Dave47tuc
12-06-2005, 12:09 PM
Hi All, :)
As you liked my last article, I thought I would write about last night efforts with the 18” Obsession. It had been raining down here yippy, Friday night Saturday morning.
The afternoon became clear and the night was clear. One had to get out and Observe as night are rare. I phoned Geoff (Starkler) but he was concerned about the cloud on the satellite picture. Geoff should not have worried, as it was clear for most of the night. Remember next time my friend.
So I dragged the 18” out under what were very nice conditions. Set up and was ready to go by 6.30pm. The scopes owner Julian arrived around 8pm. A few patches of cloud did arrive through this time, but was all cleared by the time Julian had arrived.
So objects observed first were Jupiter, oh yes very nice as per usual. Plenty of detail but the seeing was not so good, but the transparency was great. So I gave Jupiter away. Comet 9P Tempel 1 was close by. So I checked my charts swept the field with a wide angle eyepiece and I found it no problem. In a 18” this comet was bright! Small nucleus and large diffuse coma. No tail, but a nice Comet in such a big scope.
I showed the comet to Julian later on in the night.
I observed many other objects, ones that stand out M104 now this Galaxy is big in most scopes but an 18” wow. Very prominent dark lane and huge in a 14 mm UWA.
Also ran into NGC 5128 this to is huge, the detail you can see inside, yes inside the dark lane is awesome. Lots of structure seen here. But after looking at other bright objects, mainly NGC 5139, 2808, 5286,4945 and about a dozen others what about something more challenging.
Ok so you have seen NGC 5139 the great Omega Globular, but have you seen the Galaxy’s around Omega? Probably not, so I tried to check them out.
Now you need Uranometria, I used the new edition and on map 184.
The new Uranometria is about the best Star atlas for Galaxy hunting as it shows thousands of them. Around Omega are ESO Galaxy’s and few NGC’s.
I did not use the DSC, I wanted to just sweep the fields close to Omega and see what I could pick up. I was able to confirm ESO 270-5 and 6 both at 13.5 and 13.3 magnitudes. ESO 270-17 bright at 10.7 but a large object so over all fainter than one would think. This Galaxy is also called Fourcade-Figueoa Galaxy.
I had trouble finding NGC 5206!!! Don’t know why as it’s bright at 10.9 Mag. must be getting old! I was able to pick up a few Galaxy’s around ESO 269-85 most of these are around 12-13 Mag.
I had a cuppa after that effort; It’s hard work finding small faint fuzzies!
But onto more. This time I was after Galaxy Clusters. I had the weapon to find the so off we went. Julian had the Argo fired up and was keen to come along for the ride.
First up was the Centaurus Cluster, Uranometria map 184. Also a detailed chart A23.
Set Argo to find NGC 4696 and the just sweep the area. 4696 has infact four components 496 A,B,C,D. all around 13th Mag.
Once in the area I was amazed on what we could see. I have not seen Galaxy clusters like this before. We were just sweeping up one after another sometimes 4 5 or 6 Galaxies in the same field it was great. We observed about 25 Galaxies in this area.
This Galaxy cluster is also called Abell 3526.
So I wanted more, I checked out Uranometria charts 167. Detailed charts A18 and A21. These Galaxy clusters are named Abell 3574 and the Hydra 1 cluster Abell 1060. Again it was like wow one Galaxy after another. Sometimes as I have said up to 5 or 6 in the same field.
Abell 3574 was very striking, you could see two Galaxies in the one field IC 4329 and 4329A then move the scope a bit then 5 in the same field. One of these was NGC 5291 the Seashell Galaxy a very nice Galaxy.
So we spent some time here on these two Galaxy Clusters and it was great. It was amazing how many one could see with this super scope. Seeing Galaxies like 5128 is awesome because it’s bright and many others as well. I now have a great appreciation and appetite for Galaxy Clusters.
Next challenge how many of these I can see in my now little 10” :eek:
Hope you enjoyed the read and happy observing to you all. I know I am.
