Category: Galaxy

A Medley of Spring Galaxies

galaxy medley
Spring Galaxies
Sketches and Details by Peter Mayhew

I offer you a medley of spring galaxies all observed using a 152mm f8 Dobsonian and 10mm e.p. from my home in York over the last two months. The choice illustrates variety of structure, brightness and features, from the massive comic powerhouse of M87, to the edge on mystery of NGC 3628, to the interacting duo of M51; the Black-eye, the Sombrero, the UFO, the Tiger’s Eye, and the irregular star-bursts of the Box; it’s all out there in the springtime. Enjoy!

NGC 2683, NGC 2841, M104, NGC 3628, M51, M66, M87, NGC 4449, M64

Media (graphite pencil on white pencil)

Markarian’s Chain

Markarian's Chain

Markarian’s Chain
Sketch and Details by Paul Caucal
Move cursor over image to view labels • Click to view full sketch sheet

Hello!

First, I’m a French man so sorry for my bad english! This sketch was drawn with a refractor telescope 3.2″ APO (80mm) with a 25mm eyepiece (24x,) on azimuthal mount in Italia during my holiday. About the seeing and the transparency, I noted a seeing of 3/5, a transparency of 2/5 and a light pollution of 2/5. Thus, the sky was very good because I was in the campaign. The sketch lasted three hours and forty five minutes, from 21h45UT till 1h30UT. In the eyepiece, there were ten galaxies which three very bright as M84, M86 and M87! Attached, two versions of the same sketch, one right and one annotated with the name of galaxies.

Other information

  • Object Name Markarian’s Chain (M84, M86, NGC4388, M87, NGC4438, NGC4435, NGC4473, NGC4477, NGC4459, NGC 4461).
  • Object Type Galaxy Cluster Virgo
  • Location Figline Val D’Arno, Toscana, Italia
  • Date 08-09/04/2010 (April 08-09 2010)
  • Media Drawing on black paper with white pencils

Best regards,
Paul Caucal
Web site: http://pagesperso-orange.fr/univers-iles

Messier 51 (NGC 5194, 5195)

Messier 51
Messier 51 (NGC 5194, 5195)
Sketch and Details by Mariano Gibaja

Object Name: M 51 (NGC 5194-5195)Whirlpool in Canes Venatici constellation.
Object Type: (Galaxy type Sc)
Location: Bonilla (Cuenca) SPAIN
Date: April 10, 2010; UT: 21;30
Medium used: Graphite pencil, white paper. Photoshop:inverted
Equipment used: SCT 8″ (Mag.64X)

Leo Triplet

Leo Triplet
Leo Triplet – Messier 65. 66, NGC 3628
Sketch and Details by Mark Radice

Please find a sketch of the Leo Triplet (M65, M66 and NGC3628) attached for your consideration. It was made at my dark sky site in southern England through a recently completed homemade 8.”5 Newtonian. It was a pleasure to find the third galaxy, NGC 3628, readily visible when compared to the view through my 4″ refractor. When you consider the volume of stars in each galaxy, it is wonderful to be looking at three galaxies in the same field of view. The sketch was made using HB & 2H pencils and blending stump on to white paper and then recreated in Adobe photoshop.

Regards,

Mark

A Duo and a Ghost

M105, NGC 3384, NGC 3389
Messier 105, NGC 3384 and NGC 3389
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

At the eyepiece M105 is only a little bit brighter than nearby NGC 3384. You can ask why Charles Messier didn’t see both galaxies. A look at history gives us an answer to this question.
M105 was not discovered by Messier but by his contemporary Pierre Mechain in 1781. But this discovery remained hidden until 1947 when Canadian astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg found a notation to it in Messier’s printed catalog. Meanwhile William Herschel rediscovered the galaxy and first published his position. At Hogg’s suggestion the object was included in the Messier list.
NGC 3389, at 12th magnitude, is the little brother of the trio. Some observers at Cloudy Nights Sketching Forum suggest that seeing this galaxy with a 8 cm refractor is a really hard thing to do. So I’m believing now that I observed a little “ghost” in the night sky.

