Last Night's Obs (31/7)

morls (Stephen) · #1 01-08-2010, 10:50 PM

Hi,

Just thought I'd post my first observation report....

Took my 8" dob out to the backyard in eastern sydney, at sunset, and as it was cooling Venus, Mars and Saturn were sitting beautifully in the western sky....saw Venus, Mars and spent quite a while on Saturn....as a newcomer to all things telescopic I'm stoked and amazed by how beautiful it is to see rings and moons moving through the field of view....

I then moved on to the jewell box and omega centauri...it seems I'm starting my learning from Crux, and tonight I began to move a little further afield, getting a bit more familiar with Centaurus....one of my aims tonight was to try and find M83, or at least try to get in the general area using my newly laminated A3 star chart...I think I got close, and although I didn't find it I did learn a bit about the layout of Centaurus....

After a fun but ultimately fruitless search for M83 I moved to Scorpius, and managed to find M4, and I think M80.....

So, I was really pleased to get out and start to look from chart to sky, beginning to get an idea of the scale of things, and try to hunt down some galaxies (love saying that!)....then to cap it all off, I started some research on what omega centauri actually is, and all I can say is woah.....it's going to take a while to get my head around this space thing.....but what a trip!

All in all, a fantastic evening's viewing!

mental4astro (Alexander) · #2 02-08-2010, 09:12 AM

Great first report, mate,

!

There is so much to learn, and find, you can be like a kid in a lolly shop, wanting to try them all, and not being able to decide on which one to taste first. Still happens to me.

Galaxies can be really tricky buggers to find. M83 is not the easiest either. Its surface brightness is quite low, so we mainly just get to see its nucleus which is quite stellar-like, especially from Sydney's east. You may well have had it in your eyepiece, just not quite identified it. I've had this trouble routinely with it. When I showed it to you last time in Randwick, it took me some time to pin it too.

This coming new moon, even if you don't get to go out to a dark site, try to have a go at the Grus Galaxy Quintet, in the constellation Grus, NGC 7552, 7582, 7590, 7599. These galaxies all fit in the one field of view, and though smaller than M83, they are brighter. Their proximaty to each other also makes recognising their 'cloudiness' easier to spot.

Below is a link showing a picture of the grouping which will give you an idea to how they are placed one to another:

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclo...s_Quartet.html

Liz · #3 02-08-2010, 04:41 PM

Great report Stephen, well done on finding those targets.

Ooh, those galaxies look good Alex, dont think I have seen them before, and more to add to Sat nights list.

morls (Stephen) · #4 02-08-2010, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mental4astro

This coming new moon, even if you don't get to go out to a dark site, try to have a go at the Grus Galaxy Quintet, in the constellation Grus, NGC 7552, 7582, 7590, 7599. These galaxies all fit in the one field of view, and though smaller than M83, they are brighter. Their proximaty to each other also makes recognising their 'cloudiness' easier to spot.

Below is a link showing a picture of the grouping which will give you an idea to how they are placed one to another:

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclo...s_Quartet.html

Thanks Alex, and hi Liz

, I'll have a crack at this lot next chance I get....at the moment it's research time, the weather has closed in.....

mental4astro (Alexander) · #5 02-08-2010, 09:50 PM

The reason I suggest this group is that I've seen them from my home in Sydney.

Last year I had a mate over with his 8" dob and my 17.5". This group of galaxies was visible both in my 17.5" and the 8". Unmistakeable. Just be patient. Don't forget to 'jiggle' a little the scope, it will help show up the faint glow if you can't see them at first.