1 august 2026

Finally had a night to observe, after many weeks.  There have been many things working against observing: a very busy work schedule and some travel; tending to my wife during her recovery from an injury; spending time helping others with their scopes; and frequent marine layer overcast.  It doesn't help that in the summer darkness is not until very late, and with everything going on I lacked the willingness to set-up for just an hour's outing.  

Also, the wheels on the roll-away shed over my 20-inch scope were failing, and I dared not move the shed lest it collapse to the ground and I'd never get it back up again.  I ordered replacement wheels but they didn't help.  The shed is too heavy to roll away.  After much thought I decided to mount the shed on small piers and make it fixed.  This I did by preparing the ground with stone leveling the piers, then I carefully moved the shed one last time on its tracks, and used my car's auto jack to lift one end of the shed, place the piers underneath it, then lower the shed down.  This was very tricky because the weight of the shed far exceeded the limit of the car jack.  I set the other end of the shed on piers in a similar fashion, and have been working this weekend to install the floor and route the electrical lines.  I plan to build a tip-down ramp of a door, so that I don't have to fool with individual ramps.  I should have it done in a couple of weeks.  I bought a solar cover for the 20-inch, so I can just leave it outside, set-up, ready to go during our long dry season.  I think I'll only need the shed during the winter.

I also went down a binoviewing rabbit hole.  I wanted a set to use on all my scopes and especially for solar.  I have three different pairs of differing designs now.  I find the 6-inch f/15 is difficult to make binoviewer friendly, and I plan to shorten the tube.  I ended up getting a 5-inch f/7.5 APO at a good price, and its optics are outstanding.  I'm now in process to replace the stock focuser and to figure out which binoviewer set is worth keeping, once I figure out how to reach focus on all the various scopes.

In any event, I observed with the 20-inch last night.  The sky was very clear with good transparency.  Seeing was forecast to be better than it actually was, so I spent most of the time masked down to 7-inches.  Another thing I changed was my planetarium software.  I've used SkyTools3 for many years but it became glitchy and the developer will not support it anymore (only the ST4 version, which is imaging orientated and lacks basic functions like list sorting by column).  I switched to Deep Sky Planner, which works fine, except for the observation log, which is not as effortless as SkyTools.  

Given the seeing I went through Struve pairs.  I didn't know whether I observed these before (my logs not having made the transition to DSP), and I didn't log every pair seen -- just the more striking ones.  It was a fine 2 hours, and I stopped at 11:30pm from tiredness.  

STF 2011 AB: 178; 280x: >2 Dm, closely split 125-280x.  Analyzed previously

16h 07m 38.27s +28° 59' 43.6" P.A. 67.00 sep 2.6 mag 7.93,10.23 Sp A8IV dist. 307.69 pc (1003.68 l.y.)

STF 2022 AB: 178; 280x: Great pair, fairly bright A and very faint close B, seen 200-280x.  -35% PRO, it is not binary.

16h 12m 45.46s +26° 40' 14.0" P.A. 153.00 sep 2.5 mag 6.54,10.03 Sp F2V dist. 73.26 pc (238.97 l.y.)

STF 2028 AB: 508; 420x: Split with best moments using the 20-inch, suspected as double with lower powers.  White near equal stars, PA SE.  SOC Grade 3 orbit, 105.43-year period, currently at apastron but will remain near this separation to the SE through 2050.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.

16h 12m 48.11s +39° 21' 35.6" P.A. 145.00 sep 0.5 mag 9.88,9.14 Sp G0 dist. 67.2 pc (219.21 l.y.)

STF 2339 AB-CD: 178; 200x: Close pair, 2 Dm, off-white A and light blue B, nicely separated.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.  AB is HU 322 0.2" separation, did not see. 

18h 33m 45.62s +17° 43' 55.9" P.A. 274.00 sep 1.4 mag 7.45,8.67 Sp F6V dist. 183.49 pc (598.54 l.y.)

STF 2319 AB: 178; 140x: Lovely unequal, well split pair, forms a slightly off-kilter triangle with similar magnitude stars.  -23% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 27m 43.94s +19° 17' 43.9" P.A. 190.00 sep 5.3 mag 8.41,8.23 Sp F5 dist. 161.29 pc (526.13 l.y.)

STF 2315 AB: 508; 420x: White stars, 1 Dm, good split.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 4 orbit, 2094-year period, so it's anyone's guess. 

18h 24m 58.46s +27° 23' 41.3" P.A. 115.00 sep 0.6 mag 6.57,7.77 Sp A0V+A4V dist. 117.51 pc (383.32 l.y.)

STF 2312 AB: 178; 280x: Faint pair, very close split, unequal, needed foveal coaxing to hold B.  60% PRO, 581 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit. 

18h 21m 09.08s +28° 20' 03.5" P.A. 341.00 sep 1.7 mag 9.28,9.91 Sp A0 dist. 404.86 pc (1320.65 l.y.)

STF 2309 AB: 178; 280x: Faint pair flashes like a beacon with averted vision.  Wide, unequal.  41% PRO, 1178 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, and RVD 0.5 < EV 2.4, it likely is binary and needs an orbit.

18h 20m 06.84s +25° 31' 53.0" P.A. 352.00 sep 3.4 mag 9.31,9.95 Sp A0 dist. 180.51 pc (588.82 l.y.)

STF 2314 AB: 178; 200x: Faint, well separated. 83% PRO, 199 AU WS, 1.1+0.8 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit. 

18h 23m 25.75s +23° 27' 19.1" P.A. 331.00 sep 2.7 mag 9.02,10.31 Sp G5 dist. 76.45 pc (249.38 l.y.)

STF 2320 AB: 178; 420x: Surprisingly difficult, B is quite faint, blue, and on the inside edge of A's diffraction ring, needed higher magnification to separate.  58% PRO, 334 AU WS, 3.2+2.1 Msol, it likely is binary and needs an orbit. 

18h 27m 45.89s +24° 41' 50.8" P.A. 358.00 sep 1.0 mag 7.14,8.90 Sp B9V dist. 256.41 pc (836.41 l.y.)

OR: Lake Sonoma, Hewett 1

I traveled up to Lake Sonoma to meet up with Muriel to help with the ServoCAT on one of her scopes, and to observe with her, Steve, and Randy and a couple others.  It was clear, with very good transparency, but a bit windy to start, not fully calming down until midnight.  Steve had a SQM reading of 21.4 around that time. 

I travelled light, bringing only my NP101.  I really only had one target in mind, planetary nebula Hewett 1 in Sextans, and had only the hour after astronomical dark to observe it before it set.  It's a large object, so a good small refractor was all that was required.  And a PVS-14 night vision device and filters, naturally.

According to the scientific literature, Hewett 1 is the largest known planetary nebula on the sky with an apparent diameter of about 2° in its brightest portion, corresponding to a linear diameter of 3.5-7.0 pc at the likely distance of 100-200 pc. It is surrounded by an elliptical emission shell with an apparent diameter of 6° × 9°.  A further emission structure, detected northeast of the central star, indicates another shell with a size of 10° × 16° (which is validated by contemporary imagers).  Based on the derived Galactic orbit for the central star PG 1034+001, its thin disk orbit and the morphology of the first halo suggest that the nebula is in an advanced stage of interaction with the interstellar medium.  PG 1034+001 is an extremely hot, helium-rich DO-type star that excites the planetary nebula Hewett 1 and large parts of the surrounding interstellar medium.  It's very unassuming 13th magnitude and is highlighted in the purple box in the below image.  Hewett 1 vies for the "closest" planetary nebula to earth along with SH2-216, at around 425 light-years distant.

As was reported in Astronomy magazine at the time of discovery in 2005, "Most planetary nebulae were discovered in images sensitive to the strong emission lines coming from the nebula’s excited hydrogen. By contrast, Hewett 1 was identified by emission lines from oxygen in the spectra of many background galaxies and quasars observed as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The nebula’s large size caused many spectra to show oxygen’s characteristic emission-line signature."  

Having aligned my DSC I pointed my scope at NGC 3325, one of these background galaxies, which was slightly offset from the center of the nebula.  The NP101 with a 67mm Plossl+ has a 5-degree TFOV, and a magnification of 8x.  Flipping through the filters on my filter wheel, I immediately noticed a fairly faint elongated glow in a loose trapezium asterism with direct vision, no trouble at all. I flipped through various filters and could see it in Ha+OIII dual band, but 3nm Ha was best.  I was shocked I would find it so easily and called Steve over to have a look.  I asked him to look at the trapezium asterism and flipped the filter wheel to Ha while he was viewing through the eyepiece, and he too could easily see the nebula.  I remembered there was to be a larger outer shell to the northeast of the brightest central region, so I moved the scope in that direction.  With the brighter central region along one side of the field stop, I noticed a wide, long, curved, very faint contrast change with an obvious cut-off along the outer (northeastern) part of the arc.  It was quite difficult, and I moved the scope side-to-side to confirm it moved with the sky and wasn't an aberration.  I sketched what I saw intending to confirm it later.

Today, using Roman Perah's Hewett 1 - AstroBin, I matched the loose trapezium of stars the extent of the relatively brighter glow we saw, and also the gently curving ridge to the northeast:

North is to the lower left corner, east to the lower right corner; green outline of the portions I saw.

Bray Falls' image Hewett 1 - The Giant in Sextans - AstroBin (north down) shows the entire extent including the large outer shell (not seen by me) and greater detail of the bright areas, including what appear to be shadows cast by nebulous pillars on a sheet of nebula behind them -- in line with what would be PG 1034+001's glow:  

I was exhilarated and very happy to have achieved that night's mission.  I spent the rest of the time scanning with the NP101 both visually and with the PVS-14, not taking notes but revisiting old favorites.  A very nice night out.

1 june 2026: big burnham night

Seeing was good last night, even for low elevations, with average transparency.  My 20-inch is out of action for the moment due to bent caster supports -- I dare not move the shed, since I think the wheels would collapse.  I have replacement, hopefully stronger wheels on order.  

I decided to take a break from my telescope projects and experimentation and spent the night actually observing.  I used my 6-inch f/15 refractor on Burnham double stars, mostly ones which he discovered with his 6-inch f/15 Clark.  It's fun to test myself against the master, and my scope too.  I replaced my Edmund objective (which I had to ATM mount into the cell since it is slightly undersized) with a Jaegers, which can be hit-or-miss optically.  I had nice airy disks and complete single ring diffraction patterns, and a good star test, so I feel good about it.  And it could keep up with Burnham's pairs, able to split at the resolution limit, and to detect out-of-round for sub-limit pairs.  It would be good practice to view single stars under high powers to have a reference point in memory to detect out-of-round shapes.

I observed a number of pairs low to the south--most of the 6-inch Burnham pairs at this RA are south, I wonder if he thought the north was well covered already by the Struves, so he thought to explore more to the south where the Struves would have had more difficulty?  Fortunately, my scope is mounted on a tall platform so it could see over the 8' fence in my yard.  And more fortunately still, I have a gap in the bushes which overtop the fence in my neighbor's yard, providing a slot through which I could see the pairs.  Based on photos, I think my scope it placed a bit taller than Burnham's.  

Halfway through the night I switched from my Leica zoom to my Baader classic ortho set on a turret -- the Leica is much more convenient to use but I found I needed a bit more power, and rather than change eyepieces I like to be able to switch quickly. 

BU 799 AB: 152; 250x: Very closely separated, clean split, 2 Dm.  A is blue-white, B is dull orange.  Very faint wide C.  SOC grade 5 orbit 1658-year period, 0.6" at discovery with the 15-inch Washburn.  49% PRO, 174 AU WS, 2.5+1.6 Msol, it is likely binary.

13h 04m 49.78s +73° 01' 29.8" P.A. 266.00 sep 1.3 mag 6.60,8.45 Sp A7IV dist. 120.19 pc (392.06 l.y.)

BU 221 AB: 152; 250x: Very faint light orange B, split, 1 Dm from A.  92% PRO, 444 AU WS, 2.6+1.9 Msol, it is most likely binary and needs an orbit.
13h 13m 15.56s -15° 27' 37.6" P.A. 46.00 sep 1.7 mag 8.26,9.53 Sp K0III dist. 561.8 pc (1832.59 l.y.)

BU 342 AB: 152; 250x: Slightly unequal, well split.  74% PRO, 729 AU WS, 1.8+1.7 Msol, it is probably binary and needs an orbit.

13h 15m 14.35s -18° 55' 11.8" P.A. 35.00 sep 4.0 mag 8.68,9.04 Sp F2V dist. 163.13 pc (532.13 l.y.)

BU 222 AB: 152; 250x: Unequal light blue-white stars, good split. 94% PRO, 247 AU WS, 1.7+1.4 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

13h 17m 23.84s -21° 32' 16.5" P.A. 22.00 sep 1.8 mag 8.25,9.19 Sp A9III/IV dist. 154.8 pc (504.96 l.y.)

BU 610 AB: 152; 250x: Very faint B just barely seen direct vision.  Well separated, excellent pair.  86% PRO, 375 AU WS, 2.2+0.9 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

13h 23m 57.08s -20° 55' 28.5" P.A. 18.00 sep 4.3 mag 6.61,10.11 Sp G8III dist. 156.01 pc (508.9 l.y.)

BU 460 AB: 152; 250x: Very delicate 2 Dm split.  -51% PRO, it is not binary.

13h 25m 03.73s -15° 37' 56.5" P.A. 41.00 sep 2.0 mag 7.92,9.93 Sp A6IV dist. 117.65 pc (383.77 l.y.)

BU 1107 AB: 152; 250x: Very fine near equal close split.  -64% PRO, it is not binary.

