Desperation Observing.

[WadeH (Wade)]

After two weeks or so since buying a nice new toy (10:1 crayford focuser for the Skywatcher, thanks Eric it works a treat!) I got tired of nothing but clouds, rain and full moon to look at.

Tonight while checking the goodies on Starrynight I discovered that the crescent moon would be occulting M44 the Beehive Cluster for about 2 hrs. Yay!!

This was a great event to watch as the stars went out one by one until finally there were no more just black around the moon. By this time the first to disappear were reappearing on the bright side but could not be seen due to the glare. This was observed using the 32mm 2" Saxon which allowed the moon and the entire M44 to be viewed together in the fov.





Then I set my sights on a few objects that I hadnt seen before even though they were very low in the sky.

• First M61 the Sunflower galaxy at about 10 degrees above the horizon. With the 13mm the core was clear and surrounded by a very faint outer disk.
• Next was M94 the Cats Eye Galaxy at only 1 degree above horizon. Naturally nothing visable but the very faint core. But a thrill just to find it.
• M104 the Sombrero Galaxy. Using the 13mm and 2.5 p/mate (192X) the galaxy was still faint but the dust lane could be seen with averted vision. The 13mm (76X) alone still showed the dust lane.
• Finally I finished with M5 Globular cluster. Through the 13mm this cluster reminded me of M13.

All this was achieved with some clear sky, then hazy cloud and to finish it off, some smoke from all the folks here that love to burn damp leaves and stuff. Just as well that they are all great neighbors. All in all good fun and now its off to sleep.

[§AB]

Well done on an exciting session! Your title is funny, funny coz it's TRUE for practically everyone in these weather conditions!!!

[rogerg (Roger)]

Shame you didn't get any observing done last week Wade! It was a cracker of week - I had 4 clear nights imaging straight up here in the hills

That occultation would have been interesting to watch, good spot

[ngcles]

Hi Wade,

Teriffic report mate, I remember a couple of times in the dim past watching a similar occultation trick with the Pleiades (M45).

Good to see you went for those low-down Messier objects, but I think you might have muddled some of the designations up a bit. M61 (in Virgo -- another lovely face-on spiral with "broken" arms) doesn't hug the horizon except on rising and setting and isn't known as the Sunflower.

So I guess you meant M63 which is known as the Sunflower galaxy and hugs the northern horizon pretty closely. So that one was M63 methinks.

Now M94, so far as I know isn't known as the "Cat's Eye" galaxy -- in fact I don't think it has a "common name". The only Cat's Eye I know of is the stunning PNe which is way over the northern horizon for most of us here in Australia. M94 is also quite nearby to M63 in the sky (about 5 degrees eastward I think) so that fits the bill -- it was therefore likely M63 and 94 you saw (but no Cat's eye).

And yep, M5 is a stunner -- I think it somewhat better than M13. I seem to remember an article touching upon it recently. Seems though you were low-down in Canes Venatici, you could also have tried for M3 which is also a very nice GC despite the low altitude at culmination from this far south.

Thanks for your report!

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[WadeH (Wade)]

Thanks for the comments all. It was a good night.

Hi Les, you are right I did a typo and M61 was meant to be M63. As for M94, Starrynight Pro 6 has it listed as the Cats Eye Galaxy. Just to make sure I rechecked before this reply.
I couldnt see M5 at its best because the cloud chose that moment to roll in and that was the end of that.

[ngcles]

Hi Wade & All,

Hmmm ... well I never heard of that one for M94 before -- just another one of those "uncommon common names" I guess.

Indeed a Google image search on "cats eye galaxy" produces very few images of M94 (2 of the first 80 over 4 search pages) so it must be _very_ uncommon. I wonder where it came from (for Starrynight Pro6 to incorporate it)? I don't think there is anything in its appearance suggestive of a cat's eye.

And this is why I have been raving and railing for years beyond count about citing an "official designation" (as Wade has done here -- M63 & M94) when using a "common name" -- that way there can be no way you can be mis-understood!

Anyway, back to the point, well done on bagging those quite northern Messiers!

Best,

Les D

[WadeH (Wade)]

I understand totally were you are comming from Les. My profession is in horticulture and as a full time arborist. Many plant names have lots of common names (I know of one with about 15 recognised common names) but only one botanical designation. No confusion!