Information: Steve O’Meara’s Herschel 400 & Messier Objects

Clear skies
Jef De Wit

Object Name: M105, NGC 3384 (and NGC 3389)
Object Type: galaxies
Location: Biggekerke, Netherlands (51°29’ north lat. 3°30’ east long.)
Date and time: 5 April 2010 around 21.00 UT
Equipment: William Optics Zenithstar 80 FD
Eyepiece: 7mm Nagler T6 (magnification 79x)
FOV sketch: approx 30’
NELM: 5,5 mag
Medium: graphite pencil HB/n°2 and 8B, blending stump and cotton swab, printing paper, scanned and inverted, some cleaning up was made with Paint

Leo II

Leo II
Leo II (UGC 6253)
Sketch and Details by János Tóth

Dear ASOD!

I would like to present my latest sketch of the dwarf galaxy Leo II (UGC 6253). (11 13 28 + 22 09 10)
Hard object with 15cm Newton!

Right Ascension: 11 13 28
Declination: + 22 09 10
Kisújszállás (Hungary)
Date: 2010. 03. 31.
Time 19:57-20:21 UT
Seeing: 4/10
Transparency: 4/10
Equipment: 6″ Newt Dob ( f/8 )
Eyepiece: 20mm Barium
Mag.: 60x
FOV: 61′
Technique: pencil, graphite pencil, white paper, inverted,

Thank you.

Messier 99

Messier 99
Messier 99
Sketch and Details by Bertrand Laville

Observation details

Date of observation: 08 févr. 2008 02:00 UT
Length of observation: 100 min
Object position: Alt: 59.0°, Az: 158.7°

Observation conditions:
no wind, t 4.3°, hu 53%, SQM at zenith 21.55, limiting naked eye magnitude 6.6 in UMi, Transparency 1 (on scale 1 very good to 5 very bad) weak light pollution on west horizon, seeing quite good.

Observing site:
Puimoisson le PetitTelle, Southern French Alps, altitude 700 m

Instrument: TN 635 Dobson Obsession
Main eyepiece: Televue Nagler 13mm Type 6
Barlow: (None)
Magnification: 240x

Notes:
Very structured galaxy. Three spires are obvious. The “S” shape made by the two longest ones is well visible. Center regions are very concentrated, with a stellar nucleus, about m15v.
HII regions are numerous and precisely analysable along the three spires. More details in my web site (with, unfortunately, observing notes written in french)

Bertrand Laville, from Marseille, France
www.deepsky-drawings.com

NGC 5291 – The Seashell

NGC 5291

NGC 5291

Sketch and Details by Scott Mellish

 

NGC 5291/”Seashell Galaxy” MCG -5-33-5
Interacting galaxies
Centaurus
Ilford NSW Australia
21/02/10
56cm f5.0 Dobsonian telescope
Field: 15′
Magnification: 314x
Sky Quality Meter reading: 21:60

Black Canford paper
White pen
White pastel chalk
Soft white pencil
White oil pencil

This strange little pair of galaxies first came to my attention many years ago when I purchased the lovely coffee table book “Exploring The Southern Sky” by Laustsen-Madsen-West. On page 106 there is a lovely negative image showing why the companion to NGC 5291 is called the “Seashell”.

In my 56cm dob it is a struggle to discern any hint of the unusual shape of this object even with averted vision. However this is a very interesting tight pairing and they both viewed quite easily in the 56cm dob.

Both objects I believe are classed as disturbed S0 type.
MCG-5-33-5 is the object to the left of the brighter NGC 5291 as seen in the sketch.

Also of note is the very faint galaxy PGC 4887, this galaxy can be barely seen about 7′  further to the left  of  NGC 5291/Seashell almost to the edge of the field.

The whole region surrounding this pair is strewn with numerous galaxies of varying brightness and size, all of which are part of the IC 4329 cluster.

I recommend those interested visit the CDS or NED databases  if you wish to view the “Seashell” in greater detail.

Scott Mellish