Messier album complete for 27deg South - additional hooter image appended

[RobF]

I've always wanted to see EVERY Messier object. With my old 4.5" Tasco reflector I was dismayed how difficult some objects where to find let alone see! When I bought my 8" I was determined to fix this once and for all. Then came the imaging bug, so of course I had to IMAGE them all.

To the best of my knowledge 105/110 are visible from Brissy latitudes. In April at Leyburn I was finally able to capture M101, 108 and 109 during some precarious (almost horizontal) imaging through bushes and trees (I'd carefully chosen my spot in the afternoon precisely for these antics ;) ).

Most are pretty dodgey, but I learned a heck of a lot cutting my DSLR then CCD teeth on many of these. A ton of fun and of course now I'll have to go back and do most of them again having struggled a bit further up the learning curve :P

The final gallery (or current gallery :confuse3::whistle: )is here (https://picasaweb.google.com/UserRobF/MessierObjectsAll106VisibleFrom27S# )

Final 2 "heads on the wall" are below - M109 (7x3min Lum) and M108 (just a few 3min subs). These were both only about 8 or 9 degrees above horizon at transit when imaged.

Yay! :D

[allan gould]

Really well done Rob and an excellent effort

[Manav]

So much character and so so far away. Just curious whats the smudge on the right of M109?

[RickS]

Congrats, Rob. What's your next challenge? :)

[Osirisra]

Awesome! nice job :)

[glenc]

Congratulations Rob on finishing this major project.
Your M108 and M109 images are excellent.
You could image some of the missing ones from Mt Surprise airport. (18 deg south)

[Alchemy]

Well done on getting them all, quite a challenge considering it's a northern hemisphere catalog.

You seem like someone who likes a challenge...... So on to the Caldwell catalogue.....

[glenc]

The southern equivalent of the Messier catalogue is the Dunlop catalogue.
It was made from Parramatta in 1826 with a 9" speculum reflector.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-649-0-0-1-0.html

[erick]

Well done, Rob :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Congratulations Rob. A fine effort.
Next step is a trip up north to catch those last few objects I think.

[multiweb]

Good stuff - low level imaging. :thumbsup:

[madbadgalaxyman]

Yugant,

Using //server1.wikisky.org (an online digitized sky survey) the small galaxy to the right of M109 can be identified as PGC 37700.
It has the appearance of a Very Blue edge-on object, somewhere between Sd and Irregular in the usual Hubble Sequence of Hubble galaxy types.

This galaxy should probably be referred to as UGC 6969 , which is one of its other names, because the PGC catalogue goes to about ~100,000 galaxies, and the UGC only goes to about ~12,000 galaxies, so it is normal to favour an identification that has a smaller number of digits ; simply for reasons of easier memorization.


The RC3 gives a galaxy classification of type Irregular.
However, there are very few type assignments available in the various galaxy catalogues, and the SDSS image (this is an g+r+i bands composite) changes the picture somewhat:

100953

This image could be consistent with this galaxy being a barred Magellanic spiral (a system like the LMC), but the Hubble Type could also be somewhat earlier in the Hubble Sequence, for example type Sd.

This little object is very likely to be a dwarf galaxy, as can be calculated from its estimated distance and its apparent magnitude.
Its redshift is close to that of M109, so this provides strong evidence that it is physically associated with M109.

Unfortunately, I am currently unable to access my standard tools, such as my large collection of galaxy images, so what I can tell you about this object is limited. It seems to be fairly well known to aficionados of dwarf galaxies, so I might do a literature search for mentions of this object.

[Alchemy]

Could be a far more appropriate list, at least they are all accessible to southern skies, the 57 galaxies looks interesting. Lots to pick from.

[RobF]

Thanks everyone. There must be a bit of "librarian" in me, because this project has always provided me with a bit of direction in between shooting the more regular favourite objects we all try for.

