These are our observations of Galaxy

• Two Galaxies: Messier 82 and Sextans A

  I have two Galaxy images to share from recent clear evenings. They probably represent two extremes of ease of imaging.

  Messier 82 in Ursa Major

  The first is Messier 82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, which is a very popular target. M82 is 12 million light-years away in Ursa Major, currently high overhead and quite bright. It is relatively straightforward to capture a visible light image, but perhaps more challenging is to capture some of the outburst of ionised hydrogen gas from the galaxy's core; I used an Antlia dual-band filter to do this.

  

  Image Details

  Data: 94 x 120s RGB, 70 x 300s Ha/OIII between 24–28 March 2025.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien telescope, 0.75x reducer
  • Camera: ASI 071 MC Pro camera, Antlia HaOIII filter
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  Sextans A in Sextans

  The second image is of Sextans A. Sextans A is a dwarf, irregular galaxy that is relatively small and faint in the constellation of Sextans. Despite its relative proximity to the Milky Way at 4.3 million light-years, its small size makes it a tricky target. Its other claim to fame is that, from our perspective, it appears to be square.

  

  The low elevation of Sextans A limits imaging time and attenuates the light we see from UK latitudes. Imaging this target was a test of the capabilities of the ASI 071 camera and my telescope.

  Image Details

  Data: 10 x 300s RGB from 1^st April 2025.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien telescope, 0.75x reducer
  • Camera: ASI 071 MC Pro camera
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  David Davies - (11 April 2025).

• NGC 4365 in Virgo

  Observations using 20 inch Dob in magnitude 5 semi-rural skies on the evening of the 29th March 2024. Seeing conditions were good with high transparency. These galaxies were approximately at 40 degrees altitude.

  NGC 4365: Very bright object with large halo and obvious stellar core. Situated in between two bright field stars which enhanced the view using a 10mm Ortho eyepiece giving a magnification of 200x.

  I then star hopped using the triangle of stars to the right of NGC 4365 on the map below to find a view with a trio of galaxies.

  NGC 4342 was the brightest of the three galaxies in this eyepiece view frame. The galaxy could be seen with direct vision and was round in shape.

  NGC 4343 was only visible with averted vision. The galaxy had a much lower surface brightness than 4342 and was oval in shape. A brighter core was noted.

  NGC 4341 was only glimpsed occasionally with averted vision. It was extended in shape.

  I was unable to see IC 3259 or IC 3267 or the nearby NGC 4309.

  

  The field star and NGC 4343 / 4343 in a line made for a special view.

  Mark Stuart - (29 March 2024).

• Coddington's Nebula (IC 2574)

  I managed to get out during the recent cold spell and imaged Coddington's Nebula, IC 2574.

  IC 2574 is a faint dwarf spiral galaxy discovered by American astronomer Edwin Foster Coddington in 1898. It is located in Ursa Major and is an outlying member of the M81 Group. It is believed that 90% of its mass is in the form of dark matter. IC 2574 is about 50 thousand light-years across and located some 12 million light-years away. This galaxy is thought to resemble some of the earliest that formed in the Universe and are useful “living fossils” for studying the evolution of more complex galaxy types.

  

  This galaxy proved to be a testing subject as it is quite faint with an integrated magnitude of 13 and a surface brightness of magnitude 23; individual sub-frames showed little more than a smudge against the sky background.

  Image Details

  Data: 45 x 180s RGB sub-images.

  • Telescope: APM 107 refractor
  • Camera: ZWO ASI 071 MC
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  David Davies - (24 January 2024).

• Messier 32 and surroundings

  M 32 is a small but bright dwarf galaxy close to M 31. Usually, people taking images of M 31 don’t concern themselves with M 32 and fix their exposures to see most of the fainter detail in M 31. Consequently, M 32 usually comes out as a small, bright blob. I've attached my full-frame image of M 32, correctly exposed to capture it at the expense of a much fainter M 31 behind.

  

  M 32 is something of an enigma. It appears to be a relatively rare compact elliptical galaxy, 6,500 light-years across, with a very high density of stars at its core and a supermassive black hole of more than half the mass of our Sagittarius A*. It contains older faint, red and yellow stars usually found in the core of a large spiral galaxy. One hypothesis, therefore, is that M 32 might be the remnant of a former spiral galaxy that lost its outer spiral arms in a previous encounter with M 31 about two billion years ago. If so, then what we see today is the remaining dense core of what was a much bigger galaxy.

  

  I've enjoyed inspecting the full frame image, especially the large star-forming region in M31, NGC 206 to the right of the frame. I've also searched for some of the many globular clusters in M31. The image below is a labelled crop from the main image showing four such clusters, including G76, one of the largest globular clusters visible to us in M31.

  

  Image Details

  Data: 40 x 180s RGB images.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien
  • Camera: ZWO ASI071MC
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.
  • Software: NINA, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, Spectrophotometric Colour Calibration, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, Photoshop

  David Davies - (31 October 2023).

• Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101

  Finally, the clouds over East Anglia are breaking and revealing not one but two supernovae in familiar galaxies. A faint supernova in NGC4568 is now low on my southwestern horizon, and we also have the bright SN2023ixf in M101. The latest measurements on rochesterastronomy.org put the magnitude at 11.0. It is now so bright that only a 30s exposure produces an image which is not saturated, a 60s exposure, for example, is saturated.

  I suspect many will have a go at M101 despite the lack of astronomical darkness. I captured the attached image on the 22nd and 23rd of May. The supernova is the bright star in the lower-right spiral arm at the eight o'clock location, close to the HII region NGC 5461. Unlike other stars in the image which are in our own galaxy and a few thousand light-years away, the supernova is 21 million light-years away.

  

  Image Details

  Data: 35 x 120s RGB subframes.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien with 0.7x reducer (1450mm focal length)
  • Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.
  • Acquisition: NINA, GSS, PHD2
  • Image Processing: Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, Gaia Spectro-photometric Color Calibration using custom filters for the 294 camera, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, Photoshop

  David Davies - (23 May 2023).

• Galaxy NGC 5921 in Serpens Caput

  Last night I wanted to try the galaxy NGC5921, proposed as the Galaxy of the Month. Hope you like it.

  

  Image Details

  • Telescope: TEC 140.
  • Camera: ZWO ASI 294MM camera with a Baader IR-cut filter.
  • 4 x 900 second subs.

  Carlo Muccini - (3 June 2022).

• Messier 61 (NGC 4303) in Virgo

  Astronomical darkness is now at an end for another season, but I have had a busy springtime imaging a number of galaxies. I've been using an ASI 294MC Pro camera and have overcome initial difficulties with achieving an acceptable colour balance and continue to be impressed with what this camera can achieve in relatively small exposure times. I've now reduced the camera gain setting to 50 to maximise the available well depth. This has reduced sensitivity but the end results still look good to me.

  The Italian astronomer Barnabas Oriani discovered M61 on 5th May 1779 when he was following the comet C/1779 A1 Bode - it seems to me that several of the early discoveries of the galaxies of the Virgo Cluster are due to observers following this comet. He described M61 as very pale looking and exactly like the comet. Charles Messier found M61 the same night but mistook it for the comet and it was not until six days later that he realised his mistake, so M61 became another entry in his notes listing nebulae that could be mistaken for comets. Messier described M61 as very faint and difficult to perceive. It took Lord Rose and his 72" telescope to see some of the spiral structures of this galaxy.

  

  I have found M61 to be quite a challenging target for my 8-inch telescope. With an integrated magnitude of 9.7 and 6' x 6' in size, the bright core contrasts with the quite faint spiral arms which hold lots of intriguing detail.

  Image Details

  50 x 2-minutes exposures (gain 50, offset 13)

  • Telescope: 8-inch Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.
  • Software: NINA, Pixinsight, Photoshop.

  David Davies - (10 May 2022).

• Supernova SN2022hrs in NGC 4647

  A friend of mine alerted me to this supernova last night, and I dropped what I was doing and slewed the telescope to it. What a lovely sight. The supernova is the bright blueish star in the smaller of the two galaxies, M60 and NGC 4647, in the centre of the image.

  

  Unlike other stars in the image that are in our Milky Way galaxy and are a few tens or hundreds of light-years away, the supernova is 63 million light-years away and is so bright that it almost outshines the galaxy it is in.

  Image Details

  I've taken great care not to saturate any part of the image, processed the data in Pixinsight, and calibrated the colours with the Photometric Colour Calibration tool.

  • Telescope: 8-inch Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: QSI 683 camera with Astrodon filters.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  The data are 20 x 2-min luminance and 12 x 2-min RGB, binned 2 x 2. The location was Cambridge, UK Time: 26 April, 01:30 UT.

  David Davies - (26 April 2022).

• NGC 2683 in Lynx

  Took this last night, pity the moon was high as it added quite a bit of noise to the picture. A single shot, 500 second, FLI full frame camera from back garden observatory Northampton. Not quite as good as the Hubble shot!!

  

  Image Details

  • Telescope: AG14 Orion F 3.8
  • Camera: FLI Microline Camera

  Richard Weatherley - (8 April 2022).

• A closeup of Messier 87 (Virgo A or NGC 4486)

  A few months ago I bought a ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera for use with electronically assisted astronomy. More recently, I've been exploring its use for more general astrophotography and whilst I still have some issues to resolve, it does produce some pleasing images. Using this one-shot camera has also led to a rethink of my image processing workflow and I now use Pixinsight for calibration and image stacking, splitting the one-shot colour subs into their RGB components for realignment and integration later.

  M87, in the constellation Virgo, is a supergiant elliptical galaxy with several trillion stars. It is of the most massive galaxies in the local universe, and it has a large population of globular clusters. It also has a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the black hole in the core of the galaxy and extends at least 4,900 light-years into space.

  The French astronomer Charles Messier discovered M87 in 1781. It is about 53 million light-years from Earth and has many satellite galaxies.

  The following images record my exploration of M87, a galaxy that I had not yet visited. I started with a general view of M87 and its environs,

  

  Then a close-up view of M87 showing many of the surrounding background galaxies and a close-up view with a less aggressive stretch.

  

  Finally a third image presents a clear view (at two o'clock) of the jet from the black hole at the centre of the galaxy.

  

  Image Details

  The image comprises 60 subs of two-minutes exposure each.

  • Telescope: 8-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope with an x0.7 reducer
  • Camera: ASI ZWO 294 MC Pro
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8
  • Software: NINA, GSS, PHD2, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Topaz Denoise

  David Davies - (3 March 2022).

• Barred spiral galaxy NGC 2146 in Camelopardalis

  I was doing some electronically assisted observing some four weeks ago and was intrigued by the sight of NGC 2146. I had not investigated this galaxy previously and returned to it some nights later for a closer look.

  

  This galaxy was discovered by Friedrich Winnecke, a German astronomer, in 1876. Despite its distorted presentation, it is not listed in the Arp Atlas of peculiar galaxies. It seems that the cause of the twisted presentation of this galaxy is not fully understood. Some have proposed that a close encounter with a nearby galaxy, such as NGC 2146A, which is to the top left of the uncropped image, is the cause of the disturbances. However, the significant difference in their radial velocities doesn't support this hypothesis.

  Moreover, radio-based observations show little evidence of the disturbances we see in the optical wavelengths. Perhaps we are looking at a post-merger state of two galaxies, now merging into one. It is a starburst galaxy with significant star formation ongoing, and two supernovae have been observed in recent years. Some of the star-forming regions are just visible at the resolution limit in this image.

  

  NGC 2146 is listed as being between 50 and 70 million light-years away. I find it interesting to reflect that all of the higher mammals on earth have evolved during the time the photons captured by my camera have traversed the void after emission from this galaxy.

  Image Details

  • Telescope: 200mm Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: QSI 683 camera.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  The image comprises 38 x five minutes of luminance plus 15 x five minutes each of RGB.

  David Davies - (16 December 2021).

• The Siamese Twins NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 in Virgo

  At the beginning of May 2018, I spent several evenings gathering data on the Siamese Twins, NGC 4567 and NGC 4568. Realising how faint the objects were, I opted for 10-minute exposures which, unfortunately, challenged the tracking performance of my, then EQ6 mount, and virtually guaranteed that I had a satellite trail on every sub. After calibrating the data, I decided not to process them since I considered that they just weren't good enough. I then ran out of dark skies and forgot about this unfinished project.

  I was reminded of the Twins by Callum Potter's recent BAA Deep Sky Notes and went back to revisit the data that I gathered in 2018. By applying some new image processing techniques, I've been able to use the data I gathered, complete with satellite trails, though I confess they have challenged my cloning skills.

  NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 (nicknamed the Butterfly Galaxies or Siamese Twins are a set of unbarred spiral galaxies about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. They were both discovered by William Herschel in 1784. They are part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. These galaxies are in the process of colliding and merging with each other, as studies of their distributions of neutral and molecular hydrogen show, with the highest star-formation activity in the part where they overlap. However, the system is still in an early phase of interaction. (Wikipedia)

  

  Data gathered between 7th and 18th May 2018. 20 x 10-minutes Luminance, 10 X 10-minutes each RGB.

  This is a crop from the original image, which presents the Twins better but at the expense of losing NGC 4564 from the top of the image. The galaxy at the bottom of the image is an edge-on spiral galaxy IC 3578 at magnitude 15. Between it and NGC 4568 is the very faint (magnitude 18.2) PGC042075. There are many other faint galaxies in this image.

