Favorite galaxy

[mickoking]

G'day cobbers

I am curious what every ones favorite galaxy is. for me it is M103 the Sombrero galaxy in Virgo.

[astro_south]

For me it is NGC1365 in Fornax - its outreaching spiral arms are visible in my 12.5" scope. It kind of looks like some ninja star ready to be thrown! I agree that M104 is great - easily in my top 10 :thumbsup:

I have attached a sketch of it that I did last new moon. The sketch probably highlights the arms fractionally more than direct vision does (heavy on the pencil), but the detail in the sketch was all seen at the eyepiece.

ps (its M104 not M103 Mickoking ;) )

[RB]

Oh what a hard choice, I like so many.
But I think my fav is Andromeda M31.

Cheers

[mickoking]

G'day Andrew you are dead right, I am here thousands of clicks away from my Astronomy books M104 it is. I will check out NGC 1365 when I get back to Oz, looks wicked.

[janoskiss]

The Milky Way is not bad. Heaps to see there. :whistle:

[asimov]

M31

[elusiver]

:rofl:

el :)

[RapidEye]

Sombrero is towards the top of my list!
M81/82 are in there as well.
M31 - too obvious =-)

[Dave47tuc]

NGC 253 :thumbsup:

[mickoking]

Does anyone rate the LMC? Plenty of detail even thru a finderscope. I would rate it as my number 2.:thumbsup:

[Lee]

I was out in the bush outside of Weipa in August, and was up in the wee hours one night, so I went outside with my binos to try and see Andromeda.... but used a Nthn Hemisphere chart so looked on the wrong side of the "arms" for the thing - missed out - was cloudy from then on too... :(

Can't say I've seen a galaxy yet - although - does omega centauri count....
hoping to grab some on the weekend.....

[iceman]

My favs:
- M104
- NGC5128 (Centaurus A)
- NGC4945
- NGC1566
- M83
- Leo Triplet

Haven't seen NGC253 yet, but will be this weekend, so It may soon be added to the list :)

[iceman]

The LMC is great under dark skies with binoculars!

[mickoking]

[QUOTE=plasmodium]I was out in the bush outside of Weipa in August, and was up in the wee hours one night, so I went outside with my binos to try and see Andromeda.... but used a Nthn Hemisphere chart so looked on the wrong side of the "arms" for the thing - missed out - was cloudy from then on too... :(


Coz I have always lived around the -30 to-35 latitude mark I have never had a particually good view of M31. Most of the time it has looked like a grey elliptical blur. But once when I was living in Nelson Bay I viewed the Andromeda with a Tasco 114mm Reflecter complete with crappy 1" diameter eyepieces and unbelievably I could see detail including the dark lane. :thumbsup:

[ausastronomer]

Hmmmm,

Not counting LMC and SMC which are both wonderful targets in their own right. I rate them in this order.

NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) type Pec (Peculiar) galaxy in Centaurus
M104 (Sombrero) type Sa spiral galaxy in Virgo
M83 (Southern Pinwheel) type SABc spiral galaxy in Hydra

CS- John B

[mickoking]

My list is

1, M103, prominant dark lane even in medium size scopes, elegant shape.
2, LMC
3, Centaurus A , Distinctive even thru 120mm refractor.
4, NGC 253 lots of detail, fine field.
5, M83 spiral structure visable even in moderate light pollution with a 200mm Dob.
6, NGC 55 in sculptor
7, 3C 273 Quasar in Virgo. not much to look at but it's sheer distance makes this a remarkable object.
8, SMC

[fringe_dweller]

I will exclude the three obvious choices of milky way, LMC, SMC and just go for the mostly telescopic/binocular ones - this is more the tourist "galaxy experiences" list :) some of my reasons are nostalgic too

1, NGC 253 the "silver coin galaxy"
2, NGC 104 "sombrero"
3, M31 Andromeda galaxy and companion
4, NGC 5128 "hamburger galaxy"
5, NGC 1365 - i will never forget the first time I saw this galaxy properly thru an f5 13" at a dark site - blew us away! its so different to the rest
6, Leo triplet
7, NGC 55
8, NGC 4945 - smoky ghost of a galaxy - one of my first - sentimental
9, a drive thru the virgo cluster down thru to Coma Berenices with a large aperture @ low power at a dark site is something to behold - a river of galaxies!
10, NGC 7331 - nice little edge on - dont know why I like it so much? its just a nice snack after andromeda while in area :confused:
Kearn

[ballaratdragons]

Just about all of them. I just love Galaxies. They are my favourite things.

Probably Sombrero and Southern Pinwheel the most!

