| ← Late Winter |
Herschel II Project - Early Spring
09h–12h NGC 2756–4024 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 09/23/22 02:00 AM -0000 |
Late Spring → |
| Size: | 1.7' x 1.1' | Mag: | 13.2 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A nice spiral in a relatively sparse field. This galaxy does not appear to be edge-on as stated in the manual, but instead looks face-on to me, with detectable arms spinning off both the north & south (top & bottom) ends. Zooming in on the larger image, the arms appear to taper & thin as they extend outwards. Near both of these arms are some knots, dark lanes, and uneveness in the cloud suggesting more structure is hidden in there. | ||
| Size: | 2.1' x 1.1' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | S0 |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A small splinter of a galaxy, overall oval in shape but with a bright, somewhat rounded, core. The envelope is diffuse and tapers out to points at each end, the left end being pointier and a bit raggedy, with the right having more of a blunt tip. A very faint surrounding haze can be seen @ 200% zoom. Two other very faint galaxies can be easily seen in the field, one at the eastern (left) edge and the other to the SSE (towards the bottom and to the left). Others can be detected upon extreme zoom. | ||
| Size: | 3.0' x 1.5' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: At low mag this looks like a bright fat oval with fringe on each side. Zooming in, we can see the intensly bright core with possibly a "black eye" or structure of some sort to the right, and a smooth envelope of very faint haze all the way around it. I think I can just barely detect a darkening or pinching of the cloud at ~5 o'clock and 11 o'clock, suggestive of spiral arms. Click to enlarge the left photo and zoom way in to see what you think. | ||
| Size: | 6.2' x 2.2' | Mag: | 11.3 | Type: | S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations:Really bright! This is an almost bulbous oval galaxy with a large diffuse dust envelope. The cloud immediately next to the rounded core is well illuminated, suddenly dropping in brightness as it extends further out. | ||
| Size: | 6.3' x 4.7' | Mag: | 11.5 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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Observations: Wow! Our target NGC 2805 is front and center, but there are also 3 other needle-like galaxies appearing to interact with each other in the top left corner. The larger of the
three has speared a tiny galaxy on its right tip, and there's another bright little fellowa
bit further to its right. Large NGC 2805 has a bright core
surrounded by a faint but extensive asymmetric & disorganized cloud.
Zooming in, I can see that cloud has both a more dense inner region
(forming the shape of the number "9"!) and a very thin diffuse outer shell. This outher shell appears to fall off into the background as it extends further out to the upper right,
and there is much less of it visible on the left side than on the right.
NGC 2805 is evidently engaged in some sort of cosmic gravitational interaction with something, perhaps those three galaxies in the upper left corner?
The galaxy's bottom arm seems to be dotted with bright blue areas, which I presume to be star-forming regions. I should go back and spend more time on this one!
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| Size: | 2.4' x 2.1' | Mag: | 12.6 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: While not as exciting as the previous target, this bright galaxy is round, compact, and surprisingly ruddy. It has a faint surrounding cloud that appears slightly more voluminous on the western (right) side. The edges of the cloud are clean and not wispy at all - it seems somehow "contained". The field is unusual in that it has 4 arcs (1 upside down) of 6-7 stars each that seem purposefully stamped into the frame. | ||
| Size: | 2.0' x 1.1' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations:This elliptical galaxy has a very bright round core but appears rather oval in shape due to a wide diffuse haze can be seen at the NW & SE ends. The haze is much more narrow at the sides. A distinctive zigzagged line of eight evenly bright stars* brackets this galaxy to the north and west. * actually one of the "stars" is a small galaxy - can you tell which one it is? | ||
| Size: | 2.1'x 1.8' | Mag: | 12.4 | Type: | SABc Gal |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: The more you zoom in, the more disorganized this spiral galaxy becomes. It has a prominent southern arm that is breaking away from the central oval core. But on the northern side, instead of a similar arm, there is a muddled faint smooshed out area with only the slightest hint of a possible buried arm. Something has greatly disturbed this galaxy! Two small stars above the core & equidistant from the center seem to be pinning the galaxy in place. If you give your imagination free reign, you might just see the face of goldfish looking at you straight on. A smaller galaxy, NGC 2884, lies in the NE. | ||
