Well I finally made it out to catch some photons after nearly a month, weather down here in tropical Colac has not been conducive to observing and those few clear nights have been taken up with other activities. Anyway I managed to add another Caldwell and get some Virgo NGC Galaxies done, can strongly recommend NGC 4526!
Observing Report 13/5/10
All observations made using Dobsonion mounted 305mm Newtonian reflector at f/5. Eyepieces use are 32mm (47x) 24mm Panoptic (67x) 13mm Nagler T6 (115x) or 13mm Nagler with Barlow (230x)
Charts - Uranometria 2000 (2nd ed.) Data derived from Uranometria (2nd ed) Deep Sky Field Guide.
Observations 13/5. Seeing very good, transparency fair, however some intermittent clouds formed at various times interrupting observing.
NGC 4762 and NGC 4754 Pair of Galaxies in Virgo (Hartung 496)
NGC 4762 RA 12 52 55.3 Dec +11 13 39 Mag(V) 10.3 Dim’ 8.7x1.7 SB 13.1 Class SB(r)0o?sp Ringed Barred Lenticular
NGC 4754 RA 12 52 17.2 Dec +11 18 42 Mag(V) 10.6 Dim’ 4.6x2.5 SB 13.1 Class SB(r)o- Ringed Barred Lenticular
Locate Epsilon Virginis by naked eye. Move 2.5deg to Np to a mag 6 star visible in finder. A mag 6.5 star lies about 1deg to south. Scan area about 30’ Sp for glowing patches. Larger galaxy on f side of field is NGC 4762 which is bracketed by faint star on f and p sides probably about mag 9 and 9.5. Extended spidle like glow which if probably created by the prominent bar.
NGC 4754 is smaller and fainter located on f side of field. Still easily seen due to a fairly bright core. Both fit within field at 115x.
NGC 4564 Galaxy in Virgo
RA 12 36 27 Dec +11 26 21 Mag(V) 11.1 Dim’ 3.5x1.5 SB 12.9 Class E Elliptical
From 41 Virginis (mag 6.0 star mentioned above) use finder to move 2.5deg to Sp to a trio of stars consisting of 30 Virginis (mag 4.5) 27 Virginis (mag 6) and a mag 6.5 star. Moved about 1deg S and slightly p to locate bright galaxy M60 (NGC 4649) then move in p to locate M59 (NGC 4621) and M58 (NGC 4579). M58 has a mag 8 star just on p side. About 40’ to Sp of this is a triangle of mag 7.5 and mag 8 stars that are just visible in finder. Target is a fairly obvious glow just to f side of this triangle. Small but with a bright compact core. As expected for a pure elliptical galaxy, no structure is evident.
NGC 4567 and NGC 4768 Pair of Galaxies in Virgo (The Siamese Twins, Hartung 476)
NGC 4567 RA 12 36 32.4 Dec +11 15 34 Mag(V) 11.3 Dim’ 3.0x2.0 SB 13.1 Class SA(rs)bc III Unbarred Spiral
NGC 4768 RA 12 52 33.9 Dec +11 14 07 Mag(V) 103.8 Dim’ 4.6x2.0 SB 13.1 Class SA(rs)bc III Unbarred Spiral
About 15’ to N of NGC 4564 is a faint extended glow. Appears fairly large, about 5’ across. Good seeing moments and averted vision allow the presence of 2 galaxies to be detected.
NGC 4526 Galaxy in Virgo (Hartung 471)
RA 12 34 02.5 Dec +07 42 03 Mag(V) 9.7 Dim’ 7.2x2.4 SB 12.7 Class SAB(s)0o Spiral with partial bar, S shaped.
From pairing of 27 and 30 Virginis, move 2deg to Sp to a mag6.5 star then about 1.5deg to group of 4 stars mag 6 to 7.5. 2 stars of f side of this group bracket the target. Bright core with clear extensions running roughly fp. 2stars on either side and bright galaxy make this an interesting target.
NGC 4535 Galaxy in Virgo
RA 12 34 19.6 Dec +08 11 47 Mag(V)10.0 Dim’ 7.1x5.0 SB 13.7 Class SAB(s)c I-II Spiral with partial bar, S shaped.
About 40’ to N of NGC4526 is large round glow with no obvious core. Initial impressions give an elliptical feel to this galaxy, but gioven its large size and dimness, more likely to be a spiral.
NGC 6087 Open Cluster in Norma (Caldwell 89, Hartung 653)
RA 16 18 51.8 Dec -57 54 00 Mag 5.4 Dim’ 15 No. of Stars 349 Brightest Star 8.0 Type Open Cluster
Locate Gamma1 and Gamma2 Normae, which is only naked eye star visible in Norma. NGC 6067 is a previously observed Open Cluster easily found about 4deg to S easily seen in finder. Target is 4deg further S and very slightly f. It is at f end of a 2deg long line of 3 stars running pf. Althouhgh overall cluster appears bright it is well dispersed with few significantly bright stars. It also appears to be divided into 3 groups.
NGC 6729 Bright Nebula in Corona Australis (Hartung 841)
RA 19 01 54.0 Dec 36 57 00 Dim’ 1x1 Type E+R BC 2-5
Locate 3 Brightest stars in Corona Australis which are Alpha, Beta and Gamma which lie in a rough line on f side of crown. Immediately on p side of Gamma in finder is a line of 3 stars 1deg away, all of about mag 6.5. The star on f end of line is a fairly even double. A faint uneven double is located about 10’ Nf. Target is 5’ to S. Is small and faint but easily picked up with averted vision, looks almost like a comet.
The faint double nearby is associated with NGC 6726,27, unfortunately, although literature indicates this is a brighter nebula than NGC 6729, no sighting was made. Nebula filter did not assist with bthis target or with NGC 6729.3
NGC 6723 Globular Cluster in Sagittarius (Hartung 839)
RA 18 59 33.2 Dec -36 37 54 Total V Mag 6.8 Brightest Star 12.8 HB V Mag 15.5 Diam’ 13 Conc Class 7
This Globular is located within same field at 63x is this prominent globular. Fairly large and bright but little condensation. Very easy to resolve even at low power.
thanks for the report Malcolm. It's certainly been a challenge around our way as well to get some gaps in the cloud and observing sessions more than an hour long. I discovered the joys of NGC 4567+8 only the other night - I reckon they're a great pair. Hoping to do a sketch if the nights stay clear long enough. Will have a look at 4526 as well.
Saturday night was spectacular, well it was clear sunset-sunrise and the transparency....WOW!!! Unfortunately, seeing was terrible so that decreased limiting magnitude somewhat. Was an ideal night for larger nebula and galaxies, not so much for small edge of visibility stuff.
