Category: Galaxy

An Adornment in Berenice’s Hair

M99

M99 (NGC 4254) Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Sketch and Details by Jeremy Perez

M99 was difficult to examine, but definitely rewarding. It appeared circular and moderately condensed at first glance. I switched from 120X to 240X and back to try to pick out structure. A star on the edge of the galactic disc helped analyze the position of mottling that began to emerge.

A brighter patch consistently exited the core on the northeast side and pointed just north of that star. Sweeping the scope back and forth caused a faint, extended patch to appear on the west side, breaking out of the otherwise circular glow. It contained a brighter patch where it joined the main disc. Finally, a sharply curved, very faint arc emerged on the northwest side, inside the halo. I have GOT to spend time with this amazing galaxy at Anderson Mesa or Sunset Crater.

Object Information:

M99 lies 60 million light years away in Coma Berenices. It was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain. It is also cataloged as NGC 4254, UGC 07345, VCC 0307, CGCG 098-144, MCG +03-31-099, PGC 039578, UZC J121849.6+142501.

Subject M99 (NGC 4254)
Classification Spiral Galaxy (Type SA(s)c)
Position* Coma Berenices [RA: 12:18:49.6 / Dec: +14:24:59.4]
Size* 5.4′ x 4.7′
Brightness* 9.87 vMag
Date/Time APR 22, 2009 – 1:00 AM (APR 22, 2009 – 08:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Flagstaff, Arizona – Home
Instrument Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dobsonian (203 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. Pentax XW10 (120X)
Conditions Clear, calm
Seeing 5/10
Transparency Mag 5.8 NELM
*Sources SEDS; NED; Starry Night Pro Plus 5

A Seyfert Galaxy in Canes Venatici

M106

M106, A Seyfert Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Sketch and Details by Frank McCabe

At a distance of 25 million light years away, M-106 is a bright spiral galaxy with about the same tilt angle as the Andromeda galaxy. This galaxy measures about 30,000 light years across and glows at a magnitude of 8.4. Like M-77 in Cetus this galaxy is a type II Seyfert galaxy. Pierre Méchain found it in July of 1781.
Nearby there is a 12th magnitude edge-on spiral galaxy (NGC 4217) among a group of bright foreground stars. In years past using a 10″ scope, I was able to spot this galaxy before the urban sprawl erased it from my sky.

Sketching:

M 106 (NGC 4258)
Date and Time: 5-18-2009, 4:50-5:25 UT
Scope: 10” f/5.7 Dobsonian. 24 mm eyepiece 60x
8”x12” white sketching paper, 2H, HB, 4H graphite pencils,
blending stump, scanned and inverted
Seeing: Pickering 8/10
Transparency: Average 4/5
Faintest stars visible overhead 4.3
Temperature: 10°C (50°F)
Galaxy magnitude: 8.4
Distance: 25 mly
Location: R.A. 12h 19m
Dec. +47° 18′

Frank McCabe

Three for the Price of One

Leo composite

The Leo Triplet, M65, M66 and NGC 3628
Sketches and Details by Jeff Young

This is a large-format sketch of the Leo Triplet. The field stars and galaxy positions were drawn from observations through a Takahashi FC-100 at 67X, while the individual galaxy details are from 3 separate sketches through 16” cats (M66 and NGC3628 through my old Meade SCT at 175X, and M65 through my newer APM Mak at 150X).

I scanned the original sketches and increased the contrast, and then printed them to the same scale. The printouts were taped together with the final 12” x 16” sketch paper, and the field stars and galaxy positions were traced with the help of backlighting from a window.

Leo Trio Window

I then copied the galaxy details by hand from the original sketches.

Leo trio details

There’s a bit more noise in the final result than usual because the larger format wouldn’t fit my scanner and I had to take a picture of it with my digital camera.

The Leo Triplet (M65, M66 and NGC3628)

Daler Rowney HB pencil on Daler Rowney A3 150 gsm cartridge paper

Sketched from County Louth, Ireland

Cheers,

— Jeff.

Space Duo

M97 and M108

M97 “The Owl Nebula” and Galaxy M108
Sketch and Details by Janusz Krysiak

Hi,

These are the planetary nebula M97 and the galaxy M108. Together are beautifully visible.

Object Name: M 97, M 108
Object Type: Planetary nebula, Galaxy
Location: Pyrnik(Poland)
Date: 14.04.2009

medium: pencil, white paper
equipment: Newton 305/1500
magnification: 68 x

A Spiral Galaxy Hosts a New Supernova

NGC 4088 and SN 2009dd

NGC 4088 with supernova 2009dd
Sketch and Details by Howard Banich

Object Name: NGC 4088 with supernova 2009dd
Object Type: Spiral galaxy with supernova
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon
Date: April 18, 2009, 9:34 UT
28 inch f/4 alt-az Newtonian, 253x and 408x
SQM 21.38, Seeing 5/10, Transparency 7/10, LM 6.2, Temperature 26F, heavy dew turned to frost.