Clear skies. :astron:
As you liked my last article, I thought I would write about last night efforts with the 18” Obsession. It had been raining down here yippy, Friday night Saturday morning.
The afternoon became clear and the night was clear. One had to get out and Observe as night are rare. I phoned Geoff (Starkler) but he was concerned about the cloud on the satellite picture. Geoff should not have worried, as it was clear for most of the night. Remember next time my friend.
So I dragged the 18” out under what were very nice conditions. Set up and was ready to go by 6.30pm. The scopes owner Julian arrived around 8pm. A few patches of cloud did arrive through this time, but was all cleared by the time Julian had arrived.
So objects observed first were Jupiter, oh yes very nice as per usual. Plenty of detail but the seeing was not so good, but the transparency was great. So I gave Jupiter away. Comet 9P Tempel 1 was close by. So I checked my charts swept the field with a wide angle eyepiece and I found it no problem. In a 18” this comet was bright! Small nucleus and large diffuse coma. No tail, but a nice Comet in such a big scope.
I showed the comet to Julian later on in the night.
I observed many other objects, ones that stand out M104 now this Galaxy is big in most scopes but an 18” wow. Very prominent dark lane and huge in a 14 mm UWA.
Also ran into NGC 5128 this to is huge, the detail you can see inside, yes inside the dark lane is awesome. Lots of structure seen here. But after looking at other bright objects, mainly NGC 5139, 2808, 5286,4945 and about a dozen others what about something more challenging.
Ok so you have seen NGC 5139 the great Omega Globular, but have you seen the Galaxy’s around Omega? Probably not, so I tried to check them out.
Now you need Uranometria, I used the new edition and on map 184.
The new Uranometria is about the best Star atlas for Galaxy hunting as it shows thousands of them. Around Omega are ESO Galaxy’s and few NGC’s.
I did not use the DSC, I wanted to just sweep the fields close to Omega and see what I could pick up. I was able to confirm ESO 270-5 and 6 both at 13.5 and 13.3 magnitudes. ESO 270-17 bright at 10.7 but a large object so over all fainter than one would think. This Galaxy is also called Fourcade-Figueoa Galaxy.
I had trouble finding NGC 5206!!! Don’t know why as it’s bright at 10.9 Mag. must be getting old! I was able to pick up a few Galaxy’s around ESO 269-85 most of these are around 12-13 Mag.
I had a cuppa after that effort; It’s hard work finding small faint fuzzies!
But onto more. This time I was after Galaxy Clusters. I had the weapon to find the so off we went. Julian had the Argo fired up and was keen to come along for the ride.
First up was the Centaurus Cluster, Uranometria map 184. Also a detailed chart A23.
Set Argo to find NGC 4696 and the just sweep the area. 4696 has infact four components 496 A,B,C,D. all around 13th Mag.
Once in the area I was amazed on what we could see. I have not seen Galaxy clusters like this before. We were just sweeping up one after another sometimes 4 5 or 6 Galaxies in the same field it was great. We observed about 25 Galaxies in this area.
This Galaxy cluster is also called Abell 3526.
So I wanted more, I checked out Uranometria charts 167. Detailed charts A18 and A21. These Galaxy clusters are named Abell 3574 and the Hydra 1 cluster Abell 1060. Again it was like wow one Galaxy after another. Sometimes as I have said up to 5 or 6 in the same field.
Abell 3574 was very striking, you could see two Galaxies in the one field IC 4329 and 4329A then move the scope a bit then 5 in the same field. One of these was NGC 5291 the Seashell Galaxy a very nice Galaxy.
So we spent some time here on these two Galaxy Clusters and it was great. It was amazing how many one could see with this super scope. Seeing Galaxies like 5128 is awesome because it’s bright and many others as well. I now have a great appreciation and appetite for Galaxy Clusters.
Next challenge how many of these I can see in my now little 10” :eek:
Hope you enjoyed the read and happy observing to you all. I know I am.
Clear skies. :astron: