mid mag 8s.

Galaxies in Dorado: After imaging this field a week ago, thought I’d try visual on the tiny fuzzies that showed up on that shot. My charts weren’t crash hot and I only had the brightest galaxies marked. The transparency was so good that I saw lots of other tiny, very faint galaxies, but it was just too difficult to sketch the fields for later checking and I didn’t bother. These are the ones I identified – descriptions are limited, but you don’t see all that much in a 4.5" scope anyway:

NGC1566, mag 10.2 – Impressive, one of the largest galaxies observed, quite bright, slightly off-round (oval)
NGC1553, mag 10.0 – quite bright with a bright core, oval to cigar shaped
NGC1549, mag 10.6 – Close to 1549, this appeared smaller, rounder and a little dimmer. Both these galaxies ‘grab’ your eyes as you pan through the field.
NGC1546, mag 11.9 – A small faint blob that was easier to see in averted vision
NGC1617, mag11.4 – Close to Alpha Dorado, this galaxy showed as one of the larger ones, oval-shaped and quite bright. Viewing was easier with A Dor out of the field.
NGC1596, mag 12.1 – not far off half-way between 1566 and Alpha Dorado, this galaxy was small and dim, but nonetheless appeared as an edge-on spiral
NGC1533, mag 11.7 – Not sure what happened here. My notes say it was clear though small and dim, and very edge-on. This doesn’t seem to tie in with the shape Starry Night showed when I checked later. Possible that I saw a different one, don’t know
NGC1672, mag 10.5 – Very impressive, largest galaxy seen (still small of course!), face-on spiral with lots of faint extension in averted vision, even conning myself I could faintly make out arms…

All in all, a great night!

Cheers -