After an enjoyable night of observing faint and somewhat difficult to find galaxy clusters I settled on NGC 4088 with its new supernova as my final object. Well, it seems I saved the best for last! 4088, also known as Arp 18, is a terrific spiral galaxy with obvious asymmetry to its spiral arms and a bright supernova near its core. This was a visual treat as well as an opportunity to ponder the reality of a star blowing itself to to bits.

The sky had variable high clouds all night but at the time of this observation was at its clearest. Three nights later under a clearer and darker sky, with an SQM reading of 21.51, the view was much the same but the supernova had noticeably faded. Even so, NGC 4088 has become a new favorite and I’m grateful that SN 2009dd brought it to my attention. Perhaps the most startling fact of these observations near the April new moon were the run of clear nights that made them possible – a rarity indeed in the Pacific Northwest.

Starting with a scan of my eyepiece pencil sketch, I used the blurring and smudging tools in Adobe Photoshop Elements to smooth the rough areas into a more natural look. I made the stars round by using the eraser and pencil tools, and then touched up each star with a couple of clicks of blurring. I finished the image by inverting and adjusting the brightness and contrast levels.

Howard Banich
Portland, Oregon

Cinco De Mayo Sombrero

M104

M104, The Sombrero Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)

This sketch was made on Astronomical Meeting “Bieszczady 2009” in Roztoki Górne in Beshyadas, one of the darkest place in Poland, the venue of the Polish amateur astronomers.

Object: Messier 104 “Sombrero Galaxy”
Scope: Schmidt-Cassegrain 5″ with Vixen LVW 13mm
Weather: Excellent. Clear dark sky.
Seeing: 5/5
Transparency: 5/5
Place: Roztoki Górne, Beshyadas, Poland
Date: 17th April 2009
Technique: 1 – Graphite pencil with GIMP 2 working
Observer: Aleksander Cieśla (Wimmer)

Galactic Windmill

M101

M101, The Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Janusz Krysiak

Object Name:M 101
Object Type:Galaxy
Location:Pyrnik(Poland)
Date:17.04.2009

medium: pencil, white paper
equipment: Newton 300/1500
magnification: 68x

Hi,

The building which has absorbed most of my time, many observations have
enabled me to draw some conclusions. First of all, the best results
achieved when the galaxy was very high. My requests generally
poorly-visible, the middle of the oval and a little brighter, you can
see two “weak points of light” near each other in the vicinity of the
center, I recommend a look around the chief field of view, found three
“weak points of light” to show the galaxy frame, after a long
observation draws M 101 is a painting, sketch shows roughly what I saw
and I must say that gave me a lot of satisfaction.

Janusz Krysiak

Southern Hemisphere View of Centaurus A

Centaurus A

NGC 5128, The Centaurus A Galaxy
Sketch and Details by Serge Vieillard, some translation by Frank McCabe

During his March 2009 vacation to the African country of Namibia, Serge Vieillard made this stunning drawing of the lenticular, radio galaxy NGC 5128. Using his 405mm (16 inch) home fabricated scope under the dark Namibian night time sky; he captured this view with an 8mm Ethos eyepiece. Serge writes, “… I discover the famous galaxy Centaurus-A under an aspect that I again had never noticed. The absorption band is nicely rippling and is crammed with very fine details. The view allows one also to make out obvious and tenuous zones well beyond the center of the galaxy”…

Ursa Major Triplet

Ursa Major Triplet

M81, M52 and NGC 3077 in Ursa Major
Sketch and Details by Jef De Wit

M81 and M82 are an impressive duo. But a lot of people don’t know that there is a third galaxy in the neighbourhood (NGC 3077, magnitude: 9,8, surface brightness: 13,2). Even in a small telescope (like my 2,75 inch refractor) you can easily see a lot of detail in this trio.

M81 is the biggest and best visible of the three, M82 is a little less bright than M81 and NGC 3077 was only visible with averted vision. Nice are also the differences in form. NGC 3077 is round, M81 is oval (elongated NW-SE) and M82 is oblong (elongated NE-SW). M81 is the only galaxy with a bright nucleus and a big difference in brightness between the core and the outer halo, M 82 has a less difference in brightness and NGC 3077 is uniform, without any detail.

The problem making this sketch was that I couldn’t see the three galaxies at once in the wide angle eyepiece. To see the edge I had to look around the corner. This made it (for me) difficult to position the stars. Normally I limit a sketch to the field of view I can see at once.

Once inside I made some brightness adjustments to the stars and finished the galaxies with the use of a blending stump (at the eyepiece I work with contour lines). After scanning I did some cleaning up with Paint.

I hope you like this “Ursa Major Triplet”.

Clear skies

Jef De Wit

Object Name: M81, M82 and NGC 3077

Object Type: galaxies

Location: Buis-les-Baronnies, France (44°16 north Lat. 5°16 east Long.)

Date and time: 15 April 2009 around 1.15 UT

Equipment: Meade ETX-70 (2,75 inch refractor)

Eyepiece: 7mm Nagler type 6 (FOV 1,6° and magnification 50x)

NELM: 5,7 mag

Medium: graphite pencils HB/2 and 8B, blending stump, printing paper, scanned and inverted, some cleaning up was made with Paint