| ← Early Fall |
Herschel II Project - Late Fall 00h–03h NGC 23–1162 A photo journey of my observing adventures with EAA/CAO (electronically assisted astronomy / camera assisted observing) Observed for the Astronomical League's Herschel II Observing Program
Marie Lott, Atlanta, GA
Updated 10/18/22 06:44 PM -0400 |
Early Winter→ |
| Size: | 2.1' x 1.3' | Mag: | 11.96 | Type: | Galaxy Sa |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy features a very bright, round, compact core surrounded by an envelope that extends primarily NW/SE; only a very shallow haze is visible on the eastern and western sides. The NW/SE arms of the envelope appear most dense at the southern tip and along the NE edge, with a less dense cloud everywhere else (zoom in to see). A smaller and much dimmer spiral galaxy, NGC 26 lies to the SE. | ||
| Size: | 6.2' x 2.7' | Mag: | 11.37 | Type: | Galaxy Sc |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a "flat" galaxy, as we are seeing it from the side, close to edge-on. It sits inclined at about a 45° angle in the field, running NE/SW. This galaxy was surprisingly dim and diffuse at first look; I had to boost up the contrast to get the images seen here. A compact core emerges from the center. The halo has a brighter zone closer to the core; diffuse outer regions extend along the primary axis, more visible to the SW than to the NE. | ||
| Size: | 1.6' x 1.4' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | Galaxy S0-a |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: There are a lot of galaxies are in this field! While the image is centered on NGC 125, there are at least 5 other galaxies visible - NGC 126, 127, 128 (the brightest), 130, & IC 17. NGC 125 is round and compact, with a diffuse haze surrounding it. It lies just above a tidy pair of similarly bright field stars. To its east (left), elongated NGC 128 steals the show in this field, being quite bright with noticeable haze extending off of each end. | ||
| Size: | 3.7' x 1.6' | Mag: | 12.3 | Type: | Sbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Oval galaxy with round stellar core. Zooming in shows lovely encompassing spiral swirls with a remarkable void in the NE loop, which butts up against a mag 12 field star (in fact, the star almost looks attached to the spiral arm!). A pretty field with 40-50 scattered stars, including a nice arc of 5 stars immediately north of the galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 2.1' x 1.8' | Mag: | 12.9 | Type: | Sab Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Appears at low power as a birght oval surrounded by a dusty haze. Zooming in on the enlarged view shows a face-on galaxy with two distinct hooked, swirling arms extending to the east and west. Residual tidal haze is visible between them on the northern and southern sides, with a bit of a "black eye" void under the SW edge of the core. Field has several small groupings of stars that seem to be trying to make their own little asterisms. | ||
| Size: | 1.2' x 1.1' | Mag: | 13.9 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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Observations: This galaxy is small, round, and tight with a noticeble smudgy haze around it. Zooming in shows that the haze is a bit disturbed on the north side and is a bit more raggedy at the SE edge.
Nearby galaxy NGC 200 is quite lovely with two curved spiral arms sweeping to the NW & SE. There are multiple additional galaxies that are fairly easy to pick out in the field.
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| Size: | 2.5' x 4.0' | Mag: | 13.3 | Type: | Pln |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Wow! A monstrous portion of galaxy M31 encroaches into the field, engulfing tiny NGC 206. This nebulous cluster is surprisingly easy to distinguish from the enveloping haze of M31. It looks like an elongated cocoon entangled in the web of its massive neighbor. A worm of darkness wiggles through the clouds just above it. Other impressive darkened dust lanes in M31 are visible nearby. | ||
| Size: | 1.8'x 1.3'" | Mag: | 13 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations:Elongated NE-SW, this galaxy has a bright compressed oval core surrounded by a dusty haze. The haze is brighter on the NW side, with a bit hook causing a separation from the core; on close inspection, this gap can be seen as a small swath of darkness in the SW part of the spiraling haze. Some of the background fuzzies in the field might be other galaxies, but with the seeing degrading, it's hard to be sure. | ||
| Size: | 2.6'x 0.6' | Mag: | 13.5 | Type: | SBa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A bright splinter of a galaxy with a compressed elongated core. Overall it looks a bit like a compass needle. The haze of this galaxy has well defined edges with hazy tips at the NW & SW ends. The NW tip has a hammerhead look, and upon closer examination, actually has another galaxy sitting crosswise there! A striking line of 8 stars stretches out in the NW corner of the field, with some dangling stars coming off of it to the south. Another nice curve of 4-5 stars is at the SW edge of the EAA field. | ||
