With there being two weekends either side of the March New Moon, I was a bit surprised not to see a March Observing Challenge.
Since the first 'New Moon' weekend starts tomorrow, I was compiling a list for myself to have a thrash at. I thought I'd throw my name in the ring for a shot at some targets, easy through to more challenging. Might be nice to see what range of observations we get across a variety of instruments and sites.
1: M104, Sombrero Galaxy, in Virgo. A galaxy that is visible in small scope, but reveals more as apeture increases. (Sorry about the GOJ)
2: NGC 2818 & 2818A, Open cluster + planetary neb, in Pyxis (a two-for-one special)
3: Antila Galaxy Cluster, some 5 NGC named Galaxies out of 200+, in Antila, starting from NGC 3267
4: M83, galaxy visible in 50mm binos from Sydney, in Hydra
5: NGC 5286, Globular Cluster, in Centaurus, the little brother of Omega Centauri
6: Eta Carina, nebula and cluster, in Carina. Awesome in any scope. I think it will prove the toughest to describe and sketch.
Have fun,
Mental
P.S. I hope I'm not taking anyone's thunder with this thread. I thought it would be nice to keep this ball rolling if there is no one responsible for 'The Challenge'.
Last edited by mental4astro; 12-03-2010 at 07:52 PM.
Thanks for that i usually do them but lately i have been busy with school and homework so thats why i couldn't do one.
Nice targets i think they should fit perfectly apart from that the ghost of jupiter which was in lasts month obs challenge but as i haven't seen it i think it will be great.
IC 2501
This is a fairly bright planetary in Carina, shining at Mag 11.3. So, what's the catch? It is extremely tiny, at just 2" in diameter. Being high surface brightness, it is bright enough to see even in the smallest apertures, but will appear completely starlike. OIII filters will help to differentiate it from the rich star field. Larger scopes, excellent seeing and extreme magnification are required to see something vagually resembling a disk.
Vela SNR
Get out of the city to see this one. Should be visible in a 4 or 5" rich field scope at low power with an OIII or UHC.
Abell 1060
A dense collection of faint galaxies in Crater. The three brightest members, NGC 3309, 3308, 3311 are elliptical galaxies with V magnitudes of 11-12, so should be visible in a 4" class instrument under good skies. Several smaller galaxies are in the same field, but are very faint with magnitudes of 14 and below.
Last edited by pgc hunter; 12-03-2010 at 08:23 PM.
Thanks Alexander and Sab. Alas I didn't get your post before heading to Snake Valley, Sab. But I took your list Alex - I didn't write notes or sketch amongst the buzz of the camp. Did observe all the objects though, with the exception of the Antlia group. I've looked at them before but for some reason just couldn't get the star hopping right on the weekend. I was blown away by M104 and M83 in Tim's 22" - who needs imaging when they look this good visually? And also observed Eta Carina in my own scope with much wider field of view than I normally would and saw it in a whole new light. And with Eric's NBP filter - I think I have to get one if these. A different look again from UHC and OIII.
good to see a march list.but what about feb's still havent done that yet!!!! the weather has been shocking where onto our 5th to 6th week of cloud and rain.well thats our wet season lets see if it clears in the next few days
Here are some suggestions for around 10pm, most of them are fairly easy object.
OC: NGCs 3114, 3293
GC: NGCs 2808, 3201
Neb:NGCs 3199, 3372
PN: NGC 3132
Gxy: NGCs 2903, 3115, M95, M96, M105 & NGC 3371/73.
Eta Carinae Nebula- A truly amazing nebula which spanned basically all the field of view in my 25mm plosoll (36x).There is a big Central dark lane that bisects the nebula in 2 parts and then there are many other dark lanes spidering of the main 1.On the bright eastern section of the nebula there is a bright orange star embedded in the gas(i was not sure if this was Eta).I could see a lot of stars around the nebula.And finding it was the easiest thing in the world.
