Telescope Reviews: Observing Galaxies and Planetaries 19/9/09

One of my longest haul sessions to date, as it was actually clear all night for once. The day (Friday 19th) was clear, but just as the sun was setting of was mortified to see high cloud moving in, I just couldn't believe it. Lucky I checked the satpics, because it was apparent that the cloud would clear, and thus avoiding mass rage. Sure enough, by 9-9:30pm, all cloud was gone.

Seeing however had deteriorated greatly throughout the night, and by 3-4am stars were unfocusable even at 64x. Transparency however was fantastic, among the best I've seen.

Time: 7:45pm - 4:30am
Scope: 12" F4.6 dob
Seeing: 5/10, grading to 0/10
Transparency; 5/5

IC4846
PNe, Const: Aquila, Mag 12.7, Size 2"

A very tiny PNe but its HSB rendered it visible at 44x as a "star". It appeared stellar at all magnifications up to 353x, but considering the seeing, other field stars were being smudged making them look like "planetaries" aswell! Nonetheless, in moments of good seeings stars appeared as tiny airy disk while the PNe remained a tiny fuzzy orb.

Minkowski 1-59
PNe, Const: Scutum, Mag 13.3, Size 4.6"

Visible as faint star at 176x without filter. Being so tiny, I had to blink with OIII to seperate it from the field stars. Visible as a tiny patch of haze at 566x with OIII. Such magnification was overkill for the seeing at hand but it helped reveal the nebula's nonstellar form.

Minkowski 4-11
PNe, Const: Scutum, Mag 13.8, Size 21"

Suspected without OIII but the OIII filter at 283x revealed a small faint round glow with even surface brightness.

IC 4997
PNe, Const: Sagitta, Mag 11.6, Size 1.6"

An exceptionally tiny object, just 1.6" in diameter. Unfortunately, with the seeing deteriorating and the object being only 30º above the horizon, I couldn't pump up the magnification. Forms a "double star" with nearby mag 10.6 TYC1631-1973-1 . Without OIII at 44x, you couldn't tell which was the PNe! At 283x, while still largely stellar, the PNe exhibited a slight fuzz which helped differentiate it from its 'companion' star. Too small to resolve it into any form, but DSS images show two bipolar lobes with a bright central star.

NGC 7090
GX, Const: Indus, Mag 11.0, Size 8.1x1.6'

The edge on spiral appeared as an elongated NW/SE, sausage-shaped streak at 217x weakly concentrated towards center. I'd estimate the length to width ratio as around 4:1 as seen at the eyepiece. A faint star was seen superimposed onto the galaxy SE ofthe core.

ESO 240-10
GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 12.6, Size 3.4x1.8'

1st of 3. Easy to find being located just 6' N of a mag 9.6 star. Quite bright, with hints of a stellaring in core at 217x. The core region appeared as a sausage shaped glow, elongated SE/NW, superimposed on a larger, fainter oval halo. A mag 15.15 star was seen at the northwestern edge of halo.

ESO 240-11
GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.2, Size 5.6x0.5'

2nd of 3. Visible at 217x as a needle-thin streak of light oriented NW/SE, and is easy to find just 4' S of a mag 9.6 star. Relatively bright.

ESO 240-13
GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 14.02, Size 1.5x0.9'

3rd of 3. Very faint and round at 217x. Located approx 8' E of -11.

IC 5332
GX, Const: Sculptor, Mag 10.6, SB 14.5, Size 6.0x5.8'

A large and very low SB (mag 14.5) face on spiral galaxy. Similar in size and structure to nearby NGC 7424, but this one is fainter. Easy to find using mag 7.2 HD221609 to the SW. At 176x I could just barely make out an extremely faint round patch of haze, located exactly halfway between a mag 10.1 star 5' to the SW and a mag 12 and 14.6 pair. I'd estimate this haze as about 1.5' across.

HICKSON 90

NGC 7176
GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 11.3, Size 1.2x0.9'

NGC 7174
GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 11.6, Size 2.5x2.2'

NGC 7173
GX, Const: Pisces Aust, Mag 12.0, Size 1.9x1.5'

This tight group of three galaxies was easily seen at only 44x as a hazy spot. At 217x, 7176 and 7174 could be seen 'attached' to each other, with 7176 appearing slightly brighter. 7174 was clearly elongated E-W and a stellar core could be seen within 7176. I increased magnification to 404x to get a clearer view of the 7176/4 pair, and I could now see that 7174 appeared semi-detached from 7176, i.e. not fully detached but there appeared to be a narrow dark void nearly splitting the pair. The western tip of 7174 curls slightly to the north. An extremely faint star was seen located midway between 7176 and 7173. Tried to look up the magnitude of this star on wikisky but it's not listed. Anyone can help me out here?
A fantastic little group and surprisingly bright aswell!

