April Observing Challenge - April is Galaxy Month!

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

The object selection task saw a definate bias towards galaxies this time round. So, we have a Challenge of Galactic proportions. Galaxies are the flavour of the month, with a couple of side dishes of a cluster and nebulae. The largest number of objects in The Challenge so far to stuff you to the gills.

As always, there is something for everyone. Some of these objects have already had prelimary reports stating that some of these have been seen in 70mm binos and a 130mm reflector- prime small scope targets.

NGC 5128: Centaurus A, in Centaurus. Its obvious 'hamburger' profile might be a challenge for smaller scopes, but I've seen it in my 30mm finder from a dark site!

Leo Triplet, M65, M66, NGC 3628: In Leo. This lot offers something for everyone: in reach for small scopes, and detail in bigger scopes.

NGC 5170: in Virgo. An edge on galaxy. Vaguely resembling Sombrero.

Hickson 62- NGC 4761/4776/4778:also in Virgo. A triple grouping of eliptical galaxies.

NGC 2573: In Octans- Galaxy Polarissima Australis. The galaxy closest to the South Galactic Pole observable in amateur scopes. From what I've gathered, it ain't the easiest bugger to pin.

NGC 3109: in Hydra. A dwarf spiral galaxy, member of our local group of galaxies.

The Coal Sack: spans Crux and Centaurus. A naked eye feature of our own Milky Way galaxy. In a dark site, the dark inkiness of the Coal Sack is dramatic against the blaze of the Milky Way. It is this type of dust that makes the dramatic 'dust lane' of the Hamburger. I find it awesome to be able to name a feature of the night sky that is not a star or constellation, and is appreceiably BIG. AND a feature of a galaxy!

ESO 92-18: in Carina. Our first side dish. Its location is RA 10 14 57.3 and Dec -64 36 30. It is almost exactly 3 degrees virtually due west of Theta Carinae. An obscure open cluster in Carina. One to add to your charts. Will test your palate! Very subtle flavour.

NGC 2438: in Puppis. An extra tasty morsel as it is a Planetary Nebula that lies in the same line of view as M46. It actually lies far behind M46.

Homuculus Nebula: in Carina. A nebula within a nebula, directly associated with the massive star Eta Carina, within the Eta Carina Nebula comlex. I'm not sure if is visible to amateur scopes, but that is the challenge.

Grub's up! Chow down and savour!

Mental.

[Dean]

Nice thanks I will try and spot some of them

[Robh]

Thanks Mental,
Some easy and, of course, some challenging ones.

The planetary nebula NGC 2438 (at distance 2900 ly) is in fact between us and M46 (at distance 5400 ly).

Regards, Rob.

[orestis]

Thanks Alex for putting up the thread can't wait to try and observe some more of these great targets.

Happy observing
Orestis:thumbsup:

[glenc]

Here is some info on NGC 2573. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=47267&highlight=2573

[GrampianStars]

Say ther's 2 threads for April! :)
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=59242

NGC 2573 In Octans magnitude (V) 13.5
Going 2 be tough visually for scopes 12" and under :rolleyes:

[orestis]

Here are my observation of the homunculus nebula-

Homunculus Nebula- Because the seeing was so good i thought i might pop up the mag this time to the most i can get with my eps and barlow ,i used the 6.5mm plossoll and 2x barlow which gave me a magnification of 277X which is higher than the theoretical limits of my scope which says that 250X is max.despite this focus was easily achievable and i could see a definate elongation,after some time i think i saw little wings coming off eta carinae going East - west,i'm not sure if what i was seeing was my imagination or the real deal.

clear skies
Orestis:thumbsup:

[Rob_K]

Well, I had a bit of a go tonight, with mixed success. All obs with 4.5" f8 reflector and 21mm EP (47x). I didn't bother with Hickson 62 or NGC 2573, no chance in my scope, or the Homonculus, which I've never been able to see. Had a shot at ESO 92-18 and even with the exact position visible per detailed chart there was nothing there.

So on to the good news! Didn't know what to expect from NGC 3109 as these large LSB dwarf galaxies can be very difficult in a little scope. Was pleasantly surprised to see it quite clearly as a very dim, dull glow, long and narrow with a visible length of 12-15 arcminutes in averted vision. It was just beside two close stars.

I could make out pn NGC 2438 in M46 as a very small, round dull glow in averted vision, nestling in the side of this great cluster!

NGC 5170 I had misgivings about at mag 12.1, and just using a cross marked on an old Astronomy 2006 yearbook chart I lucked out, plonking the scope smack dead centre on the field! Right in the middle of the view was an extremely faint edge-on galaxy, perhaps 5-6 arcminutes length in averted vision. I took a note of the star patterns around it and ventured back to the computer to confirm it. By the time I got outside again there was some light cloud moving through, and despite getting my night vision back the transparency had noticeably gone off. I was unable to see NGC 5170 again.

Then I just did a quick run through the others - the Leo Triplet wasn't that flash, reflecting the poorer transparency, and while all three galaxies were visible, NGC 3628 was very faint. NGC 5128 was fair, and in averted vision I could see the dark lane going right through the galaxy. Nice cruising around the Coal Sack, surprising amount of stars there and not as black as it seems, LOL!

Cheers -

[mental4astro]

Hey Rob,

Mate, I am most impressed! All in a 114 scope!

