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Old 01-11-2012, 09:09 PM
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andyc (Andy)
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Sydney
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If you're up for a challenge, there's a supernova just gone off in the big Fornax barred spiral, NGC1365, which gets high in late evening. Wait for the Moon to get out of the sky, and especially if you have a reasonably dark location it should be withing range of your 8" Dob. The SN is currently estimated at just below 13th mag, according to observations and images at the linked thread, so a potential target for 8" scopes, and perhaps a bit smaller at a good site. Why not try and mark your first galaxy with a first supernova!

Nearby to NGC1365 there are several other fairly bright galaxies that are actually easier to see in an 8" scope, the big ellipticals NGC1399 and NGC1404, also in the Fornax galaxy custer, have a higher surface brightness.
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