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10-10-2010, 09:37 PM
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![pgc hunter's Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar6389_12.gif) |
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Observing Report with sketches 1-2 Oct 2010 Part 2
Continued from part 1...
ABELL 151
IC 80
Cetus, GX, RA 01 08 48 , Dec -15 24 35 , Size 0.5x0.5' , Mag B = 14.4
267x - The only member of Abell 151 visible. Located 731 million light years away!! Very faint, nothing but a tiny gossamer of light.
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ABELL S 921
NGC 7012
Microscopium , GX , RA 21 06 45 , Dec -44 48 54 , Size 1.5x1.0' , Mag V= 12.8
ESO 286-IG052
Microscopium , GX , RA 21 06 51 , Dec -44 49 07 , Size 1.3x0.9' , Mag B= 13.8
267x - NGC 7012 was spotted with relative ease, although fairly faint it does have high surface brightness. It is the brightest member of this cluster. It is located 1' ENE of a mag 12.1 star. Visually it measures about 30" across, much smaller than the size quoted as alot of this is actually the very faint outer halo. ESO 286-IG052 is located 2' ESE of 7012 and appeared smaller, more diffuse with lower surface brightness than it's neighbour. A mag 15.1 star located about 30" ESE of 7012 was seen.
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ABELL S 301
IC 1860
Fornax, GX , RA 02 49 34 , Dec -31 11 20 , Size 2.3x1.7' , Mag V= 12.7
6dFGS gJ042919.4-534859
Fornax , GX , RA 02 49 45 , Dec -31 09 31 , Size - , Mag B= 15.69
IC 1859
Fornax , GX, RA 02 49 04 , Dec -31 10 21 , Size 1.5x1.0 , Mag B= 14.2
IC 1858
Fornax , GX , RA 02 49 08 , Dec -31 17 24 , Size 2.5x0.7' , Mag B= 14.1
267x - IC 1860 is the brightest and largest member of Abell S 301.Slightly elongated N-S at 267x with a condensed core. About 3' NE is 2dFGRS S467Z714, which at 381x appeared extremely faint, small and round. Approx 7' W of IC1860 is IC 1859, which at 267x was very faint, but a slight N-S elongation could be seen. Further afield about 7' S of 1859 is IC 1858, which visually appeared to be the second brightest after IC 1860 and at 267x I noted it as small, faint but it brightens towards the core.
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I also observed M42 at the end of the Saturday session and bloody hell it was AMAZING! I never seen such detail in it before, and it was just so bright. Several faint stars were seen around the central region, which last time I observed it back last year were spotted with only some difficulty, but now they were as plain as day! All 6 trap stars were clearly seen at low magnification, despite the poor seeing, and the central bright area was nothing short of spectacular, detail I don't think I've seen before. Just the vividness of the entire object was quite extraordinary.
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that's it, back to clouds now...
Cheers
Last edited by pgc hunter; 11-10-2010 at 12:25 PM.
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10-10-2010, 10:36 PM
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![Paddy's Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar2827_7.gif) |
Canis Minor
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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The PGC hunter hunts them down and how!
Great observations Sab. I have no idea how you see a mag 15.7 galaxy in light polluted skies with a 12" scope. Brilliant. And so much detail in such faint things.
And of course superb sketches.
They could probably save a fair bit of money on VLTs etc by just giving you a 22" scope in some dark skies, a pencil and piece of paper.
BTW how do you navigate/what do you use to select and find targets?
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11-10-2010, 12:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy
The PGC hunter hunts them down and how!
Great observations Sab. I have no idea how you see a mag 15.7 galaxy in light polluted skies with a 12" scope. Brilliant. And so much detail in such faint things.
And of course superb sketches.
They could probably save a fair bit of money on VLTs etc by just giving you a 22" scope in some dark skies, a pencil and piece of paper.
BTW how do you navigate/what do you use to select and find targets?
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Thanks Patrick. To see the real faint stuff I use a black hood on my head which works really well for blocking out local light pollution. Magnification helps, it increases the darkness of the background sky aiding contrast, so I find magnifications of 350-400x to be superior to 250x or so, even in poor seeing, when hunting very small very faint galaxies. This particular galaxy is a compact high surface brightness elliptical so that helps see it. YOu also need to take your time scanning the field, a short glance won't do.
I use the Millenium star atlas and I print off DSS images of the objects I'm looking for which helps pin point the locations of these faint buggers. Knowing the *exact* location is critical and concentrating your gaze there otherwise you won't see nothing.
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11-10-2010, 04:38 PM
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Location: southern highlands, Australia
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Great report Sab and Awesome sketches.
Regards orestis
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11-10-2010, 09:52 PM
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![Paddy's Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar2827_7.gif) |
Canis Minor
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Strangways, Vic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter
Thanks Patrick. To see the real faint stuff I use a black hood on my head which works really well for blocking out local light pollution. Magnification helps, it increases the darkness of the background sky aiding contrast, so I find magnifications of 350-400x to be superior to 250x or so, even in poor seeing, when hunting very small very faint galaxies. This particular galaxy is a compact high surface brightness elliptical so that helps see it. YOu also need to take your time scanning the field, a short glance won't do.
I use the Millenium star atlas and I print off DSS images of the objects I'm looking for which helps pin point the locations of these faint buggers. Knowing the *exact* location is critical and concentrating your gaze there otherwise you won't see nothing.
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Thanks for the tips, Sab. I like the idea of printing some DSS photos, especially with the galaxy groups. I find it very helpful when the Night Sky Observer's Guide has photos of galaxy groups - makes it much easier to find what I'm looking for and to know what's what. But there are a lot that it doesn't have especially amongst the fainter ones. Last night I spent a bit of time with Abells 2870 and 2877, but was not able to really sort them out. The NSOG has some sketches of the group which I need to further play with, But DSS images would definitely help.
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11-10-2010, 10:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy
Thanks for the tips, Sab. I like the idea of printing some DSS photos, especially with the galaxy groups. I find it very helpful when the Night Sky Observer's Guide has photos of galaxy groups - makes it much easier to find what I'm looking for and to know what's what. But there are a lot that it doesn't have especially amongst the fainter ones. Last night I spent a bit of time with Abells 2870 and 2877, but was not able to really sort them out. The NSOG has some sketches of the group which I need to further play with, But DSS images would definitely help.
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Hey Patrick,
go to www.wikisky.org you can look up DSS images of any object and pan around, zoom in and out, the entire sky is covered. Excellent resource and I use it all the time.
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12-10-2010, 12:42 PM
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![Paddy's Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar2827_7.gif) |
Canis Minor
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Strangways, Vic
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Thanks Sab, That's a great link. When I've used DSS til now it's been through the STScI web site which is very useful but can can a bit cumbersome to use. This is very easy. I will be using it heaps.
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14-10-2010, 12:38 AM
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no worries, I was ecstatic when I discovered it and now I couldn't live without it.
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