Category: Galaxy

Culmination: M83

Messier 83
Messier 83

Object Name: M83
Object Type: galaxy
Location: Cherry Springs Dark Sky Park, Pennsylvania
Date: May 16-17, 2012
Media: digital

From my home latitude 42N in hazy Appalachia M83 is difficult to observe, and on my trips south I had only modest aperture with me that could reveal only marginally more. Finally this year I made what I am afraid will remain my definitive observation of M83 for some time. On two nights this May I was observing it with my 16″ ATM/Meade Newtonian from a ridge on the Allegheny Plateau in Pennsylvania (elevation 2400 ft). The galaxy was culminating over an unusually transparent horizon. I measured 21.2 mag/sq arcsec in the area of M83 (it was, as usual, 21.7 overhead). The observation time was approximately two hours, during which I literally had to sit on the ground. The scope-side sketch in ball-pen was a composite of views obtained at various magnifications between 75 and 225 with Pentax and Televue oculars. To produce the drawing presented here, the sketch was scanned, inverted, and finished on a computer using a simulated pencil, blender, airbrush, and filtering. A Wacom Intuos 4 pressure- and tilt-sensitive pen tablet, Corel Sketch Pad software, and Adobe Photoshop were employed at this stage.

Messier 77 (Cetus A)

Messier 77
Messier 77

M77 / NGC1068 / Cetus A
Constellation – Cetus
Spiral galaxy
Distance – 47MLy
Mag 8.9

Date – 10/12/12
Seeing – Antoniadi III
Transparency – Poor
SQM 21.45 (LM 6.3)
Location – Hartland Point UK
Media – White pastels on black paper.

Telescope – 16″ f/4.5
EP – 8mm Delos x236 TFoV 0.18˚

Sketch notes

Very small galaxy that improved with lots of magnification. Bright core makes it an easy find even with low mag EP’s.

High level cloud made the transparency poor making it very difficult to see any detail but I could just make out a couple spiral arms inside the halo of the galaxy.

Very nice object and will go back to under better conditions.

Abell 426 – Perseus Galaxy cluster

Abell 426 - Perseus Galaxy cluster
Abell 426 - Perseus Galaxy cluster

Object name: Perseus Galaxy Cluster (Abell 426)
Object type: Galaxy Cluster
Observation location: Meldert (Belgium)
Date: 17th November 2012
Media: Graphite pencil type 1B on white paper 120g, digital scan & inverted

Equipment used:
– Celestron CGEM mounted SCT C11 (279mm f/10)
– Eyepiece Hyperion 24mm = 35 arcm widefield view @ 117x
– Eyepiece Televue Nagler 13mm = 23 arcm detail view @215x

Sky conditions:
– Limiting magnitude: NELM 5.7
– Transparancy: clear sky, slightly foggy
– Seeing: moderate

Notes:
More than 25 individual members of this impressive Galaxy Cluster could be observed in a rich Perseus milkyway starfield and were recorded on this sketch during a timespan of more than 3 hours.
In particular the area around the massife Seyfert galaxy NGC 1275 was a visual adventure with faint galaxies popping up in the eyepiece!
For more details on the observation & overview of the individual galaxies: check www.deepskylog.be
Clear skies!
Tom

Latysev 2

Latysev 2
Latysev 2

Object: Latysev 2 (possible moving cluster, UMa)
Date: 14. March 2007.
UT.: –
Equipment: 10×80 TZK binocular
Mag.: 10x
FOV: 6˚ x 6˚
Observer: János Gábor Kernya
Location: Sükösd, Hungary

Latysev 2:
„This is a possible moving cluster of seven stars, first suggested by Latyshev (1977). It was identified by considering the space motion of several nearby (GJ, or Gliese Catalogue) stars in this area. The stars cover an area of 3˚ by 3,5˚, including primarily the line of four bright stars between ζ UMa (Mizar and Alcor) and the galaxy M101. These are 81, 83, 84 and 86 UMa. The other 3 stars are HR 5169, HD 234064, and HD 234073. The magnitude range is from V = 4.66 (83 UMa) to V = 10.3 (HD 234073), summing to V = 3.67 and B = 4.05.

Brent A. Archinal – Steven J. Hynes: Star Clusters
(Willmann-Bell, Inc.)

NGC 6781 and HCG 99

NGC 6781
NGC 6781

A brief window to observe the deeper sky was taken tonight as it was clear, dark early and with the moon not due to interfere until around 20.30ut.
As has become the norm, I was intent to grab another of the 100 Hickson groups, but before I did this and as Altair (Alpha Aquilae) was a stop off on my hopping progress up into Pegasus I took a look into Mark Bratton’s excellent Guide to the Herschel Objects to see what was local. I picked up on NGC 6781 which is a beautiful mag 11.8 planetary in Aquila with plenty of exquisite detail to enjoy. Compared to M57 the Ring Nebula in Lyra it is relatively large and faint, yet not so faint that it isn’t visible in smaller, say 8” telescopes, I feel it is more akin to the Helix nebula, though considerably smaller at 2.0′ diameter.
At 16.8 magnitude, the central star (a white dwarf) is clearly seen just off centre in my sketch, made using the 500mm mirror, Watec 120N+ video camera of course! Sketched in pencil on white and then inverted on the computer.
No time to spare, one sketch in the bag, yeeha!, with the Moon getting ever closer to the horizon, I pushed onto Hickson 99 there are 5 members in this group which is located just SW of Alpha Andromedae (Alpheratz) in the square of Pegasus.
(A) member UGC12897 mag 14.8 is extended N-S with a star on its southern tip. (B) UGC12899 is round fairly bright at mag 14.7 with a brighter nucleus. I find (C) PGC 58 to be the most interesting, it is a barred spiral and despite being only mag 15.6 I was able to see and capture arm structure in my sketch, amazing J (D) & (E) members PGC 60 & PGC 57 respectively at mag 17.1 & 17.6 are merely tiny smudges to the south of the 3 main members.
I was very pleased with this short and productive observing session, time to close up and return to the family & gardeners world indoors!
Dale

HGC 99
HGC 99

Do you want to know more about my interest in astronomy? If so take a look at my Website: http://www.chippingdaleobservatory.com/

Keep up to date with observations from Chippingdale Observatory by reading the Blog http://chippingdaleobservatory.com/blog/

M51 from Mauna Kea

Messier 51
Messier 51

M51 dessinée au T400, au sommet du Mauna Kea à 4200m d’altitude (Hawaii) juin 2012.
Une expérience rare, un seeing exceptionnel.

Amicalement

Serge

French-English translation by Google Translate

M51 T400 drawn at the top of Mauna Kea at 4,200 m altitude (Hawaii) in June 2012. A rare experience, an exceptional seeing.

Regards

Serge

Barnard’s Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula

Barnard's Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)
Barnard's Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)

Object Name – Barnard’s Galaxy & Little Gem Nebula (NGC 6822 / NGC 6818)
Object Type – Galaxy / Planetary Nebula
Location – Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, California
Date – August 7, 2012
Media – Graphite pencil, white paper
Equipment – 15″ reflector (103X)
Conditions – Transparency 5/10 (Saguaro), seeing 7/10 (Pickering)