13h 27m 07.86s -22° 21' 54.5" P.A. 131.00 sep 1.5 mag 8.83,8.94 Sp F6V dist. 92.51 pc (301.77 l.y.)

BU 113 AB: 152; 250x: Very faint but plainly seen B, closely split.  -84% PRO, it is not binary (in spite of SOC grade 5 orbit).  

13h 29m 06.11s +11° 28' 10.1" P.A. 272.00 sep 1.7 mag 8.73,10.66 Sp K0 dist. 58 pc (189.2 l.y.)

BU 114 AB: 152; 250x: Unequal fine split, dull orange stars.  25% PRO, 90 AU WS, 1.3+1.2 Msol, it's possibly binary and needs an orbit.

13h 34m 17.72s -08° 37' 07.4" P.A. 174.00 sep 1.4 mag 8.05,8.18 Sp F8V

BU 933 AB: 152; 175x: Unequal, well split.  At zenith.  1% PRO, 305 AU WS, 1.3+1.0 Msol, probably not binary.

13h 34m 34.66s +33° 08' 08.7" P.A. 23.00 sep 2.8 mag 9.04,9.69 Sp F8 dist. 116.96 pc (381.52 l.y.)

BU 611 AB: 152; 250x: Well split B seen with averted vision only.  66% PRO, 1,050 AU WS, 1.6+0.9 Msol, RVD 2.0 < EV 2.1, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

13h 37m 41.55s -14° 43' 46.3" P.A. 262.00 sep 4.8 mag 9.54,13.00 Sp F3V

BU 612 AB: 152; 760x: Very subtle out of round with the bump being dimmer, all high powers through 760x.  No Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 22.46-year period, it will be at apastron at 0.3" (the discovery separation) during 2030.  Discovered with the 18.5-inch Dearborn.  

13h 39m 34.68s +10° 44' 46.7" P.A. 165.00 sep 0.2 mag 6.35,6.47 Sp F1V dist. 59.99 pc (195.69 l.y.)

BU 223 AB: 152; 125x: Very faint wide B, needed foveal coaxing to hold it direct.  7% PRO, 2,406 AU WS, 1.7+0.9 Msol, but RVD 2.3 > EV 1.4, it is not binary.
13h 45m 10.43s -03° 18' 54.8" P.A. 343.00 sep 18.9 mag 8.26,10.86 Sp A5 dist. 176.99 pc (577.34 l.y.)

BU 115 AB: 152; 250x: Very difficult.  B is the barest of flecks at A's diffraction ring.  With seeing. Burnham discovered at 1.42", more difficult than now. -55% PRO, it is not likely to be binary, in spite of SOC grade 4 800-year period orbit.

13h 45m 20.87s +09° 03' 28.6" P.A. 260.00 sep 1.6 mag 7.53,10.40 Sp G5 dist. 54.67 pc (178.33 l.y.)

At this point I switched to orthos in a turret -- I had been spending most of my time until now with the highest power on the Leica, and since I have a 6mm on the turret I could go a bit higher if needed:

BU 935 AB: 152; 380x: B is a very subtle brightened small smudge on A's diffraction. Burnham discovered at 1.6" and with the 18.5-inch, and he says: "Both components of Struve's rejected pair [STF 1780] were found to be double with the 18.5-inch.  With a large aperture it is one of the finest of the quadruple groups."  No Gaia data.

13h 45m 56.33s -12° 25' 35.6" P.A. 304.00 sep 1.0 mag 5.66,8.47 Sp G8III dist. 124.69 pc (406.74 l.y.)

BU 413 AB: 152; 125x: Surprise! Deep orange-red and 2 Dm wide blue.  Very pretty pair.  W Hydra.  No Gaia parallax data.

13h 49m 02.00s -28° 22' 03.5" P.A. 106.00 sep 66.8 mag 7.79,9.59 Sp M8e dist. 104.28 pc (340.16 l.y.)

BU 343 AB: 152; 380x: Suspected double with 250x, strongly notched overlapping disks with 380x, it wants very much to split!  White stars.   No Gaia parallax for the secondary.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 255-year period, will increase separation a couple tenths by 2040.  Discovered at apastron 1.2"

13h 52m 00.97s -31° 37' 09.2" P.A. 187.00 sep 0.9 mag 6.26,8.91 Sp F7V dist. 52.69 pc (171.87 l.y.)

BU 462 AB: 152; 175x: Faint near equal white stars, seen with 175x, better with 250x.  -16% PRO, though the other data is ok: 486 AU WS, 1.5+1.5 Msol, RVD 0.0 < EV 3.3, low PMV 0.09, it is probably not binary.

14h 30m 00.48s -03° 43' 14.3" P.A. 323.00 sep 2.1 mag 9.92,9.90

BU 117 AB: 152; 250x: Close split, unequal.  2% PRO, 74 AU WS, 1.0+0.8 Msol, there is a possibility it is binary, an orbit should be tried.

14h 31m 19.74s -15° 38' 19.5" P.A. 71.00 sep 1.4 mag 8.44,9.36 Sp G5V dist. 42.37 pc (138.21 l.y.)

BU 616 AB: 152; 125x: Faint superwide B.  Why bother?  -73% PRO it is not binary.  Burnham concluded it was not binary based on the proper motions.

14h 32m 04.76s +38° 18' 28.4" P.A. 123.00 sep 53.0 mag 3.04,12.70 Sp A7III dist. 26.61 pc (86.8 l.y.)

BU 1112 AB: 152; 380x: Flashes of a fleck beyond A's diffraction ring; with better seeing can hold it continuously.  -25% PRO, it is not binary.  Discovered with the 12-inch.

14h 33m 09.69s -30° 42' 51.6" P.A. 14.00 sep 2.7 mag 6.23,9.86 Sp K0III dist. 101.21 pc (330.15 l.y.)

BU 238 AB: 152; 125x: White A and faint wide blue B, seen at 70x, better view at 125x.  -41% PRO it is not binary.

14h 33m 46.23s -21° 02' 01.9" P.A. 88.00 sep 6.9 mag 8.51,10.50 Sp A2V dist. 152.21 pc (496.51 l.y.)

BU 226 AB: 152; 380x: Exquisitely fine, near equal, hairline split with seeing.  No Gaia parallax data.  Discovered with the 6-inch at 0.80", so this was an exact repeat of Burnham's observation!

14h 38m 54.63s -22° 19' 42.2" P.A. 124.00 sep 0.8 mag 7.89,8.41 Sp A2V dist. 194.93 pc (635.86 l.y.)

BU 345 AB: 152; 250x: Beautiful clean close split, unequal.  With 250x & 380x.  No Gaia parallax data.  6-inch discovery.

