JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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Last night's clear skies prompted me outside with my C6-RGT. I had decided to go after NGC 3184 as a primary target, despite this object's remote location. What a great decision! Using an 18mm Meade Super Wide, the galaxy was readily visible as a peculiar "ghost" image. In fact, I thought at first that the galaxy was a ghost image from my eyepiece, or perhaps some other illusion!  Using my 8.8mm Ultra Wide, I settled on capturing details in this dim, but large, object. The results after about an hour of observing are shown...
The galaxy's broad western arm was very visible. The whole galaxy initially looked like a large comma. I suspect that under suburban skies like mine (magnitude 5.5) a quality 4-inch telescope might just be able to squeeze out that western arm, given a patient observer. Oddly, the knot and associated star (?) west of the galaxy's core in the arm was the brightest part of the galaxy to me. The core was quite diffuse and faint. Southeast of the core, I noticed a seemingly drifting nebulous patch. Moving the telescope, however, proved that the patch was situated in NGC 3184's larger, very dim, halo. This halo wasn't too apparent when steadily viewing the galaxy. Moving the scope around and using averted vision did, however, make the object's full extent readily visible.
The entire time I viewed the object, I saw fleeting glimpses of further detail. I hope to view this galaxy again this weekend to try and bring out even more detail. I suspect that many more stars and knots can be drawn out of this incredible galaxy. What a great find!
Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic. 
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JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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Here's an image from the Digitized Sky Survey that I've oriented to match my sketch. Stars that I plotted are in red, the galaxy's major details that I observed are outlined in green. The star located northeast of NGC 3184's core is one of two that show up in the Digitized Sky Survey image, hence I left a question mark there. 
- Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic.
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jmcdonald
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Reged: 06/01/05
Posts: 1540
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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Very nice sketch. It's interesting comparing the sketch to the photo.
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Jerel
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rodelaet
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 3185
Loc: 50°56' N - 4°58' E (Belgium)
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Hi Jay,
You did a very good job on observing and sketching this object. I like very much the representation of the delicate structures of the core and the arm(s) that you patiently captured in your magnificent sketch. I also admire your drawing technique. It must have been a breathtaking view you had, lucky you!
Wished I was there (cloudy weather for another week to come here).
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Rony
'The Casual Sky Observer's Guide.'
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Faith_J
Sketcher Extraordinaire
Reged: 11/17/04
Posts: 5830
Loc: South coast of England
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What a lovely sketch, Jay. *Weather Envy*
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Visual deep sky
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CarlosEH
Postmaster
Reged: 01/19/05
Posts: 6714
Loc: Pembroke Pines, Broward County...
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Jay,
An excellent sketch of NGC 3184 showing it's core and arms. The comparison image is useful in showing how much you recorded in your observation. Thank you for sharing this observation with us all.
Carlos
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JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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Thanks much all, I'm glad the sketch is enjoyable - I had fun working on it.
Rony, the view was more exicting than breathtaking. The galaxy was truly at the verge of visual detection. The details I plotted mostly just flickered in and out of view. The only two features that were continually apparent were the galaxy's comma shape and the broader haze surrounding that comma.
For sketching, I employ two techniques for drawing the field. For most of my sketches, like this one, I will plot out all of the more noticeable stars I can see in addition to the object. This gives a good sense of scale when comparing drawings. For some objects, though, I focus only on the object and its immediate area. That way, I can better hone-in on specific details. If the weather is favorable tonight, I think I'll try a more detailed sketch of this galaxy.
Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic.
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kraterkid
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/07/05
Posts: 4709
Loc: Jacumba, California
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Outstanding report and sketch Jay! 
This galaxy is beautifully rendered. I enjoyed your description of your view of NGC 3184 as well as your discussion of sketching field stars.
Well done! 
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Rich
My CN Gallery
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Dee
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/12/06
Posts: 806
Loc: Ireland
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Wonderful just wonderful.
Dee 
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JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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Thank you both, Rich and Dee. I enjoyed this galaxy very much.
Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic.
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Paul Milligan
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/03/06
Posts: 1241
Loc: 54°12.0' N; 4°25' W
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Jay
Quality sketch capturing the shape and depth, great job!
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Tak Epsilon 160 / 16 Inch Custom Truss Dob
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ericj
sage
Reged: 02/17/05
Posts: 429
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Real nice sketch Jay. You really brought out the subtle detail in the galaxy.
Clear Skies,
Eric
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http://ejamison.net/
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cildarith
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Reged: 08/26/04
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Loc: San Diego, CA
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Jay, you've done a marvelous job with NGC 3184, and the comparison with the photograph is most interesting.
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Eric
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Erix
Toad Lily
Reged: 12/25/04
Posts: 24022
Loc: Texas, USA
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Excellent work! I bet you were very pleased, especially after comparing it with the image.
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Erika
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JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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Thank you all much, again, for the kind words. Erika, I was very pleased when I compared my sketch to the digital image; it was exciting to be able to match the image I viewed to the photograph in fairly exacting detail.
- Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic.
My Sketches
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Jeremy Perez
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Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 2125
Loc: Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
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Excellent sketch, Jay. I really like the way you marked up the comparison photo to see what you captured. I like to make reality-check comparisons too (usually overlays in Photoshop), to see how well the sketch matches up with an astrophoto. Sometimes I'm embarrassed to find I recorded a glow that was probably just glare or fogging or imagination. Other times pleasantly surprised to find some threshold object really was shaped and oriented correctly. I think it can be a pretty useful observational honing technique. Thanks for sharing the view!
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JayKSC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/01/05
Posts: 2092
Loc: Florida
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I much agree, Jeremy. It's enjoyable to see how my sketches have improved over the years, too, with the more recent ones having greater detail - and - greater accuracy. No reason to be too embarassed about recording galactic ghosts, either!  I admit that I found out that I did just that the other night when making a silly attempt at Palomar 14 with a 150mm lens!
- Jay
KSC FL
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Refractor manic.
My Sketches
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Achernar
Postmaster
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 7805
Loc: Mobile, Alabama, USA
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I recently found this galaxy with my 10-inch and from your drawing it's clear you have very dark skies. It doesn't look like this from the hazy skies in Alabama, instead what I see looks more like a dim, unresolved globular cluster with a brighter center. Nice job on the sketch!
Taras
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MichaelH
member
Reged: 10/09/05
Posts: 82
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Awesome sketch and report Jay. It goes to show that really spending quality time on one and the same object brings out much more of it than would be seen with a fleeting look.
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Michael and Louise
Astronomical Sketches web-site
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