[Paddy (Patrick)]

Dear all,

Here are some notes from observations of May 14th at Strangways.

Telescope 400mm f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Guiding: Night Sky Observer’s Guide (NSOG)

Seeing excellent 1/5
Transparency – excellent 7/7

2150

NGC 5927 GC in Lupus
175X No distinct core, few resolvable stars. Halo seems to have some dark patches with strands of haze distracted from the body of the cluster. Seems to span 5’

IC4406 PN in Lupus
250X At first appears pale bluish and slightly irregular disc. On further inspection, a firmer inner shell slightly elongated E-W is apparent with a fainter softer haze extending beyond this, also E-W. Slightly reminiscent of the Saturn nebula. Seems to have a slightly darker patch on the western edge. No discernible central star. UHC filter enhances impression of inner shell and softer outer haze. The outer haze seems more elongated to the east than the west. OIII enhances contrast and confirms above impressions. The inner core occupies about 1/3 of the whole PN and has several darker patches.

NGC 5746 GX in Virgo
175X Beautiful edge-on spiral close to 109 Virginis roughly N-S with distinct boxy nucleus and obvious dust lane down the eastern side of the disc, cutting through the central bulge so the some brightness is seen the other side of the lane. Very like NGC 4565. Stands up well to 250X, but no further detail revealed.

NGC 5740 GX in Virgo
175X Just to the south of 5746 is a broader and fainter oval haze with impression of a nucleus, but no further structure. NGC 5690 is a faint slip of haze just to the west of 5740

NGC 5846 Galaxy group in Virgo

175X NGC 5846 is a bright circular haze with bright distinct nucleus. Within its halo is a second bright patch which is 5846A. About 20’ top the east is NGC 5850. Although fainter than 5846, it has a bright nucleus and a bar oriented E-W with broader halo, looking like a face on barred spiral. Top the west of 5846 is 5845, a tiny faint patch of haze with stellar core. 7’ further on is another faint circular haze with nucleus, NGC 5839. 5846 and 5850 are definitely the stand out members of this group visually.

I search for Syefert’s Sextet, but the conditions are just too poor this low in the north to see such a faint group. I console myself with

Messier 5 GC in Serpens Caput
175X A fine looking specimen with some central concentration and a little clump of resolvable stars (reminiscent of a mini Ara) in the very centre of this somewhat disrupted GC. On the northern side of the centre is a dark arc. Seems to have almost a dark annulus around the centre of which this arc is a part. Strands from the core Seems to occupy about half the AFOV of 28’ and the centre is about half of this. A large strand from the western edge curves to the south.

NGC 5921 GX in Serpens Caput
175X A bit faint, but with distinct nucleus and bar roughly N-S inside oval haze. 250X Bar more distinct, pointing just to the east of a foreground star. Some dark spaces between spiral arms and the bar can be discerned. I’m surprised at how much detail can be seen in this fairly faint galaxy.

And the instant Central Victorian cloud of May 2010 ends the evening abruptly.