[dhumpie]

I agree with Andrew being heavy on the pencil but the detail is there with averted vision in NGC 1365. We tried lower power (31 Terminagler) but that did not improve the views. Anyway hand's down my fave galaxy is our home galaxy, the milky way. You don't even need a telescope to enjoy the views of the clusters, nebula's etc. As for telescopic galaxies, NGC 253 wins hands down followed closely by M83 :)

Darren

[atalas]

Yep I would have to say that your first look at NGC 1365 through a large scope blows you away ! another for me was the spanish Dancer Galaxy with Its tight swirling spiral arms.
Oh no I have to go and lay down now and dream of giant Dobs !

Louie :zzz:

[astro_south]

Darren

Much less averted vision is needed for the arms of 1365 when at the darker Leyburn skies where the drawing was done (and also when 1365 is high in the sky). Remember we were looking back through the brighter eastern skies on Saturday night from The Grove

Atlas - NGC 1566 (Spanish dancer) also displays her spirals in my scope and is easily in my top 10 too!

[fringe_dweller]

I agree - you dont need averted vision for the arms of 1365 if the skies are dark enough/suitable aperture scope - i have seen it non averted vision similar to the excellent drawing before, easy. But even then the averted vision is still another step up from that :)

..but for the most part I am an edge-on galaxy kind of guy I guess LOL

BD re galaxies - lucky you live under glorious darkskies then ;)

mmmmmm giant dobs :D ...you know you want one - ...you NEED one - you MUST have it now!
*subliminal message brought to you by the makers of giant dobs*
Kearn

[Starkler]

Another vote for ngc 1365, in fact I love the whole fornax galaxy cluster :)
I also like :
ngc 4945 for being an easy to see galaxy in a nice starfield.
ngc 5102, being small and bright it makes part of a nice cross asterism.

[gaa_ian]

1. M31 on a clear night in Summer's night, in the top end, with Bino's is an Awesome sight.
2. Crusing through the Virgo cluster with a big dob & a 31mm nagler :drink:
3. NGC 253 has got to be a winner too

[RapidEye]

M51 and M101 have to be in my top 5 - both are just amazing spirals!

Dunno if you guys can get those from Oz...

I'll trade you M51 for Omega Centauri =-)

[CosMos]

Love all of the above and would include the superb galaxy cluster in Fornax where a 1 degree eyepiece field will show many in one go. How many do you ask?...go look! :thumbsup:

Rich

[mickoking]

I know the area but have never tried. Whar size scope did you use.:D

[mickoking]

We will trade M73 for M51.:rofl: :rofl:

[RapidEye]

Toss in the LMC and we've got a deal :scared:

[mickoking]

Rapideye, Mate.


This is my absolute last deal, We will take M51 from you and locate it in Octans:D and in exchance you can rent the SMC for a nominal service fee.
But wait theres more I will throw in free of charge NGC 4372 yes you heard right free of charge. We down south have a surplus of Globular Clusters and everything must go...........

:D :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :D

ps SMC rental does not include 47 tuc.

[RapidEye]

I've got a new IIS Telrad to toss into the deal :cool: ; however, nothing smaller than the LMC would be considered acceptable to my concortium... :thumbsup:

In a moment of weakness, I might even consider tossing in my new AS&T subscription (after I read them of course), but that is going to require a time sharing agreement on the fornax GC - 60/40 :innocent:

[mickoking]

Your dreaming.


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[CosMos]

Mickoking, a 20cm under a dark sky does it well. The two brightest are NGC 1399 and 1404 and there are many more scattered around the area. A lovely bit of the sky to go galaxy hopping. Once had a look with a 90cm scope and the view was like looking at the acne on a teenagers face, galaxies galore!
:bowdown:
The night sky, the night sky
Where everyone gets a bargain.

Rich

[xrekcor]

hmmmm a toughy, I really dont have a fav. I'm like Ken I love them all. But I do like multiple views and my fav's would be.

M84, M86, N4388 which also includes N4402 & N4387 and a faint IC3303

Fornax Cluster, counted ten in the FOV N1404, N1399, N1387, N1389, N1379, N1381, N1380, N1374, N1375 & N1373

But if we have to go for singles then M51 which just gets high enough off the horizon to not need to swap it for SMC (that would be a crime). M104 because I love the knots and detail of this wonderful edgeon spiral. Another I couple seem to find appealing is Cadwell 72 & Cadwell 62. The latter reminds me of a bright comet with no coma around the nucleus. It has a foreground star at it's southern end of this semi edgeon spiral.

regards,CS

[xrekcor]

How about the Coalsack! a wonderfull bright neb in our southern skies :D :whistle:



Oh hell, we'll give you the Dark Doodad with a couple of stars from Omega Centuri thrown in, we could miss a couple out of there. But that's only because it is a FANTASTIC!!! mag. I hear you guy's are always copying stories out of it, so it must be good :ashamed:

regards,CS

[fringe_dweller]

Rapideye - how much for your bright pole star?
Kearn

[xrekcor]

Good Point!!! :thumbsup:

Something we could actually do with :rofl: well some of us :D

regards,CS