May/June Observing Challenge (by Suzy, yeah!).

[Suzy]

Here is the map for the Quasar 3C 273 in Virgo (map view through a finder).
As you can see, the two bright stars there are gamma & eta, so plot along from there.

[astroron (Ron)]

Here is a pic with the field of C3 273 and a couple of galaxies I use to help find it.
With Suzy's Chart and this photo you should have no trouble finding it
Cheers

[astroron (Ron)]

Completed the challenge tonight
Report soon
Cheers

[Rob_K]

Had a go at a few of the targets tonight, although it was a bit late for some which had set or were in mist to the west. Observing through Tasco 4.5" f8 reflector & 21mm Celestron X-Cel eyepiece (43x). Sky conditions (other than seeing!) were pretty good, but there was a little light mist in the valley.

NGC 3621 was a nice, reasonably bright galaxy which wouldn't want to have been any lower in my sky. Showed as an oval glow perhaps 7 arcminutes long, with a pair of small stars on the south and a faint star just inside the northern end of the galaxy. Averted vision helped.

NGC 4590 was a nice little globular, quite bright. Centrally condensed but not strongly. M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy was a big roundish smudge (but not round), with the faint extensions flickering in and out. No sign of the arms, which I have spotted before in this scope.

With 3C 273 a bit beyond this rig, I did a quick cruise around some biggies including gc Omega Centauri, gx Centaurus A, Lagoon Nebula, Trifid Nebula, gc M22 (you forget how good this one is!!), oc Jewel Box, and finished with Saturn and bright star Porrima in the same FOV. Even at 43x, Saturn was flaring & breaking up, awful seeing, but any view of Saturn is a good one!

Thanks Suzy!

Cheers -

[pgc hunter]

M83 's arms in a 4.5 incher - great stuff Rob! I agree with you on the seeing, absolute trash this record crap year, worst I've ever seen it, and it'sconsistant as well.

[astroron (Ron)]

Suzy's observation challenge

25/05/11 start of observations 09.45UT=19.45AEST

Seeing 7-10 trans 7-10, Telescope 16"f4.5 Truss Dob

NGC 3200 Hydra
21mm plossl,87xmag This edge on spiral galaxy was plainly seen as a faint but noticable streak
Mag 10 star to the west,star on northern tip hinted at.

13mm Nagler x140 mag
Galaxy shows a nuculus which was not seen in the 21mm plossl.
Mag 12 star SS/E
6mm Radian,x304,mag,Nucleus star like and 13mag star on northern tip plainly seen.
A Small triangle of stars in between the 10mag star in the west and the galaxy just seen with averted vision

Hood helps to bring out the details of this galaxy.

10.20 UT 20.20 AEST

3C 273 Quasar in Virgo.

21mm plossl,Elongated triangle of three stars, with Quasar being the top N/E of the three.
it is the brighter of the three 12-13 mag stars.
No other detail visible.

Edge on spiral galaxies NGC 4527and NGC 4536 where visited and and just fitted into the FOV of the 13mm nagler

10.45UT 20.45 Aest

NGC 2548 (M48)
30mm plossl 60xmag.
left it a bit late to observe this object as it was low down.
Large Open Cluster with small bar of bright stars in center
Fills the FOV of the 30mm plossl.
In 10x60 binoculars some halo of stars was observed with the small bar of stars making a nucleus.
Still a nice cluster in Binoculars.

10.52UT 10.52 AEST

NGC 3242 Ghost of Jupiter Planetary Nebula

30mm plossl 60xmag
Bright blue/green ball stark against the dark sky, similer to Uranus in colour
13mm nagler140xmag has large halo,brightness increases with UHC filter, O111 seems a bit duller but more
nebula is seen.
Elongated East/west but no central star was seen
6mm Radian 304xmag elongation more pronounced but still no central star?
Both filters as above.

