M 44 and the galaxies behind it

Hi all,

My original plan for OOTW March 20 was to discuss M 44 and the galaxies that can be seen behind it. However, on March 13 I noticed that the March 2016 issue of Sky And Telescope features an article just about that! So, I let go of this topic.

The first time I learned of these galaxies was when I bought the Uranometria books around 1993. When I visited the VLA as an undergrad student in 1999 a PhD student and I were allowed to use the 50 cm telescope of the nearby amateur observatory for several nights. I have forgotten what it is called and failed to find it on Google Maps. So, if anyone knows the name then please remind me of it. In any case, we were so overwhelmed by the dark skies that we focused on much brighter objects.

I finally observed seven galaxies in M 44 three weeks ago. They were NGC 2624, 2625, 2637, 2643 and 2647, IC 2388, and UGC 4526. I found NGCs 2624, 2625 and 2647 easiest and NGC 2643 and IC 2388 hardest of these galaxies. UGC 4526 turned out to be a nice, flat galaxy. The rest were all seens as faint, oval patches occasionally having a slightly brighter center surrounded by faint outer regions. PGC 24284 and 24335, that were mentioned in the S&T article, I overlooked because of all the stars around them on the screen of my laptop.


Clear skies, Wouter

A group of us swept up several of these galaxies on a superb night in February. If I recall correctly, we found four of them (NGCs 2647, 2643, and 2637, and [I believe] MCG +3-22-21); with patience, we might have found a couple of the others. (In fact, the other observers may have found more after I went back to my scope.) Scope was a 20" f/4.8, and I believe we were using a 9mm Nagler.

On March 29 on a somewhat soft night (stars to mag. +5.6 seen visually in my backyard) I was able to observe NGC2624, 2625, 2643, 2647 and MCG+3-22-21. Tried for NGC2637 and IC2388 but was not successful. Used an 18-inch f/4.5 and magnification of 159x and 295x.