[pgc hunter]

Had some unprecedented clear sky activity in Melbourne on Friday Oct 1 and Saturday Oct 2. That particular weekend saw 3 clear nights in a row, which is a new world record for the 4.5 billion year history of Melbourne.

Seeing was exceptionally poor both nights transparency was better on the Friday. Saturday started off a bit hazy, but seemed to improve in the early hours.

This report combines the observations from both days.

Scope: 12" F/4.4 dob

FRIDAY 1/10
Time: 8pm-1am
Seeing: 2/10
Transparency: 4/5
Dew: Light

SATURDAY 2/10
Time: 9pm-3:30am
Seeing: 2/10
Transparency: 3/5
Dew: Light


IC 5181
Grus, GX, RA 22 13 21 , DEC -46 01 07, Size= 2.8x1' , Mag V= 11.5

267x - Strongly brightens toward center with a quasi-stellar nucleus. Bright, strongly elongated ENE/SSW with fainter extensions stretching out from the core.

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NGC 7232
Grus, GX, RA 22 15 37 , Dec -45 51 03 , Size= 3x1' , Mag B= 12.6

NGC 7233
Grus, GX, RA 22 15 49 , Dec -45 50 49 , Size= 1.8x1.6' , Mag B=12.9

Nice pair of galaxies located 2' SE of a pair of 9th mag stars. NGC 7233 forms an equilateral triangle with the pair. 267x - 7232 brighter of the two galaxies, elongated E-W. 7233 fainter, rounder although a slight E-W elongation was noted. DSS images show the bright core slighted elong E-W, so this confirms my obs. A stellar core was noted. A 3rd galaxy, NGC 7232B lies 4' NNE of the pair but much too faint to see visually.


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NGC 7793
Sculptor, GX, RA 23 57 49 , Dec -32 35 32 , Size= 9.1x6.6' , Mag V= 9.1

102x - Fairly large hazy smudge, roughly circular. No details seen. Brightens toward core, with the core itself hinting at a stellaring. A mag 12.4 star lies near the galaxy's northern edge.


NGC 7462
Grus, GX , RA 23 02 46 , Dec -40 50 10 , Size= 3.7x0.6' , Mag V= 11.9


102x - A thin streak of light, fairly faint. Elongated E-W, a mag 11 star is located at the western end of the galaxy. Set in a relatively rich star field.



NGC 7410
Grus, GX, RA 22 55 01 , Dec -39 39 46 , Size= 5.5x2.0' , Mag V= 10.6


41x - Bright, elongated NE-SW. A mag 12 star lies adjacent north of the galaxy's NE end. At 166x the galaxy is seen as a wide streak of light, brightest in the core. SW end appeared slightly brighter than the NE end.



IC 5096
Pavo, GX , RA 21 18 22 , Dec -63 45 42 , Size 3.4x05' , Mag B= 13.3


267x - A small, faint stubby streak elongated NW-SE. Forms an equilateral triangle with a mag 10 and mag 12 stars 4' to the NE and NW. Hint of stellaring in core at 381x. Striking edge on galaxy on DSS images -smaller and fainter version of NGC 891.


IC 5052
Pavo, GX , RA 20 52 07 , Dec -69 12 21 , Size 6.5x1.2' , Mag V= 11.2


166x - A faint, narrow streak of light, much fainter visually than the V mag would suggest, due to low surface brightness.



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IC 5250A
Tucana, GX , RA 22 47 17 , Dec -65 03 40 , Size 3.1x3.0' , Mag B= 12.1



IC 5250B
Tucana, GX , RA 22 47 22 , Dec -65 03 33 , Size 3.0x2.9' , Mag B= 12.2


381x - An excellent very compact pair, accidently swept up while looking for another nearby galaxy! Both galaxies are high surface brightness and were very easy to spot. Visually, the B component is the brightest and largest of the two. It appeared slightly elongated roughly NW-SE, with a mag 12.9 star superimposed on the SE edge of the halo. An elongated bright patch could be seen in the centre. The A component lies approx 1' W of B and is slightly smaller and fainter. The A component is round, with stellar nucleaus. It doesn't show the bright central region that B does, but still features fairly high overall surface brightness. Visually both galaxies are much smaller than the quoted 3' sizes, as those values include tidal streamers that are much too faint to see visually. At the eyepiece the apparent size for both components is about 30".


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ABELL S 585


NGC 2235
Dorado , GX, RA 06 22 22 , Dec -64 56 06 , Size 1.3x1' , Mag V= 13.1


NGC 2230
Dorado , GX , RA 06 21 28 , Dec -64 59 35 , Size 1.1x0.9' , Mag V= 13.2


NGC 2229
Dorado , GX , RA 06 21 24 , Dec -64 57 26 , Size 1.4x0.4' , Mag V= 13.6

NGC 2233

Dorado , GX , RA 06 21 40 , Dec -65 02 01 , Size 0.8x0.2' , Mag V= 13.9


267x - Four brightest members of rich galaxy cluster Abell S 585 all seen. NGC 2235 is the brightest of the four, is located approx 40' SSW of an 11th mag star. Small, faint and round, with a slight brightening towards the core. NGC 2230 slightly fainter, small and round. 2' to the N lies NGC 2229 which has a higher surface brightness than 2230 and appeared slightly elongated SE-NW. NGC 2233 is the faintest of the four, and was small and faint in the eyepiece with no obvious features.





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ABELL S 463


IC 2082
Dorado , GX , RA 04 29 08 , Dec -53 49 12 , Size 1.5x1.0 , Mag V= 13.2


PGC 15255
Dorado , GX , RA 04 29 36 , Dec -53 47 14 , Size 0.8x0.7' , Mag B= 15.7


ESO 157-G036
Dorado , GX , RA 04 29 49 , Dec -53 48 52 , Size 1x0.2' , Mag B= 15.0


IC 2079
Dorado , GX , RA 04 28 31 , Dec -53 44 19 , Size 1.5'x0.5' , Mag B= 14.76


All observed at 381x - This galaxy cluster is located some 580 million light years away! The largest and brightest member, IC 2082 was easily spotted at 166x. At 381x it appeared moderately faint, not hard to see though. This is actually a binary galaxy, the 2nd member is much to close to resolve visually. PGC 15255 is located about 2.5' E of IC2082 and I caught fleeting glimpses of it at 381x, extremely faint and featureless dust mote. Despite this, it was not too difficult to catch it, due to its high surface brightness. Another 5' to the east lies ESO 157-G036, which, although very faint, showed clear elongation. About 10' NW of IC 2082 is IC 2079, which at 381x was extremely faint and only glimpsed intermittently. This galaxy lies 494 million light years away, so it may infact be a chance foreground object.



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attached is a sketch of NGC 253 and IC 5250a/b.