  Image Details

  • Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: QSI 583 with a Lodestar off-axis guide camera.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ6.

  Image data were captured on the evenings of 17th to 27th February 2020. The data comprise 24 x 5-minutes luminance and 6 x 10-minutes each of RGB.

  David Davies - (4 May 2021).

• Observation of NGC 3636 and NGC3637 in Crater

  A call of nature and a clear sky coincided at 01.30 BST this morning. Result the observatory was opened and I went straight for NGC 3636 and NGC 3637 in Crater. These galaxies Owen has picked as his Galaxies of the Month for April, they form a visual trio with 7th mag star HD98591.

  They were low in the southern sky where viewing conditions are at their worse for me. I wasn't even sure that the scope and Watec camera would even get onto them but as I star hopped ever closer I was rewarded with an image on the monitor. Not a spectacular scene but one that I appreciated was not so easy.

  

  Not knowing when I was going to lose the view I waited for decent 15 second steady exposure image and hit the freeze button. The sketch didn't take long, 10-15 minutes perhaps but by the time I had it completed and released the freeze button the sky was completely clouded over!

  So to bed, lucky and pleased.

  Dale Holt - (04 April 2021).

• Galaxy Group ACO 2197 in Hercules

  I managed to get the following image of ACO 2197 after reading Owen's very interesting Galaxy of the Month for May 2018.

  

  ACO 2197 is a hidden galaxy cluster in the constellation of Hercules. There are so many eliptical, spiral, and irregular galaxies but the brightest three are NGC 6160, NGC 6173 and NGC 6175 and were all discovered by William Herschel in 1787. These galaxies also have very interesting dust halos which were the most challenging thing to process, however, I'm more than pleased with the result.

  Image Details

  • Telescope: C ED 80.
  • Camera: QHY 183 Mono Cool, QHY 5 guide.
  • Mount: Skywatcher Heq5 PRO.

  The image is composed of 120s sub-exposures with a total integration time of 11 hours.

  Vasileios Spanakis-Misirlis - (29 March 2021).

• A well known morsel from Leo

  A very brief opportunity on the evening of March 19th allowed me just enough time to sketch the thin one of the Leo triplet, NGC 3628.

  The skies have probably been the poorest and for the longest in my 22 years of observing! If I had picked either of the Messier members I would have run out of clear sky trying to capture their complexity and magnificence, so I guess I got lucky with my choice!

  

  This galaxy filled my field of view and although I have sketched it a number of times before I think this is probably my best rendition! I hope I can get back to my usual much more elusive and distant prey very soon.

  Dale Holt - (21 March 2021).

• One from Orion

  Here we have an observation from last night of NGC 1924, a galaxy that I observed and sketched several times before. Perhaps last night I grabbed a little more detail it the spiral layout than previous session had yielded.

  

  A face on barred spiral in Orion, magnitude 13.2 and 1.6'x1.2'. My sketch shows some breaks or disturbance in the spiral structure. Discovered by W Herschel in October 1785. Distance 108 mly and diameter 53,000 ly.

  Dale Holt - (24 January 2021).

• Observations of the NGC 2805 group in Ursa Major

  My observation of the January's Galaxy of the Month back in January 2017.

  

  I’ll type my scribbles: 00:30 hrs, 27th Jan 2017, 600mm F4.5, e/p 13mm Ethos giving x208. Seeing Ant II-III, misty low down, 21.1 SQM at time of observation. NGC 2805 low SB. The larger and smaller edge on GX’s (2920 & 2814) stood out more. Small companion to larger edge (2820A or IC 2458) was AV1. Designations identified the following day.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 2 January 2021

• NGC 969 galaxy group

  Finally I got a clear window last night to catch up with Owen's Webb society Galaxy of the Month challenge. More accurately on this occasion a galaxy group or two!

  Found in Triangulum I went for the core group of NGC's 969, 970 and 974 first. All three members obvious with my video set up I failed to detect the spiral arm shown in deep images of NGC 974 although I could see a little brightening in the outer halo with the overall shape extending NW-SE to give a lemon shape.

  

  NGC 969 the eastern most member showed brighter fan shaped regions emanating from the core N-S. NGC 970 is diminutive elongated NW-SE with a bright nucleus and a brighter area in the southern portion, this could be a foreground or local star. To the lower left of my sketch are 2 very faint small elongated galaxies, not identified in the Mega Star finder Owen provided.

  I wonder what magnitude the faintest star in my sketch is?

  Although Owen suggested that the close by NGC 978 A and B pair should have been included in the group as they would be in the same high power field of view as the NGC 969 group I was unable to get them into my FOV to make a single sketch so I had to make two!

  

  An interesting pair, nicely resolved by set up NGC's 978 A and B at juxtapositions to each other. A hint of structure seen in the A galaxy. B although considerably smaller has a bright nucleus. To the upper right are a pair of identified very small faint round galaxies just below the two elongated unidentified galaxies seen in my NGC 969 observation. I'm always intrigued by any very diminutive unidentified galaxies in an image or visual FOV, I just love that mystery and sense of never ending universe they conjure up.

  Dale Holt - (13 December 2020).

• NGC 833 and Hickson 16 in Cetus

  I thought I'd send you my sketch of Owen's Galaxy of the Month from a few years ago.

  

  Dale Holt - (19 November 2020).

• A Couple of Arps from Cetus

  After my best observation of Mars this apparition on the evening of 3rd Nov I hung around in Cetus and despite a bright gibbous Moon I caught another 2 of Halton Arp's finest! Both faint and challenging but I feel my set up performed well.

  Firstly Arp 19 aka NGC 145 a 3-armed spiral, I got all the arms readily but wasn't able to see the arms completely 'wrap' the galaxy I was able to detect some brighter regions and a curious small loop in the NE region of the magnitude 13.2 galaxy that is reported as showing little or no detail in a 25" scope from dark skies.

  

  Next I took in Arp 35 aka UGC 212 or PGC 1431 and PGC 1434 faint and small at magnitudes 15.5 0.3' x 0.1' and magnitude 15.0 1.5' x 0.7'.

  

  The brighter and larger of the two, PGC 1434, was obvious on the monitor at 5 seconds integration but I needed to put it up to 19 seconds and study the screen for a long time, almost an hour in total, before I completed the sketch, in this time every adjustment was made to the monitor and camera settings trying to maximise the view. This was true also of my study of Arp 145 it is not a simple matter to discern the faintest detail as one might think it would be. This kind of deep observation is very akin to the visual struggle one has with deep sky objects at the eyepiece.

  Well the struggle was worth it, the detail I was able to pull out far exceeded my expectations with the connecting arm or faint filament as stated in Atlas of Arp peculiar galaxies extended almost to UGC 1431 from UGC 1434 in fact it may have indeed actually reached but the view was so vague and tentative that I left a gap in my sketch.

  Hope these two are of interest? I enjoyed catching them and hope for a good few more over the coming months.

  Dale Holt - (5 November 2020).

• Messier 33 in Triangulum

  I took this last night 2000 second exposure of M33. Bit of saturation or flat off on the calibration, it got colder and focus drifted a bit. The Moon was coming up so only time for one exposure, thought it captured quite a bit of detail for a single shot.

  

  Image Details

  • Telescope: AG14 Orion F 3.8
  • Camera: FLI Microline Camera

  Richard Weatherley - (4 November 2020).

• NGC 128 galaxy group

  From last Friday night, this is the last thing that I have to do before leaving for Kelling. Inspired by Owen's Galaxy of the Month for October 2020. First NGC 125 with NGC 126 and NGC 127 to the left.

  

  And the main galaxy group. The cross easily seen in NGC 128.

  

  New coatings on the mirror 🙂 Rather windy so video integration limited to 15 seconds.

  Dale Holt - (15 October 2020).

• Two Galaxy Groups in Pegasus

  With this single colour shot of 1000 second exposure Richard has captured two galaxy groups.

  The main feature is NGC 7331 to the right with the 'fleas' above it that make up the Deer Lick galaxy group. But below and to the left, about 30 arc-minutes away, you can just make out Stephan's Quintet (Arp 319) as well.

  

  Image Details

  • Telescope: AG14 Orion F 3.8
  • Camera: FLI Microline Camera

  Richard Weatherley - (18 September 2020).

• NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 in Virgo

  I have a new sketch of the May 2020 galaxy of the month (NGC 4567-8) that I made with my 20-inch, observing from our dark site in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania (SQM 21.8). The sketch was made at 360x with North up.

  

  Ivan Maly - (20 May 2020).

• M 63 and NGC 4631 in Canes Venatici

  I noticed someone’s picture of Messier 63 in the last magazine that consisted of many 900 second exposures through various filters and thought I’d give it a go.

  

  I have another one taken two nights ago of the Whale Galaxy (NGC 4631). The Hockey Stick (NGC 4656) is visible in the bottom right too.

  

  Both images are a single colour shot of 1000 second exposure. The sky is so much clearer at the moment so tracking programmes perform better. Probably never be as good again.

  Image Details

  • Telescope: AG14 Orion F 3.8
  • Camera: FLI Microline Camera

  Richard Weatherley - (20 May 2020).

• Messier 91 (NGC 4548) and Starlink Satellites in Coma Berenices

  Messier 91 was discovered by Charles Messier on March 18 1781, and at magnitude 10.2, it is the faintest object in his catalogue. However, he made a mistake recording the position of M91 and other observers could not find any object at its recorded location. William Herschel observed the same galaxy on April 8, 1784.

  M 91 became one of the "missing Messier objects", and it wasn't until 1969 that amateur astronomer, W C Williams, reconstructed Messier's mistake in recording the position. There are few bright stars in this area of the sky to provide fixed points, so Messier had recorded the location of M91 relative to another galaxy. Messier had recorded the position relative to M89, but Williams wondered if he should have written M58, rather than M 89. He tested this hypothesis and landed on NGC 4548 to better than one minute of arc. So M91 is now accepted as NGC 4548.

  M91 is classified as an anaemic galaxy, that is a spiral galaxy with low star formation and gas content compared with other galaxies of its type. The core and bar are relatively bright, but the outer regions and spiral arms are very faint with a surface brightness around mag 22/arc-seconds-sq, providing a tough observational challenge.

  

  On the evening of April 25, my data gathering was interrupted by the passage of a stream of Starlink satellites. One of my red subs captured the passage of three of them through Coma Berenices around 20:12 to 20:22 UT. The camera shutter closed as the last one crossed the field of view. I've used this sub as a luminance layer on the finished image to give an impression of their appearance.

  

  Image Details

  Data were gathered between April 20 and 26, and test subs confirmed the faint nature of the outer regions of the galaxy. The image, therefore, comprises 50 x five-minute luminance and 15 x 10-minutes, each of RGB, binned 2 x 2.

  I processed the image in Pixinsight and used the photometric colour calibration tool to check the star colours. The galaxy has a B-V value of 0.8, that is the orange side of white, so I think the presented colour is more or less correct.

  • Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: QSI 683 with Astrodon filters.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  David Davies - (13 May 2020).

• Back to Leo

  I wasn't totally expecting a session last night but I was happy to oblige thank you :) My sky was a good one! I picked out Sue French's Deep Sky wonders from the shelf for inspiration and settled on NGC 3501 as a starting point as it was the faintest thing listed in 'Leo's 11th hour' I also checked my NGC files to ensure that I hadn't observed it before!

  First: NGC 3501 in Leo, nice relatively small , clean sided edge on magnitude 12.9, only points of note were a central region obviously brighter with small nucleus, this region didn't 'bulge' as is common but actually gave the galaxy a slim waisted appearance. Two faint stars stand guard at the northern tip.

  

  Second: Lying just North of the first observation, also listed in Sue's book but I hadn't noted that fact until this write up! This magnitude 10.9 barred spiral, NGC 3507, was the finest object of the night! The main spiral appeared as a over-extended backwards letter 'S'. A foreground star lies over the galaxy and is brighter than the nucleus to its right. Outer arms form a diffuse halo that took a long video camera integration time of 21 secs to be sure of.

  

  Third: A nice contrasting pair arranged north and south of a reasonably bright star. NGC 3454 is an edge on, clean sided no brightening or other features. NGC 3455 is to the south, another grain or seed shaped galaxy bright central nuclear region which extends slightly NW-SE. An interesting pair.

  

  Fourth: A small cluster, principle members are NGCs 3473 and 3474 with a number of small faint unknown galaxies in the field. I should imagine through most scopes the main galaxies would appear stellar. The difficulty of resolution being exacerbated by the fact that NGC 3476 appears closely associated with a bright star, its galactic halo extending around the star itself. NGC 3473 to the south is plain slightly elongated E-W.

  

  Started 10.30 BST, closed down 01.30, most enjoyable.

  Dale Holt - (25 April 2020).

• Messier 59 and Messier 60 in Virgo

  The galaxies of the Virgo cluster in Messier's catalogue are among the outstanding Messier objects on my Messier imaging marathon. I have found these galaxies to be challenging objects to observe. The spring weather is usually contrary and the rapidly brightening evening skies give little time for imaging. I was very pleased, therefore, to image both M59 and M60 in the field of view of my 8-inch RC.

  

  I have found this image to be fascinating to examine as it contains many faint galaxies including the compact dwarf galaxies associated with M59 and M60. I've included an inverted version of the image for lovers of faint fuzzies. On this image, I've discovered galaxies fainter than magnitude 19, including the dwarf galaxies M60UCD1 and M59UDC3.

