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Leo I?


Nightspore

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I've been observing in Leo a bit of late. Gamma Leonis is one of my favourite doubles. I've been predominantly using small refractors (80mm, 72mm & 60mm).

 

gHL37hDh.jpg

 

At between 40x and 60x I can often see a blue point of light just above Regulus. I wondered if this was a binary companion but it's a distinct possibility I'm seeing the nucleus of the elliptical galaxy Leo I.

 

vzI7qRPl.jpg

 

I'm just a bit surprised I could see this with a 60mm doublet. Although at + 10.43 it shouldn't be difficult. 

 

hCiZThmh.jpg

 

I think I've seen this before but I assumed it was a faint star.

 

n2tr05Sl.jpg

 

I've seen it with my 60 EDF and my modified ST80.

 

kz9EL60l.jpg

 

Screenshots from SkySafari 6 Pro.

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I would expect an extended object of mag 10.43 to be beyond the range of a 60mm telescope. I have gone down to 10.1 with my 127mm Mak under ideal conditions,

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As a rule of thumb, I find that if  can see or photograph a star at mag 10, I can reach a galaxy or globular cluster at mag 8.

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24 minutes ago, Sunny Phil said:

I would expect an extended object of mag 10.43 to be beyond the range of a 60mm telescope. I have gone down to 10.1 with my 127mm Mak under ideal conditions,

 

Yeah, that's what made me sceptical too. According to Altair the 60mm EDF has a limiting magnitude of 11.59. The object was a blue point of light, so it's possibly just a dull blue star I'm seeing. It didn't look exactly like a star though and was oddly translucent, for want of a better word. I was just curious if I was seeing the nucleus. I can see NGC 404 with the 60mm doublet. And that's a lenticular galaxy (11.2 mag) around 10 million light years away. 

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36 minutes ago, Sunny Phil said:

As a rule of thumb, I find that if  can see or photograph a star at mag 10, I can reach a galaxy or globular cluster at mag 8.

 

I may have to use a bigger Altair doublet lol.

 

RAVI9yJl.jpg

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I had a look early this morning with my ST80. I think that the fact I'd rotated the diagonal confused me in earlier sessions and I wasn't looking above Regulus. I couldn't see the object. Maybe it was a Zeta Reticulan scout ship? lol

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