| Size: | 3.1'x 2.6' | Mag: | 11.7 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A glowing round galaxy with a bright stellar core. The surronding envelope is diffuse and dim, but is evely distributed all aroung the center. A smaller galaxy lies just off the lower right side. A bright wide double star sits in the top right quadrant of the field. A wiggling line of 5-6 small stars draws my eye to the bottom of the frame; this connects to a large arc of 6-7 stars that curl upward in the lower right corner Other star patterns can be seen in the east (left) as the field stars there encircle the galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 1.7' x 1.6' | Mag: | 13.5 | Type: | S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Almost perfectly round, the bright core of this galaxy is surrounded by a thick fuzzy haze of fairly uniform density. Below it lies another bright galaxy with an asymmetric halo encircling it. A bright splinter-like galaxy lies to the eastern edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 2.4' x 0.9' | Mag: | 12.8 | Type: | SABa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy floats in a rather sparse field with two pools of realtively empty space to its lower right and left. The galaxy is elongated and flattened with a straighter edge on the bottom and a diffuse billowing haze on the top. This haze, along with some of the internal knotty areas, appears to be blowing off to the east (left). The asymmetric interior is bright with a luminous squashed core. Two knots are to the left of the core and three arm seqments are sticking on out that side. A small triangular dark void seems to be taking a chunk out of the right tip of the interior envelope. This galaxy appears to have been disturbed by another passing galaxy, or perhaps is itself the remnant of a galaxy merger. | ||
| Size: | 1.2' x 1.2' | Mag: | 14.1 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images:35s exposures, live stacked for ~5 minutes Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a very tiny and faint galaxy just to the west of attention-grabbing large galaxy NGC 3079. There are three bright moderately bright mag 8-9 stars (labeled with HD numbers) in the field underneath the larger NGC 3079. Our little galaxy is smaller than the core of is larger neighbor. It has a round core and is surrounded by a uniform diffuse haze. Zooming way in, there seems to be a teeny tiny round dot of darkness in the haze close to the right side of the core. I don't think this is an artifact but might in fact be a dark cloud of some sort. | ||
| Size: | 2.5' x 2.0' | Mag: | 12.1 | Type: | E gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A bright, rounded oval core with a diffuse halo surrounding it. Two other galaxies are noted in the field, NGC 3084 to the bottom left (SE) and PGC 28874 (with an interesting bowtie halo) to the upper left (NE). A nice dribble of 8-9 stars catches my eye in the bottom right (SW) corner of the field. . | ||
| Size: | 0.7' x 1.5' | Mag: | 14.2 | Type: | SABb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a tiny little smudge of a galaxy next to a bright orange star. The galaxy is round with a bright compact core and a circular haze surrounding it. A hint of arm structure can be seen when zooming in on the top portion of the haze. A second bright mag 8 star is paired with a cute little triangle of small stars in the lower right. | ||
| Size: | 3.0' x 1.5' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | SBbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Wowie zowie, what a bright star we find here! Luckily this star (41 Hya) doesn't totally prevent us from seeing this small oval galaxy. Its distinct spiral arms are quite easy to spot on the northern (upper) side. The arms to the south are less distinct, possibly smushed together. A much smaller galaxy, NGC 3143, is visible below center. | ||
| Size: | 2.2' x 1.0' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a small elongated galaxy with a bright core and oval haze running NE-SW. It is paired with a mag 9.4 star, and I could've easily mistaken if for a star itself if the galactic haze had not be visible. To the left is a much wider and brighter pair of mag 7.4 & 8.1 stars. All are labeled in the astrometry image. | ||
| Size: | 2.0 'x 1.8' | Mag: | 11.9 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is small but bright galaxy with a round core and faint haze in a fun field filled with several other small galaxies. Ourgalaxy sits in a large V-shaped elliptical string of a half dozen stars and three galaxies. A little "lambda" of smaller stars sneaks into the lineup. I see at least 8 other small galaxies (maybe more!) in the field. | ||