  

  I've attached two crops from the main image, showing M59 and M60 separately - and making better compositions.

  

  

  Messiers 59 and 60 in Virgo were discovered by Johann Kohler on 11th April 1799 whilst observing a comet. Messier himself discovered them, independently, days later and noted them in his list. Messier 60 (lower left) is interacting with NGC 4647, discovered by William Herschel and was given the designation of Arp 116 by Harlton Arp.

  Image Details

  Capturing the image data proved to be quite challenging as there are few bright stars in this part of the sky and my off-axis guide camera had to use a magnitude 12 star as a guide star, needing constant monitoring of the image capture process.

  • Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien.
  • Camera: QSI 683.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  The image comprises 20 x five-minutes luminance and 10 x 5-minutes each of RGB, binned 2 x 2.

  David Davies - (22 April 2020).

• Galaxy of the Month and other Galaxies in Virgo

  For me last night was very good indeed. I often say that the Watec cameras perform well in poor and hazy conditions, and they do. But as with eyepiece views on a cracking night, images on the monitor really zing when the sky delivers!

  My initial target last night was NGC 4410A the Galaxy of the Month. I looked at the image on the Webb website, immediately assumed the target was one of the larger face on spirals and star hopped off after syncing on Denebola. When the last goto move put the larger spirals out of the field of view, centering on what appeared to be two small but bright galaxies touching or joined.

  I went and read the instructions! All was then of course revealed and made perfect sense, the monitor view with 15 secs integration showed pretty much all the goodies in and around the target so I sketched before moving onto the larger but much fainter duo NGC 4411A and B that had caught my eye initially.

  

  

  A different ball game, much tweaking of knobs trying to increase contrast so I could pull out more detail. I had no hope of seeing spiral structure the like of which was displayed so finely on the Webb web page. So I sketched all that I could make out and moved onto NGC 4567 and NGC 4568: Copeland's "Siamese twins" wow!

  

  Why hadn't I been here before? Fantastic, these must be an Arp I thought, checked and no, really! Spent a while sketching these making sure that angles were about right on the paper. The screen view really was something, then I started to think the star I could see in the lower portion of the larger left-hand galaxy NGC 4568 I couldn't see in image I could pull up in Sky Map Pro, I looked in Bratton's no star there either! I will leave it at that as I quickly scanned and fired it off to Guy Hurst just in case I had struck lucky, I doubt it but you never know we all look at many galaxies, most off the beaten track, hopefully one of us will strike lucky one day :) At the time of writing I have not heard back from Guy but I'm not holding my breath, there is bound to be another explanation.

  My penultimate target was M58, very close by the sketch in my Messier file was mediocre at best and made using the 14" back in 2009! With images tonight being good I would make a revisit. There was more detail to be had than my first sketch but this remain quite an elusive Messier for real intricate detail the outer arms are very tenuous!

  

  Last stop because the outline in Sky Map pro looked so long and slender was NGC 4762 and it turned out to be a corker of an edge on, very sharp, especially the brighter inner region radiating from the core and the outer halo isn't too fat and fluffy so it doesn't detract from the spear like view of the galaxy, this is a real winner. close to 3 stars, 2 of them bright enough to show diffraction spikes, this must be a great target for the visual boys? The star to the right was just above a tiny goings on of very distant galaxies.

  

  Brilliant session, time 01.30, eyes were burning, deffo time for bed, but sleep to a while to come as I was buzzing.

  Dale Holt - (15 April 2020).

• Galaxy Observations

  Three sketches from Friday night, inspired by the Webb society web page NGC 3344 in Leo Minor and NGC 2289 in Hydra, both very interesting and beautiful galaxies so thanks for the inspiration.

  

  

  I also made another observation in Hydra whilst I was visiting, an interesting tadpole like duo NGC's 2292 and 2293.

  

  Dale Holt - (22 March 2020).

• The Integral Sign Galaxy (UGC 3697) in Camelopardalis

  This is a magnitude 13.68 galaxy in Camelopardalis. UGC 3697 is an edge-on spiral 'super-thin' galaxy with warped arms located approximately 151 million light-years away.

  Scientists believe the warping is the result of interaction with the dwarf galaxy UGC 3714, the (magnitude 12.6) round spiral galaxy below and to the left (east) of UGC 3697.

  There are many other faint galaxies in this image, including PGC213372, the magnitude 17.7, face-on galaxy to the right and just below UGC3714.

  

  One of the challenges in capturing and processing this image is the presence of the two, bright orange stars. HD54070, to the left, is an orange star (B-V 1.1) of magnitude 6.3, and HD52762 is a magnitude 7 star of a slightly deeper orange hue (B-V 1.3). By comparison, the three blue-white stars to the left of UGC 3697 are magnitude 10 to 11.

  Image Details

  • Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien at 1660mm focal length.
  • Camera: QSI 683 with Astrodon filters.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  Image data were captured on the evenings of 17th to 27th February 2020. The data comprise 24 x 5-minutes luminance and 6 x 10-minutes each of RGB.

  David Davies - (2 March 2020).

• Arp 245 in Hydra

  The February 2020 galaxy of the month is one of the most intriguing pairs in the Herschel catalog, although when I observed these two with my old 12-inch three years ago I could not see any details.

  I am attaching a new sketch that I made with my 20-inch, observing from our dark site in the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania (SQM 21.5, seeing 2").

  

  The sketch was made at 250x, and I also examined the field at higher and lower magnifications. The arm in NGC 2993, the connecting material, and the RFGC remained invisible. I blame reflection from fresh snow, which was noticeably brightening the sky even though we had excellent transparency.

  The sketch on black paper was finished at the telescope.

  Ivan Maly - (15 February 2020).

• A few finds in Lepus

  It was my initial intention to stay in Orion and look for more faint planetary nebulae. Here I have to report 2 failures.

  The first one was absolutely zero seen of PK204-8.1, this according to images is a lovely ring structure. I could detect nothing, not a hint. I spent an hour trying with settings on the monitor and camera turning the exposure up to 20-sec integration and still nothing. I could see the stars that are superimposed on the nebula, all the field stars down to magnitude 19 or fainter but no nebulosity and I knew exactly where it would be!

  Next PK215-30.1, I could see nothing at the location, looking at images this was less surprising than the first failure as it was a diffuse and tenuous nebula. Studying the monitor with the knowledge of what the nebula looked like, well maybe there was some milky structure there but I was far from sure so I moved on.

  I dropped down into Lepus and changed quarry to galaxies.

  Arp 123 was a revisit, last sketched back in 2013. This time I pulled out a little more of the dust lane than previously and sketched in some fainter stars than back in 2013. I also caught a nice little PGC 172117 with a central bulge just out of the field-of-view to the south. I made a quick shape sketch in the info margin of the main sketch.

  

  Next I got a nice little first, NGC 1843 a fine SC spiral, magnitude 12.7, two arms seen, mottled central region and a couple of superimposed brighter stars, a nice object.

  

  IC 418 (PK 215-24.1) was an interesting and surprising observation, to cut a long story short, using the camera in the usual setting format the nebula appeared as a bright circular and uniform disc.

  I know it is basically a fairly bright star and a faint spherical nebula in line of sight association. The camera appeared to be combining the two! If I turned it up to max 20-sec integration then the object displayed diffraction spikes. However if I turned the camera right down to a very short integration time that would just show down to magnitude 5-7 stars then a small nebulous disc appeared with an obvious associated star, as drawn. I can't work it out but I have recorded what I saw, and from my perspective it is what it was on the video camera.

  

  That is all I have to share. This persistent haze or clag as they say north of Watford really has put the kibosh on what could have been a nice little winter run for us deep sky peeps.

  Dale Holt - (21 January 2020).

• January's Galaxy of the Month

  Happy New Year.

  Last night I made this sketch of the NGC 2563 group in Cancer following Owen naming it his Galaxy of the Month. I hadn't observed this group before and all though it wasn't the best night to do so I grabbed the opportunity  having been so frustrated over the holiday by my skies.

  

  I don't feel that I would have pulled out much more detail in the two brighter galaxies even if it hadn't been hazy and the Moon wasn't at 84%, however I would have seen some more of the fainter surrounding galaxies which always enchant me on the edge of visibility.

  

  Usual equipment: 505mm Newt with a Watec 120N+ video camera set to a 15 second integrated exposure and sketched black-on-white from the monochrome CRT monitor.

  Dale Holt - 7 January 2020

• Interesting galactic goings on in Aries

  I got a while in the observatory last night, friends have been saying that the sky was poor but it was transparent enough for the video camera to show me some interesting galactic goings on in Aries 😊.

  Arp 31 (IC 167) a nice integral sign spiral with a thicker more complex northern arm with some brighter patches therein.

  

  Arp 290 (IC 195 and IC 196). Nice hockey stick southern tip to IC 196, IC 195 is the lower galaxy, I believe what looks like a fainter edge on running across the northern tip of IC 196 is in fact a distorted section of IC 196 itself, described as 'wind effect'.

  

  Last, but not least, very interesting NGC 877 again in Aries, lots of interesting and complex structure in the arms, NGC 876 is the fainter edge on below with a partial dust lane spotted. I hope you can make out a 3rd faint circular smudge to the upper right of 877, I have not identified this galaxy and it was very faint on my crt monitor.

  

  It is very difficult to draw very faint edge-of-vision objects but still make them visible to viewers in my sketch without making them too bright.

  Dale Holt - (30 November 2019).

• Another Galaxy of the Month

  I grabbed an opportunity last night despite the very milky sky to take a look at Owen's galaxy (NGC 7436), or rather galaxy group, of the month for November 2020. Despite the sky all members were seen (Ed. plus MCG +4-54-7 and MAC 2257+2606C) using the 505mm mirror and cooled Watec 120N+ video camera.

  

  I then ticked a stunning Arp pair off my list in Aries: Arp 78, NGC's 772 and 770. Just stunning, sky was a little better in this region of the but still poor with haze.

  

  Dale Holt - (19 November 2019).

• NGC 52 in Pegasus

  Here we have NGC52 in Pegasus, a first sketch of this object, nice fairly faint edge on with obvious dust lane running SE-NW. Circa 14th mag I believe, diameter 137,000 ly, distance 247mly.

  

  I made the sketch last night (24-10-19) using the 505mm mirror, cooled Watec 120N analogue video camera.

  Dale Holt - (25 October 2019).

• Observation in Pisces

  A couple of observations from last night. Both from Pisces one is of Owen's Webb Society Galaxy of the Month, NGC 7778, making a nice trio with NGC 7779 and NGC 7781. I positioned the field to include the larger and rather interesting NGC 7782 in my sketch.

  

  The other sketch is of a very interesting pair of galaxies NGC 7537 and NGC 7541 the later being the larger of the two and somewhat resembling a lasso 😁 (Ed. these were also a Galaxy of the Month back in October 2015)

  

  I sketched using graphite pencil on white paper and inverted the sketch in paint.

  Dale Holt - (28 October 2019).

• Observations of the NGC 750 group in Triangulum

  My observation of the September's Galaxy of the Month with a 60-cm F4.5 Newtonian, 8mm Ethos eyepiece giving x338 and a 18’ field of view (FOV). Magnitude 5.5 skies, Ant III, at 02:15 UT on the 2nd September 2019.

  The 750 group was pretty straightforward. I identified 6 galaxies in total (NGC 736, NGC 738, NGC 740, NGC 759, NGC 751 and NGC 761) ranging in magnitude from magnitude 13.1 to magnitude 15.9. NGC 750/NGC 751 is Arp 166.

  NGC 738 was almost stellar with a bit of 'fuzz'. The group was spread over half a degree so with the 8mm Ethos (x340) used to observe them I had to move around and missed ngc 739 (magnitude 14.9) and NGC 733 - dubious this one re mag etc. MegaStar5 and Sky Tools 3 give slightly varying magnitudes.

  

  The double star I noticed which I estimated to have a separation of 2" - 3" was A 1920, magnitudes 9.4 and 9.2 with a separation of 1.7".

  N.B. Having since read Harold Corwin’s notes he states NGC 733 is almost certainly a star.

  MegaStar5 magnitudes:

  • NGC 736 m12.1
  • NGC 738 m15.9
  • NGC 739 m14.9(P)
  • NGC 740 m14.8(P)
  • NGC 750 m12.9(P)
  • NGC 751 m13.6
  • NGC 761 m14.4(P)

  Andrew Robertson - 4 September 2019

• The Spindle Galaxy (M 102) in Draco

  The Spindle Galaxy was discovered by Pierre Méchain on 27th March 1781. Méchain described the object as a nebula between the stars Omicron Boötis & Iota Draconis, adding that it is very faint; near it is a star of the sixth magnitude. Méchain probably meant Theta Boötis, not Omicron, which contributed to the subsequent confusion around the identity of M 102. Omicron Boötis is more than 40 degrees away from Iota Draconis, which makes the possibility of an error very likely. Méchain reported the discovery to Messier, who added the object to his catalogue.

  The confusion about the object started two years later, in May 1783, when Méchain wrote to Bernoulli in Berlin saying that the listing of M 102 was a mistake and that the object referred to was a duplicate observation of M 101. One can imagine that M 102 could not be found due to the error in the original observation notes.