If it is of any help to anyone, here is my observation of Leo I about a year ago with 46cm. It was from Mudgee, SQM reading was 21.5 = ZLM of +6.39 with a sky that was still darkening (at 1am it was 21.71 = +6.51):
x111 44' TF
MCG +2-26-27 DDO 74 Leo I PGC 29488 Galaxy *
RA: 10h 08m 27.5s Dec: +12° 18' 27"
Mag: 11.2 (B) S.B.: 15.2 B-V: --- Size: 9.8'x7.4' Class: E3
P.A.: 80 Inclination: --- R.V.: +168 Source: RC3 *
Leo I is not very hard to see in these conditions. Immediately visible though very LSB and large. Found almost 1/2 a degree N of Regulus. Appears as a large oval, 10-11 x 8' in about PA 90 with a couple of very faint superimposed *s and Regulus must be excluded from the field. Grows broadly and weakly to centre without zones or nucleus. It occasionally looks a little grainy.
You do need some significant aperture to see Leo I but the most important thing is a true dark sky. Light pollution will kill it stone-dead. Without searching any reports on-line, my gut-feeling is that 20-25cm would probably do it in perfect conditions, maybe smaller who knows -- as I say that forecast is a gut-feeling only.
Rod (Rodstar) and I tried for Leo 1 in the 18" last weekend at Wee Jasper and I would have to agree with you that a dark sky is probably the single most important factor in resolving this object, a bit of patience and eliminating Regulus from the field of view and bingo!
Anna and I are currently in Mudgee for this weekend so we'll go for it again.
Looks like the only go I'm going to be able to have at this month's challenge came on Monday night, . Only able to make Randwick with Hickny. We had two scopes: the 13.1" f/4.5 Odyssey, and and 8" f/4.
We had a lot of low cloud come and go, making things, well, let's just say 'challenging' to keep things civil.
Only managed some poor views of Sombrero and M83, and Eta Carina was way below par due to the poor seeing. The little Globular NGC 5286 was a highlight though.
The poor conditions made finding M104 and M83 tricky. Usually these two have been relatively easy pick'ns. M104 showed its central core quite compact in the Odyssey, with a faint, faint hint of glow beneath the dust lane.
M83 showed a 'nice' but faint disk, with a distinct bright, compact core. I thought I saw some detail in the disk throught the Odyssey, more when the scope was 'giggled', but I couldn't be too sure to describe it more than a some mottleing.
NGC 5286 is such a treat. In the 8" it was a bright, really small fuzzy ball resisting being resolved. In the Odyssey, aperture came into its own. At low power (50X) it began to show hints of resolving. It really is a small GC. At 250X, there it was a mass of tiny faint pinpoint stars, really tightly held. There was quite a range of brightness's of stars within it, which surprised me. Linear patterns could be traced, looking like finely beaded spiders' web wet from dew. I must say that this is my favourite GC for now. It's challenging to resolve, but it rewards richly when achieved.
The balance of the targets I suggested where unobtainable or overcame our patience and energy reserves after a day's work. The last two sessions I've managed have been from Randwick, and it has been such hard work at zenith. I'm going to have to get the objects a zenith done first next time while I'm at my freshest. Too tiring otherwise.
I'm sorry I haven't even been able to chase down the other recommendations either. Circumstances just not allowing, . Can't do it this weekend either.
My observations for- 19/03/10
Telescope-130mm reflector
M104-Star hopping to it wasn't that hard.i used the three stars that point straight at it(pretty good chance alignment).At 36x i could see it as a pretty small streak of light,i then popped in the 10mm which gave me 90x but slightly dimmed M104.The core of m104 looked almost stellar.i couldn't distinclty see the dust lane but noticed that the northern part of the galaxy was definatly brighter than the faint glow beneath the core.So i thought maybe the dust lane was blocking out the light.M104 has an interesting field of stars around it.
On a good night the light pollution seems to be less because there is less moisture etc in the air to reflect it. Last night was one of those nights.
I observed nebulae, planetary nebulae, galaxies and globular clusters from 11pm to 1am DST with a 12" Dobsonian.
Attached is an image of Leo I from wikiski. The galaxy is 20' north (pa 5) of Regulus. I didn't see it. IC 591 is on the right of Leo I.
Had a go at Leo I last night through 4.5" f8 reflector - saw nothing, which is not surprising at all. Transparency was a tad off - Regulus had a fair-sized halo around it.
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. Only able to make Randwick with Hickny. We had two scopes: the 13.1" f/4.5 Odyssey, and and 8" f/4.
. Can't do it this weekend either.