| Size: | 3.0' x 2.4' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This lovely little spiral is easy to spot. It is quite asymmetric- comma-shaped in fact - with a knotty haze extending in a blocky fashion to the north (up) and a thin tail-like arm coming out of the bottom before splaying out to the right. A displaced fragment of this arm continues straight up, northward. The galaxy sits at the bottom of a box made up of mag 9/10 stars that match the brightness of the galaxy's core. Another two similar stars continue the line to the south of the galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 1.4' x 1.1' | Mag: | 13 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: At first glance this small round galaxy seems to sit alone in a non-descript field, but on zooming in, I can spot 3 dim but very distinct galaxies and numerous tiny smudges that are probably mag 17/18 galaxies, very small and/or very far away! NGC 3177 has a bright compact core with just a little bit of fuzz around it. There is a brighter nub coming off the NE (top left) edge of the core, which I think is part of a spiral arm. Other hints of arms can be seen in the haze when zooming WAY in. | ||
| Size: | 2.0' x 1.0' | Mag: | 13.3 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a dim splodge of a galaxy, looking a bit like a fingerprint with a dot in the middle. Very diffuse and hazy. Some hints of structure are detectable at high zoom. 100 or more field stars are scattered around in loose strings and curves but nothing too remarkable. | ||
| Size: | 5.0 'x 1.5' | Mag: | 12.4 | Type: | Sbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A very pretty oval galaxy facing slightly away from us with a whirling haze encircing it. Dust lanes can be seen between the arms and a few knots are visible. A pair of identically bright stars sits just to the left of the galaxy and tilts in the opposite direction. A very bright mag 6.6 star lies at the top edge of the field. | ||
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a galaxy that has evidently undergone some sort of disruption. Overall the galaxy is compressed - both its haze and core are squashed with the core appearing to be almost linear. The haze has visible knots and seqmented portions. The upper left side is chopped off diagonnally and there are two lumpy bits of the haze extending off to the left and lower left. The whole assembly looks somewhat like a little ghostly car scooting through the stars. | ||
| Size: | 3.5'x 1.0' | Mag: | 12.3 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy is slender with a bright bulging core. Its haze reaches out longitudinally to the NE and to the SW. The brighter inner haze is a bit stumpy in its outward reaches but the outer dimmer haze extends over twice as far. A dim star appears to be sitting on top of or within the haze to the upper left of the core. | ||
| Size: | 6.2'x 3.6' | Mag: | 11.5 | Type: | SBc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This elongated galaxy has a compressed bright core with a lumpy knot on the right tip of the bright portion. An oblong haze envelops the core with arms at each end reaching out into the darkness. The arm at the bottom is notable for the 90° hook it makes underneath three field stars. These field stars are themselves part of a curve of 6 or more stars that loop around the galaxy. At bluish knot (actually a tiny galaxy) illuminates part of the galactic envelope on the lower left side and another bluish object (yet antoher tiny galaxy) is nestled next to the leftmost of the three field stars mentioned earlier. And the right-most of these three stars is sitting next to two faint dusty lumps that are actually distant Seyfert galaxies, according to Aladin. You'll need to zoom in on the full size image to see these. | ||
| Size: | 5.8' x 3.5' | Mag: | 11.6 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This pretty galaxy is a text book face-on spiral with four distinct arms encircling the bright oval core. Knots are seen in the arms and dark gaps are evident between them. The outer arms are significantly splayed out from the center mass. A bright star sits next to the galaxy on the right (west) and seems to be catching some of the galaxy cloud (possibly a photographic artifact?) | ||
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Another nice spiral in Ursa Major! This one sit likes an extended S-hook with crazy legs, somewhat reminiscent of a spider crab scuttling across the beach. The arms are sharply angled and spin out like they are being flung out. The core is compressed and elongated. The core has a companion star or star forming region (looks like a double core) that can be seen when zooming in. More faint diffuse haze can be seen to the north (top) of the galaxy than to the south. | ||