14h 41m 46.12s -29° 41' 51.4" P.A. 284.00 sep 0.9 mag 7.63,8.10 Sp A5III

BU 414 AB: 152; 250x: Difficult, with seeing, 1 Dm secondary flashes of split from A.  93% PRO, 303 AU WS, 3.6+2.9 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

14h 41m 51.23s -30° 55' 59.2" P.A. 347.00 sep 1.0 mag 6.75,7.62 Sp ApSi dist. 353.36 pc (1152.66 l.y.)

BU 346 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely white unequal, nicely split at 70x and 125x. No Gaia parallax for the primary.  SOC grade 5 orbit 2000-year period a good a guess as any.

14h 48m 31.71s -17° 20' 24.4" P.A. 279.00 sep 2.8 mag 7.48,7.92 Sp G1V dist. 44.5 pc (145.16 l.y.)

BU 617 BC: 152; 380x: A is a nice orange color, B wide and blue.  C is seen with averted vision and high power as a brightened smudge.  Component of H 6 117.  No Gaia data for C.  
14h 49m 15.71s -24° 15' 54.2" P.A. 343.00 sep 2.9 mag 8.57,11.00 Sp F3V

BU 106 AB: 152; 250x: Unequal white stars, lovely close split, pure white and clean view with 125x and 250x.   No Gaia parallax data for A.  SOC grade 4 orbit 614-year period.

14h 49m 19.09s -14° 08' 56.3" P.A. 8.00 sep 1.9 mag 5.61,6.62 Sp A1pSrCrEu dist. 72.94 pc (237.93 l.y.)

BU 347 AB: 152; 125x: Not difficult, wide faint B, A is yellow -- not an obvious pairing, maybe Burnham measured it due to the star color?  -43% PRO it is not binary.
14h 54m 37.92s -33° 18' 02.0" P.A. 319.00 sep 13.3 mag 6.00,11.00 Sp K2III dist. 320.51 pc (1045.5 l.y.)

BU 239 AB: 152; 380x: White pair, at 250x seen as a bean-shaped elongation, overlapping of unequal disks with 380x. No Gaia data for the primary.  Discovered with the 6-inch at 0.8" (he probably had a clean split).

14h 58m 39.26s -27° 39' 26.3" P.A. 16.00 sep 0.5 mag 6.17,6.79 Sp A8III dist. 113.12 pc (369 l.y.)

BU 348 AB: 152; 380x: Teardrop of overlapping unequal disks.  No Gaia parallax data. Discovered with the 6-inch at 0.47" -- likely the same view as mine.
15h 01m 48.92s -00° 08' 24.9" P.A. 105.00 sep 0.4 mag 6.13,7.49 Sp M0.5IIb dist. 704.23 pc (2297.2 l.y.)

BU 119 AB: 152; 125x: Beautiful unequal white stars, close split with 125x, a very clean view.  93% PRO, 117 AU WS, 1.1+1.0 Msol, and RVD 0.6 < EV 5.7, it is binary.  SOC grade 4 orbit 1348-year period.

15h 05m 31.91s -07° 00' 48.8" P.A. 273.00 sep 2.4 mag 8.09,8.76 Sp G0 dist. 47.6 pc (155.27 l.y.)

BU 227 AB: 152; 250x: Finely split unequal light orange stars, 1 Dm.  10% PRO, 198 AU WS, 1.8+1.4 Msol, it might be binary and an orbit can be tried.
15h 19m 09.19s -24° 15' 53.9" P.A. 163.00 sep 2.0 mag 7.53,8.64 Sp K1III

one movement pair

It's been a long time since I posted a report from home, especially on the 20-inch.  Conditions have been poor, and I either don't observe or use the 6-inch.  Also, I've gone down a Bino viewer rabbit hole and have been trying out different models to see which one will reach focus on my various scopes and make sure it is usable.  So, some nights I've been out but just experimenting with the Bino viewers.  Last night's transparency was below average but seeing was predicted to be good, improving to excellent around midnight, so I opened up the 20-inch and prepared.

Another problem has been my SkyTools 3 has been glitching, and I transitioned to Deep Sky Planner.  Last night was the first time I used it on the 20-inch, and it works well (able to slew to target etc. from the laptop).  I'm relieved about that.  

Unfortunately seeing was very bad from 9-11pm, and did improve a little after 11pm, but barely.  I masked down to 7-inches for most of the night and practiced using the DSP by going through a Struve list.  I didn't take any notes because I've seen them all before.  When seeing improved enough I did try a movement pair: 

A 570 AB: 508; 560x: PA slightly east of a N-S line, notched elongation to overlapping disks with best seeing -- can't push magnification too much.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 29.9-year period, one to keep tabs on -- though the separation will tighten in the next few years.

14h 32m 20.27s +26° 40' 38.4" P.A. 234.00 sep 0.227" mag 6.61,7.08 Sp A6V dist. 73.64 pc (240.21 l.y.)

As it turns out I observed this pair almost exactly 3 years ago, 5/25/2022, and noted a "westerly" PA, notched elongation and noticeable delta magnitude -- all of which tracks well with the actual motion of the orbit.

Hoping for better observing nights soon.

more spring observing

With a busy weekend planned, I took the opportunity to observe from a dark site along the Central Coast last night.  I left early to beat the traffic and had a long dinner at a cafe before driving to the site, and even so arrived with plenty of daylight left.  I set-up and took a nap in my car.

I used my 18-inch and continued with the visual observations using Alvin Huey's "Selected Small Galaxy Groups" list.  But I did break out the night vision since there were some interesting things I wanted to observe:

JAM 4 is a newly discovered planetary nebula (paper: "Ancient ‘ghost’ planetary nebulae discovered with amateur telescopes").  It is in Camelopardalis and was imaged with nearly 50 hours of integration time, and they have a good discussion of its morphology in the paper.  This seemed to be the brightest of the group, so I gave it a shot.  Using the 67mm Plossl+ afocally (1.1-degree FOV) I was able to identify the star field from the finder print-out I brought (just an image crop from the paper).  The nebula sits in a "cup" shape of four brighter stars, one of which is a triple star forming a gentle arc.  To SW of the nebula is a widely separated pair of equal magnitude stars which point to the brighter part of the nebula.  Flipping through my filters (in a filter wheel) I could see a very subtle glow elongated ENE-WSW, tending brighter in the middle, just where the finder image would have it.  3nm Ha was best for this part.  Then after some time, and again flipping the filters, I could barely detect a haze forming cats-ears from this glow, pointed north -- these were the brighter parts of the shell.  My dual Ha+OIII and Tri-band (Ha, Hb, OIII) were best.  Throughout the observation, the nebula would be detected at the moment I changed the filter, then it would slowly fade.

M57, two inner stars + outer shell: Later in the night (with Lyra higher) I used NV on M57.  Using it afocally with a 40mm eyepiece (58x) & 3nm Ha, I noticed erratic rippling structure in the walls of the ring, and the outer edges of the narrower sides of the ring were significantly brighter and sharper.  I also saw the faint, irregularly round glow of M57's outer shell.  Finally, with at prime focus with a 2x barlow (equivalent to a 13mm eyepiece 180x but without the scintillation), unfiltered, I had a clear view of the central and second star within M57.  Here's a link to a nice image of M57 showing all these features.   