  It was the French astronomer Camille Flammarion who identified NGC 5866 as M 102 in his “List of the Messier Objects,” published in L’Astronomie in November 1917, arguing that the Greek letter Omicron (ο), written down by Messier, was in fact a lowercase Theta (θ). This was probably correct because the object found at this location corresponds to Messier’s description of M 102.

  The Spindle Galaxy was independently discovered by William Herschel in 1788. Herschel determined the position of the object on May 5, 1788, describing it as very bright. Considerably large. Extended. Following [east of] 2 stars.

  M 102 is a spindle-type galaxy, seen edge-on and around 41 million light years distant. It is magnitude 10.7 and 6 x 3 arc minutes in extent. There are many faint galaxies in this image including mag 14.9, NGC 5826, at bottom centre and mag 16.2, PGC166188 towards top-right.

  

  I find the image to be particularly pleasing as I seem to have captured the pearly white glow of the halo around the galaxy, the warp at the eastern (right) edge of the dust lane, something of the blue glow of star-forming regions at the western edge of the dust lane and the orange glow of old stars in the core. This cropped image shows more detail.

  

  Image Details

  • Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien at 1660mm focal length.
  • Camera: QSI 583 with Astrodon filters.
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.

  Data for this image were captured between 27th May and 17th June - yes on the shortest nights and with a waxing Moon. The data comprises 23 x five-minutes luminance and seven each of five-minutes RGB subs, all binned 1 x 1.The main image is 30 minutes each of RGB in two-minute subs.

  David Davies - (21 June 2019).

• Observational Sketches

  Dale Holt recently sent me a large selection of sketches, for which I have to thank him. I've taken the liberty of selecting a few that I find interesting because of the process they show.

  NGC 2283 in Canis Major

  The first is Dale's pencil sketch of this galaxy showing his annotations. He's back to using his 505mm Newtonian with an analogue Watec 120N+ camera.

  

  Next Dale's reversed the first sketch to provide a light on dark sketch that can help detail pop out. It's perhaps a better representation of what you see in an eyepiece of a really large scope with nice skies.

  However Dale's using Electronic Assistance (EA) here to view on a monitor under (as he mentions in his notes) hazy British skies. I expect that's what he's going to talk about at our Annual Meeting in Cambridge this summer when he "goes deep on the cheap".

  

  I couldn't resist comparing that view to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). I think that Dale's capturing a fair amount of the detail in the image below, especially around the bar. The Digitised Sky Survey (DSS) isn't as detailed as Dale's view.

  

  NGC 2683 in Lynx

  The final sketch I'd like to present represents a change in drawing technique. Dale says that he found this galaxy stunning and decided to use pastels on black paper as opposed to my usual graphite on white. It has a much softer feel than the pencil sketches.

  

  James Whinfrey - (4 March 2019).

• A Galaxy and a Flame

  Last night's weather conditions could not have been better. I had a wonderful clear sky all night. This is something that we don't often see under British Skies.

  This was good enough that I was able to finally save some ancient light from two targets. The first one is in the constellation Auriga, and the other one, in the late Winter-Spring constellation Leo.

  NGC 2903 is a field barred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel who catalogued it on November 16, 1784. NGC 2905 is a bright star cloud within this galaxy. NGC 2903 has a very high speed of creating new stars in the central region. Wikipedia

  • Distance to Earth: 30.66 million light years
  • Magnitude: 9.7
  • Apparent magnitude (V): 9.7
  • Apparent size (V): 12'.6 × 6'.0
  • Redshift: 556 ± 1 km/s
  • Constellation: Leo

  

  My picture was taken with 5-minute exposures x36 to give a total exposure time 3hrs.

  IC 405 is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the bluish star AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0. Its celestial coordinates are RA 05h 16.2m dec +34° 28'. Wikipedia

  • Magnitude: 6
  • Apparent magnitude (V): 6
  • Distance: 1500 ly
  • Coordinates: RA 5h 16m 5s | Dec +34° 27' 49"
  • Constellation: Auriga

  

  This picture was again 5 minutes in length. I took 24 exposures for this two-hour composite, using a 7nm Ha filter.

  Paul A Brierley - (3 February 2019).

• NGC 678, NGC 680 and IC 1730 in Aries

  

  I sketched these galaxies on the 17th November. I used the 505mm Newt with the old Watec 120N+ camera, I have ditched the digital CCD Ultra star at least for now! I am also running without GoTo software so it is a matter of star hoping by input of RA and Dec coordinates into the AWR handset, labourious, but at least I'm getting some observing and sketching done!

  Dale Holt - (20 November 2018).

• June's Galaxy of the Month: M101

  This is a image of M101 with data captured over the 13th, 16th and 20th of March 2018 for a total of 4h10m (25x600s) of luminance and 20m (2x600s) each of Red, Green and Blue.

  I used an Altair Astro GSO 10" F8 scope with a Starlight Xpress H694 camera and Astronomik filters from Mileaway Observatory in East Sussex.

  

  Paul Whitmarsh - 5 June 2018

• NGC 4314 in Coma Berenices

  A single sketch of a wonderful face on barred spiral in Coma B NGC 4314 from April 4th. Starlightxpress Ultrastar digital video camera and 505mm mirror used.

  

  Dale Holt - (8 April 2018).

• A new camera: going digital

  Here are my first sketches with my new Starlightxpress Ultrastar digital video camera on 25 February 2018. At the time of writing I'm undecided as to whether it has an advantage over my old analogue Watec camera?

  The images are certainly sharper and cleaner but do I see more and deeper? There is still much to learn about the cameras control, I'am certainly not getting the best out of it at this early stage.

  Arp 49 in Boötes

  

  Located in Boötes, apparently single galaxy visually with interesting faint arms bearing a tiny HSB companion (5665A) visible only in deep images. Magnitude 12.7 and 1.9' x 1.3' in size.

  This is my first Arp sketch made using the Ultra Star digital video camera. 10 second exposure with 505mm mirror.

  NGC 5746 in Virgo

  

  A beautiful edge on in Virgo. Like a 'little Sombrero'. Fantastic dark lane. Magnitude 11.3, 8.0' x 1.3' in size and at a distance of 77 Mly.

  This image was the first sketch that I made with the Starlightxpress Ultrastar digital video camera, 10 second exposure in a poor pre-dawn sky.

  Dale Holt - (7 March 2018).

• A Month of Arps in Pegasus

  I got out in the observatory last night and made a sketch. I had not researched a target, just went for Pegasus galaxies. I sketched NGC 7549 which is a 13th magnitude stunner.

  

  Researching it this morning I see it forms part of Arp 99 and Hickson 93 so I had observed and sketched it before! Although not as a standalone object. Should research before observing!!

  Still avery nice object and I pulled out some good detail.

  Continuing with my renewed vigour I grabbed a small break in cloud last night to grab an observation and sketch.

  NGC 7448 isn't the most exciting galaxy so I won't post this on social media, but as I'm working through the Arp's I can't just pick the cherries 😉

  

  Located in Pegasus, very close to alpha Pegasi. Quite bright magnitude 11.6, elongate N-S. Described as a spiral with detached segments. I noted a bright nucleus, and a brighter region on the northern tip, down in my drawing. I saw the galaxy as having a slightly curved nature.

  I got out again and I was straight onto a rather attractive Arp, 65, a pair of NGC galaxies, just to the mid left of the square of Pegasus.

  

  NGC 90 is the attractive central spiral in my sketch (magnitude 13.6) with NGC 93 to the left (magnitude 13.3).

  Tiny companion galaxies lie off projected ends of both spiral arms. I got some of the companions, but not all of them I'm sure, a good observation though and another Arp tick for me 😃

  Dale Holt - (28 October 2017).

• An early observation of the August 2017 Galaxies

  The sketch is the result of two observation sessions, made with the 20” Dobsonian, under NELM 5.5/5.6 skies.

  NGC 6962 and NGC 6964 stand out immediately. NGC 6961 is small, indistinct and difficult, even at higher magnifications. NGC 6967 becomes a more defined oval at higher magnifications and at times I thought I got a hint of a core. It is located near a brighter star. NGC 6959 sits in a nice star grouping. NGC 6965 possibly shows a hint of a core at higher powers.

  

  The group would be worth a revisit on one of those rare very good nights.

  Mike Wood - 28 July 2017

• July's Galaxy of the Month: NGC 6548

  Sky conditions were good last night (30/07/17), NELM 5.5/5.6 with very little dew and a gentle breeze.

  Pointing the 20” Dobsonian at NGC 6548, with an 8mm Ethos eyepiece (x294), the galaxy was immediately obvious. Closer inspection showed a definite oval bright core, extending either side. Hints of a surrounding halo could be detected but very difficult to be certain of this observation.

  

  Nearby NGC 6549 was difficult to detect. It appeared as a thin oval patch of fuzz but I was not convinced of its orientation. At higher power (x336), the core and its extension became brighter and more extensive as did the surrounding halo (there was no better definition at x470 or x 537 but it was fun trying). NGC 6549 remained difficult at all magnifications.

  Whilst in Hercules I wandered over to M13 – glorious at x537, picked up nearby NGC 6207 and as usual failed on IC 4617.

  Mike Wood - 31 July 2017

• Observing June's Galaxy of the Month: NGC6764

  On a lovely warm summer's night I hunted out NGC 6764 using my 20” Dob in skies with a NELM of magnitude 5.4/5.5.

  At first glance I could see a fuzzy patch surrounding three faint stars but the more I looked the more I saw.

  Using x294 I was unable to see more than the small fuzzy patch. The lower star did look brighter than the other two. Using averted vision (AV) this brighter star began to look much like the central halo of the galaxy, and so it was. Also by using AV the fuzz patch had a definite West-East orientation. I noted the double star ES 979 near by to the West.

  Increasing the magnification to x470 and using AV there were indications of the central bar either side of the central bright patch. With AV, I was also able to locate the nearby PGC 214715 galaxy.

  

  A delightful way to spend 45 minutes or so teasing out the details.

  Mike Wood - 6 June 2017

• A Morning with Galaxies and a Cluster

  Here are a few observations from the morning of April 27th 2017. My primary aim was to follow up on an observation that I made with Andrew Robertson, Owen Brazell and Callum Potter at Kelling using Andrew's driven 24" Dobsonian of the NGC 5222 group in Virgo.

  My effort was reasonably successful, however the field of view using the Watec camera is small and I couldn't match the field of the eyepiece view.

  

  After this I took the chance of going low into Ophiuchus and getting a sketch of M12 which was missing from my Messier sketch archives. I used the 6" triplet refractor and older uncooled Watec video camera as globulars being very bright tend to saturate the camera using the big mirror.

  

  After I had sketched M12 I moved back to the 20" and searched the cluster finding 3 tiny faint galaxies in the outer fringe, fascinating. Unfortunately I haven't been able to id them. (Ed. This image shows these galaxies nicely on the lower left edge of M12.)

  

  Dale Holt - (2 May 2017).

• A Superb Session!

  Clearing skies from the north meant that by 8.45pm it was totally clear and with the 92% moon rising just after 10pm there was a potential 2 hour window. The skies looked clear and dew free. So the OMC 200 was wheeled out for the session.

  I was looking forward to Iota Leo (STF 1536) because of the difficult challenge to separate the two components, (mag 4 and mag 6.7, sep 2.1). At my last attempt in April 2016 I was unable to split the pair. Also I was keen to check out any hints of colour.

  I synced the scope on Regulus (always a fine sight with its fainter companion) and then headed to Iota, even though it was not dark (8.40pm).

  At x167, Iota was clearly a pale yellow and as it danced in the centre of the fov, it had that feel that it must be a double. There was a repeating hint of elongation to the shimmering, sparkling star. Going to x220, the yellow colour was still obvious and in the moments of steadiness there was the tiny speck of component B sitting on the first diffraction ring. At x320 I confirmed my sighting of B. Using x400 I could see B most of the time.

  Having met the challenge all that was left was to confirm component C, no problem to spot this mag 11 star. I then just enjoyed the view and before I knew it 40 minutes had passed since I first sighted Iota. A delightful way to spend the time under the stars.

  

  More for a laugh rather than with any seriousness I wondered if the Galaxy of the Month (NGC2964) might be visible in the OMC 200, noting that Owen had chosen a pair of brighter galaxies. So I sent the scope to Castor (glorious double) to sync on it and to get the equatorial flip out of the way and then headed over to NGC2964.

  Noting that Owen had chosen a Herschel Galaxy, I thought NGC 2964 should just be doable. As soon as I looked through the e/p (x167), there it was. A definite oval shape and quite large. Then NGC2968 popped into view. I increased the magnification to x200. Both were easily held in view with a steady gaze. In fact as I settled into the view I kept getting hints of brightness within NGC2964 with the brightest part being towards the western end of the oval. NGC2968 was smaller and lacked any hint of a core.

  The reason locating this pair of galaxies so easily was quite simple. The sky was quite transparent for GB skies. There was none of the dreaded clag or dew. Around 9.30pm (BST) I was able to see direct mag 5.6 stars at the Zenith in the 4 minutes of true astro dark.

  With the moon still out of the way I then pondered Owen’s reference In terms of visibility Harrington in his book Cosmic Challenge suggests all three galaxies may be the range of a 20cm (8”) telescope. Two mag 13+ stars were visible near to NGC2964 so I decided to try for NGC2970.

  The obvious mag 11.7 star to the North of NGC2968 was a useful reference point and to my surprise I could see the mag 13.7 to the east of NGC2968 and then also the mag 14+ star came into view. With these 3 stars identified I stared intently, gently moving the scope to maximise my AV. Yep, there was NGC2970 – not exactly screaming at me but every now and then a small, faint fuzz kept appearing in exactly the right place.

