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Old 02-05-2011, 01:59 PM
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Henize N11 complex & surrounds plus some Centuarus galaxies 22/4-2011

Have had a bit of a run of clear nights and I've only just got to start typing up reports. Alas burning farmland has mostly impaired transparency again, but here are some notes from one night when galaxies were visible.

I started with some the interesting and complex N11 area in the LMC and then moved on to some of the galaxies near Omega Centaurus that Les Dalrymple wrote about in his latest "Deep Sky Delights". I was very chuffed to see the ring around ESO 269-57! Thanks for the heads up Les. The session was closed by the rise of Selene.

Here are the notes from 22nd April.

Telescope 410mm (16”) f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Night Sky Observer’s Guide (NSOG) My own charts of the LMC especially chart 6 available at http://cloudsofmagellan.net.au/index.htm
Data from NGC/IC project, NSOG and Mati Morel’s presentation of the Henize nebula at http://www.asnsw.com/articles/clouds/lmc-henize.asp and of the Shapley?Lindsay catalogue at http://www.asnsw.com/articles/clouds/lmc-sl.asp

22/4/2011

1950

Seeing excellent
Transparency good – faint stars visible in Coal Sack, NGC 2070 visible to naked eye

Halfway between NGC 1783 and the NGC 1763 complex is

Henize Emission Nebula N12 emission nebula in LMC
4 58 42 -66 12 27 4’ dia

175X A spattering of resolvable stars against an area of haze between two bright stars. The haze extends westward from the easternmost of the two stars is slightly wedge shaped 5’x4’ with the point of the wedge to the east. Brightens with UHC filter.

NGC 1773 Emission nebula in LMC
04h 58m 11.3s -66Ί 21' 33"

175X A soft round glow with several stars discernible in the middle. Looks about 3’x2’ longer N-S than E-W.

Shapley/Lindsay 153
4 59 20.5 -66 19 7 dia 1.4’

175X Lies about 10’ to the east of NGC 1773. Quite a distinct small 40” round glow with marked almost stellar core surrounded by a soft halo.

NGC 1760/61/63/69/IC 2116/ Henize Emission Nebula N11 Emission nebula and open clusters in LMC
For 1763 04h 56m 49.3s -66Ί 24' 33"

175X This group is dominated by the large 5’x3’ bright kidney shaped nebula NGC 1763. 1763 contains a number of resolvable stars forming a delicate tracery through the centre of the nebula and has a small 15” disc of haze at its eastern pole, which is IC 2116. 1763 brightens considerably with UHC filter and the renal shape is enhanced as a section to the east dims. Dark lanes also become apparent. IC 2116 remains bright and almost stellar with UHC, but sits within a bridge of nebulosity joining 1763 and 1769.With no filter, to the east of IC 2116 is a 3’ gap with several stars and then a 3’ circular area of haze with some stars at its core, NGC 1769. To the south of 1763 is an area of resolvable stars against a fainter irregular haze. This includes the open cluster NGC 1761, which is a wide 6’x3’ E-W spray of numerous stars with background nebulosity and at the western end a small 1.5’x40”bright knot of haze with a line of faint stars. Further to the south of 1761 are more stars and a small 1.5’x0.5’ bright patch of haze, which is emission nebula NGC 1760. 1760 brightens with UHC filter. A small patch of nebulosity forms the apex of a triangle with NGC 1760 and a bright star. This is N11I

The whole complex, Henize nebula N11 is the largest star forming region in the LMC after NGC 2070. Some information and images from HST at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/22/

About 28’ to the SW of the N11 complex is a bright star and near this is NGC 1733.

NGC 1733 Open Cluster in LMC
04h 54m 04.8s -66Ί 40' 58" Dia 1.1’

175X Faint round 1’ glow with no resolvable stars, brightening s little to the centre of the soft disc.

To the south is NGC 1731

NGC 1731 Open Cluster and Emission Nebula in LMC
04h 53m 32.1s -66Ί 55' 31" Dia 0.8’

175X A 10’x5’ patch of stars with a convex north arc of stars at the northern edge and a few lines of stars through the main body of the cluster against a background haze, which persists but doesn’t brighten with UHC filter.

NGC 1714/15 Open clusters in LMC
1714 - 04h 52m 08.4s -66Ί 55' 31" Dia 1.1’

175X A close pair of clusters just to the west of NGC 1731. 1714 is brighter and larger than 1715, both have quite distinct central cores. 1715 looks about 30” across and 1714 about 1’. 1714 lights up with UHC filter whilst 1715 virtually disappears.

NGC 1718 Open cluster in LMC
04h 52m 25.5s -67Ί 03' 03" Dia 2’

175X Fainter than nearby NGC 1714, a very soft round 1’ glow with no obvious core. Fades with UHC

NGC 1735 Open cluster in LMC
04h 54m 19.7s -67Ί 05' 59" Dia 1.3’

175X A very interesting cluster – 1.5’x0.5’ elongated E-W with very distinct stars set against background glow which is significantly wider at the eastern end, which looks like it has a barb, point to the north. Stands up well to UHV filter.

ESO 269-80/269-85/269-90 Galaxies in Centaurus
269-80 – 13h 19.5m –47 deg 15’ 2’x1’

135X A NE-SW line of galaxies, spaced by about 10’ each from the next. The westernmost 269-80 is a small faint 1’x0.5’ oval glow tucked behind a couple of foreground stars with no apparent detail. 269-85 is in the middle and is much a bigger broad oval haze with some foreground stars and no detail visible. 269-90 is another 1’x0.5’ oval. The three make an attractive triplet near Omega Centaurus

NGC 5064 GX in Centaurus SAb II-III
13h 19.0m –47 deg 55’ 1.3’

175x A 2’x1’ NS glow with bright wide core but no further detail visible.

ESO 269-57 GX in Centaurus (R’) SAB ( r )ab
13h 10.1m –46 deg 26’ 3.6’x2.7’

175x distinct core of the galaxy is surrounded by a faint thin ring which tracks though some foreground stars (nicely matches the photograph in Les Dalrymple’s article in AS&T). There is a dark annulus between the core of the galaxy and the outer faint ring. I guess the core to be 30” and the ring as 3’
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Old 03-05-2011, 11:48 AM
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A ring galaxy mate, awesome catch! On my list for next year's autumn clear night. Checked it out on Wikisky and that ring does appear to be very faint relative to the core. Impressive.

I too did some observing on those clear nights you mention and around sunset alot of putrid acrid-looking haze manifested itself toward the horizon. Looked almost like that famous Melbourne marine layer stratocrapulus junk setting in for the night. Although it seemed to clear up during the night, based on the visibility of stars relative to other nights. Seeing here was also extremely poor, the worst in a fair while.
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Old 03-05-2011, 03:59 PM
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Paddy (Patrick)
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Thanks Sab. The ring is a buzz that I can highly recommend and I have not doubt that your eagle eyes will pick it, clouds willing.
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Old 03-05-2011, 05:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
Thanks Sab. The ring is a buzz that I can highly recommend and I have not doubt that your eagle eyes will pick it, clouds willing.
Isn't that the best feeling! Will certainly be the first object I hunt down after a couple of hours and Abells worth of adapting and training my eyes up for it Don't know about clear skies in the near to very distant future, forecast has the usual derro cloud and showers every single day

I've also got a couple of obs reports coming from last week. Poor seeing and puncy burnoff smoke, but I'm satisfied with my haul for this clear sky period.
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Old 05-05-2011, 03:48 PM
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Great report Paddy,

Wow a ring galaxy thats awesome.

Cheers Orestis
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