M87's Jet: I tried this out on impulse near the end of my observing and was super surprised at the result.  Using the night vision at prime focus and barlow, unfiltered, I had a look at M87.  I didn't have a finder image with me, but I remembered there are two faint elongated PGC galaxies on the edge of M87's halo which are often confused with the jet.  I noticed these two right away (PGC-139912 & -41342).  So I looked closer to the core, and I distinctly saw a small, surprisingly bright (direct vision!) spike poking from the core in a westward direction.  I noted it and the relative orientation in my notebook, and today with the finder chart in front of me can confirm it.  Here's a link to an image which is a very good approximation of what I saw (but without color).  Incredible that the jet is 5000 light years long!

Here's the Small Galaxy Groups:

NGC 3822 (MKW 10, Hickson 58), Virgo, 5 galaxies

Easy group, all pretty bright and direct vision.  NGC 3822 was moderately large, with a bright core and 3:1 N-S halo.  NGC 3817 close to the NW is smaller, elongated moderately brighter core, diffuse nearly round halo.  NGC 3825 to the east, fairly bright core and hazy round halo, did not notice spiral structure.  NGC 3819 and 3820 were similar, faint glows, 3819 a bit larger than its companion.

CGCG 12-99 (MKW 3), Virgo, 7 galaxies

Difficult, tight group, all seen with averted vision and higher magnification, 106-260x.  The main feature is a central arc of four galaxies starting with 12-98 then moving north and arcing west, all of them faint small glows.  CGCG 12-100 was very faint but a longer glow than just a patch, brighter in the middle, ENE-WSW.  CGCG 12-97 was similar but elongated nearly E-W.  CGCG 12-101 was a distance away (part of the group?) but easy to spot as a non-stellar glow next to a real star.

NGC 4073 (MKW 4), Virgo, 14 galaxies.

Started with NGC 4073 as it is nearly the brightest of the group, easy direct vision as a slightly E-W elongated glow with a brighter core.  Everything else on the picture was seen, generally as non-stellar glows.  UGC 7042 was extremely faint, averted vision, small elongated glow, very nice small edge-on.  NGC 4045 was faint but seen direct vision, with an oval E-W diffuse halo and a N-S bright core.  NGC 4045A was a non-stellar glow close by, due south.

M49, Virgo, 12 galaxies

Bright, large M49, with a large bright round core and a diffuse round halo, with a star prominently overlapping the halo due east.  All other galaxies seen, the NGCs as faint to very faint non-stellar glows, to the UGCs and MCGs extremely faint and small, needing averted vision and careful matching of the field to the chart (and generally higher magnifications).

NGC 5044, Virgo, 12 galaxies

A very rewarding field!  Several really good edge-on galaxies, especially MCG-3-34-41, which was small, extremely faint direct vision, brightening a little with averted, 6:1 N-S with a very slightly brighter core.  MCG-3-34-42 was an extremely faint non-stellar glow with averted vision only and careful review of the chart.  NGC 5031, 5037, 5038, and 5047 were other edge-ons, brighter and seen directly, all of similar size and scattered like rice.  I especially liked NGV 5054, which was large, faint, with a sharply bent spiral arm headed south then a quick turn north and west -- it appeared like a faint chevron in the large diffuse halo.  MCG-3-34-40 was a very small non-stellar point. 

NGC 5171 (MKW 11), Virgo, 7 galaxies

A nice compact group.  NGC 5171, 5179, and 5176 form a triangle and were similarly moderately bright ellipticals.  Very close to the north of NGC 5176 was NGC 5177, a small faint edge-on, 5:1 NW-SW, with a brighter core.  Below this set was CGCG 72-96, extremely faint, small glow, with averted vision and 200x only.  CGCG 72-88 was easy to find since it was to the NE of a star, but an averted vision only elongated glow edge on NE-SW.  NGC 5178 to the south, very faint but with direct vision, with a stellar nucleus and slightly bright core in the slightly stretched halo.  Just to the NE of 5178 is PGC 3556025, and I had vague hints of it with averted vision only.  Directly west of this pair is CGCG 72-79, which I was able to find from the sting of three stars it is near, as a small, NW-SE elongated glow, averted vision only.

NGC 5400 (MKW 5), Virgo, 6 galaxies

NGC 5400 is a pretty bright round galaxy with a large round halo and diffuse halo.  It is framed by two close companions, MAC 1400-0252, which appeared as a small, elongated thickening at the edge of 5400's halo, and to the north by MAC 1400-0249, a small, very faint stubby edge-on, best seen with averted vision.  Further to the NW is CGCG 18-18, which was moderately large, very faint 3:1 E-W glow -- I'm surprised it's not an NGC.  Directly south of NGC 5400 is a close pair IC 986 and MAC 1400-0254, both very faint direct vision and looked like a wedge-shaped smear.  During this observation a very faint, slow moving tumbling satellite moved through the FOV!

NGC 5718 (MKW 8), Virgo, 12 galaxies

NGC 5718 and IC 1042 are the central pair, and form one large, long galaxy with two cores.  The IC is much fainter, but still visible.  NGC 5718's halo is diffuse and bulges along its southern half.  Directly to the south is a widely separated triangle of galaxies, IC 1039, IC 1401, which are both faint glows with direct vision, and CGCG 47-140, which is a small non-stellar glow with averted vision only.  This triangle points further south to CGCG 47-136, another small, non-stellar glow with averted vision.  To the northeast of the main pair is CGCG 47-141, a very faint but still visible direct vision N-S small, elongated glow, located next to a pair of brighter stars.  Further in a NE line is CGCG 47-143, more difficult to find as it was in a sparse starfield, and small non-stellar glow with averted vision.  CGCG 47-131 appeared the same, but in a NW line from the main pair.

NGC 5846, Virgo, 5 galaxies

An easy, bright group, all of the galaxies are on an E-W line!  Starting from the east, NGC 5850 had a large bright round core and very faint, stubby extended bars ENE-WSW, and was surrounded by an extremely faint, large, somewhat mottled round halo -- it's a face-on barred spiral, the round halo are the spiral extensions, though I didn't see any structure.  Next to the west is NGC 5846, large, bright round core, round diffuse halo, within which on the southern side is NGC 5846A, which appeared and a small non-stellar knot in the halo.  NGC 5845 is next, a small, fairly faint bean-shaped glow, and finally NGC 5839, which had a faint compact core and very faint diffuse round halo.