  

  Absolutely no way could I have seen it on a typical claggy, mag 5.4 night. Wow, what a privilege to locate it in the OMC. I now wished I had the Dob out and ready.

  With the moon beginning to lighten the SE sky should I go for doubles? I then remembered that there are comets in our sky...

  Mike Wood - 14 April 2017

• Observation of NGC 2964 in Leo

  Please find attached an observation I made of this month's galaxy last year. I made the observation from my home site under poor skies (as ever). The instrument used was a 12" Newtonian reflector.

  NGC 2964 - Large and quite dim. Brighter in the middle where there is a roundish brighter central area.

  NGC 2968 - Smaller than NGC 2964 and dimmer. Elongated but with no sign of central brightening.

  NGC 2970 - A very small, very faint, round nebulous spot. This galaxy is magnitude 13.6, but was rescued from the gloopy skies by having a high surface brightness of 11.7. It is a Markarian galaxy, bearing the catalogue number Mk 405.

  

  When writing up this observation, I was puzzled by the elongation I had drawn for NGC 2968. Photographs show an elongation, but some way off the orientation I had drawn. Closer examination of the photographs seem to show that the photographic elongation is caused by the outer parts of the galaxy, which may have been too faint for me to detect. The central section of the galaxy does appear to have an elongation more in line with what I saw. This is an odd galaxy, and deep images show that it is interacting with the smaller NGC 2970.

  Patrick Maloney - 2 April 2017

• NGC 2964 in Leo from Norfolk

  I’d been at the SPA meeting at Cambridge all day. Got home, had tea then 2 hours sleep and was out observing by midnight. Choice of scope was the 12” Mewlon with a diagonal fitted for quickness and ease of use.

  My intention was for Galaxy of Month first as I knew Leo would be past the meridian then 41P with C/2017 E4 about 4am.

  Skies were good overhead, NELM of 5.5 but very damp and therefore claggy low down. The galaxy group was in the SW at an altitude of 41 degrees, so in-between these extremes of sky conditions.

  I used a 27mm Panoptic and a 22mm Panoptic giving x132 and x162 respectively. The 27mm gave a nicer field of view but NGC 2970 was better seen in the 22mm – AV1.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 3 April 2017

• IC 504 group in Hydra

  I was looking forward to this month’s challenge, because the chosen galaxies were IC galaxies. It is always interesting and a challenge to explore IC galaxies as a change to NGCs. Noting that they are magnitude 13 galaxies meant I would need a decent night. The night 20th March presented a NELM of 5.5 and for GB skies a night with slightly lower humidity levels.

  I headed for IC 504 first as it is the brightest and immediately picked it up – x181. At x470 it clearly had a core, which I describe as a “soft core” – bright central area and gradually fading further out. IC 504 sits at the end of a delightful curve of mag 11/12 stars – useful to locate the galaxy as well as a “pretty sight”.

  Putting the 13 ethos back in I was able to just locate IC 505 and IC 506 using AV, but it required a magnification of x294 to be certain of their position. At x470 I could detect a small, tight core in IC 505. Lying between these two galaxies is a delightful collection of mag 14 stars.

  Just for interest I wondered if the 3 PGC galaxies would be detectable (all magnitude 15+). PGC 23509 is at the other end of the star curve from IC 505 and with concentrated viewing I spotted a faint patch of fuzz. Next up I was able to locate PGC 23493, using averted vision (AV2). Finally after much squinting I kept getting hints of PGC 23510 (AV3).

  

  The following night, under similar conditions I was observing with Andrew Robertson, using his driven 600mm Dob. The observation went something like this: Andrew at the eyepiece, myself on the ground.

  Mike: see the line of curved stars at the top of the fov

  Andrew: yep.

  Mike: look to the left of the curve.

  Andrew: got it.

  Mike: look to the right of the curve.

  Andrew: got it.

  Mike: now look to the far right of the fov.

  Andrew: got them both.

  Mike: see the brighter star in the centre of the fov and look a little below..., Yep got it before I finished my sentence.

  Mike: now look below 504 and..., Yep got it was heard again before I finished my sentence.

  So in the space of 5 minutes Andrew saw all 6 galaxies, whereas it had taken me the best part of 30 minutes teasing them out in my 500mm Dob. It just goes to show the considerable greater light gathering of a 600mm Dob over a 500mm Dob.

  After this enjoyable adventure, we wandered off to the Twin Quasers in Ursa major – now that did take a bit more effort, including using AV but wonderful to see an object 8.7 billion light years away.

  Mike Wood (and Andrew Robertson) - 23 March 2017

• More of February's Galaxy of the Month

  This is my sketch of the NGC 3801 galaxy group, or part of it made using the 20" and Watec video camera on 16 January 2016. I didn't know it as that group name when I observed it.

  

  Dale Holt - 17 February 2017

• Arp 43 and some bonus NGCs in Boötes

  A clear sky drags me from my warm bed and out to the observatory carrying the obligatory cup of tea. I’m moved by the sky that greets me once outside of the back door; despite the fact I’m not dark adapted the sky is still spectacular.

  As I enter the observatory I decide that I shall hunt down an Arp galaxy in Boötes for a sketch and I decide on Arp 43.

  I fiddle with the monitor and camera settings before deciding this is the best view I will get and freezing the frame. It is now 5am and dawn will not be far off, with the frame frozen I can sketch at my leisure with no fear of losing my target. I get the stars draw in ink and add the galaxies, the very faint stars I add last with gentle dabs of a pencil.

  

  I noted on the Carte du Ciel display that close by was another galaxy. Not sure what would show up at 6am, I sent the scope there and was delighted to see a pair of fairly bright galaxies close together.

  I twiddled the knobs, froze the frame and sketched NGC 5859 and NGC 5857, the former showing quite considerable spiral detail and being the larger of two. NGC 5857 however had a noticeably brighter core, a very nice pair of, as I found later, non interacting galaxies.

  

  Dale Holt - (6 February 2017).

• NGC 3801 group in Leo from Suffolk

  I had looked February's Galaxy of the Month up a few days ago and was looking forward to viewing it.

  The early hours of 4th February had superbly transparent skies (NELM 5.6) and so NGC 3801 was my first target of the session with the 20" Dob.

  I immediately saw NGC 3801 followed by its partner NGC 3802. It took a little bit of effort to locate NGC 3790.

  

  I began my sketch of the view with the 13 ethos. Twenty minutes into the sketch, thinking I was done, I caught a hint of of fuzz, North of the obvious bright star. This of course was NGC 3806 which I had totally forgotten about. It is definitely the hardest of the four galaxies to see.

  Notes

  • NGC 3801: easy, immediately obvious and with a distinct core.
  • NGC 3802: slightly fainter than NGC 3801, smaller and elongated, hint of a core at 470 times magnification.
  • NGC 3790: elongated and smaller still.
  • NGC 3806: easy to miss as it's large and faint, circular patch of fuzz.

  This group provided a very rewarding 45 minutes of observing.

  Mike Wood - 4 February 2017

• NGC 3801 group in Leo from Norfolk

  Was totally unprepared for the clear skies this morning, so didn’t get out of the house until 1.30am. Would have taken too long to get the 24" going as fully battened down because of the strong winds forecast so the 12" Mewlon it was.

  Got observing by 1.50am but initially looking at Jupiter and a couple of Messiers with the 4” refractor whilst the Mewlon was acclimatising. Decided to see what I could detect of February's Galaxy of the Month in the Mewlon.

  Spent over half an hour on it. Didn’t look at the charts beforehand and it was a full month ago that I observed the group with the 24" so couldn’t remember what was where, just had two numbers in my head; 3801 and 3806.

  Sent the scope to NGC 3801 with 40mm Pentax in giving just x89. Immediately saw NGC 3801 but it was faint and nothing else seen. Put the 27mm Pan in giving x135 and started suspecting a faint galaxy directly above it (NGC 3802). Switched to 22mm Pan (x162) and confirmed this AV2.

  I then kept to the 22mm Pan and 20mm Pentax (x179) alternating between the two eyepieces and couldn’t decide which was best so I think this was the optimum power for the conditions which I should say weren’t bad at this point; 21.1 SQM and NELM 5.5.

  I was using a diagonal and they were on the meridian so North was up and West to the left in the eyepiece. After some scrutiny I picked up a galaxy to the left (NGC 3790), I think this was a tad easier in the 20mm Pentax (AV3).

  Couldn’t detect anything else. So I then sent the scope to NGC 3806 whilst looking in the eyepiece. NGC 3801 moved to the lower left and slightly below centre I was picking up NGC 3806 AV3. I think it was just too close to the edge to pick up when NGC 3801 was in the centre.

  

  So this sketch was made BEFORE looking at the chart. I then looked at the chart and had a look for NGC 3803 but no chance, also a bit of clagg was coming in and I now wasn’t seeing NGC 3802 either. I probably spent about 45 minutes scrutinising the field.

  Switched to doubles as the skies got claggier and packed in just before 5am, not a bad unexpected session.

  Andrew Robertson - 3 February 2017

• Observations of the NGC 3842 Group in Leo

  This is my sketch of the NGC 3842 group near by to NGC 3804. I was very pleased to get so many of the group but then the conditions were about as good as they get in GB. The early hours of 4th February 2017 had superbly transparent skies (NELM 5.6).

  

  Notes

  • NGC 3842 - oval with a small core, easy to see.
  • UGC 6697 - lovely edge on.
  • NGC 3837 - also showing a hint of a core.

  All remaining NGC galaxies were faint but seen direct.

  • PGC 169975 - hint of fuzz.
  • PGC 36544 - AV located it.
  • PGC 36478 - AV located it.

  Mike Wood - (4 February 2017)

• A Fantastic Arp in Lynx

  Had a great observation last night 😀

  Wow! what an interesting and unusual pair of interacting galaxies making up this Arp 143 is a member of the class 'Material Emanating from E Galaxies'. The Atlas note says "diffuse counter filament".

  

  The north galaxy (bottom) is NGC 2444 and the very strange beast to the south is NGC 2445. The two galaxies appear to flow into one another. There is a lot fine detail visible in the image on my CRT monitor.

  The little spiral near the lower left of my sketch (northwest) is CGCG 206-22.

  NGC 2444 is mag 14.2 NGC 2445 is mag 13.9. I made the sketch on Jan 28th 2017 using the 505mm mirror and cooled Watec 120N+ deep sky video camera. N is down in the sketch.

  Dale Holt - (29 January 2017).

• Observation of Arp 180

  A rather better sky showing SQM 20.50 on the sky meter and some advice via the telephone from Andrew Robertson on how to use my AWR intelligent handset to better effect, this I did and reasonably quickly located Arp 180, although I failed to locate a couple of other Arp’s using the same system.

  I strongly suspect that the main mirror is now losing so much contrast that I simply can no longer spot faint objects readily. The Atlas image shows ARP 180 so much better than my sketch as does Aladin which my system used to match so closely.

  

  Arp 180 found in Eridanus is a member of the class Narrow Filaments. The Arp Atlas of Peculiar galaxies note says south arm kinks back, thin filament connects nuclei.

  Additionally there are many small galaxies in the field, including four Mitchell Anonymous, my sketch only captures 1. The Arp itself is MCG-1-13-34.

  I sketched on January 19th 2017 using 505mm Mirror and Watec 120n+ cooled video camera, North is down. I’m certainly struggling to hit the kind of observing form with my set up that I had in the past with my Hickson observations and sketches.

  Dale Holt - (19 January 2017).

• Two month's worth of galaxies in one session!

  This article was originally posted on Dale's Chippingdale Observatory Blog (now sadly gone) as After galaxies in Gemini - James.

  On Jan the 2nd I got my chance to catch up with the galaxies in Gemini that the fog thwarted me on in my last blog post.

  These are the December 2016 Galaxy(s) of the Month as suggested by Owen Brazell of the Webb Society. I star hopped with my narrow field of view (FOV) to Pollux (beta Geminorum) and from there to NGC 2487 and its close companion NGC 2486.

  

  A nice pair but they didn't just 'pop' on the monitor, once again I had to work hard with settings, timings etc on the camera and also on the monitor to bring out the detail in the galaxies, spiral structure in NGC 2487 and the two dark regions and extended nucleus in NGC 2486. I'm beginning to think that my mirror has lost to much reflectivity and requires recoating as I'm just not getting that 'WOW' anymore.

  When I looked up these galaxies for info on the Webb Society web site I noted that it had been up-dated and Owen had added a new Galaxy of the Month for January 2017, or to be more precise a group of galaxies with NGC 2289 being the primary member. With the group also being in Gemini I saw no reason not to track them down.

  Currently being in southern Gemini I hopped up past Castor and onto the busy little group which fitted nicely into the Watec's narrow FOV. There were lots of stars in the field I have certainly seen plenty of less rich designated clusters! Once I had added the stars I sketched in the five galaxy members. In the orientation of my sketch with N down they are from the top as follows NGC 2290, tiny NGC 2288, NGC 2289, with NGC 2291 at the lower centre and the N-S elongated NGC 2294 to the lower left.

  

  Not a bad observing session, the SQM meter read 20.53 which for my location these days was a bit above average.