Man, I'm hoping that next Saturday is clear. My 17.5" rebuild is now ready for first light, WOOHOO! Finished all the painting, cutting and screwing today. A couple of days to let the paint dry well, and all various bits like the mirror and focuser are ready to install.

[Rob_K]

Wow, nice going Orestis, I've never been able to get a sign of it! :thumbsup: Thanks Alex for your comments, and good luck with your scope!

Cheers -

[The3rdKind]

Gidday Mental,

Just back from an observing night here in Queensland at a place north of Brisbane known as Hazledean (near Kilcoy). I know exactly what you mean by your description of the Coal Sack. Reasonably dark skies but tempered in the East by the lights of Brisbane. I love Centaurus A as this was the first time I have seen her (very haunting). The Tarantula Nebula was amazing and looked great in photographs on the night as did our faithful old Orion. I'm going to have to get serious about some heating for my light bucket as around 11.00pm we were mercilessly bombarded with a heavy dew. I am looking forward to getting along to one of 'Astro Rons' observing nights at Kenilworth which I have heard have great dark skies. My scope has a two inch EP adapter and have been thinking of saving to get some EP's to complement. However, tugging me in the opposite direction is my love of planets and the notion of a high quality Barlow. I have spoken to some of the veterans in the game and two inch adaptations are widely considered to be the option for wider angles, obviously but we are starting to head into big money territory, and conversley adding a Barlow reduces the quality of the image through greater filtration. I am wondering whether a Barlow combined with my 10mm and 25mm multicoat Plossls will give me DSO and planets or should I invest in the Two inch versions of these (I'm currently at 1.25"). I'm trying to find the happy medium for good all round optics and wider FOV's up close and personal. Any advice will be added to my list and will be greatly appreciated. As you can imagine I have been talking with other astronomers and am starting to form a basic picture of where I want to go but have a limited budget (don't we all) and not much room for error.

I similarly want to convert my 10" Skywatcher to a truss and build a modified dob mount to house a laptop, some sat nav gear (not GoTo), some azimuth based rotation (if that makes sense!), and some way of setting my camera on to my focuser.

Yes we are talking pain, suffering, and agony but it should be FUN!

I had my first taste of dark skies in over a decade last night and I'm hooked for life. I guess I am trying to be pro-active with all the rest simply to increase and sustain my viewing (and photographing) pleasure through variable atmospheric conditions. As I say, your wisdom and advice are greatly appreciated (I scrolled through your Truss project on here and really enjoyed seeing it progress). I've only been actively involved in astonomy since early January but am quickly re-fanning the flames of my childhood wonder once more. After all, astronomy is not only a hobby, its a way of seeing our little world in its true and miraculous perspective.

Cheers,

John (TheThirdKind)

[mental4astro]

This first one is for nominations for the Challenge. The thread you are looking at is the final selection.

Just trying to tap into the pool of knowledge of IIS members for the best choice for the Challenge. :)

I'm preping my charts for this Saturday night, :thumbsup:. Can't wait. It's been six months since I last used this beastie at a dark site.

[pgc hunter]

Nice report mate. That Tasco is a little fighter! Or it might actually be your skills :P I'll have to look thru it one day, it's on my to-do list before I die lol

NGC 5170 is one I really want to see. Virtually a carbon copy of NGC4945 although smaller and fainter, but should be interesting in dark skies.

[mental4astro]

I had a go last night from my backyard in Sydney. Saturday's jaunt to the Mountains ended up clouded out, :sadeyes:.

I managed a 1.5hr session until the dew put an end to things, so I didn't manage to complete the list.

Leo Triplet: surpisingly easy to find even though it lies directly over the lights of Sydney's CBD from my place. M65 and M66 easy enough to see with their bright cores and fading elongated bodies. I found M66 particularly beautiful, not as stark as M104, but I think I like it more, giving hints of structure in the disk through my 17.5". NGC 3628 proved too illusive last night. Thought I caught a hint of it, but can't say for certain. I try again during the week. The picture of the system on Wikipeadia I'll use as a reference as the M65, M66 and the bright star to their left, all fall within the FOV of a low power EP, switching EP's to mid power showed them up better and the details began to resolve.

NGC 5170: Too hard to find in Sydney skies, even with my 17.5". Right spot, maybe, just maybe a very faint ghostly glow, but I'd say no.

Hickson 62: Like the Leo Triplet, two I was able to spot, the third not. Again, Sydney skies too bright. Being eliptical galaxies, the show up as soft oval glows.

NGC 5128: Once you've located it, its dark band is unmistakeable, separating the two lobes. In my 17.5" at 133X, the wedge like shape of the band is quite distinct, with a streeky nature to it, an the superimposed stars seen in photos of it, easy to see. Would be nice to chase it down again from better skies.

NGC 3109: Right on Zenith for me last night, last object and too hard to star hop to for me at 11pm after a big weekend, and the dew had started to settle. Next time.

Coal Sack: Caught it on Saturday night as the only object I was able to see through the sucker holes. So striking and eerie against to soft glow of the Milky Way.

NGC 2438, chased it down two months ago in three scopes, an 8"f/4, a 10" f/5, and 13.1" f/4.5 so I guess it doesn't count for April's Challenge. What I will say though is that it was much brighter in the smaller, but fast focal ratio 8" than the 10 and 13.1. Fast focal ratios are a plus when viewing some objects, like nebulae, from light polluted area, especially when combined with a nebula filter. Small, but easy to see Planetary Nebula.

My effort for April.

Mental.