The night of April 29 I did some work on my H2 lists from Fremont Peak. I had not expected to go out; I have been sick recently and last night's moon set was 11:30pm. However transparency and seeing were both very good, and Peter N. had posted he was going. So Saturday afternoon I decided to go and started to pack.
It was a public night -- and a busy one at that -- and some people stopped by for a look. I tried to show M65/M66 and M51, but I was probably at too high a magnification. But mainly I worked on my lists, and I'm glad I did. If I waited until next month some objects would have already set. All with the 20-inch at 205x. SQML was 20.9 while the moon was out but 21.3 when it had set.
NGC 3585: Very bright core & quasi stellar nucleus, 2:1 WNW-ESE. Core is mottled with very faint, diffuse halo. Galaxy is slightly reddish in color
K-1-22: PN. "Southern Owl Nebula" Very faint, round, mottled, no CS, diffuse edge, OIII only.
NGC 3424: An elliptical, an edge on, and a smaller fainter elliptical in view. 3424 is the edge on, pretty bright and large, 3:1 WNW-ESE. NGC 3430 is to the ENE, 2:1 SW-NE, fairly bright, weak concentration to the core. 10' to the SW is NGC 3413, faint, small, 2:1 N-S, evenly bright, no nucleus or core.
NGC 3254: Pretty faint, moderately large, 4:1 SW-NE, diffuse halo, core is slightly brightened middle with a small bright nucleus.
NGC 3274: Small, pretty faint,, 3:1 E-W, stellar nucleus and brighter core centered to the east side of the halo.
NGC 3067: Fairly bright, pretty large, diffuse halo 3:1 WNW-ESE. Core is a mottled confused brightening in the middle; halo cut off along the north part of the halo. Quasar 3C 232 is a very faint "star" just north of the galaxy, identified with use of a finder. 5.3. billion year light!
NGC 3689: Small, pretty faint, but nicely seen. Oval glow 3:2 W-E, with a slightly brighter small core.
NGC 4062: Another rice grain galaxy: fairly bright, large, even brightness, 3:1 WNW-ESE.
NGC 3319: Pretty faint, diffuse 3:2 glow NE-SW. Bright small bar core surrounded by very faint diffuse spiral, one to NE and another to SW -- the one to SW brighter and is itself mottled.
NGC 3583: Diffuse, roundish & mottled glow, 3:2 WNW-ESE, pretty bright, small bright core. Fainter object near star to the SW, which is NGC 3577: small, elongated 3:1 E-W, pretty faint.
NGC 3652: Pretty faint, need averted vision to brighten. 2:1 NNW-SSE, small, diffuse edge, slightly brighter to middle.
NGC 4047: Brighter round core, diffuse halo, pretty faint, small.
NGC 4013: Small, faint, thin smudge with brighter bulging core & superimposed star near the middle. Edge on, 5:1 WSW-ENE.
NGC 5061: Round, bright core, diffuse halo; it's the non-stellar image to the west of a nearby bright star.
NGC 5078: Bright, large, bright elongated core; diffuse halo elongated 5:2 NNW-SSE, seems cut off on SW side (dust lane). Small, faint 3:1 elongation is just off the SW side, and is IC 879.
NGC 4902: Pretty bright, fairly large, round diffuse halo, elongated core E-W -- spiral with a bar.
NGC 4928: Fairly small, very faint, diffuse halo, brighter core, 3:2 NE-SW.
NGC 4939: Fairly bright, large, bright core placed off-center to the south in diffuse halo 2:1 SSW-NNE. [The asymmetry is a bit of illusion, since there is "more" of a halo / spiral arm to the north, though the southern arm is brighter.]
NGC 4984: Bright nucleus and small bright round core; diffuse round halo; fairly large.
NGC 5018: Bright nucleus and elongated core, diffuse halo. Pretty bright and large.
NGC 5037, 5044: Lots of galaxies in this group! Six seen panning around. 5037 is pretty bright, small, with a small bright round core, faint 2:1 SW-NE halo. NGC 5044 is pretty bright, round halo and core, and brightest of the group. Others in the group are NGC 5035, NGC 5046, NGC 5047, & NGC 5049.
NGC 5077: Bright large oval core with faint halo fringing it, 2:1 N-S. Fainter oval galaxy to the SE (NGC 5079) and a small faint 3:1 galaxy to south (NGC 5076).
NGC 5087: Bright, large core, diffuse 3:2 halo N-S.
NGC 5134: Brighter of two galaxies in field. Bright core, stellar nucleus with mottled halo 2:1 NW-SE. The other galaxy is IC 4237, pretty faint, fairly large, even brightness, 2:1 NW-SE.
NGC 5068: Fairly faint, diffuse large irregularly bright round glow. It is a large face on spiral galaxy, part of the M83 group.
NGC 5084: Nice edge on 4:1 E-W, with stellar nucleus & bright lozenge shaped core with diffuse / tapering tips.
Abell 31: Very faint, large, round, diffuse edge, no central star, OIII needed. Fairly bright star on eastern rim.
NGC 5426 & 5427 = Arp 271: NGC 5426 is the moderately bright edge on, or tilted spiral, 3:1 N-S, with a small bright core and diffuse halo with hints of spiral. The large round oval is NGC 5427, which is a face-on spiral, and is pretty faint, pretty large, 3:2 E-W, with a small bright round core and mottled halo. Did not see any connecting bridge between the two.
