25th Feb Observing Report

Hello DSF,

This is my first report on this forum. Thanks to Akarsh and Sanath for suggesting that I post my observing reports here.

I had a chance to go observing last weekend to a dark site near Bangalore. The sky was about NELM 6+, with moderate seeing. I observed with my Lightbridge 16". The night was mostly productive, but I was a little tired after a few hours, and a little wary ( Some wild elephants had come rampaging in the field we were observing the previous night, and there were huge footprints all over the place ). So you will probably notice that my descriptions get shorter and less detailed towards the end of the list. I look forward to your comments.

1) Eskimo Nebula - NGC 2392 : Very bright. Crisp asymmetric (head shaped) inner region surrounded by a grainy halo (Pentax XW 7mm)
2) NGC 2903 : Bar easily visible, along with hints of spiral arms (13mm Hyperion)
3) NGC 1999 : On first look, appears to be a star surrounded by nebulosity. With averted vision, a dark T shape clearly visible, very crisp - with the base of the T close to the star (Pentax XW 7mm)
4) IC 434 : Horsehead easily visible as a dark silhouette on a wall of nebulosity ( Doesn't look like a horse ) (Pentax XW 7mm)
5) Flame Nebula - NGC 2024 : The entire Flame nebula is visible, almost like a photograph. Very bright, intricate details visible in the dark lanes (18.2mm DeLite)
6) NGC 2022 : Small, crisp oval shape. Not much detail visible (Pentax XW 7mm)
7) NGC 2440 : Very bright hourglass shape, with fainter tapering wings stretching out perpendicular to the hourglass. (Pentax XW 7mm)
8) NGC 1975 : Very bright, with prominent dark lanes very similar to photographs. Running man clear (18.2mm DeLite)
9) Orion Nebula - Messier 42 : Overwhelmingly bright. The entire complex is easily visible, which i had only seen earlier with an O3 filter on a 17.5". Exquisite details (18.2mm DeLite)
10) Messier 43 : Very crisp and sharp, mango shaped. Small filaments visible throughout. (18.2mm DeLite)
11) Crab Nebula - Messier 1 : Large, highly irregular shape, with brighter central region, and fainter, irregular wisps spreading out. 3 stars are visible within the nebula. (13mm Hyperion)
12) Sanduleak 2-21 : Smallish, almost round object. Relatively faint, but visible well with AV. The outer edge is brighter and crisp. Located right next to a mag 10 star, very close to 16 puppis. (Pentax XW 7mm)
13) Leo I : Very large, faint and elliptical - stretching E-W. Visible with averted vision. (18.2mm DeLite)
14) IC 424 : Unobserved (18.2mm DeLite)
15) Duck Nebula - NGC 2359 : Helmet well visible. One side is a shot but bright horn, the other side a fainter, larger horn. Wisps of nebulosity visible throughout the object. (18.2mm DeLite)
16) Cone Nebula - NGC 2264 : Nebulosity visible around several stars of the cluster, with one being very bright. Cone faintly visible with AV. (18.2mm DeLite)
17) Rosette Nebula - NGC 2239 : Extremely large. Nebulosity on one (south west?) side very prominent. (18.2mm DeLite)
18) NGC 2207 : Large And faint. Stretching east to west. IC 2163 is smaller and brighter with 2 stellar cores(?) both the glaxies seem to be connected, and the larger galaxy appears to have a tail sweeping outward, opposite 2163. Needs to be confirmed. (Pentax XW 7mm)
19) 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak : Fairly small, with a stellar core amd fuzzy nucleus. Couldnt detect a tail. EDIT: 2nd observation- hint of tail towards west northwest? (18.2mm DeLite)
20) Owl Nebula - Messier 97 : Large, round, and bright, with 2-3 dark regions visible occassionally (13mm Hyperion)
21) Messier 108 : Large, edge on. One bright and one faint stars visible on the galaxy. Irregular edges. (13mm Hyperion)
22) Black Eye Galaxy - Messier 64 : Large, very bright. The dark lane is extensive and very obvious. Large halo surrounding the galaxy (13mm Hyperion)
23) Needle Galaxy - NGC 4565 : Absolutely gorgeous! Almost fills the field. Very thin, very long. Small, bright core bulging out. Prominent dark lane cutting through the edge, splitting the galaxy almost in half (13mm Hyperion)
24) NGC 4494 : Small, fuzzy. No details visible. (13mm Hyperion)
25) NGC 4559 : Smallish galaxy. A bar is visible with averted vision.couldn't see the knots & nebulae in the galaxy. (13mm Hyperion)
26) Messier 83 : Very large, bright barred spiral galaxy. The bar is bright and prominent. 2 spiral arms stretch out from the ends of rhe bars, and the gap between the spiral arms and the bars are dark and prominent. (13mm Hyperion)
27) Sombrero Galaxy - Messier 104 : Almost photographic. The core is clearly visible and very bright. The dark lane is very well defined. Glow of the galaxy can be seen on both sides of the dark lane. (Pentax XW 7mm)
28) Messier 60 : Large and bright, almost circular. Appears connected to the nearby smaller, fainter and more elliptical ngc4647 (13mm Hyperion)
29) Messier 58 : Bright, elongatd core with a diffuse halo. Elongated almost east-west. (13mm Hyperion)
30) NGC 4564 : Small, elongated SW-NE. no indication of an extended halo (13mm Hyperion)
31) Siamese Twins - NGC 4567 : 4567 elongated E-W, with an almost stellar core. 4568 elongated SW-NE, longer, with a more diffuse core. (13mm Hyperion)
32) NGC 4528 : Small, with a stellar core. Slightly elongated N-S (13mm Hyperion)
33) NGC 4503 : Stellar core with an extended halo. ElongatedN-S (13mm Hyperion)
34) NGC 4497 : Faint, diffuse, and elongated E-W (13mm Hyperion)
35) Virgo A - Messier 87 : Bright and spherical, with a bright core and diffuse halo. No hint of the jet. (13mm Hyperion)
36) NGC 4478 : Small, bright, featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
37) NGC 4476 : Small, fairly bright, featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
38) NGC 4388 : Moderate sized, flat and stretching E-W. Hint of a dark lane? (13mm Hyperion)
39) NGC 4387 : Small, moderately brigt, and featureless (13mm Hyperion)
40) Markarian's Chain - Messier 86 : Large, bright, and stretching NW-SE. Featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
41) Markarian's Chain - Messier 84 : Bright, round and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
42) NGC 4413 : Small, elongated, stretching SW-NE (13mm Hyperion)
43) NGC 4402 : Long, flat galaxy. Edge-on? (13mm Hyperion)
44) Eyes Galaxies - NGC 4438 : Moderately large, with a diffuse core. Stretching SSW-NNE (13mm Hyperion)
45) Eyes Galaxies - NGC 4435 : Small, quite bright, with a compact bright core. SSW-NNE (13mm Hyperion)
46) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4443 : Moderately bright. Almost stellar core. SSW-NNE. Quite elongated (13mm Hyperion)
47) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4458 : Small, faint and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
48) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4473 : Bright, elongated with a compact, bright core. ESE-WNW (13mm Hyperion)
49) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4477 : Small, bright, a little elongated N-S. Compact core. (13mm Hyperion)
50) NGC 4479 : Small, faint and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
51) NGC 4459 : Small, with a bright core. Very little - no elongation observed. (13mm Hyperion)
52) Messier 88 : Moderately large, bright, and elongated almost NW-SE. No spiral structure detected. (13mm Hyperion)
53) Messier 91 : Bright core with an E-W bar visible. (13mm Hyperion)
54) C/2015 V2 (Johnson) : Moderately brght with a tail visible stretching NW (13mm Hyperion)
55) 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova : Large and fuzzy, with an irregular shape. Hint of a tail pointing west. (13mm Hyperion)
56) NGC 3486 : Almost circular with a stellar core. No other features visible. (13mm Hyperion)
57) Messier 107 : Small, bright, asymmetric - the brighter stars form a bowl-shape. Resolved fully. (13mm Hyperion)
58) NGC 4236 : Large, elongated and quite faint. (18.2mm DeLite)