| Size: | 3.2'x 2.0' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy is small and oval but bright; its elongated axis runs NE to SW. A brighter star to the SE, HD 5584, pairs nicely with it. A nice "walking dribble" of stars snakes along from left to right (E→W) across the frame, crossing under the galaxy to the south. One of the "stars" in this chain is NGC 311, which has its opposite orientation and elongated cloud evident when zoomed in. | ||
| Size: | 2.9' x 1.8' | Mag: | 12.1 | Type: | SBcd Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations:What a disrupted twister this is! Zoom in to see the knots and apparent gyrations that are going on in the cloud surrounding the bright, slightly distorted core. The haze has a very abrupt, clipped edge on its SW (bottom right), but the SE (bottom left) is quite diffuse. It looks like another galaxy is trapped within the SE envelope! To me it looks like there is a bridge of matter between two galaxy cores, with the larger core of the NGC337 galaxy pulling stars from the core of the ensnared one. Click to see this in the enlarged view, then zoom in closer. Fascinating! | ||
| Size: | 2.4'x 1.7' | Mag: | 12 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Small, bright, and round, this galaxxy is surrounded by a large diffuse haze. It is closely paired with a small fied star, giving it the appearance, at first glance, of a double star. The haze is slightly thicker along the ESE/WNW axis. More structure within the envelope is dectectable in the SLOOH image than in my own EAA image. | ||
| Size: | 2.4' x 1.3'' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a simple elliptical galaxy with a bright core and a diffuse haze that is thinner on the E & W side, but extends outward into space at the N & S tips. What sets this one apart for me is that it is framed quite nicely by a triangle of mag 14/15 galaxies: NGC 407, NGC 414, & PGC 4234. Zoom in and see! . | ||
| Size: | 4.1'x 3.1' | Mag: | 11.9 | Type: | SABm Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Overall oval in shape with a bright compact core, but what a crazy, chaotic, squashed envelope it has! The NW end looks like a jester's hat, the SW edge is flattened with an abrupt dropoff in brightness, and there's a little puff off by itself to the east. What happened here? | ||
| Size: | 1.8' x 1.2' | Mag: | 12.1 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Just look at the galaxies spread throughout this field! Wow! Our target, NGC 499, is a bright elliptical galaxy, oval in shape with a diffuse envelope all the way around it. Two sets of stars (a tiny pair to the NE and a tiny triplet to the E) form cute punctuations to mark our galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 0.9'x0.6' | Mag: | 13.9 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This target appears as a rather non-descript oval galaxy, fairly bright but small, with a diffuse envelope that appears to extend further out in a blunt fashion at the NE (top right) and to a lesser extent at the SW tip. Hints of structure in the envelope can be detected at both of these ends. Several other galaxies are seen in the field. I especially like the splinter-like galaxy visible to the NW (upper right), NGC 512. evident at the SW end. | ||
| Size: | 4.2'x 2.7' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a lovely face-on spiral galaxy with prominent arms splaying out prominently. The southern (bottom) arm appears to be abruptly cut off from our perspective and is quite linear at the bottom edge. Quite pretty - I would like to revisit this galaxy to pull out more detail. | ||
| Size: | 1.5' x 1.5' | Mag: | 12 | Type: | BN |
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| Observations: Located in the outer arms of its beautiful neighbor (NGC 598, the Triangulum/Pinwheel Galaxy) this small galaxy stands out as a bright, elongated, irregular splotch, very distinct and easy to pick out. Zooming in, some satellite splotches are evident immediately to the NW and SE - are they stars or other nebulous galactic remnants? It's hard to tell from this view. | ||
| Size: | 2.8'x 2.1' | Mag: | 12.4 | Type: | E Gx |
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Date/Time Images Observatory Scope/Camera Seeing |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy has a bright round/very slightly oval core with a faint diffuse envelope which has no discernable edges. The field is rather sparse compared to others we've looked at. A few dim galaxies lurk in the background. | ||
| Size: | 8.3'x 3.1' | Mag: | 12 | Type: | Sa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This swirly tailed galaxy is pretty neat. The bright elongated center is compressed and mottled with a round bright core securing it in the middle. The compressed clouds are a rosy pink, more intensely colored toward the interior than in the outer regions. A lot of structure can be seen, most notably a criss-crossed pair of thin dark lanes at the NE (top left) point, forming an "X" in the dusty clouds. Two fainter arms jut out sharply nearly at right angles at the northen and southen ends, giving the galaxy the appearance of a large zig zag. Very striking! | ||
| Size: | 2.4'x 1.6' | Mag: | 13.2 | Type: | S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a bright round galaxy with a diffuse spray of haze coming out of each side left & right. These flare out a bit at the far ends, almost in a hammerhead sort of way. In contrast, the top and bottom edges of the galaxy have little discernable haze. Multiple faint galaxies are scattered about in the distance. Especially nice is the tiny, but sharp & bright, flat galaxy visible at the very top of the field (IC 154). | ||
