Extreme deep sky observing

Arp 263 

 Arp 263 Pencil on white paper, inverted in Photoshop. I was at the 2006 Texas
Star Party and using a 30″ Dobsonian for this observation. This type of observing
really sums up an event like TSP for me – extreme deep sky observing under superb
conditions. What I really love about this observation was all the faint galaxies
also visible in the field.

  Date: 28 April 2006
  Instrument: 30″ Starmaster Dobsonian, driven
  Magnification: Not known
  Location: Texas Star Party, Prude Ranch, Ft Davis, TX, USA
  Conditions: Excellent, if a bit windy. Totally cloudless
  NELM: Greater than 7.0

  Notes: A nice field full of galaxies. Arp 263 (NGC 3229) is the brightest and most
obvious object in this field, and there are lots of smaller, fainter galaxies as
well, all with CGCG and MCG designations. The most obvious thing about Arp 263 is
the arm of material stretching away from it. Nice, and one of my favourite views
from TSP 2006.

Faith Jordan
Isle of Wight, England

3 thoughts on “Extreme deep sky observing”

  1. Faith,

    This is an awesome view of the deep sky! I’ve never had the opportunity to observe through a telescope of that size. Thank you for sharing!

    Jason

  2. Faith,

    Beautiful sketch using a big eye on the sky.
    This is how aperture fever got started. You look at faint galaxies with a large telescope to see them better and then you see in addition more faint galaxies. Wonderful post.

    Frank

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