IC 4349 / Hickson 69, Bootes

My favorite of the night.  The central group of IC 4349, 4348, and 4346 form a narrow triangle pointed north, with 4349 at the tip.  They were all of similar appearance, faint, with brighter central cores and small diffuse halos, though 4348 was 3:1 elongated NW-SW.   Directly east of 4349 was CGCG 132-55, a small glow seen with averted vision and knowing where to look because of the image and finding a wide N-S pair of stars (the galaxy was just to the side of the southern star).  CGCG 132-54 was found in the same way, first finding the pair of stars from the image, then using averted vision to see the small non-stellar glow.  The real treat was Hickson 69.  I first found IC 4345 and IC 4344, two faint mostly round patches with direct vision, and used them to locate the Hickson group.  Using 160-280x, 69A was the easiest, a very faint elongated wash, with a barely brighter core.  I tried pretty hard for 69D, of which I had a couple of uncertain pops but could not really hold it.  69B and 69C were both very faint non-stellar patches and relatively easy to see.  Between the main pair and Hickson 69 is PGC 48523, which I found by associating the star field and seeing the very small non-stellar glow with averted vision only.  There's unlabeled galaxy to the west of this, in a compact triangle of stars, and I had the barest of sense of it, but nothing certain.  

NGC 5416, Bootes, 20 galaxies

Another very engaging, if difficult, field.  The main group of galaxies are in a south-bowing arc.  Starting from the NE: NGC 5438, 5436, and 5437 form a triangle and were all moderately bright, small, easy, with different orientations like rice grains.  The highlight was to the SW: NGC 5434 and 5434A, a face-on spiral with a small bright nucleus and round diffuse halo, with some very difficult spiral structure seen with high magnification and averted vision.  The edge-on's SW tip seems to touch the edge of the main galaxy's halo, and stretches 5:1 NE-SW, faint halo but with a slightly bulging brighter core.  In the center of the field is compact grouping of NGC 5424, 5431, and 5423, all seen as small elliptical glows direct vision, with 5424 and 5423 having brighter cores.  NGC 5423 was framed by two galaxies to its east and west, PGC 50032 and 50019, both of which were seen with averted vision as small non-stellar glows.  Rounding up the arc was NGC 5416, easy if small, with a bright core, and NGC 5409 which was also easy with direct vision, a compact bright core and diffuse oval halo.  I saw PGC 49966 as a non-stellar glow with averted vision but did not see the three other PGCs in that area.  To the south of NGC 5423 was a row of PGC edge-ons, 50021, 50009, and 50006.  I saw 50006 with little difficulty averted vision since it was close to a reference star.  50009 was on the other side of this star and far more difficult, I had just a few pops of it with averted vision and 200x; I could not detect 50021.

NGC 5490, Bootes, 7 galaxies

Starting with the stunning IC983: what an amazing galaxy.  Bright compact core is off-center in a large, round, diffuse halo which is wound with very subtle spiral structure!  The SW edge of the halo is overcome with the magnitude 9 star HD 123930, but the spiral structure is more than hinted at, especially a relatively stronger band along the outer northern rim of the halo.  IC 982 is just to the south, bright compact core and faint round thin halo around it.  I did not see 983's halo overlapping (interacting?) with 982, but the pair does constitute Arp 117.  NGC 5490C (=Arp 79) is to the south, very faint, out-of-round halo slightly extended N&S, brighter in the center -- I did not see spiral arms.  This forms a trapezium of sorts, with the very bright elliptical NGC 5490 and two non-stellar small patches which are MCG+3-36-64 and MCG+3-36-67.  To the west of NGC 5490, and not marked on the picture, was a very faint non-stellar patch seen with averted vision (MAC 1409+1731).  Ended with CGCG 103-94, a difficult, small non-stellar patch with averted vision.

NGC 5629 (AWM 3), Bootes, 7 galaxies

NGC 5629 was easy, bright core and very faint round halo, despite being near magnitude 7.0 SAO 83375 directly west of it.  IC 1018 was a non-stellar knot on the SW rim of NGC 5629's halo, seen direct vision with high magnification.  To the NW of NGC 562 was the 3:1 NW-SE elongated, faint and small IC 1017, with the very faint and small, but still seen direct vision MCG+4-34-30.  To the south of this group I found CGCG 133-67, a small, very weak 3:1 E-W elongated glow, first with averted vision but then I could hold direct, with higher magnification.  To the north of the main group was IC 1019, easy with direct vision but small, slightly elongated, with a slightly brighter middle.  Finally, to the NW of that (and using a triangle asterism as I guide), I picked up IC 1020 as a small, faint but still fairly easy 5:1 N-S glow with slightly brighter center.

NGC 5714, Bootes, 5 galaxies

Five galaxies in a tight group, with the stunning edge-on NGC 5714 the largest and brightest among them.  Faint, moderately large 6:1 E-W, with a pretty bright round core which appears to float in the halo, and long tapering tips.  NGC 5717 was small, fairly faint, with a bright core and slightly elongated halo NE-SW, best seen with higher magnification 280x.  The higher magnification helped with the compact triangle formed by NGC 5722 (small bright round core, very thin round halo), 5721 (very small non-stellar patch with averted vision), and 5723 (averted vision non-stellar)

NGC 5754, Bootes, 4 galaxies

NGC 5754 (Arp 297) was fairly large, with a small slightly elongated bright core and a fairly bright oval halo (which was orientated at a 90-degree angle compared to that of the core).  Extremely faint round patchy halo which hinted at spiral but not certain.  NGC 5752 appeared as a small fairly bright elongated knot on the western permitter of 5754's halo.  To the north was small and very faint NGC 5755, which had a nearly non-stellar core and very extremely faint contrast change of a halo around it, but no spiral structure distinguished.  Near to this is NGC 5753, a non-stellar patch.

NGC 5920, Serpens, 6 galaxies
NGC 5920 was a small but easy elliptical, and PGC 54838 was a surprisingly easy, if also faint stellar patch to its north, seen with direct vision.  What was special about this field was the very compact and challenging ling of galaxies in the center, which looked like an elongated smudge or "lumpy darkness."  NGC 5919 was a very small non-stellar patch and not too difficult, but there was also CGCG 49-144, to the south of NGC 5919, and its north, MAC 1521+0744 & MAC 1521+0744A (marked with a red lines), all of which were difficult, seen with averted vision and high magnification.  

NGC 6269 (AWM 5), Hercules, 5 galaxies

The last of the groups observed for the night, five galaxies in a "L" shape.  NGC 6269 was a fairly bright elliptical and the largest of the group, then going west were NGC 6265 and 6264, both of which were small glows, direct vision.  NGC 6263 was easy to find as it lay between two stars, a small round glow, and then up to the north was NGC 6261, which was a weak 4:1 E-W elongated glow, faint but direct vision, with a brighter center.

spring calstar

Spring Calstar was this week at Lake San Antonio.  I watched the weather carefully since it's a longish drive and a commitment to camp out for several days.  This Thursday the 16th was the most certain to be clear, with Friday a "maybe" due to some possible high clouds coming in during the night.  I packed for two nights and left around 1pm Thursday, for a traffic-free drive.  I stopped a couple times for gas and food and arrived a little before 5pm.  There were more people there than I expected all of them set-up in the baseball field.  I set-up next to Pawan along the first base line.