| Size: | 7.3'x 2.5' | Mag: | 11.5 | Type: | SBc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: What an impressive sight! This bright elongated spiral galaxy appears squashed, almost like a splinter, probably due to its angle away from us. Bright knots appear as dots along the length of its center. Dim diffuse arms spiral around it. A much dimmer ghost galaxy, IC 1727, is to the lower right. It is sitting cock-eyed to our target galaxy but is very similar in form. It almost looks like it is a section that has been shaved off the main galaxy and has fallen away. Fascinating! | ||
| Size: | 1.8'x 1.3' | Mag: | 13.2 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: What a sweet galaxy this is! The bright round core is surrounded by a swirling dinghy-shaped haze, more pointy at the southern end, more squared off at the northern end. To each side of the core there are distinct dark areas under the arms. Upon zooming in, more haze can be sensed billowing out around the southern arm. A bluish knot appears in the top (northen) arm. I'm guessing this could be a star-forming region. A horse shoe of 8 medium bright stars lies to the NE (top left), pointing towards our galaxy. Ruddy NGC 676 can be seen sneaking off the bottom right edge of the field. And finally, a satellite photo-bombs this image across the SE corner. | ||
| Size: | 2.3'x 2.0' | Mag: | 12.6 | Type: | Sa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Another photogenic galaxy, this one if face on to us with an extremely bright oval core and a jaunty arm curving out to the right. Another more diffuse and angular arm is visible on the left side. Dark gaps are evident between both arms and the envelope surrounding the central core.The field has a spooky swath mostly devoid of stars running N-S towards the west (right) edge of the frame. A noticeable trio of evenly bright stars lies to the lower left. | ||
| Size: | 2.9'x 2.8' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy has a bright round core with a slight bulge on the left side (possibly due to a foreground or background star?) The haze surrounding the core is somewhat lopsided with a bit more extending to the south (down) than to the north. Although dim, galaxy UGC 1435 glows noticeably at the eastern (left) edge of the field. | ||
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This bright galaxy could almost be a twin of the star adjacent to it if not for the distinct haze extending NE and SW. There is also haze evident to the NW and SE sides, but it extends out much less from the core than on the primary diagonal.The top (NE) section of the envelope has more of an intense glow coming off the core than does the rest of the envelope. Yet another satellite crosses the field tonight, this time in the SW (bottom right) corner. | ||
| Size: | 2.5'x 1.7' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This little elliptical is tiled NE-SW in the field, with a bright oblate core and a fine halo surrounding it. Most of the surrounding cloud is seen flaring out at the ends of the NE-SW axis. Less nebulosity is seen on on the "flat" NW and SE edges of the galaxy. Some yellowish stars make colorful dots scattered around the edges of the field. | ||
| Size: | 21' | Mag: | 10 | Type: | Neb |
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| Observations: Wowie! The enhanced view of the live stacking really does wonders to bring out this visually dim nebula. What colorful nebulosity can be seen! Although this is called the "Fishhead", it looks more like we are looking down upon a pink version of the Twitter bird. A brighter, knotty nub is at the western edge. left (east) of this are some dark streaky clouds. The center fo the nebula is lighter and brighter, probably due to the light from the enveloped stars. | ||
| Size: | 17' | Mag: | 10.7 | Type: | Scd Gx |
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| Observations: Interesting large, somewhat damaged-looking, spiral with a noticeable knotty arm at the upper reaching up from the right end (NW). zooming in, a thin knotty "tail" is visible; it stretches off the the left (east). The core is squashed into a flattened wedge shape and looks ike the sole of a bright footprint, complete with two bright condensed dots as "toes". A few isolated clumps of nebulosity seem to be reaching up out of the darkness around the perimeter. The more you look, the more you see here! | ||
| Size: | 27' x 2.4' | Mag: | 12.4 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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| Observations: Round and very dim. A small roundish core is surrounded by a diffuse speckledy haze. The haze is not uniformly round - it has a triangle-shaped gap at 6 o'clock, and it's a bit squashed around 10 o'clock. | ||
| Size: | 5.5' x 1.8' | Mag: | 12 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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| Observations: Zooming in, I can see knots and lumpy clouds around the compressed core. A star sits upon the core's northern edge of the core like a little decoration. A surrounding diffuse haze extends horizontally, widening on the right (west) side as it fades out into bits and pieces. Strings of field stars stand out in the SW quadrant of the field, an especially nice one at the rightmost edge. | ||