NGC 4073: Brightest and largest in a small cluster of galaxies. Bright, bright core and stellar nucleus, 3:2 WNW-ESE. NGC/IC Project: "Brightest of a poor cluster (MKW 4) with NGC 4063 6.0' SW, NGC 4075 11' N, NGC 4077 7.3' SSE, NGC 4139 = IC 2989 6.0' SSE and UGC 7042 8' W, all in the field."
NGC 4045: Round core, mottled oval halo, E-W, near fainter and smaller galaxy just off the edge to the south (NGC 4045A).
NGC 4487: Very diffuse, pretty large; faint oval halo E-W with slightly brighter core, diffuse edges.
NGC 4691: Moderately large, pretty bright. Small bright nucleus and bright core elongated 3:1 E-W; halo is more round and very diffuse.
NGC 4904: Bright core with bar; amorphous mottled halo elongated 3:2 NW-SE.
NGC 4915: Bright nucleus and slightly elongated bright core; very thin diffuse round halo. Near other galaxy to the NE (NGC 4918). Jupiter is nearby, causing problems in the 80mm finder view.
NGC 4941: Pretty bright, large. Stellar nucleus, large round diffuse oval halo 2:1 SW-NE.
NGC 4981: Stellar nucleus and bright core -- large oval halo, diffuse edges, 3:2 NNW-SSE. Bright star on S rim of halo.
NGC 4999: Faint, moderately large. Slightly concentrated core but mostly a diffuse round smudge.
NGC 4369: Bright nucleus and round bright core, diffuse halo. Small, fairly bright overall.
NGC 4244: Very large, very bright edge on; at least 12:1 NE-SW. Diffuse edges, mostly even surface brightness but there is some brightening and thickening just to NE of center. Generally mottled or dusty looking.
NGC 4013: Stellar nucleus, blinks with averted vision -- is that a foreground star? [Yes.] Elongated 5:1 WSW-ENE, Nice edge on, diffuse halo with gradually tapering tips.
NGC 4138: Bright elongated core, mottling in and around the core. 3:1 NW-SE, prominent core, very thin halo.
NGC 4144: Pretty bright edge on, large, with gradually brightening core, 6:1 WNW-ESE. Nice!
NGC 4220: Inclined spiral with structure seen; cut off dark lane on the west side. Very bright, compact nucleus and small round core, diffuse halo, 5:1 NW-SE.
NGC 4248 & 4232 & 4231: Both near M106 which is visible in the 80mm finder. 4248 is closest, a large irregular glow elongated 3:1 WNW-ESE, diffuse edges and irregularly lit. Some stars superimposed. To the west is the pair NGC 4232 (faint, small 3:1 NW-SE with brighter core) & 4231 (faint, round, small).
NGC 4217: Large bright edge on 4:1 NE-SW, with a bright star above the NE tip. Elongated mist streaked with mottling--there's a dark lane running down the major axis seen with averted vision.
NGC 4096: Very large, bright edge on. Brighter round core offset slightly to NE, with clouds of mottling around the core; long tapering tips. 4:1 NE-SW.
NGC 4047: Round, fairly large, fairly faint & diffuse halo, brighter core and small compact nucleus.
NGC 4100: Edge on, fairly diffuse 4:1 NNW-SSE halo with smooth edged tips, slightly brightening core.
NGC 4157: Like a spaghetti platter lit moon-silver by the star above it. Bright, large, with an elongated core, with round swirls seen spinning out from it, an inclined spiral, with gradually tapering tips, 6:1 WNW-ESE.
NGC 5103: Glow near a bright star & string of stars to its north. Small, pretty bright, stellar nucleus, 2:1 NW-SE.
NGC 5023: Very faint edge on, a smoke wisp. Irregularly shaped, 4:1 SSW-NNE, seems brighter / thicker on the south side.
NGC 5395 = Heron Galaxy = Arp 84: Very faint, averted vision needed to see well. Two galaxies are rice grains next to a larger and more diffuse one. The larger is NGC 5395, 3:1 N-S with a brighter core and one fainter galaxy on the NW rim [this is actually an arm of 5395]. To the NW is the smaller and fainter NGC 5394, which appears slightly elongated. In photos it shows two arms spinning out of it, but I did not see those.
Hickson 68: Easily picked out components a-e. NGC 5350 = (a) is large, round, and mottled. To the south is a pair small companions with bright cores, NGC 5354 = (b) round, and NGC 5353 (c) 3:1 NW-SE. NGC 5355 = (d) was small faint & round, and NGC 5358 = (e) was fainter, small and round.
NGC 6153: Planetary nebula. Fairly bright, moderately large, smooth edges, a little mottled disk with no central star. Blue-green, especially with OIII; however the filter does not really help very much.
This last object is near the bottom curve of Scorpio's tail, and I thought I would have to wait until the summer to see it. I made a note to myself to try for it when I saw Scorpio standing up on its tail -- as it was. In fact I was surprised to see the summer constellations out -- they were all quite high by the time I finished. The Milky Way was faintly seen. I spent some time scanning around with binoculars, but was so tired I couldn't figure out what to look at. It was 3am and time to sleep, so I did.
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