Wow Adarsha, quite a productive weekend of observing. I can't imagine how much larger your observing log would have been if you hadn't been tired. Here in the States while observing we may have to beware of smaller creatures such as raccoons, skunks, deer, and in some parts of the country, rattlesnakes. The biggest nuisance in the spring and summer are mosquitoes. But we certainly don't have to worry about wild elephants! :)

BTW welcome to Deep Sky Forum. Looking forward to more observing reports from you. Stay safe!

Thank you, Mark. The log is as large as it is because I spent only 5-10 minutes per object :) . This is a new site for us, and I also wanted to revisit the more familiar objects and compare the views to our old site. I hope to spend more time exploring each object in the future.

Hi Adarsha,

Enjoyed your report and though I have to contend with many different types of fauna where I observe (everything from Kangaroos, Wallabies, Rabbits, Brown Snakes) I've never had to share my site with elephants!

I've only known one other amateur who observes from India. Tell us how things are around Bangalore being an amateur. Are there many others? What sort of telescopes do people have? How is the light pollution situation?

Looking forward to further reports!

Best,

L.

NGC7702,

The sky quality in and around Bangalore is terrible these days. We have been observing from a friend's farm around 130 kms from Bangalore for the past couple of years, but even that location only has Bortle 4+ skies. Late last year I stumbled upon this new location which has much better sky quality, and I've been observing from this new location for the past couple of months with a fellow amateur Aman Singh.

There's a small community of very dedicated observers here in Bangalore. Sanath, who's also a member of this forum is one who most often accompanies me, and probably the most experienced among us. I've learnt a lot from him. There are 3-4 others who are quite consistent in the hobby. I think the problem of finding decent quality skies discourages many people, who don't want the trouble of travelling to difficult/inaccessible locations for observing.