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#147 NGC 3424 (H494-2) 10h 51m 46.6s, +32° 54' 02"
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#148 NGC 3430 (H118-1) 10h 51m 11.7s, +32° 56' 59"
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: A beautiful pair of galaxies with a third, NGC 3413, just to the lower right (west). The largest galaxy, NGC 3430, is an oval spiral with two sharply bent arms sticking out like pipe cleaners from the central swirl. A bright knotty arm hangs down on the opposite end. Other knots are visible within the galaxy. The core is elongated and bright. Its smaller partner NHC 3424 has a much different shape. It is cigar shaped, running E-W in the field, with a bright flattened core offset to the bottom edge. A dark shaded area lies just above the core. At the right tip are two stars and a knot. I couldn't find any details about this knot - is it another star, tiny galaxy, or a star-forming area? The third bright galaxy in this field is not on the Herschel II list, but is a mag 13 spiral with a bright round core and two slender diffuse tips pointing up (north) and down (south). A tiny IC galaxy with small hazy tips lies at the very right edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 4.6' x 3.7' | Mag: | 11.7 | Type: | SBb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This striking spiral looks like it has a double nucleus thanks to a mag11 star sitting just to the left of the bright round core. It is a barred spiral that we see face-on with two magnificent arms that wrap around the center, fading off somewhat in the bottom reaches of the galaxy. The arms are well defined, with dark lanes in between them.The core and the arms on the right have a brownish tinge to them, possibly picking up some of the yellowish glow from the star next to the core. A fabulous splinter galaxy, NGC 3501, is seen to the lower right (SW). | ||
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#150 NGC 3511 (H39-5) 11h 03m 21.3s, -23° 05' 16"
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#151 NGC 3513 (H40-5) 11h 03m 46s, -23° 14' 38"
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Another nice field with two spiral galaxies! Smaller NGC 3513 comies along for the ride to the lower right (SE) of the larger NGC 3511. NGC 3513 has two bony arms hooking around a flattened core. NGC 3511 is bigger and brighter, sitting with its face slightly tilted away from us. From our perspective this galaxy is wider than it is tall and has a field star staking down each end (E & W) like two earrings. The core is tightly compressed and bright, with several knots in the encircling arms. Dark lanes and patches are seen between and possibly on top of the arms, giving the galaxy quite a three-dimenional appearance. | ||
| Size: | 1.7' x 1.3' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a rather non-descript round galaxy with a bit of haze surrounding it. The field has a few triplets of moderately bright field stars and a few strings elsewhere of smaller stars, but is otherwise unremarkable. | ||
| Size: | 1.6' x 0.4' | Mag: | 13.8 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This small oval spiral reaches north and south with its two diffuse tips, the southern tip being slightly fatter and more blunt than the upper one. The core is stellar and bright. A dimmer companion galaxy, mag 15 is nearby to its upper right. Several dim mag 17/18 galaxies can be detected in the area. The field is rather sparse with some rather empty pools of darkness. | ||
| Size: | 1.9' x 0.9' | Mag: | 13.2 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Elongated splotchy galaxy with a distorted, possibly fragmented core. Zoom into the full size image to see an unusual 4-way knot formation in the north (top) end of the haze; a bright triangular patch is seen just to the south side of the core. A pretty curved string of stars sits like a seahorse in the field to the right of the galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 2.8' x 1.8' | Mag: | 11.9 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a bright one! Oval with a blazingly bright, elongated, & irregular core, this galaxy has two wide arms reaching out around the top and bottom sides. A third arm can be seen echoing the top arm faintly on the left. No arms are visible on the right side. A small but bright galaxy, NGC 3577, lies just to the SW (lower right). | ||
| Size: | 4.6' x 2.5' | Mag: | 10.9 | Type: | E Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a very bright oval shaped elliptical galaxy with a glowing haze evenly surrounding it. It is so bright, no detail is evident. Long star strings drizzle down the right side of the field. | ||
| Size: | 3.9' x 3.7' | Mag: | 12 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a pretty, face-on spiral with tightly packed arms encircling it. The core is round and bright. Knots, streaks, and blurry gaps can be seen in the swirl. A bright star sits on the lower left edge. | ||
