No worries Mike. Its getting to that crazy time of the year again when everything goes really quickly. Anyway here is my 2 cents. This is one of my fave galaxies and ranks right up there with NGC 253, the silver coin. First spotted this from my mag 5.5 suburban balcony with my small 76mm f/9 reflector. It wasn't the easiest object but it was visible as a streak of light. The asymmetry was evident even in this small a scope. When I became more experienced, I could also spot it in my 10x50's and got better views in my 15x70's. Best views are of course from dark sky sites and the galaxy looks mottled in my C6. The asymmetry is very pronounced and one end is definately brighter than the other. Also I get this weird effect whereby the galaxy seem to stretch on forever as if there was no end to the arms. What do you see?
Anyway here is my old sketch:
http://www.geocities.com/dhumpie/dastro/55.jpg
Darren