Most of us have 5 - 8 inch scopes (I've heard of a few people who have larger apertures, but unfortunately they never seem to come out into the field). Akarsh was kind enough to lend us his 17.5" Discovery Optics dobsonian for observing, which we have been using along with our own smaller scopes for the last 2 years. I recently acquired a 16 inch telescope, which has accompanied me on the last 3 or so sessions.

The small group I'm a part of has been observing regularly for the past couple of years, at least, but most of us have been too lazy to follow up after observing and share our reports :P This is my attempt to change that trend. :)

Wow, Adarsha, this is an incredible report!

I see you repeated Leo I and succeeded. I also was wondering what Sanduleak 2-21 was until I found the OOTW and then saw your post there as well. Cool object!!

Looks like amateur astronomy necessarily comes with adventure, wild life etc. We had similar discussions here in Germany with Uwe, Christian and Frank about foxes and adventuring in the high altitudes of the Alps.

Looking forward to many more reports!

BTW, did you see any tidal distortion in the Eyes? I'd that what you describe as elongation?

Very cool report. I'm sure Jimi will be glad to see that his Pentax XL is being put to good use :)


Clear Skies!
Akarsh

Thank you, Akarsh.

Yes, Leo I was much easier from Urigam. Aman was with me, and he confirmed the observation too.

I don't think I observed any tidal distortion in the Eyes. The elongation I mentioned is that of the main body of the Galaxies. But my memory has faded (and I didn't sketch, unfortunately), and I was also a little tired by the time I observed them, so I need to take another look at them and look for distortions.

Adventuring in the Alps definitely sounds like fun! :)

Regards,

Adarsha

Hi folks,

"Looks like amateur astronomy necessarily comes with adventure, wild life etc."

You bet akarsh, you bet.

One of those foxes tried to steal my jeans - (different trousers on). Fox pulled at one side and me at the other one... No joke.

But believe me, fun is somethin different....

CS!
Norman

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Norman

Hi folks,

"Looks like amateur astronomy necessarily comes with adventure, wild life etc."

You bet akarsh, you bet.

One of those foxes tried to steal my jeans - (different trousers on). Fox pulled at one side and me at the other one... No joke.

But believe me, fun is somethin different....

CS!
Norman

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Wow, Norman! That is a nasty fox! The fox that I've seen in the US seem relatively benign, or maybe they're just afraid of Jimi.

I like Uwe's solution to the fox problem very much! But if we tried that in Texas, we'd have a wildfire... so no way.

Regards
Akarsh

Great observing report! And an even greater thread!! I love this international contingent we have here at DSF. It makes for some great friends, OR's and stories! Keep them coming! :D

Coyotes, raccoons, bats etc. Those are the things I've contended with. Even walking up and down the hill at Jimis observatory had me pause with concern about a possible mountain lion. But never did I think elephants would be a concern! Just a fantastic story! :D :D :D

The most memorable animal story I have was from a very dark night at Steens Mountain years ago, when a small herd of black cows slowly walked though our group of scopes. We had retreated to our vehicles once we heard them coming, but they didn't make much noise going so slow - just the soft clump-clump-clump of their hooves and a snort or two. They blended in with the darkness of the sky and the ground, and were like four legged ghosts. In five minutes they were gone and it was like they were never there. And thankfully, they didn't leave anything behind.

:-)))))

nice descriptionand truly a story Howard... especially "And thankfully, they didn't leave anything behind. " :D

Adarsha - what about the central star in M 97? Did u see it? Should be easily possible with 16" under good seeing.

CS
Norman

Hi Adarsha,

welcome to the forum and thanks for the input. Like Dragan says I also enjoy the international character of this forum. Astronomy, especially our small group of visual DS observer don't stop at any border or wall.

Nice story about the elephants. Even when we have often contact with animals here in Germany thank god no one is dangerous or poisonous. So no thoughts when we took a walk at night, even if the chocolate or the jeans was stolen. Better as a broad stepped telescope.

Your list sounds very nice, like a "best of" during the winter/spring season. I only was wondering about your "quick and dirty" observation of the cone. I found it always a very difficult object, even with large aperture, good transparency and Hß. In contrast, as Akarsh mentioned the tidals of NGC 4438 are quit easy and even with 8" a fantastic detail.

I'm looking forward to other observations of you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Norman

:-)))))

Adarsha - what about the central star in M 97? Did u see it? Should be easily possible with 16" under good seeing.

CS
Norman

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Norman,

I don't think I noticed it, but my memory has faded. I need to revisit it and verify.

Regards,
Adarsha

Uwe,

Thank you! I *thought* I saw the cone, it was where it's supposed to be, but unfortunately my observing partner had gone to sleep, and I couldn't ask him to verify. Perhaps I was mistaken. I'll have to revisit it and have somebody else confirm it for me.

Regards,
Adarsha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Howard B

And thankfully, they didn't leave anything behind.

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:D That would've made for an interesting night!