Visual Session, Spring Galaxies. And bits and bobs...

[Smithysteve]

It was getting late, 22.30 pm on the 8th March, but I noticed it was clear outside and I knew it was moonless, so I decided to make the most of the opportunity.

I got all ‘clobbered’ up with warm clothing and gathered my iPad, notebook, lenses, and red torches together and headed outside. It was about 2 degrees C, no wind and there were a few light patches of cloud about, which I hoped would disappear quite soon, and this turned out to be the case!

 

I wheeled my 16” Dobsonian out of its corner in the garage into the back garden and built it up. A quick collimating check and I was ready to look up! I then set up the Wixey inclinometer and Azimuth setting circle on a known star. These proved to be spot on all night, a great way to find stuff quickly and accurately.

Leo was high above, perfectly placed for my southern aspect, as was Ursa Major - it all looked quite promising.

 

I started off with NGC 2903, a spiral galaxy that Messier missed. It lies just to the west of Leo’s nose and is well worth looking at. At Mag. +9.5, it is almost as bright as M65 or M66. Okay we were off!

 

Next object was Algieba (Gamma Leonis), a double star in Leo that had featured in Astronomy Now Magazine (March 2019 edition). Having read about it, I wondered how it would appear to me.

Straight away I could see it was a double, even in my 40mm eyepiece at 45x magnification. The two stars are 4.6 seconds apart and shine at mag. +2.3 and mag. +3.6. I then ramped up the magnification to 182x with my 10mm Delos. It was quite a delightful sight and one I will return to in the future.

 

I was keen to return to a new delight for me in Leo, not ‘THE’ Leo Triplet, but a trio of galaxies that includes the elliptical galaxy M105, the elliptical galaxy NGC 3371, and the ‘new to me’ spiral galaxy NGC 3373

I had seen M105 and it’s companion NGC 3371 on many occasions before but had only just noticed NGC 3373 for the first time a week ago when It had popped up quite unexpectedly in the same FOV alongside M105 and NGC 3371! It was much fainter than its companions, but fairly large and elongated, unmistakably another galaxy! I had checked my charts and it had to be NGC 3373! It was quite amazing and a sight to behold - ‘three for the price of two’ and a good one for the memory banks. This is defo another object to return to in the future and this gem of a find has got to be another endorsement for the 16”!

 

 

 

These three are a part of the Leo I galaxy group, which also includes M95 and M96 which lie about 1 degree away.

 

Okay, next I visited the ‘proper’ Leo Triplet M65, M66 and NGC 3628. In particular I wanted to study the edge on spiral galaxy NGC 3628, to see if I could discern its dust lanes and other dramatic features. I could not seen any details on this occasion, but it looked a bit ‘box’ shaped to me, much fainter than its neighbours and a lovely object.

 

Markarians Chain was next port of call, along with several other local Virgo galaxies. There were just so many galaxies in the area between stars Denebola, in Leo and Vindemiatrix, in Virgo that I could not fail to see galaxies wherever I pushed the scope to!

As usual, I started at the southern end of the chain and worked my way north and west, then moved back down again and then moved away from the chain to pull in a dozen or more other galaxies! Truly amazing to see!

Here are the galaxies in Markarian’s Chain: I will omit the other Virgo galaxies...

 

NGC 4388, mag. +9

M84, mag. +9.10, is a giant lenticular galaxy.

M86, mag. +8.89, is a bright lenticular galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. (M84 and M86 are neighbours).

'The Eyes' are next - NGC 4438 at mag. +9, & NGC 4435, mag. +9.

Continuing along the chain...

NGC 4461, mag. +11.19,

Now in the Coma Berenices region, NGC 4473, mag +10.19,

NGC 4477, mag. +10.39

NGC 4459, mag. +10.39

NGC 4474, mag. +11.50

The chain ends on M88, mag. +9.

 

 

 

Time to leave the spring gals!

 

Moved over to M54, a fine, smallish globular cluster, always nice to see a small glob then move on to a bigger one, so... onto the magnificent M3 globular cluster. Simply stunning! Wow! As usual!

 

M51, the face on Whirlpool Galaxy was almost straight above me, giving me an ideal chance to see details in its spiral arms. 

It did not disappoint! In fact This was the best I had ever seen M51. The spiral nature of NGC 5194’s arms were quite obvious and nebulosity could be seen around its interacting partner NGC 5195. Both nuclei were quite pronounced too. This was the object of the night for me.

 

It was a real treat to see so many galaxies in one night and also see a few new items of interest!

 

 

I wrapped up at 02.00am, had a cup of tea and went to bed thinking of the sights I had seen.

Thanks for reading! ?

[BAZ]

You had a good night there Steve, an excellent read too. I like the inclusion of the screengrabs as well, much more interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Doc]

I used to love scanning all the virgo galaxies when I had my 16" dob. Thanks for great report and a lovely read, I really enjoyed it.

[+Graham]

Sounds like you had a great time.

Loads of useful information in that write up.

Thank you

[Tweedledee]

Great report Steve, you obviously had a wonderful time. ?

[+Bino-viewer]

Nice report there Steve.

You're seeing stuff that i couldn't hope to see from my light polluted back yard ; i'd need to be up at Belper to stand a chance.

 

Good to hear the 16" is performing well ?

[Guest]

The Leo and Virgo galaxies appear as smudgy patches where they are supposed to be in my modest equipment but I have seen M65 and M66 at a star party (my suggestion!) and they were enjoyed by all.

[Smithysteve]

Thanks for all your kind, encouraging remarks! ?

 

Good opportunities for a decent viewing session have seemed to be a bit thin on the ground over the autumn and winter period. In fact I have managed to get out and see stuff more often in the last month than all the several months before... it is what it is and we live in hope!

I am still having my fuss out with the 16” and I am loving it! It is great on galaxies, globs, open clusters and Nebulae, surprisingly I have not had a serious session on the moon with it yet and I am waiting to see how it will perform on the planets, Saturn and Jupiter in particular. I suspect my Meade 10” will prove better, so I am looking forward to using them both for comparisons when the time comes.

cheers! ?