  Dale Holt - 3 January 2017

• M74 and the Taffy Galaxies

  Here are a few sketches I have made this week using the 20" and Watec 120N+ video camera.

  M74 was sketched using the 14" back in the 2008-2010 period, this is the first sketch I have made of it using the larger mirror. I'm pleased with the number of Ha regions that jump out at you.

  

  The Taffy galaxies - UGC's 12914 and 12915 - was an exciting first observation.

  

  Dale Holt - (1 December 2016).

• NGC 7768 in Pegasus

  November’s Galaxy of the Month provided a delightful outing (02/11/2016), struggling against the “clag” of GB skies at NELM of 5.4.

  Once I had the scope (20” Dob) pointed at the exact location it was relatively easy to spot the central part of NGC 7768. There was no obvious signs of a bright centre or extended halo.

  

  Locating nearby NGC 7765 was somewhat harder being fainter and smaller but AV teased it out from the clag. A magnification of x294 was needed to give sufficient contrast. Despite my best efforts NGC 7766 proved impossible, (I have located it on a good night). NGC 7767 proved relatively easy to detect but I would not like to claim that it appeared elliptical – may be at times in moments of better seeing. On a good night I have seen it as clearly elliptical. I note IC 1511 next door to NGC 7767 is a star – a hint of something (probably clag), also IC 1512 to the South-West, showed a more definite hint of a star/fuzz.

  Mike Wood - 3 November 2016

• NGC 7046 in Equuleus

  October’s Galaxy of the month, NGC 7046, has been a difficult challenge. It has taken me to to two different observing sites and using two 20” Dobs. It has involved plenty of squinting, AV and serious doubting my eyesight. Also the customary thought of “I wish I had a bigger scope”.

  First attempt was at the Kelling Star party, under mag 5.4 skies, using a 20” F5 scope. Only after checking the charts several times, gently nudging the scope did we both agree there was something there but neither of us could define its shape. Any further attempts were abandoned.

  Back home (Suffolk) using my 20” F4.7 I tried again under mag 5.5 skies. Once located using AV I could “see it” direct. Again it was nigh on impossible to define its shape: a classic indistinct bit of fuzz.

  

  I note in the information supplied by Owen that a 25/30cm scope is needed to see it under good skies. It would appear that in the poor skies of GB even a 50cm scope struggles.

  Using x181 I could just detect it but at higher magnification (x294) I found it easier to detect. Whilst in the area I tried to track down the other galaxies mentioned. After much chart checking and using AV I located the tiny specks of fuzz of IC 1367 and IC 1364. As to IC 1365 (too much imagination involved to lay claim to having definitely located it).

  Fun to visit Equuleus, as it sent me off to view some doubles in the area (OMC 200) and to locate galaxy NGC 7015.

  Mike Wood - 3 November 2016

• Observation of the NGC 7046

  On the 8th/9th August this year, from my moderately light-polluted home site, I made an observation of this month's galaxy of the month.

  

  The weather conditions were very odd, and caused me some confusion. It was fairly windy and the sky was 'clarty'. The seeing was generally poor but improved with time. The naked eye limit was 4.9 (29 Cyg). Despite the apparently poor conditions, I managed to bag some pretty faint objects, NGC 7046 being one of them. The galaxy is listed at magnitude 13.1, with a surface brightness of 13.8 making it even more difficult, and close to my limit at my home site.

  I found the galaxy to be very faint and bland. It's fairly large but has very little central brightening. It appeared very slightly elongated. Very difficult and almost entirely an averted vision object.

  As ever, the observation was made with a 12" Newtonian reflector using a 10mm Plossl eyepiece which gives a magnification of x150 and a field of 20'.

  Patrick Maloney - (3 October 2016).

• An Asterism and a Galaxy

  Dale Holt appears to be back in the observational groove as he says Returning from Kelling inspired, I grabbed 3 observations in Aquarius, NGC7009 was in response to Wolfgang's Webb Deep-Sky Society's object of the season.

  Well your not going to see NGC7009 here, that's one for the Deep-Sky Observer, but of the other two targets let's start with an easy one: M73, an asterism.

  

  And for those that would like something a little more challenging there's the galaxy NGC 7010.

  

  Dale Holt - (8 October 2016).

• A pair of observations of NGC 741

  Owen's received some observations of his Galaxy of the Month for September 2016.

  The first is from Mark Stuart on the night of the 11 September who managed to see NGC 741 easily with Averted Vision whilst NGC 742 was a bit more of a challenge as you can see from the notes on his sketch.

  

  Andrew Robertson was out with his 600mm scope on the 9 September finding the NGC 741/742 pairing easy at x340.

  

  James Whinfrey - 14 September 2016

• Observations the June and July Galaxies of the Month

  The skies were pretty good – about mag 5.7. I used the Mewlon 300 and 17mm Ethos (x210) for the sketches.

  First off was June’s Galaxy of the Month; NGC 6702/3 in Lyra.

  

  NGC 6702 was about twice as faint as NGC 6703 which had an obvious core and outer halo. Hint of core/outer halo in NGC 6702.

  Next was July’s Galaxy of the Month; NGC 6901/6 but I didn’t realise until too late that NGC 6901/6 don’t fit in the same FOV so I’ve had to split them into two different sketches – Doh!

  

  NGC 6901 was very faint, needed Averted Vision (AV) to see it. I thought NGC 6906 had a hint of a stellar core but looking at the maps Owen provided afterwards probably a star superimposed on it.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 5 August 2016

• Observations of the NGC 7727 group in Aquarius

  A brief view of August’s Galaxy of the Month through variable cloud with the Mewlon 300 and 27mm Panoptic.

  NGC 7727 was easy with a bright core and an obvious circular halo. NGC 7724 I could only pick up Averted Vision (AV) through the most transparent periods. Didn’t get a chance to look for NGC 7723.

  

  Although reference books and images say NGC 7724 is smaller it looked a similar size to me but a very uniform low surface brightness circular glow. Perhaps a combination of AV making it difficult to judge and possibly the bright core of NGC 7727 masking the outer extremities of its halo making it look smaller than it is.

  Andrew Robertson - 4 August 2016

• Observations of NGC 7727 and NGC 7724

  Please find attached my observations of the galaxy of the month, NGC 7727 and just for good measure, its neighbour NGC 7724.The weather having been so awful this summer, I've had to reach back into the archives again. Not so far this time, only to November 2015. Both these observations were made at Drumroamin Farm in Galloway, at the Stargazers' Lounge Star Party.

  This particular night had two clear spells. During the first, early in the evening when these observations were made, the sky was a bit mushy - not as crystal clear as it could have been, and as it was later. Still much better than anything I get at home, though. The instrument used was a 12" Newtonian reflector with a 10mm Plossl eyepiece.

  NGC 7727 appeared fairly bright and round with a slightly elongated brighter middle, and a possible nucleus.

  

  NGC 7724 was a different matter, and quite difficult. Very faint, only occasionally seen. Round with no apparent brightening.

  

  Patrick Maloney - (1 August 2016).

• Observation of the NGC 6906

  This is my observation of NGC 6906, made a couple of years ago with a 12" Newtonian reflector with a 10mm Plossl eyepiece.

  

  The observation was made on the morning of 24/07/2014. Conditions were good, if a little twilit. I didn't make a NELM estimate on this occasion, but noted that the Milky Way was clearly visible overhead. It was slightly breezy and the temperature was 14°C. I had failed to see this object three days previously, due to interference from a street light, shining into the end of the telescope tube. In the intervening time, I had made a shield which attached to the end of the telescope (like half of a dew shield). This effectively cut out the interference from this street light (which has since been replaced with a much less troublesome one).

  I was delighted when I searched again for NGC 6906, and this time found it, as this demonstrated the efficacy of my new light shield. It was still very faint and not easy. It appeared oval in shape, and clearly elongated north-east - south-west. No further details were seen, not even a central brightening.

  Patrick Maloney - (2 July 2016).

• Observations of the NGC 6702 and NGC 6703

  I was pleased to see these two galaxies made Galaxies of the Month. I made observations of both of them a couple of years ago, and have attached these. My observations were made during astronomical twilight, yet I managed to see both clearly (6703 more clearly than 6702). I was using a 12" f4.9 Newtonian reflector and my observation notes were as follows:

  NGC 6702

  18/06/2014 - Very small and very faint. Not always visible. Elongation was suspected, but no details were seen. Right on the edge of visibility.

  23/07/2014 - Pretty faint and very small but clearly visible. Visible to direct vision at x375. Slightly elongated and slightly brighter in the middle.

  

  NGC 6703

  18/06/2014 - At x150, this galaxy appeared very small, round and pretty faint with a considerably brighter centre. It is visible to direct vision but averted vision increases the outer regions hugely, making visible a large, amorphous outer disc. I think with AV I saw more or less the whole of the galaxy. Still steadily visible to direct vision at x375.

  23/07/2014 - Pretty bright. Fairly small. Round at x150. Brighter middle - stellar nucleus? x375 confirms a tiny stellar nucleus. Nice little galaxy. The conditions on 23rd July were noticeably better than those on the 18th June, and this is reflected in my brightness estimates of the two objects.

  

  Patrick Maloney - (10 June 2016).

• NGC 6702 and NGC 6703 in Lyra

  Observation made on 5th June, 2016 at 01.00am BST. NELM – mag 5.4. Steady seeing under summer skies.

  I have often visited this pair in Lyra but never spent long observing them. They were both easily visible at x138 using a 17mm ethos eyepiece. NGC 6703 being brighter and larger than NGC 6702.

  There is a lovely arc of stars running from NGC 6703 towards NGC 6702 and curving to the North East. They are mainly mag 10–11 stars with one brighter one.

  Using the 13 mm ethos, x181, clearly shows NGC 6703 with a large, bright core and a definite circular halo. NGC 6702 shows as very slightly elliptical, with a smaller, less bright core and at least half the size of NGC 6703.

  The 8mm ethos revealed no more detail. The best view was in the 13mm ethos. To the south of NGC 6703 lies UGC 11357 but even using AV I could not detect its presence.

  

  Using my OMC 200 at x133, showed NGC 6703 easily visible with a hint of a core within a halo but no sign of NGC 6702. The wider fov gave a pleasing context to the pair with the arc of stars running from NGC 6703 being identified.

  Mike Wood - 5 June 2016

• Observations of the NGC 4111 group

  Seeing that NGC 4111 is the galaxy of the month for May, I checked my observing records and saw that I had made an observation on 18th April 2015. On that occasion, I was at my home, sub-optimal site and described the weather as still and mild with no interference from dew or Moon. The temperature was hovering around 6C. The instrument used was, as usual, a 12" Newtonian reflector with a 10mm Plossl eyepiece.

  

  I saw two objects in the 20' (x150) field of view, NGC 4111 and NGC 4117. Most of the other galaxies nearby are beyond my skies here, however I did manage to see UGC 7089, although as this was outside the 20' field, a separate observation was made. The descriptions I made of the galaxies are as follows:

  

  • NGC 4111 : Very bright, small and very, very elongated. There is a much brighter central area with a stellar nucleus. Averted vision increases the apparent length of the galaxy.
  • NGC 4117 : Very faint, small and round. Visible to averted vision only (AV/2).
  • UGC 7089 : Very pale and difficult. Better with averted vision (AV/1). Long and highly elongated, averted vision hints at possible brightening near the middle.

  Hope these are of interest.

  Patrick Maloney - (17 May 2016).

• Observations around NGC 4111

  Early May has been a busy time around the east of the country. Our Galaxy of the Month for May 2016 (NGC 4111) has already had two observers it seems: Mike Wood and Andrew Robertson.

  Mike Wood's Observations

  

  Observing at NELM 5.4 under claggy skies with a 20" Dobsonian just after midnight on the 5 May 2016.

  Initially I had been observing the Abell 1656 Cluster and when I trained the scope onto NGC 4111 its brightness compared to the 1656 cluster galaxies was a real treat. NGC 4111 had a clearly obvious inner core surrounded by a less bright halo with the two arms easily seen. At times these arms could be perceived extending further and wider than indicated by the sketch. NGC 4117 small and oval in shape was easy to pick up with a hint of a core. Its immediate neighbour NGC 4118 had to be located using Averted Vision (AV) but once pinpointed could be seen direct.

  NGC 4109 was seen as a poorly defined small patch of fuzz. As a bonus the double HJ 2596 lies near to NGC 4111.

  Using the 13mm ethos UGC 7089 was spotted as a large oval fuzzy patch and to my surprise a hint of PGC 38276 was observed; confirmed in the 8mm ethos. I also tried for UGC 7094 and using AV something was detected now and again.

  A delightful time spent observing a classic edge on galaxy.

  Andrew Robertson's Observations

  Observing on Monday night (2 May 2016) with the 600mm Dobsonian at home in South Norfolk. My skies on Monday night were excellent, best I’ve had from home reached 21.50 SQM.

  NGC 4111 group observed and 8 galaxies seen using a mix of 13mm and 8mm Ethos (x208 & x340) at 00:50 hours and 21.45 SQM and NELM easy 5.8.

  • NGC 4114
  • NGC 4117
  • NGC 4111
  • MAC 1206+4259 (4.7 ethos at x575 used for this)
  • NGC 4109
  • UGC 7094 (AV1 - see below)
  • UGC 7089 (large elongated and easy)
  • and another the other side of a bright star from UGC 7089

  I saw a faint galaxy to the left of NGC 4109 which I assumed to be MAC 1206+4259 but it may have been MCG +7-25-25 which Mike saw.