11.11UT 21.11 AEST

NGC 5236 (M83)Just about on the meridian

30mm plossl 60xmag
large bright face on Spiral galaxy,very bright nucleus,double star south west split
13mm nagler 140x mag ,South west spiral arm seen with straight vision and northern arm with averted vision.
Fills the FOV of the eyepiece
some mottling was seen.
Bar was not pronounced on this occassion.
seeing was starting to deteriorate.


11.23 UT 21.23 AEST

NGC3621

30mmplossl 60xmag
Broad elongated glow inside an asterism shaped like an upside down cross or kite.
thicker toward the north where a small cluster of 11mag stars make up the base of the cross.
Some mottling was seen with 13 mm nagler.
Stars to 14.5 mag seen
I observed this galaxy for many years as part of my Supernova search.

11.52 UT 21.52 AEST

V Hydra Carbon Star

Took some time to find this star as I was expecting a much brighter object.
Easily seen in a 30mm plossl was to me more toward the deaper red than Ruby Crusis,
but this could be because of the brightness of Beta Crucis.
I compared both,and Beta Crucis seems more toward purple to me.
Also used 13mm nagler.

1159 UT 21.59 AEST

NGC 4590 (M68)

30mm plossl 60xmag

Globular Cluster,with condensed nucleus some outlyers where resolved.
13mm nagler resolves more star toward center.
6mm Radian resolved more stars in the center but the seeing was now very poor
with stars just a blob.
Tried to spot this glob with the 10x60 binoculars,did not, but bumped into M83 in doing so.

I have one more object of the challenge which I missed PN Abell 33

Last object observed was Saturn and it was just a big bright splodge,so called it a night even though the sky looked beautiful the seeing was terrible.

Cheers

Continuation of obsrevation report.

27/05/11 10.25UT 20.25 AEST Seeing 7-10 Trans 7-10

Abell 33 PK 238+34.1 Planetary Nebula


Took a great deal of time to observe this PN.

30mm plossl 60x mag not seen even with either O111 or UHC filters.

13mm nagler shows a very faint haze but only with averted vision.
O111 filter shows an extended haze but no oval shape was discernible.

9mmTMB 203x mag showed a very faint oval with the 10th mag star giving
one the impression of of the diamond ring effect of Solar Eclipse.
UHC did not improve the view of the nebula but more stars where seen.
6mm Radian, was able to observe Double star in the top east of the nebula, but not split it.
O111 filter shows slight more circular detail but not much.
More observation is required to tease more detail out of this PN.
This was the most difficult of the observation target

11.24 UT 21.24 AEST

NGC 3242 Ghost of Jupiter (revisited)
30 mm plossl 60xmag very bright Azure slightly elongated ball.
30mm plossl with X 2.5 Barlow 152 x mag, Wow central star plainly seen and the duality of the nebula was seen giving one the impression
of an eye,with the exstensions plainly seen.
The O111 filter brightens the nebula so much that the double nature of the planetary almost disappears, the eye and central star is not seen.
Also same with the UHC.

17mm Nagler 107xmag Just stunning,so beautiful and crisp and bright,
I was blown away by how crisp the eye and exstensions where
THE 17mm gives the best view closely followed by the 30mm+2.5xBarlow
The filters where as above .

13mm nagler and 7mm where just to much power and so spoiled the impression
of the eye in the sky effect.

This image appoximates what I observation PN of Abell 33

[Suzy]

For all of you'll who are in Brissy, it is a beautiful, clear and moonless night tonight, so out there with your scopes and start the challenge!

Terrific reports there Rob and Ron!
Thank you.

How's everyone else doing???

[Suzy]

Bump!

It's that time again, so I thought why not use the same challenge for those that missed it last year.

I had trouble doing this challenge last year because of persistent bad weather and then when it did eventually fine up, Hyrdra was gone! So now's my chance, can't wait.
I think many others on the eastern board of Australia had trouble with the weather too at the time.

Is there still any interest in the monthly challenge?

Because this was the last one that was done.
If so, I'll put my head together with Ron's (me choosing easier stuff and him choosing the harder stuff as he's got a lot more experience under his belt), along with further input from you guys if you wish, to come up with one for July.
Unless Mental wants to take it up again?