I really hadn't thought too hard about where to go next. I'd certainly attempt the other objects if the opportunity to image up north (or overseas) presented. I s'pose I should check what's up Nov next year for Cairns eclipse trip. Buying a CCD means I tend to spend more time on each objects which paradoxically slowed down my finishing off of this (it's taken me since May just to process M108 and 109 after all).

Glen, I did start on your "All Sky Messier Catalogue". That and the Dunlop catalogue are probably very worthwhile targets. I do like to hunt brighter galaxies, and sound like Dunlop has charted most of the southern ones of interest so must have a look.

For now I'm quite pleased that the many careful penciled notes in the star charts section of my 1980 Norton's have finally been "finished off" in a way. :)

[LucasB]

Congratulations - it is a great achievement which takes a lot of dedication! Like the M109 also. Very nice pic. :thumbsup:
Lucas

[glenc]

You need to go up near Darwin in Autumn to get M81 and M82.
M82 is 8 degrees above the horizon in the attached SkyMapPro image for Darwin on 21/4/12 (new moon) when it transits at 8:43pm.
If you want to go further north Thailand has an observatory in the mountains.
http://www.narit.or.th/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=12

[RobF]

Thanks Lucas and Glen
I'd love to see/image 81 and 82 some time. I've only been to the N hemisphere and handful of times and never with even binocs. Almost without fail it's been close to impossible to see anything but the brighter stars through clouds and usually none at all. Darwin trip might be a goer at some stage, but I doubt I'll have the funds to go O/S with astronomy for quite a while alas. :)

[Paul Haese]

Nice gallery Rob. Some pretty nice ones in your collection too.

[Manav]

Thanks for the insight I'll go check this out! Its caught my imagination a bit.

[RobF]

Thanks Paul. Many of these I'd love to revisit as time/location allows to have another decent go. M74 for example looks like a wonderful obect for a decent exposures at a really dark site. Always room to improve as you learn :)



Mission accomplished Yugant if your imagination has been stimulated a bit....:)

[RobF]

Make that 106 objects now...

Found out tonight I also managed to get 9 mins of M40 (Winnecke 4) double star asterism in Ursa Major in April from Leyburn - snatched through the trees with an elevation of about 5 degrees at the time. I assumed I'd pointed at the wrong spot back then, but realised later it's a "curiosity object", not a faint fuzzy.

There are actually 2 other very faint NGC galaxies in the frame too.

[glenc]

Excellent shot Rob. The galaxies are NGC 4290 (m12.8) and NGC 4284 (L, m14.4).

[RobF]

Thanks Glen
Probably just as well it wasn't a nice object that deserved plenty of exposure - was never going to happen at that declination :)

[RobF]

I'm being a Messier Media Tart, but here's my last shred of April Leyburn data and a fresh attempt at the Owl nebula (taken at max elevation of about 7 degrees).

Previously the only shot in my collection was 2x90secs from Cambroon (Astroron's) from early 2009. The object was so faint I didn't even see it in those finder frames and moved on. It wasn't until later I "found it" at home when processing in a dark room :D

Anyway, this has been shamelessly tortured to the limit with only a single frame each of RGB, but even so I reckon I can see the little blighter in there hooting away.....;)

LRGB 9:3:3:3 (3x3 unbinned L, 1x3 binnedx2 R, G and B)
Cropped to about 50% of full field and rotated for maximum Harry Potter effect

[bmitchell82]

hehehe for this kind of thing Rob you need to invest in Pinpoint and Maximdl. then even if you cant see it :P You know the little hooter is there because it matches the star patterns :)

[batema]

Hi Rob,

That is fantastic. What an effort and you will have to head to the northern hemisphere to finish those few remaining.

Mark

[RobF]

Agree totally Brendan - have forked out for the full Pinpoint already - such a great product, and having fun writing some .NET around it. Has really helped me figure out ways to get better pointing peversely (I expected it would just magically correct pointing difficulties).

I was peering through a deep red laptop filter too the night I first "lost" this one :P


Mark - wouldn't it be great to head to the Canary islands or US for a week of clear weather. Sigh...!