| Size: | 2.5' x 1.0' | Mag: | 13 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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| Observations: Look and you can see the field stars making the letter "S" around this galaxy! At low mag this is a little sliver of a galaxy, but zooming in one can see that it is a spiral with its face tilted sharply away from us. The causes the core to look thin; the upper end of the core appears a bit brighter and bulbous. The haze surrounding the galaxy balloons out to the north end but is quite thin and streaky to the south. | ||
| Size: | 3.3' x 1.1' | Mag: | 12.6 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: What a pretty little edge-on galaxy! A dainty dust band can just barely be detected running the length of it. The core is bright, round, and stellar. The surrounding haze tapers off in both directions longitudinally and is slightly more slender at the right (west) tip than on the left (east).This difference might be an optical illusion due to the bright star at the eastern tip. This galaxy sits at the fourth corner of a celestial box, with three field stars marking the other three corners. | ||
| Size: | 2.6' x 0.9' | Mag: | 12.9 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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| Observations: This galaxy has one abrupt edge on the right (west) and a very diffuse billowy haze on the left (east). Its lower left end runs into a bright (double?) star. A cute little bucket of stars (4 dimmer + 1 brighter) lies nearby to the east. | ||
| Size: | 2.3' x 1.2' | Mag: | 12.9 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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| Observations: A bright little bean of a galaxy with no discernable features. Not really oval, it is more of an elongated rectangle with rounded corners, uniformly bright. A very light fuzz surrounds it. | ||
| Size: | 2.3' x 1.7' | Mag: | 11.8 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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| Observations: A pretty ribbon of dainty stars dances under this galaxy. Round and diffuse with a stellar core, it reveals swirling arms upon zooming in. | ||
| Size: | 2.3' x 1.7' | Mag: | 11.8 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy is similar in appearance to NGC 1045, observed above. Ovoid and uniformly bright, it is enveloped by a very dim haze on all sides. It lies in a busy neighborhood - I can see at least 6 other dim galaxies in the field. | ||
| Size: | 2.3' x 1.9' | Mag: | 12.7 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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| Observations: Although this galaxy is rather simple and round with a bright core, the haze surrounding it is interesting because upon zooming in, it appears to be a "two-step" envelope, with a brighter inner portion immediately next to the core, surrounded by a dimmer portion further to the outside. Perhaps this is actually some spiral arm structure showing though. | ||
| Size: | 4.9' x 4.4' | Mag: | 11.5 | Type: | SBc Gx |
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| Observations: This is a really neat looking galaxy with a well-defined circle of haze that almost completely, but not quite, surrounds it. A bar-like core crosses the center of the circle. It looks like a ghostly figure "9" or backwards "e" floating in space! | ||
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#40 NGC
1087 (H466-2)
02h 46m 24.9s, -00° 29' 46"
in Cetus
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in Cetus
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| Observations: What a pretty pair of galaxies! NGC 1087 (lower of the two) is bigger and brighter, with a compressed bright core and lovely swirling knotty arms with dark lanes in between. (It is like looking down into a flower!) NGC 1090 is about 15' to the north, a small flattened spiral with wide swaths of haze encircling it. The arm at the left tip reaches out like a broad hook. Tiny little NGC 1094 can be seen towards the eastern edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 1.7' x 0.7' | Mag: | 13.6 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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| Observations: This galaxy appears to be hanging vertically in the field with a sharply hooked top spiral arm at the top of it. Its diffuse haze has somewhat flattened edges on the left and right sides. The core is round and bright.This galaxy lies in the center of a right triangle of three bright field stars. | ||
| Size: | 3.3' x 2.4' | Mag: | 12.3 | Type: | IB Gx |
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| Observations: This galaxy looks like a cocoon, an irregularly illuminated fuzzy capsule with stars and knots glowing from the inside. The central portion has a bluish tint to it, while the lower portion is less bright than the rest. Several nice arcs of stars lie in the field. | ||
| Size: | 1.3' | Mag: | 13.5 | Type: | E Gx |
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| Observations: This galaxy is round and bright, almost "all core" with only a small envelope of haze surrounding it. No other detail can be detected. A cluster of little stars to the east sort of reminds me of a deer with large antlers on its head. | ||