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#158 NGC 3599 (H49-2) 11h 15m 27s, +18° 06' 37"
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#159 NGC 3605 (H27-3) 11h 16m 01s, +18° 01' 01"
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: There are four bright galaxies in this field, the two smaller of which are Herschel IIs. The two brightest are not our targets, but are bright ellipticals NGC 3607 and 3608. The two Herschels are NGC 3599 and NGC 3605. The smallest is oval elliptical galaxy NGC 3605. It has a bright core with an even and rather bright envelope of haze with an extended but very dim secondary envelope. In the right side of the field lies NGC 3599, while technically a spiral, it looks quite similar to the elliptical 3605. It, too, has a bright elongated core, a bright surrounding haze, and a secondary dimmer envelope extending further out. | ||
| Size: | 2.1' x 1.7' | Mag: | 12.8 | Type: | Sa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Although this is a spiral galaxy, I can see scant detail other than a bright oval core and a hazy brighter inner envelope surounded by a dim, diffuse wide outer envelope. The galaxy is almost evenly matched in brightness by a star (mag 11) to its upper left. A bright mag 8.1 star lies at the bottom of the field. | ||
| Size: | 1.0' x 0.4' | Mag: | 13.7 | Type: | Scd Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This small galaxy is elongated with an asymmetric haze surrounding it. the left side of the galaxy has a much mor narrow envelope than the right. It's almost as if the galaxy is folded under on the left edge. A very bright mag 6 star sits to the lower left. The field is sprinkled with stars interspersed with some rather empty pools of blackness. | ||
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#162 NGC 3636 (H550-2) 11h 20m 25.3s, -10° 16' 55"
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#163 NGC 3637 (H551-2) 11h 20m 39.6s, -10° 15' 27"
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This field features a pair of Herschel II objects, one an elliptical (NGC 3636) and the other a spiral (NGC 3637). A bright 6.6 yellow star sits at the base of NGC 3636 forming a distinctive narrow triangle with the two galaxies.Both galaxies have surrounding hazy clounds, but no other detail is detectable. Perhaps on a better night I could see more. | ||
| Size: | 5.3' x 2.2' | Mag: | 11.8 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This round galaxy has a bright core surrounded by a broad encircling haze with delicate a spiral structure detectable within its left side.. A small foreground star appears to sit right on top of the right edge of the core, making the core look more oval than it probably is. A long string of stars makes a flattened "S" curve from the top to the bottom of the field to the east (left). | ||
| Size: | 3.9' x 2.2' | Mag: | 11.8 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This striking galaxy looks like an eye floating in space! Relatively large, it appears at a slight angle to us so it's not quite face-on, but still its lovely encircling arms cradle the top and bottom of it like two eyelids.These arms are thin and a bit distorted, with wavy and streaky portions quite obvious when viewing at full size. An inner oval of haze surrounds the star-like nucleus. Dark empty regions are seen to the upper left and lower right of the galaxy's interior. A small round galaxy, NGC 3649, lies just to the northeast; it looks like a star surrounded by a glowing haze. The field is loosely scattered with stars, giving a delicate background for our target galaxy. Pretty. | ||
| Size: | 2.0' x 0.6' | Mag: | 12.8 | Type: | Sa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: I really like this one. It looks like two galaxies have collided, like two thin tadpoles pressed up against one another. The rightmost has a tighter nucleus and a very thin tail reaching upwards a short distance. The left nucleus is more compressed and elongated with knots. Its tail also reaches upwards but then hooks sharply back in the opposite direction before fading from view. The field is rather sparse, with only 40-50 stars visible. A few small, dim, and presumabl distant galaxies are detected as a few tiny smudges above our target. A bright mag 8.5 stars lies at the far left edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 2.1' x 1.1' | Mag: | 12.8 | Type: | Sd Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This spiral galaxy appears as an elongated oval streak with a bright compressed core. The core is interesting because it has a distinct black smudge directly under its center, obscuring the surrounding haze of the outer spiral. A large voided swath covers most of the field's center, with more of the void in the right half of the field. Relatively few (~60) field stars are visible. | ||