  Averted Vision

  For those that don't know, AV1 means averted vision to acquire but once acquired direct vision. This is a commonly used scale developed by Ron Morales.

• Galaxies in Ursa Major from Kelling Heath Star Party 2016

  Andrew Robertson (Norfolk) and his 600mm Newtonian on a driven Dobsonian mount were at Kelling again this year.

  Observed with an 8mm Ethos for a power of 340x under Antoniadi II-III Seeing and NELM of 5.7 and 21.35 SQM.

  With Ursa Major overhead Andrew made observations on Monday night of a couple of galaxy trios. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  NGC2820 (1), NGC2814 (2) and IC2458 (3)

  

  NGC2857 (1), NGC2856 (2) and NGC2854 (3)

  

  Andrew Robertson - 18 April 2016

• NGC3865 and NGC3866 in Crater

  April's Galaxy of the Month was observed with an 8mm Ethos in a 600mm Newtonian on a driven Dobsonian mount for a power of 340x.

  Andrew notes that the Seeing was Antoniadi III-IV and the sky was 21.30 SQM overhead. Unfortunately Crater is low and in the direction of Holt at the Kelling Heath Star Party 2016. I had to ‘look’ for NGC 3866 but it was at 27° altitude, 40 minutes past meridian and being affected by the Holt clagg!

  He was keen to mention that on the Saturday night those present had the best three hours in many years at Kelling (overhead and to the North of course away from Holt). They had a SQM reading of 21.7 with M13 being easy direct vision N/E!

  Regardless of the conditions, here's the observation. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 18 April 2016

• IC Galaxies around NGC 2340

  On you Webb Society web site you talk about NGC 2340 and the other nearby galaxies. Then you ask for some input. I checked my old observations and I will give them below. I did not include the two brighter galaxies NGC 2332 & 2340.

  IC 458

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm

  Seen w/ direct vision, roundish, diffuse, similar in size & slightly fainter than IC 464, brighter than IC 461, star very close to southern tip.

  3/16/91 12.5" 12mm

  Direct vision, roundish, diffuse, star on southern tip.

  1/10/2000 12.5" 12mm

  AV/1, slightly ellip, diffuse, even brightness throughout, star on southern tip.

  IC 459

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm

  NOT SEEN

  IC 460

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm

  AV/1 best, appears almost star-like, very faint thin diffuseness surrounds a brighter very compact core.

  1/10/2000 12.5" 12mm

  AV/2, very close to a star on it's NP edge which tends to "wash out" this galaxy. It is small, round, diffuse, even brightness throughout.

  IC 461

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm

  AV/1, very diffuse patch of light, even brightness throughout. There is a faint star following which is brighter than the galaxy.

  IC 464

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm, 10mm.

  12mm= Direct Vision, elliptical, possibly very gradually brighter towards the middle. 10mm= I now see a very compact little brighter core.

  3/16/91 12.5" 12mm

  Direct vision but faint, roundish, diffuse, brighter very compact core.

  1/10/2000 12.5" 16mm

  While observing NGC 2340 I soon noticed IC 464 in my field. It was seen with AV/1, a little elliptical shaped, diffuse, very small, patch of light, has a slightly brighter star-like core which "comes & goes".

  IC 465

  3/28/87 17.5" 12mm

  Direct Vision, slightly elliptical, diffuse, even brightness throughout, about the same size as IC 464 but slightly brighter.

  3/16/91 12.5" 12mm

  AV/1, small, round, diffuse envelope surrounds a slightly brighter star-like core.

  Ron Morales - (19 February 2016).

• Lots of galaxies near NGC 2340

  Dale Holt was quick out of the blocks with a sketch of this month's galaxy, NGC 2340, observing the field on 2 February 2016! He then sent the resulting sketch to Owen Brazell with this note.

  Dale's Comments

  I managed to get a look at your recommended galaxy grp in Lynx last night, sky was very hazy when I made my observation around midnight. My fov is rather small so I didn't get the whole group in but I managed to pull out 11 galaxies in total, some very small and quite faint.

  Good fun so thank you for the challenge.

  Kind regards, Dale

  

  I hope that Dale doesn't mind, but I flipped his sketch vertically to match the orientation of the Digitised Sky Survey (DSS) field I've added to the right. When comparing the two I'd be quite pleased with that result, well done Dale.

  Please click on Dale's sketch to see the original.

  Owen's Response

  Dale had noted that he hadn't been able to identify the galaxies other than NGC 2340 in the sketch yet, and Owen obliged with this chart (click on it for the version you can read!) and some comments.

  

  Hm OK Of the main galaxies I think you have NGC 2340, IC 464, IC 458, IC 459 and IC 460. The others are too faint to be in the NGC or IC. This is probably the best chart I can make for your field.

  James Whinfrey - Website Adminstrator.

• Early morning galaxies in Sextans

  A couple of galaxies, sketched during the early hours today, 02:30-04:00, all from Sextans.

  Lovely mag 12.3 face on spiral NGC 2967 1.3' x 1.2', first observation.

  

  NGC 3023 and NGC 3018 an interesting pair. NGC 3023 is quite peculiar but rather surprisingly not an Arp! Again a first observation.

  

  Hope you like them?

  Dale Holt - (10 January 2016).

• A Haul of Deep-Sky Sketches

  This is the best haul of deep sky sketches that I have had for quite some while!

  The two planetary nebulae NGC 2022 and NGC 22371/2372 are 're-visits' I have sketched both of these before but years ago with my old 350mm Newtonian and Watec camera, the level of detail is significantly higher in these new sketches.

  

  

  ARP 186 was a challenge, especially seeing the slender trunk like projection/arm there are also another 3 small faint galaxies in the field, these I have not identified.

  

  Some nice detail can be seen in NGC 1924 a rare Orion galaxy and a first observation for me, note also a faint unidentified galaxy to the upper right of my sketch and what appeared to be another spiral directly below the main galaxy, again unidentified.

  

  NGC 1964 in Lepus was disappointing until I went out into the observatory and saw just how low the scope was pointing into the murky glow in London's direction!

  

  Finally a first visit for me to a lovely galaxy trio in Gemini, another constellation not normally associated with galaxy hauls.The largest spiral which I believe is NGC 2389? shows some great detail.

  

  Dale Holt - (8 January 2016).

• Observations of the NGC 1060 group in Triangulum

  An unexpected 2 hour window last night, so I got out quickly with the 12" Mewlon.

  It was a dry night with a slight breeze so no dew but only about NELM of 5.0 - couldn't work out why, there didn't seem to be any thin cloud around. Anyway, without a list with me I remembered the 1060 group which I'd missed last month through being away, so sent the scope to it before it crossed the meridian.

  I had the 27mm Pan in giving x135. Looked through the e/p and thought is that it? I could just see one faint galaxy (1060) and not much detail. I persevered, moving the scope around a bit and picked up a 2nd (NGC1066) in the same FOV but this was AV. So pushed the power up to x180 (20mm Pentax). NGC 1066 was direct vision now but still faint and I finally picked up NGC1061 with AV but not always there. At times I thought could I see more but not really. Also at times I thought NGC1060 and NGC1066 were a bit elongated but then I couldn't pin down the orientation as it seemed to change so I really was at the limit!

  I made a sketch and was pleased to note this morning that I had at least got the 3 main galaxies in the group correctly although orientation a bit suspect. I was using a diagonal though.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 2 December 2015

• Observations of the NGC 48 group in Andromeda

  We have a slightly belated observation report from the Haw Wood Star Party by Andrew Robertson. One of his targets was our Galaxy of the Month for September: the NGC 48 Group. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  Andrew's Report

  In the 48 group all 3 IC galaxies were quite easy. As usual my sketches are not artistic or accurate, it’s just to give a flavour or record of what level of detail I could see.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 15 October 2015

• NGC1060 Galaxy Group

  Owen has chosen an interesting galaxy group this month, a group with something for every size of telescope. Owen wondered what size of telescope was needed to see all the galaxies in the group. On 13 November 2015 I turned my 600mm f4.5 dobsonian onto the group and I managed to see many of the galaxies although not the individuals that might be expected.

  Sky conditions were poor. The SQM reading at the time of observation (20:30) was only 20.95 with a fresh to strong wind giving average' seeing. For the site this was very poor indeed, which can reach 21.50. Transparency was variable due to much high tin cloud. Sometimes was looking through the cloud and at other times not, it was just luck really. The high wind meant that there was no dew. I had the best view with a 8mm Ethos eyepiece giving x340. Higher power on this occasion gave worst views. I have reproduced a sketched that I made a the eyepiece. My sketches are not intended to be works of artistic merit, but more of positional interested showing the main features that I noticed.

  The two main galaxies are ngc1060 and ngc1066. NGC1060 is by far the brightest at m11.8v, and NGC1066 was obvious but at only m14.3p was much fainter than the primary galaxy. Both galaxies appeared elliptical with a bright core. NGC1060 appeared orientated West-East and NGC1066 appeared more circular. Two other galaxies were close to NGC1060 in a close curve heading NW. I needed averted vision level 1 (AV1) to see these. MegaStar5 tells me that they are NGC1061 and NGC1057. These are magnitude 15.0p and 15.2p respectively.

  To the SE of NGC1066 and a small distance away (approximately 10 arc minutes), I noted a very small galaxy which turned out to be MCG+5-7-46 at magnitude 15.7. Searching further afield, I noted another galaxy, this time a reasonable size and obvious, almost directly South of NGC1060 and about 14' distant. This was CGCG505-42 at magnitude 15.4.

  Later the next day I checked with Owen's comments on the website and with MegaStar5 to find that I had missed two NGC galaxies positioned close to NGC1066. I can't explain why I missed them. The only thought I can offer is that the night was poor for darkness and that at that moment I may have been looking through some cloud. The two galaxies that I missed are NGC 1062 and NGC 1067. These galaxies are magnitude 15.4p and 14.6b. I can't explain why I didn't see these two.

  UGC2202 is nearby both main galaxies but it is fainter than the other galaxies at 16.3 and on the night I would not expect to see it, in those conditions. Whereas I spotted CGCG505-42 I did not see its close neighbour MCG+5-7-34. Megastar5 does not give Surface Brightness figures for these galaxies so I can't compare. However, MCG+5-7-34 is brighter and larger than the galaxy that I did see, and so I do not have an explanation, other than a misidentification UGC 2174 is outside the area that I was viewing.

  The NGC 1060 group is a very interesting collection of galaxies and one that is now on my list for a re-visit.

  David Reynolds (Norfolk) - 2015 November 22

• NGC 1060 group of galaxies

  Despite the on going cloudy skies I have managed a couple of very enjoyable sessions looking at NGC 1066 with the 20” Dob under fairly average conditions – NELM 5.4 at best.

  NGC 1060 and 1066 immediately obvious and both show a brighter core. 1060 having the brighter core and overall the galaxy appears slightly oval as compared to 1066.

  NGC 1061 was fairly easy to spot as a small patch of indeterminate fuzz.

  NGC 1067 could be seen with concentration and a touch of AV to confirm. AV was needed to locate 1057 and I was unable to sense any definite shape to it.

  On the better of the two nights, by using AV I was just able to get the merest hint of the elliptical 1062 (UGC 2201) but I would not want to claim it as a 100% definite observation. (NGC 1062 - a star, was also located).

  On my next visit to the group I must wander over to UGC 2174.

  

  Mike Wood - 12 November 2015

• NGC 7541 and NGC 7537 galaxies

  Galaxy of the month (NGC 7541) was surprisingly easy to pick up in the C9 from the Haw Wood Star Party. Averted vision then located its companion (NGC 7537), after which I could see it direct.

  

  Mike Wood - 14 October 2015

• NGC 48 group of galaxies

  The Moon was getting low so out with the Dob and I enjoyed galaxy of the month (thanks Owen), NGC 48/49/51 and nearby IC galaxies.

  NGC 51 was the brightest and showed a core. NGC 48 was distinctly oval, the largest of the three but lacked a core, NGC 49 was the hardest to locate but with averted vision a core was discerned.

  The three nearby IC galaxies were fainter, especially 1536. IC 1534 and IC 1535 were distinctly oval. Averted vision was needed to clearly define position and shape.

  

  Mike Wood - 19 September 2015

• Flat Galaxies Hunt

  Got out shortly after 10pm on Sunday night and went until 3am!

  My skies were reasonable but not the best. I was getting SQM of 21.0 and NELM of 5.5 but they were very damp skies and I suspected them to be going ‘off’ later on in the observing session.

  I had no lists planned so decided to go ‘Flat’ galaxy hunting using the Webb Society's latest Flat Galaxy publication, courtesy of Alvin Huey. I always find thin edge on galaxies more difficult than their quoted magnitude. For example UGC 3696, the integral sign galaxy is quoted at mag 13.5 but difficult enough in a 16” scope from a good sky. For tonight I was using my 600mm driven Dobsonian with Argo-Navis.

  Anyway, started off with NGC 5777 in Draco. Quite easy with 8mm Ethos (x340); suspected UGC 9570 in same FOV but couldn’t be certain – need a better sky. Just left the 8mm (x340) in for the rest and the Argo-Navis and ServoCat ‘found’ them ☺.

  Then the rest as per the attached sketches (click on them for a better view.)