Anyway.. just looking for interest in general.

[Paddy (Patrick)]

I think the challenge is a good idea. It seems to need someone to put it together regularly or it falls off the radar. Sounds like you might be that person Suzy.

[boomstix (Pat)]

Great idea Suzy. Weather permitting I will be out tomorrow night to try hunt down some of these objects. Have never seen any of them so will be an exciting hunt

[Suzy]

Woohooooo! Good on you Pat!

Thanks for the positive feedback Paddy, much appreciated.

[astroron (Ron)]

If so, I'll put my head together with Ron's (me choosing easier stuff and him choosing the harder stuff as he's got a lot more experience under his belt), along with further input from you guys if you wish, to come up with one for July.

I will be happy to put my Two Bobs worth in Suzy
Cheers

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Yep, good idea. I've nearly got 'SkySlab' in operation and any suggestions and motivation to check it out is worthwhile.
Do we get points for observing 'The Great Grey Nebula' above ??

[andyc (Andy)]

Seems like a good idea - though Hydra objects will be tough with the brightening Moon this week (if the Melbourne skies ever clear!). I'd definitely be up for future observing challenges - seems like a good way to spark up more interest in the visual astronomy threads.

[pgc hunter]

How about this: Seyfert's Sextet in Serpens. Tiny, very faint clump of 5 galaxies (the 6th "galaxy" is just a tidal plume). The brightest member has a visual mag of approx 14 and the whole group is clustered within a mere 2' space.

http://www.ngcicproject.org/ngcicdb.asp

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by pgc hunter

How about this: Seyfert's Sextet in Serpens. Tiny, very faint clump of 5 galaxies (the 6th "galaxy" is just a tidal plume). The brightest member has a visual mag of approx 14 and the whole group is clustered within a mere 2' space.

http://www.ngcicproject.org/ngcicdb.asp

Good Challenge

Link don't work for me ,only gives me a blank page
Cheers

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by astroron

Good Challenge

Link don't work for me ,only gives me a blank page
Cheers

hmmm, I get a blank page aswell.

I will be checking it out next clear night, but being so small, faint and its northerly declination will make it a real test

Anyway, here's a pic of the group:

[astroron (Ron)]

I have tried this one before,and all i got was a faint smudge,even fainter than Stephens Quintet
Rises here at 18:05 Transits at 23:23 and sets at 04:45 tomorrow .
I would like to give it a go again if the weather and most of all the seeing clears.
Cheers

[Suzy]

Hi everyone,

I've posted a target list here for July/August (it's not called the challenge though).

Thanks Sab for your input & I've added it to the list. I apologise for not getting back to your suggestion at the time you posted- it slipped by me I'm sorry. Sab, perhaps you may find some of the "difficult" ones challenging to you. Let me know what you think.

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by Suzy

Hi everyone,

I've posted a target list here for July/August (it's not called the challenge though).

Thanks Sab for your input & I've added it to the list. I apologise for not getting back to your suggestion at the time you posted- it slipped by me I'm sorry. Sab, perhaps you may find some of the "difficult" ones challenging to you. Let me know what you think.

Hi Suzy, I haven't actually observed Seyfert's Sextet. I've have however hunted down the "Spare tyre" in Grus, from memory it wasn't too hard, faint yes but its shape was apparent.

I've also seen IC4329 a while back, which is the primary member of Galaxy Cluster Abell 3574. One interesting object in the vicinity missing from your list is NGC 5291, which forms an interacting pair with AM 1344-301, often referred to as the "Seashell Galaxy" located only 0.6' SW. This pair is about 20' WSW of IC4329 and is a member of the cluster. NGC 5291 has a V Mag of 14.2 and the "Seashell" is smaller and slightly fainter. NED gives it a blue (photographic) magnitude of 15.2. A rough rule of thumb when converting B magnitudes to V is to add approx 1. So the "Seashell Galaxy" would be approx 14.2 visual.

NGC 6337 is one object I've always wanted to hunt down but never got 'round to it because Melbourne has the worst climate in the observable universe.