Clear Skies

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Hi fellow observers! The skies were nice and clear last night, no moon plus the smoke from the recent bush burnoffs had finally cleared. As dark as I can get from my bortle 6 backyard. I took the opportunity to observe various targets with my 10 inch dob.

M 60: Eliptical galaxy in Virgo. Presented itself as a hazy ball seen in direct vision. There is currently a supernova in neighbouring galaxy NGC 4647. I was not able to see this galaxy or the supernova

NGC 5824: Globular cluster in Lupus. Faint, small but concentrated. No stars resolved.

NGC 3372: The Eta Carina Nebula. A big WOW viewing this while 61 degrees above the horizon! Simply stunning views showing the nebulosity, embedded clusters and brilliant starfields surrounding this remarkable object. This was the best I've ever seen it yet

NGC 5139: Omega Centauri. Another WOW! Man we are blessed here in the Southern Hemisphere! The largest, brightest globular cluster in the sky, an overwhelming view at 150x. I could clearly see" The Hole of Omega" at its centre.

NGC 5128. The Hamburger Galaxy. This one was rather faint, some haze around a faint star.

NGC 2301. A nice open cluster in Monoceros. It has an unusual shape with a rich centre. There are three streams of stars radiating outwards from the centre point. A nice double at its centre.

M 65 and M 66 in Leo: A nice pair of galaxies. I could not see NGC 3628 which completes the " Leo Trio".

NGC 3293: The Gem Cluster. A beautiful open cluster. It looked absolutely fantastic last night, like precious gems glittering again the dark sky. Close to it is NGC 3324, another open cluster but it is bathed in faint nebulosity which I saw for the first time.

NGC 5873: Planetary nebula in Lupus. Took some finding but saw it in the end. Rather faint at 11th magnitude. A small luminous smudge.

It was a very satisfying session. My Saxon 10 inch dobsonian is really delivering the goods under light polluted skies. I wish you all clear skies and wide eyes!

Joe

[Tropo-Bob (Bob)]

I enjoyed reading your report Joe. Ha, I am also envious of your clear skies.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Tropo-Bob

I enjoyed reading your report Joe. Ha, I am also envious of your clear skies.

Thanks Bob. Hopefully you will start getting clear skies up north! It is the opposite here,we are entering our rainy season now, not looking good for the next week

[Zubenel (Wes)]

Thx for your time. It takes effort to right down what you have observed . Often reducing the time at the eye piece to jot down what you have "bagged" for memory triggers, that's the way I have done it . Some use a dicta-phone but generally they self illuminate .A phone can work for voice recording too.



NGC 5139 The grand Omega Cent is always a show stopper. Tell me if I am incorrect but i have been told what you see is the Owls Eyes with this wonder. A twin region of dimmer stars... Here is my last AP attempt. Cheers

https://www.astrobin.com/a8g137/

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Zubenel

Thx for your time. It takes effort to right down what you have observed . Often reducing the time at the eye piece to jot down what you have "bagged" for memory triggers, that's the way I have done it . Some use a dicta-phone but generally they self illuminate .A phone can work for voice recording too.



NGC 5139 The grand Omega Cent is always a show stopper. Tell me if I am incorrect but i have been told what you see is the Owls Eyes with this wonder. A twin region of dimmer stars... Here is my last AP attempt. Cheers

https://www.astrobin.com/a8g137/

Thank you Wes. I've always noted one "eye" in Omega Centauri when I've observed it. Thanks to your description and image I will look at it intently again and see if I can make out the second"eye". I had not heard of the term "Owls Eyes" before , that is a very appropriate name! Thanks for that mate!