Going further with Herschel 2 in Virgo

I have to rectify what I said, I thought I’ve seen all HII objects of Leo and Coma, but in fact I missed 1 galaxy in each of these 2 constellations. Luckily I found it by accident, so I can hunt this tonight.

Date March 30, 2009
Location: Boutersem
Equipment: Obsession 18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5.0
Seeing: moderate
Time 21:00Hr UT to 22Hr30 UT

NGC 3705; IC 698; IC 2853 – galaxy in Leo
At 124x this is a large galaxy of 4’, rather faint and with a bright stellar core. At 211x a core of 2’ is visible with a stellar nucleus. A bit further to the west is NGC 3692, a rather elongated galaxy of 3’ long and less than 1’ wide. Elongation is 1:5. It has no core and I can see it only half of the time. SW of NGC 3705 is a group of IC galaxies. I could only see IC 698 at 211x while moving the scope, and IC 2853 at 316x which I’ve during 3 different moments.

Before going to Coma I wanted to have a look at 2 Arp’s in Cancer.

Arp 89 (NGC 2548) – galaxies in Cancer
I have seen only NGC 2548 with certainty. It’s an oval of 2’x1’ with a bright core. Maybe I have seen PGC 24469 one or two times as an elongated spot, but it is not totally sure (which means I don’t log it).

Arp 167 (NGC 2672 – 2673) – galaxies in Cancer
The 2ND Arp in Cancer for tonight. At 124x I can probably see 2 different spots with a faint core. At 211x 2 distinct objects are visible? A large bright, round galaxy of 2’ with bright core (this is NGC 2672, and a smaller, also round galaxy, located north of the big one (NGC 2763).

Let’s go back to Herschel II.

NGC 4237; 4262; IC 781 – galaxy in Coma
NGC 4237 is at 124x an oval of 2’ x 1’ with a faint core. This is an easy object. It’s located north of a light orange but bright star. 40 SE is NGC 4662, a small but bright galaxy of 1’. It contains a bright core. Going in NE direction we come along IC 781, which I could see only 10% of time at 211x.

We continue with HII in Virgo

NGC 4235; 4224; 4233 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4235 is at 124x a nice elongated nebula of 3’ x 1’, with tapered ends. No core. I could not see NGC 4246. To the north is NGC 4224, another HII object. It’s an oval of 2’ x 1’ without core. It forms a (gelijkzijdige) triangle with 2 bright stars. Even more north is a 3rd HII galaxy, NGC 4233. At 124x this is a spot smaller than 1’ with a faint core.

NGC 4168; 4193; 4189– galaxy in Virgo
Ngc 4168 is an almost round nebula of 2’ with a faint core (124x). Even at 211x I could not see NGC 4165. To the east is NGC 4193 an elongated spot of 2’ also without core. Now going to the north we find NGC 4189. This a nebula of which I could not define its shape. It’s 2’ big, has no core, and I could see it only 10% of time.

NGC 4124 – galaxy in Virgo
An easy target at 124x. It’s an oval spot of 3’ x 1’, without core.

NGC 4073; 4045; 4077 – galaxy in Virgo
A FOV with 2 HII objects. NGC 4073, the first one, is visible during 80% as a small spot of 1’ (124x). The 2nd HII, NGC 4045 is located to the west. At 211x it’s a spot of 1’ with a faint core. To the south of NGC 4073 is NGC 4077, visible at 211x. It’s a small spot visible half of the time.

NGC 4241 – galaxy in Virgo
This one is difficult at 124x. I can see a spot of 2’ during 40% of time, without core . At 211x it is continuously visible. I could not see IC 3115

NGC 4267; 4305; 4306; IC 775 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4267 is at 124x a spot of 2’ with a bright core. It’s continuously visible. Going east we find 2 faint galaxies which I could see only at 211x: NGC 4305 and NGC 4306 were visible 10% of time. I could not determine the elongation direction. At the other side of NGC 4267 is IC 775, which is a round spot (at 211x) of 1’. Located west of bright star.

NGC 4294; 4299 – galaxy in Virgo
Again 2 HII in same FOV. These are 2 difficult objects which I could see only 30% of time at 124x. NGC 4294 is 2’ x 1’ large. Elongation direction is NW-SE. NGC 4299 is 1’ and is round.

NGC 4313 – galaxy in Virgo
At 124x NGC 4213 is a nice galaxy of 4’ x 1’. No core.

NGC 4339; 4333 – galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4339 is a round spot of 2’ with a moderately bright core. NGC 4337 is visible at 211x during 20%. It’s smaller than 1’.

These were the last Herschel objects. I ended the observation session with the show pieces of the season.

HII: 269 out of 400