HICKSON 98

NGC 7783
GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 13.0, Size 1.3x0.6'

MCG+0-60-59
GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 15.0, Size 0.8x0.5'

Both galaxies seen at 283x. The northwestern member (NGC 7783) was the largest and brightest of the two, elongated E-W and a stellaring in the core was visible intermittently. MCG+0-60-59 lies just to the SE of 7783, seperated by a narrow gap. It appeared elongated NW/SE and is very faint. The group is located only 3' S of a mag 10 star, which interfered with observation somewhat.

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NGC 128
GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 11.8, Size 3x0.9'

At 176x this galaxy appeared strongly elonged N-S with a condensed core. DSS images show a strange looking thing with a peanut shaped central bulge.

NGC 125
GX, Const: Pisces, Mag 12.9, Size 1.7x1.5'

Faint, circular patch of haze at 176x located only 1' N of a pair of 13th mag stars. Small bright core.

HICKSON 7

NGC 192
GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.0, Size 1.9x0.9'

NGC 196
GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.6, Size 1.3x0.8'

NGC 201
GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.6, Size 1.8x1.4'

NGC 192 is the brightest member of this group. At 283x it appeared relatively bright, elongated N-S with a concentrated core. The northernmost member NGC 196 is smaller than 192 and also elongated, slightly fainter with a stellar core that could be held in view intermittently. NGC 201 was best seen at 353x, with a stellar core surrounded by a very faint round LSB haze. A 4th member, NGC 197 was not seen.

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UGC 439
GX, Const: Cetus, Mag 13.8, Size 1x1'

Quite easily picked up at 176x, appearing as a small, faint round patch of light. Better contrast at 283x. A mag 14.5 star is located approx 3' to the SE.

M33
GX, Const: Triangulum, Mag 6.36, Size 61x36.3'

The Triangulum Galaxy. HII Region NGC 604 clearly visible at 108x as a tiny hazy clump. A mag 11 star lies at its SE edge. A UHC filter only mildly improved contrast whereas the OIII actually ruined the view. The core of M33 could be seen as a large circular, mottled patch of haze and 5 faint stars to the south seem to "cradle" the core. The core appeared slightly brighter than NGC 604.

HICKSON 22

NGC 1199
GX, Const: Eridanus, Mag 11.5, Size 2.4x1.9'

NGC 1190
GX, Const: Eridanus, Mag 14.2, Size 0.9x0.3'

NGC 1199:- bright, with a round concentrated core at 353x. NGC 1190 was extremely faint, visible only intermittently at 353x with no shape or form detectable due to its extreme faintness. THe other 2 members, NGC 1191 and -92 were possibly detected aswell, but not with certainty.

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NGC 89
GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.5, Size 1.2x0.6'

Quite easy to see at 283x, elongated NW-SE, slightly fainter than NGC 92 located 2' to the NE.

NGC 92
GX, Const: Phoenix, Mag 13.0, Size 1.9x0.9'

Slightly brighter than NGC 89 2' to the SW. Seen as round at 283x.
Part of a quartet of galaxies with NGC 87, 88 and 89. -87 and 88 not seen with certainty as I had no maps of their location and consequently unsure of exactly where to look.

NGC 1566
GX, Const: Dorado, Mag 9.8, Size 7x4.7'

A very nice spiral, clearly visible at 44x as an oval haze, but large and bright at 217x, large circular patch of haze increases in brightness towards the stellar core. Hints of spiral arms, a large knot adjacent the NW side of the core was seen- is this the northwestern arm?

IC 434/B33 Horsehead Nebula
Using the H-Beta Filter at 64x, it was easily picked up as a dark notch in the triangle-shaped IC434 cloud. Contrast wasn't particularly good, but it was nontheless quite easy to see.

NGC 1977
This is the reflection nebulosity just north of M42. Incidentally, the H-Beta filter greatly improved the view of this one over the unfiltered view! Visually, it was barely visible - akin to viewing a star cluster with a lightly fogged EP, but with the H-beta it was greatly enhanced. I was stumped - how can a reflection nebula be so much more obvious with a H-beta, of all filters? This one has me scratching my head thats for sure!

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S 38º 00' E 145º20'

Custom 12" F/4.6 dob
10" GSO dob
Intes M500 Mak
4.5" Meade Newtonian
Set of Vixen LVWs + TV barlows + powermates
Astronomik 0III, UHC, H-beta filters