| Size: | 4.3' x 1.1' | Mag: | 12.7 | Type: | SBc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This petite but bright splinter of a galaxy is overshadowed in the field by an extremely bright (mag 5.8) star immediately to its upper left. The galaxy has a brigh ova core surrounded by a luminous haze with distinct edges. A knot of some sort appears just off the left edge of the core; a little "bite" has been taken out of the the envelope just to the left of this knot. A secondary outer envelope is faintly evident extending outward from both the right and left tips of the galaxy. | ||
| Size: | 1.7' x 1.3' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | SBbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This galaxy has an elongated oval core surrounded by a dim waxy haze that tilts ever so slightly at a slightly different angle than the core. A bright field star sits on top of the haze at its upper right tip. Two dark lanes can be detected within the haze, one oriented horiztonally near the bottom left and the other (less distinct) running vertically on the right. A smdugy tiny galaxy floats close by, just above our target to its left. | ||
| Size: | 2.2' x 0.5' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | Scd Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This splinter of a galaxy is a spiral facing sharply away from us so that it almost, but not quite, appears edge-on. The core is bright, and at this angle is thin and elongated. Two knots appear in the right portion of the surrounding haze, one brighter and close to the core, the other dimmer and sitting out towards the top tip. The haze to the left side of the core has a very bright knot near the distal portion. It is not obvious if these knots are stars or actual condensations of the cloud. A bright mag 9 star lies at the left edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 4.1' x 1.9' | Mag: | 12.1 | Type: | Sc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: An oval spiral with a bright compact core, this galaxay sits next to a tiny dipper-like grouping of stars on its right. A rectangular swath of dozen small stars lies on the opposite side, making the whole thing look like a dagger with a handle (the swath of stars) and a jewel (the galaxy) at the base of its blade (the dipper-like asterism). Zooming in yields good detail of the galaxy arms. They swirl around the core, separating widely at the bottom, where the brightest arm further separates into two distinct wisps.(Quite lovely!) A bright mag 7.7 star sits at the left bottom edge of the field. | ||
| Size: | 2.5' x 1.9' | Mag: | 11.9 | Type: | Sbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Three galaxies sit nicely in a line in Leo's hindquarters, NGC 3686, NGC 3684, & NGC 3681. Two of these three are visible here (3684 & 3681). Our target, NGC 3681, is centered in the camera field. A small isosceles triangle of stars sits just to its upper left as a nice way marker. This galaxy has a bright oval, almost teardrop shaped, core with a uniform diffuse haze encircling it. An interesting dragonfly-like asterism of 9 stars lies to its lower left. | ||
| Size: | 1.6' x 1.0' | Mag: | 13.3 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Sitting just off the line of sight of the Big Dipper's pointer stars and just inside the boundaries of Draco, this galaxy has a bright bulging oval core surrounded by a haze that is most visible at both tips. No other detail is easily detectable. A teeny tiny star sits just off the bottom center edge of the galaxy. A very large & bright mag 7.2 star dominates the field at the top right. | ||
| Size: | 1.8' x 0.6' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | SBc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: Located in the bowl of the Big Dipper, this cigar-shaped galaxy has a compressed core with a thin mottled envelope that is unevenly bright. A wide gap can be seen in the right arm, with a brighter knot at the tip seemingly broken off from the interior portion. The left arm appears knotty and distorted. In the center, directly below the bulging core, the lower portion of the envelope is much dimmer than at the tips, although this could be an optical illusion due to the brightness of the core. A bright mag 6.3 star sits at the bottom left edge of the frame. Another galaxy, NGC 3674, floats in the top right quadrant above a wandering line of 6-7 field stars. | ||
| Size: | 1.6' x 1.0' | Mag: | 13 | Type: | SABc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This pretty spiral galaxy has a bright oval core with a prominent swirling arm splitting out from right side as it hooks around below the core. A dark lane invades from the left between this arm and the interior haze. The top side of the envelope is more evenly structured with a broader fuziness. Several strings of stars cross the field and give a nice sense of motion to the background. | ||
