Galaxies in Orion, Quasar z=3,6; Pulsar in M1 (?)

[Norman]

Hey folks,

anybody inhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joAcr3T9CNM

;-))

Recently i spent a night at 4500ft. Finally some starlight in my 12"-Dobsonian after appr. 3 months or somethin.

So i´d like to share some impressions of that night.

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Seeing was quite good (2) so that magnifications around 400x have been possible throughout the night. I am on the way to chase the pulsar in the crab nebula - so my first attempt last night looked that way trying to see any stars within the nebula for about an hour. Having a pic in my hands with the designated pulsar marked i was able to see a pinpoint flashing elusivley at the right position of the TWO stars, one of which is the pulsar. for the pulsar is the weaker one i strongly assume having seen just the nearby brighter star. In some fleeting moments i had the impression that there could be two stars but i cannot differ it from a possible illusion created by the condensed nebula around. So pulsar not seen up to now - but definately at least the nearby compagnion.

My main intention was to have a look at some galaxies at the western side of orion that i selected from surfing in wikisky.

To make it short - here is a collection of the galaxies i visited:

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My results are as follows:

UGC 3181 (Bmag 14m5): imediately longish patch visible
UGC 3184(BMag 16m0) not really visible for nearby bright star disturbs very much. I didn´t try that hard yet. At least the weak star the galaxy is sticked on has been visible.
UGC 3221 (BMag 15m5), a small lingish galaxy that lies within an atractive starfield and has i tiny star at one end. It apeared as i fine silverstreak emerging from the small star - very nice, at best using 170x.
UGC 3214(BMag 13m5), small version of NGC 4565, immediately visible as fine long streak, both using 13mm (104x) and 8mm eyepiece (170x).

UGC 3294(BMag 14m5), 6-7 mag-star nearby, again longish oval appearance visible at first glance.

Slightly step aside of unknown galaxies i tried IC 412/413 because that duo was on the path between all those UGC´s . It turned out to be the object of the night among the visited galaxies. Really cute a duo and for IC-objects surprising easy via direct vision. and a12(?) mag star directly nearby. Truly a gem!
Now i was exited. Time for my favorite wikisky-find : UGC 3303 (BMag 16m0) Sitting in a small star chain similar to the northern crown it is easy to find. It has a foreground star of 11th magnitude and i expected quite hard work to see the galaxy. Yet immediately an easy smudge round the star occured, at best in my 13mm Eyepiece. In my 8mm seeing the nebula was quite a struggle and in my 17mm it was slightly harder to see too.

Wow, that has been i cool session - far easier than expected. Transparency byt the way was good but not perfect. I´ll estimate something around NELM 6m7. During most of the night the lights of illuminated slopes have been disturbing.

Having spend already 10 hours at top of the mountain i got tired. I made a walk and let my eyes roam around.
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Having made that and having eaten something i felt a bit refreshed. These conditions have to be used! So i decided for the quasar QSO B1422+2309 in Bootes.

To make long story short - it was visible without trying hard. The designated 16m3 might be wrong - it rather has something half magnitude brighter. Using 290x it was no problem to see a star at the right position with averted vision. To hold over 80% of the time approximately.
Wow. An object of a distance of 11,8 Bio ly, z= 3,6! My personal record in distance and deepness.

This is the scene right after having catched the quasar. Venus is ascending at the top of a mountain at the horizon, Jupiter is already higher in the sky.

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That was quite a night - finally!

CS
Norman

[Steve Gottlieb]

Great observations and photos of the site!

Here are some notes I have on the UGC and IC galaxies using my 24-inch:

UGC 3214: at 282x, moderately bright and large, edge-on 4:1 SW-NE, at least 1.6'x0.4'. Contains a bright, elongated bulging core and much fainter extensions. CGCG 394-053 lies 5.3' SE. UGC 3214 is the largest in a group with NGC 1713 26' SE.

UGC 3221: fairly faint, thin edge-on 6:1 NNW-SSE, ~30"x5", even surface brightness. A mag 14.5 star is superimposed at the south end. UGC 3221 is situated 4.7' N of mag 9.2 HD 31807, which forms a very wide pair (50") with a mag 9.9 star. The galaxy is also 25' NE of a mag 6.2 star (HD 31623) and 24' S of NGC 1713, the brightest in a group (WBL 110 = HDCE 330).

UGC 3294: at 225x, moderately bright and large, contains a very diffuse, low surface brightness halo perhaps 1.3'x0.6' NW-SE with a small brighter core that increases to a stellar nucleus. The outer halo changes appearance with averted vision (no sharp edge) based on what part catches my averted vision. Situated 4' W of mag 6.5 HD 34959 and the glare affects the view -- best with star placed outside the field.

UGC 3294 is part of a small group (LGG 130) in Orion (2.6° SSW of Bellatrix!) at a distance of ~180 million light years, along with IC 412 and IC 413 (VV 225) 34' SSE. The distance implies a diameter of 150,000+ light years, so UGC 3294 is a large spiral.

IC 412: both members of this interacting pair (VV 225) are fairly faint, small, roughly 20"-25" in size, and each contains small bright cores. IC 412, the northwest component, is larger and more elongated , roughly 5:3 SW-NE, 25"x15". The stretched spiral arm or tidal tail to the north was not seen.

IC 413 is just off the ESE side, 35" between centers. It appeared fairly faint, small, slightly elongated, roughly 22"x17", sharply concentrated with a very small, high surface brightness nucleus. A mag 12.3 star is just 25" N of center and a mag 16.2 star is 46" SSW. The pair is 14' WSW of the bright double 23 Ori = STF 696 (5.0/7.2 at 32").

IC 414 lies 8.5' S and is slightly fainter than the interacting pair. It appeared small, slightly elongated NW-SE, 24"x18", weak concentration.

[Norman]

Hello Steve,

thank you very much for your kind reply and additional observing notes/ descriptions :-)

Damned, i hoped beeing the first having observed those galaxies ;-)))

What have your sky conditions been like? Could you make out the dustlane in IC 413 - quite prominent in SDSSIII...

CS

Norman

[Clear Skies]

A year ago I observed three of these galaxies during a cold session in northern Germany. 14" SCT @ 168x / 29'.

UGC3294 (MCG+01-14-029 / PGC17156)
A NW-SE elongated glow, using AV brighter in a slightly elongated central part, no nucleus visible.
To the SE is a mag. 14 star, 1/8 FoV ENE (almost due east) is a bright white mag. 6.5 star (V1369 Orionis).
Rated it 4/10.

IC412 & IC413
Both galaxies are visible. The ESE galaxy (IC413) is just brighter than the WNW galaxy (IC412). Both are fuzzy patches. To the NNW of IC413 is a mag. 12 star. IC413 is slightly elongated NW-SE, IC412 is slightly elongated NNE-SSW. Using AV the nucleus of IC412 is visible.
1/5 NNE is a white-yellow mag. 8 star (SAO112679).
1/2 FoV ENE is the double star 23 Orionis: a bright white mag. 6.5 star with a light blue mag. 8 star to its NNE, PA approximately 030, sep. approximately 50". Clear contrast and a nice double star.
Rated the galaxies 4/10.