  

  

  

  The only one I really struggled with was UGC 11964 near NGC 7241 in Pegasus. It was the only one where I had to hunt down the correct field stars, tried 13E, 8E and 4.7E. Nearly gave up but in the end confirmed it with the 8mm Ethos - but the sky was getting damper by now (0130 BST) although I was still getting 21.0 SQM but then I have had 21.35 from this location.

  

  I then tried for a couple of exotic PN’s but failed – a better night maybe?

  Very enjoyable session.

  Andrew Robertson - 22 August 2015

• Observations of the NGC 6275 Group

  We have an observation report from Andrew Robertson (Norfolk) of this month's galaxies. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  Andrew's Report

  My observing report on the August GX of the month. 600mm Newtonian on a driven Dobsonian mount.

  NGC 7265 group (Webb Society Aug GX of Month): I’d observed this a few nights earlier with a half- moon well risen and made a quick sketch (see 6 August 2015 below). I’d not down loaded Owen’s finder chart so went in completely cold. 7265 was easy. ‘A’ I was confident about. ‘B’ I wasn’t sure if it was a faint star with clagg around it or not. I opened my Sky 6 program but couldn’t identify the star field so left it. (I’d forgotten about opening up MegaStar 5 which I purchased to show all these faint GX’s. So had another go Saturday night and exactly the same view.

  

  I wasn’t going to go out Sunday night as forecast looking 50/50 plus I was tired from Saturday night but at 10.30pm, looked out –clear! So out I went and a superb night, best so far this new season, went until 2am when cloud rolled in, 21.15 SQM, NELM 5.5 direct, 5.8 AV.

  During the day I got round to downloading Owen’s finder chart and realised I had seen ‘A’ and ‘B’ correctly but had failed to see ‘C’ (see my sketch of the 10 August 2015) which I should have done. So in these much better skies re-visited. I could see all 4 in the 13 Ethos [x208] but much better in the 8 Ethos [x340] (after I’d taken the OIII filter out which I’d left in from a previous object!) I think I failed on C the previous nights due to its proximity to a relatively bright star and the clagg but obvious tonight.

  • A: MAC 2222 + 3613A; mag 15.5
  • B: MAC 2222 + 3613 mag 14.5
  • C: UGC 12007 mag 15.0

  

  I then went on to observe NGC 7264 (edge on) and NGC 7263 all part of the NGC 7265 group (see sketch).

  

  Earlier on I had glorious views of the Crescent with 21 Ethos and UHC, ditto all parts of the Veil. NGC 6946 showed loads of detail and spiral structure (13E & 21E). NGC 7008 Foetus greenish, good detail and CS obvious (21E & 8E with UHC). Milkyway was glorious and I saw a couple of bright Perseids.

  Sunday night has been the best so far this new season and I very nearly missed it!

  Andrew Robertson - 12 August 2015

• Observation Report: NGC 4725 in Coma Berenices

  The second object in my new series – I hope – of observation reports was sparked by our June Picture of the Month: NGC 4725.

  David Davies' astrophotographic search for the outer halo of this galaxy was considered on the forum to be one of the ways that astrophotography can work well with visual observation. So several members have submitted their observations to accompany David's image.

  The forum discussion was varied, and I hope the gentlemen below won't mind me paraphrasing them a little to focus on the observations. It's an interesting thread. I'd encourage members to join the Yahoo Forum (mailing list) and take a look. Perhaps air your own views too.

  It'd be good to spark off joint imaging and visual projects with our monthly features. All contributions are welcome.

  Observation by Andrew Robertson

  

  I thought it timely to post a sketch I made of NGC 4725 from home in South Norfolk using my 600mm Dobsonian. The skies were damp, claggy and failing with a NELM of 5.0 when I made the sketch.

  I observed the object for several minutes trying various powers. At this point I’m just enjoying the view. NB, I call it ‘the Tie Fighter’ as the arcs at either end are very prominent along with the central bar and core. At moments of better transparency the ring all the way around comes into view, I then think it looks like a ‘Theta’ symbol.

  I’m not an artist, I just make a quick crude sketch to assist my record of the observation but as you can see from the attached sketch I enjoyed observing and sketching 3 objects in the space of half an hour.

  Observation by Patrick Maloney

  

  I hold my observing sheet on a clip-board as I look through the eyepiece. In this way, every time a detail comes into view, I can make a note of it straight away. Like you, Andrew, I often spend time just looking at and enjoying the object.

  As to NGC 4725, I observed this object most recently in April last year. My sky conditions were good (for here) giving me a NELM of around 4.5. I noted the following about the galaxy: Bright, pretty large and elongated. There is a brighter central area that is also elongated. Dark lanes were suspected on either side of the nucleus, that to the south east being the clearer. Visible at x83.

  I didn't see the 'Tie-Fighter' effect. I suspect lack of inches and poorer skies hindered me there, though experience tells me that I actually have enough inches, but need a better sky. When I write of suspicions of dark lanes, this is usually prompted by a sharp cutoff of the light in a galaxy, or of a rapid dimming. Having now compared my observation with photographs, I am satisfied that this is the case.

  Observation by Dale Holt

  

  Hi All here is my NGC 4725 sketch.

  Face on mag 9.4 spiral in Coma Berenicies paired with smaller NGC4712 shown in the sketch. Sketch made using 505mm Newt & Watec 120N+ video camera on April-21-2010 noted as very hazy brightest star visible mag 2.5, need to revisit under better conditions, I still haven't!

• Observation Report: NGC 6745 in Lyra

  The forum has sparked something a little different this time. There was a discussion about the future of visual observing, and the role of imaging in amateur astronomy. Controversial, I know, but it's also spawned a flurry of observation posts.

  The first object to get experienced observers searching their logbooks was our June Galaxy of the Month: NGC 6745. I've chosen to summarise these in a single report. I hope to get the chance to do this again in the future, so keep the observations coming.

  Observation by Patrick Maloney

  

  I observed this object in July last year as one of my Twilight Observations, following on from the June observations I wrote about in DSO 167. The observation was made with a 12" reflector from murky, polluted, twilit skies.

  This galaxy is clearly very elongated and lenticular. It was reasonably bright, being mostly visible to direct vision. x375 revealed a hint of a stellar nucleus and some darkness along the western edge, a hint of some sort of structure.

  Observation by John Vickers

  

  Direct observation:

  07/2012, 4” maksutov; dark/still/v.clear, Duxbury, MA. Small, faint feather of irregular intensity. Minor "companion" just N not observed.

  I've included a POSSII integrated IR-Red-Blue image.

  Observation by Andrew Robertson

  

  This is my sketch of NGC 6745 that I did in October 2014 with my 600mm Dobsonian at x340.

  Observation by Dale Holt

  

  A faint but delightful galaxy in Lyra, it appears to be shaped like a banana when observed visually with the large aperture instrument.

  The 505mm F3.7 Newtonian working with the amazing Watec 120N+ Deep Sky video camera revealed very interesting structure which I felt resembled the Treble Clef musical symbol. This observation was made on October 6th 2010.

• M95 and M96 in Leo

  In 2012, I captured an image of supernova SN2012AW in M95 with a Canon DSLR. Although I had captured 10 x 5 minute subs, there was very little to see of the galaxy apart from the core region and the bar. I attach that image for interest.

  

  I've always been intrigued by M95 because I could not make out its true shape and extent.

  I returned to M95 on 26 March this year and just managed to fit it and M96 in the same field of view of the Quattro and a QSI 583 camera. I managed only to collect luminance data that night but was able to return on 4 April and collect some colour data despite being hampered by a moon, just one day off full.

  

  The attached image, therefore, comprises LRGB data with 90 minutes of luminance and 30 minutes each of RGB all in 5-minute subs and binned 1 x1. The image was captured with a 10-inch Skywatcher Quattro telescope and a QSI 583 camera mounted on an EQ6 mount. Processing was done in Pixinsight and Photoshop.

  David Reynolds (26 March 2015).

• The NGC 2275 Galaxy Group

  

  Notes

  The sky was very poor, magnitude 3ish (SQM 19.3), but this was my second attempt so I thought that I had better sketch as time is passing!, I made this sketch using the 505mm mirror and Watec 120n+ video camera.

  Dale Holt - (24 February 2015).

• Some observations of the NGC 4449 galaxy

  David Reynolds' observation

  The SQM was now 20.82, about the same as two hours earlier. This sketch was made of the view through a 600mm f4.5 Dobsonian with an Ethos 8mm eye piece.

  

  NGC 4449 gx CVn (Webb Object of the Season). I looked at this last night and I was keen to revisit it tonight on a better night. It is a mass of swirling nebulosity and bright knots. I counted five knots, Overall it gives me the impression of a rectangle, with circular swirls at the S end and two bright projections going N. It is quite complex to sketch, and I was very interested in seeing Dale's sketch of it, which shows much more than we can see. The burnt out ccd image in the NSOG doesn't do it justice. A lovely object allowing the stellar artists to show their skills, Dale.

  David Reynolds (18 February 2015).

  Dale Holt's observation

  Here we have some sketches from last night, including Wolfgang's very interesting Webb Society seasonal object the irregular galaxy NGC4449.

  

  This sketch was made using the 505mm mirror and Watec 120n+ video camera.

  Dale Holt - (22 February 2015).

• Observations of the NGC 2275 Group

  Object

  NGC 2275

  Constellation

  Gemini

  Location

  Suffolk

  Date and Time

  7/2/2015 19:30–20:30

  Instrument

  500mm Dobsonian

  Eyepiece

  8mm Televue Ethos (x294)

  Conditions

  SEEING(1-5) 3, NELM 5.4–5.5.

  

  Notes

  NGC 2274 and 2275 immediately obvious at x129. Both galaxies looking equally bright. At x208, 2274 hints at being brighter, which becomes definite at x 338. Difficult to see more than an extended circular core for each galaxy. No hint of nearby UGC 3537.

  Mike Wood - (7 February 2015)

• Observations of the NGC 2749 Group

  Object

  NGC 2749

  Constellation

  Taurus

  Location

  Suffolk

  Date and Time

  18/1/2015 22:00–23:00

  Instrument

  500mm Dobsonian

  Eyepiece

  8mm Televue Ethos (x294)

  Conditions

  SEEING(1-5) 3, NELM 5.6 at zenith, 5.4 at 30 degrees.

  

  Notes

  Easy to locate NGC 2749, hint of a core. Various E/Ps used (21,13,8 ethos). 2749 picked up in all E/Ps. Did not locate 2747 or 2745. 2752 and 2744 needed AV2. 2744 was a poorly defined patch of fuzz. 2752 was elliptical. 2751 needed AV 4 (not sketched) even to gain the merest hint of it, lying near to star GSC1404-1560. A difficult challenge under what was quite good skies.

  Mike Wood - (18 January 2015)

• An Observation of the LGG 117 Group in Taurus

  I'm delighted to be posting some sketches and observation notes from Andrew Robertson in Norfolk for our December Galaxy of the Month. It'd be great to see more of your observations, especially for our featured objects. I hope Andrew's contribution will help inspire our members (and non-members too).

  Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  

  Andrew's Observation Notes

  South Norfolk, 12” D-K Tak Mewlon 300, diagonal used so laterally inverted, 27mm Panoptic used to give FOV of ½ deg and x135, 18mm Tak LE x200 used to give detail (what detail there was!).

  Only an hours clear window centred on the observation with clagg or thin cloud around so poor transparency (approx. NELM 5) and poor seeing.

  

  NGC 1587/8 were easily split and readily seen as two separate GX’s but I was struggling to see any detail. 1587 clearly had a brighter core and a small outer halo which didn’t appear uniformly round but I was struggling to pinpoint it’s exact shape. The halo didn’t quite extend to 1588 so there was a definite gap. 1588 was just a faint roundish fuzz which was bigger than a star. NGC 1589 was clearly extended, edge-on with an elongated core.

  Andrew Robertson - 15 December 2014

• NGC 6956 in Delphinus

  Video versus the Eyepiece: a comparison

  This sketch was posted to our Yahoo forum recently by a frequent contributor and ardent video astronomer Dale Holt, who wrote Here is a sketch that I made at the start of the week under very hazy conditions, using my 20" and Watec 120n+ video camera. Delphinus isn't usually associated with galaxies but this one is worth checking out.

  

  Patrick Maloney (DeepSkyBagger on Stargazers Lounge) later responded by posting his own sketch made at the eyepiece with the comment Very faint. Small and elongated. No central brightening evident and no other structure seen. Best seen at x375.

  

  I'd like to thank both Dale and Patrick for letting me reproduce their work on this website. I've flipped Dale's sketch to match the East-West alignment in both sketches.

  I found the contrast between these two sketches interesting (Patrick's is much closer to what I normally see). Additionally, the "x375" comment Patrick made probably isn't far from the scale of Dale's sketch.

• Observation of the NGC 6928 Galaxy Group

  Dale Holt has kindly provided his observation notes and sketches of the NGC 6928 group in Delphinus, observing the field on 2 August 2013.

  Dale's Comments

  I got my chance, lovely sky tonight, for a change :) SQM reading 20.70 at my location, M31 direct vision without dark adaption. Right, the very interesting NGC 6228 galaxy group in Delphinus, I got 7 members, 6 Identified the 7th below 6928 itself not identified at this point? 20" mirror and Watec video cam, 20 sec integrated exposure, sketched from b&w CRT monitor screen.

  

  Dale also provided a link to scanned image of his BAA Report.

  James Whinfrey - Website Adminstrator.