What else can I see : Galaxies

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by alistairsam

Hi,

undoubtedly due to quality of mirror, eye piece, aperture and dark site. but I wonder what makes the most difference.
mirror reflectivity, quality, eyepiece, dark site?

edit: i find calsky.com an invaluable tool in planning an observing session

Hi,

A Dark site is more important than all of the other things you mention added together. They all individually add small increments of improvement but by far the most critical is a dark sky. By dark, I don't mean 50km out of Melbourne either. That's 1/2 dark

When you do get to a dark sky, all of those other factors you mention will have a more noticeable effect also. Like a good mirror and good eyepieces.

As Malcolm also mentioned it takes time to develop your observing skills. Under identical conditions with identical equipment, an experienced observer will see more than an inexperienced observer. You need to remember these are very dim targets. Not like a colour photograph. Spend time on each target (10 minutes plus, for starters). Look for contrast changes or slight changes in brightness across different parts of the target. You will then "start" to make out some of the structure which is easily visible in photographs. However, you are wasting your time from suburban or urban skies. If you want to observe from home that is fine, but tailor your target choice to suit the conditions. ie pick bright targets like moon, planets, double or variable stars. These target types are much brigher and not so diffuse and are easily observed from light polluted skies.

Cheers
John B

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

I don't think any galaxy is an easy target if you have even a moderately light polluted sky and/or a modest amount of thin cloud in the way! The naked eye extent & visibility of the Milky Way is a good indicator of how good (or bad) your conditions are going to be for viewing galaxies with a telescope.

Oddly, 10 inches of aperture is actually considerably better for viewing galaxies than 8 inches. The extra light gathering power of a 10 inch (a factor of 1.56X more light) seems to make a big difference. Good mirror coatings can also increase the contrast on these very diffuse objects!

Galaxies are objects of low surface brightness, and they look fuzzy and out of focus when we view them at the eyepiece; it takes quite a lot of practice to train the eye so as to be able to see the detail that is there in an eyepiece view. Observing a specific galaxy for a substantial length of time also helps......we notice ever more details, the longer we look at a challenging object.

My favourite objects during many years of visual observation with 10-12 inches of aperture included:

NGC 1097 - the long bar in this galaxy is fairly obvious.
NGC 1365 - the bar and the spiral arms can be seen
M61 - the spiral arms are fairly obvious
NGC 4565 - a perfect edge-on spiral
NGC 4945 - a complex and enigmatic edge-on spiral which shows considerable detail with 8-12 inches of aperture

The core of the Fornax Cluster of galaxies near NGC 1399 shows a multitude of faint galaxies in a single field.

M33 is an object better suited to binoculars than a telescope, due to its enormous angular extent. Big binoculars (70-120mm aperture) used in a dark sky show the spiral arms very well.

The bright members of the Sculptor group of galaxies are all interesting with 8-12 inch telescopes:
NGC 300 (a hard object due to its large size and low surface brightness )
NGC 55 (a galaxy similar to the LMC which is very easy to see in the amateur telescope)
NGC 253 (the Silver Coin Galaxy) shows much detail in visual observations.

cheers,
madbadgalaxyman

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

More of madbadgalaxyman's favourite galaxies:

Here are some more galaxies that show significant structure when viewed with 8-12 inches of aperture.

NGC 3115 - this edge on S0 galaxy has an interesting structure that can be plainly seen with careful visual observation.

NGC 6822 (Barnard's Galaxy) - this nearby Dwarf Irregular is of low surface brightness, and it is very extended, but careful observation will reveal its overall structure. This is also an excellent object for wide-field telescopes and large binoculars.

NGC 6744 - a bright galaxy which is, however, of very low surface brightness because it is so large and extended in the sky. As such, the detail that can be seen in it is considerable, but you need an excellent sky and you need to keep working at it, in order to figure out the structures that you are seeing.
Much of the structure of NGC 6744 can be seen by the visual observer, but this is a challenging object.

NGC 2442 - if you have an excellent sky, and you use averted vision, the bar and the spiral arms of this Barred Spiral can be seen (but be prepared to come back to this galaxy again and again, so as to get a good idea of what is in the field of your eyepiece, as it is very ghostly)

NGC 1313 - this object is very extended in the sky, with a large and strong bar. Very numerous isolated star clouds can be seen well outside of the bar. The highly unusual and rather asymmetric structure of this galaxy, which is on the borderline between an irregular galaxy and a spiral galaxy, can be discerned with the eye.

NGC 1566 - an impressive face-on spiral which can, under good conditions, reveal much of the detail that is seen in photographs. The arms are obvious, as is the bright star-like Seyfert nucleus.

NGC 3268 field - this is the Antlia cluster of galaxies. There are actually two concentrations of faint galaxies in the Antlia Cluster , and this is one of them. In this field, you might see up to a dozen galaxies in a single wide field. They are very faint, but it is nice to see "galaxies as grains of sand".

M77 - check out the starlike Seyfert active nucleus which virtually dominates the light of the entire galaxy!

M104 - The Sombrero is one of the few galaxies that visually looks just like it does in photographs.

NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - this famous pair of colliding galaxies requires careful attention when viewed by eye, but I have always found that the overall structure of both of these strange galaxies can be discerned with visual observation.

NGC 3256 - a very odd galaxy that is an observational challenge. It is small, but of decent surface brightness. This galaxy is the result of a collision between two galaxies.
You will need to persist, if you wish to discern the "train wreck" morphology of this weird galaxy.

IC 4662 - distant dwarf irregulars are often very very faint when viewed by the eye, but this Dwarf Irregular galaxy's structure is plain to see, with the eye.
There are two supergiant nebular complexes in this galaxy that are visually obvious. These objects are comparable to the Tarantula Nebula.

NGC 4449 - this northern dwarf irregular galaxy is an excellent object for modest apertures.

N5102 and N5253 - these two dwarf S0 galaxies are of reasonably high surface brightness, and as such their overall structure can be discerned with 8-12 inches of aperture (if the sky is very good). These are low luminosity galaxies that are physically associated with M83 and NGC 5128, and they are well worth a look.

N4631 - an edge-on spiral with a very odd and somewhat distorted structure. Some of this can be seen with the eye.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

Hi Shuttle,

First thing to remember is that even most of the brighter galaxies are still fairly dim targets. Consequently the most important thing is to have dark skies.

When you get to dark skies here's 166 of them to keep you busy. They are sorted in order of magnitude order. This is an extract of the galaxies from my 600 target Southern skies observing list. Some of them are beyond a 10" scope but there's plenty here to keep you going.

Cheers,
John B

nice list there thanks John that should keep me busy for a while