I brought the new-to-me 18-inch which I worked on this winter to install a Servocat and generally get working.  The movements are not smooth enough yet, and I still have some tracking and drift issues, which I hope debug in the coming weeks -- if I get frustrated enough I'll chuck the structure and buy a Telekit.  My Telrad's lens popped out so it barely functioned as a red-dot finder (since the reticule image was not enlarged by the lens) -- but luckily I had a finder scope and was able to navigate my way around.  Pointing accuracy was pretty good.   The mirror is outstanding, so I'm happy with that.

Seeing was not good and the wind didn't settle until midnight, when dew started to form.  Because I didn't think the weather would be good Friday night, I was determined to observe for as long as possible, which turned out to be 4am.  I didn't sleep well and was up by sunrise to find my telescope covered with frost!  The satellite images showed thick moisture would move in during the night, causing high thin clouds -- so after socializing for a bit I packed up around noon and went home.  I'm not set-up for a comfortable camping experience, and I don't really have the spare time to just stay the whole weekend, so going home was my best choice.

I used Alvan Huey's "Selected Small Galaxy Groups" as my project, and the below images are from that guide. I was happy to be viewing visually again, with nice small stars not bloated by NV.  The views from this darker site were about the same as using NV on my 20-inch from home, though I think I could see more finer detail and contrast if the galaxy was bright enough.

NGC 2943 group, Leo: 

8 galaxies in a 30' field.  Group WBL 229

My first observation of the night and it was a challenge!  NGC 2943 was large, bright, 2:1 elongated NW-SE, with a diffuse halo and a bright small core.  By increasing magnification from 130x to 260x I was able to see MCG+3-25-12 which was a non-stellar glow with averted vision.  Further to the east is NGC 2946, which was faint but easy to pick up, small, 3:1 nearly N-S, a mostly uniform halo with a brightening at the core.  Close to the east of NGC 2943 was NGC 2941, which was small, fairly faint, 2:1 nearly N-S with a brightened core.  NGC 2993 was small, very faint, 3:1 NE-SW, with a diffuse halo and slightly brighter core.  I did not see the CGCG-92-12, but NGC 2928 was easy, if faint, 3:1 NE-SW.

NGC 3607 Group (Leo)

7 galaxies in a 45' field.  Part of Leo II group.

NGC 3607 was a large and bright elliptical, out-of-round to NW-SE, large bright central region and small bright nucleus.  Just to SW is NGC 3605 which is a small bright glow like a broken shard from 3607.  Just to its north is NGC 3608, a smaller version of NGC 3607 but orientated E-W.  MCG+3-29-18 was easy to find as it forms an equilateral triangle with 3608 and 3607 and was a small non-stellar glow direct vision.  This triangle pointed to NGC 3599 to the west, small bright slightly elongated E-W.  To the south of the group were UGC 6296, very faint glow orientated N-S, best seen with higher magnification.  Rounding it out was MCG+3-29-24, a small faint non-stellar spot with averted vision and 260x.

IC 696 Group (Leo)

7 galaxies in a 20' field.

These were surprisingly difficult and I needed a fairly long time to observe it.  I started with IC 2853 because it was easy to find off of a bright pair of stars.  With 260x, it was faint, small, 3:2 N-S diffuse halo but unevenly illuminated to the middle, a very subtle brightening on the W and E sides of the halo, with a compact brighter core.  Its morphology is SBab, so I was picking up brighter knots in the bars!  Following the line formed but the two bright stars near IC 2853, I found IC 2850 as a small faint glow, just barely direct vision.  I then moved to IC 696, which was very faint, round, small, with a bright core which was slightly elongated (it is a face-on SBd).  IC 2857 was just to the east, a ghostly faint very long glow edge-on galaxy with a small bright core, noticed with averted vision and then can hold continuously with foveal coaxing.  To the west of these is IC 698, which was faint, fairly small, 3:1 NE-SW, and SE of it was the very small, very faint IC 2867 which was only seen averted vision.  The last member, IC 699, was to the south, and was faint, fairly large, diffuse halo 3:1 NNW-SSE with a bright core.

 

NGC 3801 Group (Leo)

6 galaxies in a 20' field.

NGC 3801 was large and bright, with a large bright core and 3:1 halo WNW-ESE.  The halo is very subtly bulkier and slightly longer on the eastern side; it is an S0/a so this might be some spiral structure.  NGC 3802 is close to its north, smaller, with a bright round core and nearly edge-on halo E-W.  And, to the north of this is NGC 3803, a small faint glow, a little larger than non-stellar.  NGC 3807 (= NGC 3806) is to the west, and was faint, fairly small, with a compact round nucleus and a faint irregularly illuminated round halo.  It is a face-on Sb.  To the east of the group is NGC 3790, small and moderately bright, brighter core in a 4:1 elongated halo NE-SW.  Lastly, MCG+3-30-35 was very faint, small, non-stellar with high magnification and averted vision, difficult. Did not see CGCG 97-46 to the north.

NGC 4005 (Leo)

12 galaxies in a 30' field.

An amazing group.  I started with NGC 4005 which was easy, bright, small 2:1 E-W with a bright core, and just SE from a magnitude 8 star.  This star is one corner of a triangle where one can locate NGC 4011 and NGC 3999, which were faint, very small non-stellar glows.  On the opposite side of the star was NGC 4000, which was faint, quite small, 5:1 N-S with a large relatively brighter region in the center and hazy tips.  Further to the NW lay three bright galaxies near a chain of stars -- I wrote "wow, wow, wow" in my log for each one, it is such a striking scene.  Easternmost in the string is NGC 3987, with a ball-like bright core pierced by a very long 5:1 halo orientated NE-SW.  Just to the NE is NGC 3993, slightly smaller than NGC 3987 but of similar appearance, orientated NW-SE.  In between these two was the very small and faint non-stellar glow of NGC 3989.  Last in this row was NGC 3997, which had a bright concentrated core and a very weak, misshapen halo NW-SE.  It is a SBbp barred spiral nearly face-on -- I detected hints of mottled structure but nothing certain.  NGC 4018 was to the NE from this string, and was a faint, very long 4:1 edge-on NNW-SSE.  The southern end of this galaxy pointed to NGC 4022, which was faint, round, small, with a bright core.  Further south, NGC 4021 formed another triangle with NGC 4023 and NGC 4015, which was the brightest of the three, all of them being small, round, on the faint side, with bright cores.  NGC 4015 is also Arp 136, as MCG+4-28-110 hags off the northern edge of the core and, seen with high magnification and averted vision, is very a very faint and small spur which points to the NE.  

To make it all the more interesting, a study in 1986 (1986ApJ...311...25W) proposed that the members of this is a rotating system of galaxies along the major axis of the group, with a period of 4 billion years!  An eddy of galaxies, having made one turn from the formation of the earth until now.  Overall, an extraordinary grouping!