| Size: | 3.2' x 0.6' | Mag: | 13.1 | Type: | Sb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a small almost edge-on spiral with a bright core that appears oval at this angle. The galaxy's envelope stretches horizontally with a brighter inner portion and a dimmer outer portion that fades diffusely into the darkness. There is a subtle dark lane barely detectable cutting a vertical path through the right side of the envelope. Bright red/orange giant UY Crateris shines at mag 8.3 to the upper right. | ||
| Size: | 4.9' x 2.0' | Mag: | 11.9 | Type: | SABa Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a bright one, primarily due to its bright round core, surrounded by an intensely luminous interior ring within the envelope. Dark voids can be seen on either side of the core to the interior of the bright inner ring. This bright inner ring is slightly flattened on the bottom edge with a visible knot and is itself surrounded by a ring of darkness, followed by a dimmer dusty outer swirl that fades into faint wisps. The field has a moderate assortment of stars of varying size and makes a pleasing backdrop to this galaxy. A tiny splinter galaxy (IC 2887) is visible to the upper right and some other barely detectable small ones are labeled in the lower right hand corner. | ||
| Size: | 1.2' x 1.2' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a rounded sprial galaxy with an oblate core. The core is encircled by a fairly uniform haze. Underneath the satellite trail at the top of the frame lies a nice arc of several galaxies. Other extremely dim galaxies can be spotted in the field. Four moderately bright stars make a line from the target galaxy to the bottom left corner. Another 5 stars form a noticeable backwards "L" to the right of center. | ||
| Size: | 4.2' x 2.1' | Mag: | 12.1 | Type: | SABb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This is a beauty! An oblong, almost rectangular galaxy with a dangling arm at the bottom, this galaxy really pops in the field at a bright mag 12.3. It has prominent spiral arms that enclose the brilliant stellar core like bent & broken pipe cleaners. Around the top of the galaxy, the arms smoosh out into a broad, mottled haze. On the southern (bottom) end, a single branch of the arm sticks out like a litle tail before curling back to the NE and disappering into a faint haze. To the exterior of the bright inner arms is an outer diffuse envelope which looks especially wispy on the northern tip of the galaxy. Another galaxy, NGC 3738, glows brightly in the top right (NW) corner of the frame. | ||
| Size: | 3.3' x 2.5' | Mag: | 11.4 | Type: | Sbc Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This oval spiral galaxy has a very disturbed, somewhat triangular, interior. Surrounding the bright core are contorted, cloud-like arms. Distorted segments, knots, and dark patches give a 3-D appearance. It's almost as if you're looking down into the open petals of a flower. Very enigmatic! The surrounding field is sprinkled with a nice assortment of an assortment of small and medium size stars. | ||
| Size: | 2.9' x 2.1' | Mag: | 12.5 | Type: | S0-a Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This lenticular galaxy is dominated by its screamingly bright oval core surrounded all the way around by a narrow envelope of diffuse haze. Little detail can be seen here. It looks lilke a bright white tic tac with a little bit of fuzz. The field has a nice drooping string of stars that appear to link our galaxy to the bright mag 8.8 star in the west (right) | ||
| Size: | 5.2' x 1.3' | Mag: | 12.2 | Type: | SABb Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This elongated galaxy at a bright mag 11 is certainly easy to spot in the field. Appearing edge-on to us, the central core is quite bright and appears flattened due to the side view. Please open the full size image and zoom in to see the delicate dark dust band encircling this galaxy. The band has a gap in it as it crosses the central core - I'm not sure if this is a true gap or is simply an artifact of being overpowered by the brightness of the core. Regardless, it is a delight to observe. I would like to revisit this to try to pull out more details of the dust band. Very pretty! | ||
| Size: | 2.0' x 1.6' | Mag: | 11.7 | Type: | E-S0 Gx |
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Images: Observatory: Scope/Camera: Seeing: |
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| Observations: This oval elliptical galaxy is another bright tictac surrounded by a fuzzy haze. The core is exceedingly bright; the hazy halo is broad and uniformly diffuse. The galaxy marks the left top lip of a bowl shaped asterism made in combination with 4 stars to its right. | ||