Observation Dec 28, 2008

The 3rd observation night. It’s colder than last time, somewhat around -5 or -6°, but strangely, I don’t feel it like that. I had less cold this night than the previous time.

Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,0
Seeing: moderate
Time 21:30Hr UT to 0Hr30 UT

I observed for about 3 hours and then I had to stop due to an issue with the ServoCat. The engines were not responding anymore.

The objective of this night is to continue with Herschel II; have another try at the emission nebula in Auriga, and to stop with some showpieces. But first and Arp to start with.

I started with M37 and M1.

NGC 93 – Arp65 – galaxies in Andromeda
This Arp group contains 2 galaxies, NGC 91 and NGC 93. I could only see NGC 93 but only with a lot of efforts. I can see it only 10% of the time. It’s so faint I cannot determine if it’s round or oval. It’s 1’ and has no core. NGC 91 was not visible. More to the west are 2 easier galaxies: NGC 83 is a round spot of 1’, located close to a small triangle of bright stars. No core. NGC 80 is also a 1’ round spot, but here it seems to have a stellar core. Observations at 211x.

Before going for the Herschel II I tried the emission nebula in Auriga:

IC 405 – flaming star – Auriga
I’m convinced I have seen nebulosity (with the help of an UHC filter) around the bright star located 10’ NW of AU Aurigae. It looked like a triangular shape located NW of this star – see drawing. Most observers are finding nebulosity around AE Aurigae, but I did not see anything except for the glare. I need to develop a technique to notice the difference between glare and nebulosity.

IC410 – emission nebula - Auriga
Again, the C-shape was clearly visible. This is an easy nebula

IC 417 – emission nebula - Auriga
I think I saw some faint nebulosity (with UHC) around the triple star in the middle of the Stock 8 cluster.

Next observations are Herschel II objects.

NGC 410; NGC 414; NGC 407 – galaxies in Pisces
NGC 410 is not visible at 124x. I need 211x to see it as a round nebula of 2’, without core. It’s quite easy at this power. SW is NGC 407, an elongated galaxy (3:1) of 2’. There is not core. Only 20% of the time visible. On the other side of NGC 410 is NGC 414. This is an easier target than NGC 407 although it’s a smaller one with its 1’. Here also no core is visible.


NGC 428 – galaxy in Cetus
At 211x I can see this stand alone but large nebula whose shape is difficult to determine. Visible only 20% of time.

NGC 514 – galaxy in Pisces
Again a stand-alone galaxy, this time in Pisces. Also this one is difficult as I can see it only 20% of the time at 211x. It’s a large round nebula of 3’, without core.

NGC 636 – galaxy in Cetus
This is a very easy galaxy, visible with direct vision even at 124x. It’s 3’ large, round but has no core.

NGC 660 – galaxy in Pisces
NGC 660 is a huge galaxy of 6’ and very easy to see. It’s oval shaped and has no core.

NGC 665; IC 156; IC 154– galaxy in Pisces
This is a little group of 3 galaxies in Pisces which has not yet been logged in www.deepskylog.be . NGC 665 is relatively easy at 211x as it is continuously visible. It’s an oval of 2’ with a core. IC 156 is located NE of NGC 665 and is a small round spot of 1’. A bit further north is IC 154 which is extremely difficult. I could see at 316x only a few times an elongated smudge of light. A moderate bright star is located at the southern edge. Check the DSS picture, its quite nice!

NGC 1184 – galaxy in Cepheus
NGC 1184 is one of the few galaxies in Cepheus. At 124x it’s visible with direct vision. It’s an elongated nebula of 2’ (elongation 3:1) with a bright core. See also DSS picture for this nice galaxy.

NGC 1175; 1177; IC 284 – galaxies in Perseus
A trio of galaxies in Perseus which is located 2° NW from Perseus A cluster. NGC 1175, which is an easy one, is visible as oval spot of 2’ at 124x and has a faint core. NGC 1177 is very difficult. I’ve seen it only a few moments at 316x. It’s smaller than 1’. IC 284 is visible half of the time at 211x. It’s a large oval of 5’ and has no core.

NGC 4291; 4319; 4386 – galaxies in Draco
NGC 4291 is a very nice object. It’s a bright round spot of 2’. There is a faint star on the nebula, and another one at the western edge. I did not notice the 2nd star at the western edge. It’s located very close to a small triangle of bright stars. NCG 4319, 5’ SE of NGC 4291 is an oval of 3’. NGC 4386, mote to the NE, is bright oval of 2’, visible with direct vision. The core is visible too.

I ended with Eskimo nebula, and NGC 2371, another planetary in Gemini. I could see the central star (I did not notice this last time).

At this time the Servocat was not functioning anymore so I decided to stop. It was once more a very nice observation session.

I have seen 136 Herschel II objects.