M106 (CVn)

8 galaxies in a 60' field

M106 was very large, 3:1 elongated NW-SE, with a bright nucleus and very broad bright core which had slight finger-like brightenings on opposing ends -- spiral arms.  Around this was an unevenly diffuse halo which faded slowly at the edges.  Close to the NE is NGC 4248, a thin faint glow 4:1 ENE-WSW.  It pointed further east to NGC 4231 and 4232, which were closely separated faint bean shaped glows, which were tilted to towards each other.  To the north was NGV 4220, moderately large and bright, 4:1 elongated NE-SW (similar to M106's), with a bright core and tapering tips.  Back to M106 as a starting point, just to the south was UGC 7356 which I could only see by studying the star patterns on the photo and using averted vision -- it was a small, very faint puff with averted vision and 220x.  Directly to the east was yet another edge-on, NGV 4217, bright, fairly large, with a bright core and a fairly bright streak running through the halo, 5:1 NE-SW.  Perpendicular and to the south was NGC 4276, a small round glow with direct vision.

M100 (Coma Berenices)

10 Galaxies in a 60' field

M100 was pretty large and showed its spiral structure as well as I've ever seen it.  Bright round central core, there are two prominent arms, one which starts on the eastern side, is a little flattened as it comes north then sweeps east and then south.  The other starts from the north (and seems to sprout from the first arm) and is also a bit compressed as it quickly swirls to the SE then north, where it stretches quite far.  There are brighter patches in each arm, and a diffuse halo through all of it.  NGC 4323 was a very faint weak glow with higher magnification, picked up with averted vision and could briefly hold it direct.  Directly west of M100 is NGC 4328, similar to NGC 4323 I picked it up averted and held direct.  To the SW of M100 are IC 783 and 783A, two widely separated small very faint puffs seen with averted vision only -- 783A being more difficult as it was smaller, non-stellar.  South of these is NGC 4312, which is a gorgeous long edge-on, 6:1 NNE-SSW, with a bright small round core which floats on the faint halo which stretches and seems to twist at the tips.  I did not pick up the other galaxies.

NGC 5714 (Boo)

5 galaxies in a 25' field

NGC 5714 is a large bright edge-on, some 6:1 with a bright core and sharp tapering tips.  The core appears to float in the halo, which has a less-bright side, probably due to a dark lane.   To the east are four fainter, smaller galaxies, all with their own brighter core and diffuse halos of varying sizes.  Only NGC 5723 needed averted vision to pick up, though higher magnification helped to see all of them.

I also spent time picking out individual objects from the Pocket Sky Atlas, which I'll save for a different post.

24 march 2026 deepsky nv from home

Transparent sky but poorer seeing, so I decided to use the 20-inch with night vision for this session.  Logged a lot of objects, mainly from the DeepMap 600 and TAC Eye Candy list, which is actually a very good list of showpiece objects.  I was pleased with the scope's pointing accuracy even with long slews, I did something right when cleaning and reinstalling the servocat controller!

NGC 2392, stunning bipolar planetary nebula located approximately 2,870 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Seen at small scale, it looked like a fried egg with a brighter and slightly elongated mottled center oval, and a fainter ragged loose mane.  Dual band filter showed it best.

NGC 2419 Intergalactic Wanderer, globular cluster in Lynx, 300,000 light years distant, was a puff of unresolved stars in an irregular cloud at the end of an arc of three foreground stars, with some variation in greyscale tone. 

M 67 glorious large open cluster in Cancer, with bright and faint stars scattered 

UGC 4299 08h 15m 59.0s +23°11'58" mag. 14.0b 1.8 x 0.2' Flat galaxy, very small, in the middle of two stars forming an arc, small bright core and elongated halo.  IC 2248 is nearby, round halo with a bright round core.

NGC 2353 Loose open cluster, highlighted by two oval loops of stars overlapping along their edges.

NGC 2355 Pretty, loose cluster, wedge shaped with brighter and fainter stars in middle.  Per Wikipedia it is approximately a billion years old and is located about 5,400 light years (ly) from the Solar System and 1,100 ly above the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. At that distance, the angular size of the cluster halo corresponds to a radius of about 23 ly. The core radius is 2.3 ly, and the central component radius is 11 ly.

NGC 2420 Large loose, its brighter stars look like a Hercules asterism, with a body of faint stars in the middle.  The cluster is about two billion years old, and it is located 10,000 light years away.

NGC 2683 Stunning near edge-on spiral with bright compact core and swirling arms, prominent dark lanes in the near edge.

NGC 2775 Large bright oval core and what seems a 3:1 halo.  Did not resolve the fine dark lanes and arms, through the halo was subtly mottled.

NGC 2841 Bright glowing core with very large, very extended mottled halo.  30 mly, This is the prototype for the flocculent spiral galaxy,[5] a type of spiral galaxy whose arms are patchy and discontinuous.[8] The morphological class is SAa, indicating a spiral galaxy with no central bar and very tightly-wound arms. 

NGC 2903 Bright, compact core with large halo inclined and obvious spiral arms, the one side of which has an extension which flows down and away.  Two knots on each tip outer end of the arms.  A large diffuse haze surrounds the halo.

NGC 3003 Small bright galaxy, near edge-on, the core is off-center, and with the elongated tips the galaxy appears to be curved.  

NGC 3079 Amazing long flat galaxy with halo which seems to be curved in a gentle parenthesis, as if galaxy is falling with the bright compact core being slightly heavier and the halo extended wings.  The core itself seems to be submerging into the galaxy -- perhaps due to the "bubble" with may be due to star formation triggered by particles streaming from the supermassive black hole in the center.  Did not remember to look for the twin quasar nearby.

NGC 3184 Bright, small core and very faint diffuse irregularly oval mottled halo.  Did not pick out spiral arms.

NGC 3344 bright small core, round mottled halo, an arc of three stars runs through the halo.

NGC 3384  Three galaxy group, two nearly identical with small bright core and elongated halos, and a third fainter looser spiral with faint core

NGC 3607 Two bright large ellipticals with bright cores, two smaller galaxies in the field too.

NGC 3628 Amazing long flat galaxy with a dark lane twisting through the center from end to end.  The halo is hazy and almost rectangular, making the galaxy look like a coin spun on the table.  The long diffuse tidal tail was easy direct vision.  I remember how hard Akarsh worked for this with his 18-inch at a dark site...

NGC 3675 bright core large extended near edge on mottled halo.  Did not pick out spiral arms

NGC 3877 Bright elongated galaxy, near bright star 

NGC 3941 small galaxy with a large bright core and hazy oval halo, elongated 3:1 N-S 

NGC 3115 Spindle Galaxy Sextans.  Very compact bright round core like a ball on a large, elongated halo which looks like a coin spun coming to rest with two rods protruding from each thin side