Mystery Galaxies

[Back Yard Boy]

I am hoping that someone may be able to assist please.

I was out the other night seeking galaxies NGC1316, 1365, 1399 and 1404 in the Fornax / Eridanus region of the sky.

At one stage I came across what appeared to be between 5 - 7 galaxies almost in the same FOV (which I estimate to be approx. 0.44 deg based on the eyepieces I was using).

I was somewhat surprised to see so many so close together.

Given that I have no GoTo or similar software, I am not exactly certain which galaxies I may have seen.

Can anyone assist please by telling me which galaxies I may have sighted?

I have a 12" Dob and was at 156x mag at the time in a modestly light polluted sky.

[CosMos]

check this out...

https://sites.google.com/site/cosmosastronomy/Southern-Hemisphere/constellations/forn

[Rob_K]

Almost certainly part of the Fornax galaxy cluster, what a great area of sky! I can get 9 galaxies in a 1-deg FOV, all visible with a 4.5" telescope. Can only imagine what it would look like through yours! Check here (+ sketch):
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=54992

Cheers -

[barx1963]

Kevin
If your FOV was just on the preceding side of NGC 1399 that would make sense
There are the following galxies in that area
NGC 1373 mag 13.3
NGC 1374 Mag 11.1
NGC 1375 mag 12.4
All these 3 are close together but 1373 is really small at 0.7x0.74'
NGC 1379 Mag 10.9
NGC1381 mag 11.5
NGC 1380 mag 9.9
NGC 1380A mag 12.4
NGC 1387 mag 10.7
NGC 1389 mag 11.5

So lots of bright galxies in that area as there are some I haven't listed.

Malcolm

[madbadgalaxyman]

Hi, Kev,

Just go to......

http://server1.wikisky.org (http://server1.wikisky.org/)

and then put the name of a known galaxy that is near to the field of interest, into the search box.

This is a very High Contrast, but not the sharpest available, version of the digitized sky survey (the all-sky Schmidt Surveys) , which has been "stitched together" into a really nifty all-sky Virtual Telescope.
Even better, for some of the northern sky, you can switch over from Schmidt Telescope images to Sloan Digital Sky Survey images, which are even better quality!

Putting the mouse onto an object will identify it, though for some southern objects it will often give the PGC number for the galaxy rather than the ESO number. (wikisky does not give a lot of cross-identifications between different catalogues)

cheers, Robert

I find that online tools such as this one, together with a really detailed electronic (software) Star Atlas (mag 15 or greater Stellar Magnitude limit)(large Deep Sky Objects database of ~100,000 or more objects) is all I need in order to identify objects seen in a telescope field.

I, personally, use an electronic star atlas called Guide 8.0, for detailed work on faint galaxies.
Other serious Deep Sky Observers prefer to use tools such as Megastar5 Sky Atlas and
TheSky X

Added in Edit.....
Hey folks, Guide 9.0 has now been released by www.projectpluto.com (http://www.projectpluto.com)
I just realized this!!
For those of you who use other tools, I would say to you that while "Guide" is less user-friendly software, it is distinguished from other serious Deep Sky Observer's star atlases by the extremely large number of deep sky databases it uses and by the remarkably large amount of data about objects that is included in the atlas.
The fields in "Guide" have traditionally looked a bit "rough and ready", but it is very easy to add new databases, most of which are already available for plotting onto the atlas.

"Guide" works very well, and, better still, it is not expensive.

[Back Yard Boy]

Thank you to all who responded to my query. The info provided is extremely useful.

[Back Yard Boy]

I don't suppose anyone knows how I can get some clear dark skies for a change!!!

:shrug:Either the moon is too high, or its smoke haze or clouds or rain - that pretty much describes the vast majority of nights here in Forster over the past few months.

[ZeroID]

Uh huh .. get used to it .. you've been buying stuff haven't you ? tsk tsk tsk ...