Mersing report- Galaxies Trek: Into Darkness (May 2019)

Alright, this is for sharing of your observation experience. Or, if you are arranging gatherings, star-gazing expeditions or just want some company to go observing together, you can shout it out here.
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antares2063
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Mersing report- Galaxies Trek: Into Darkness (May 2019)

Post by antares2063 »

Hi everyone,

Decided to do a short writeup after coming back from a good 2 nights at mersing.

(1st night had far better sky conditions than the 2nd night) . The following objects observed are mostly done on the first night.

Visual setups:
Sumerian 12” Alkaid
William Optics Zenithstar 61

Imaging setups:
Basically every other telescope that is there other than the 2 mentioned above.

Notable objects of interest (and my first time observing them too)

Ngc 3344 – Gx in Leo Minor. Condensed core with hint of arms structure after staring at it for a few minutes. Brings to mind a smaller and cuter version of Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

NGC 3414 – Gx in Leo Minor. Small and faint, no discernable structure, also catalogued as Arp 162. Interacting galaxy companion should be extremely tiny or invisible in a 12inch.

NGC 3190+3193 – Gx in Leo. Part of the Hickson 44 galaxy cluster. These are the brightest members at 10.9 and 11.3 mag respectively. I stared longingly and held my breath at the eyepiece for about 2 minutes to see if I can make out NGC 3185 and 3187 but no luck, eyes not as sensitive as they used to be.

NGC 3226+3227 – Gx in Leo. Now this is quite a highlight, 2 interacting galaxies almost touching at the tips of each other. Brings to mind the Antenna galaxies in Corvux but the separation is more distinct. Also catalogued as Arp 94.

NGC 3626 – Gx in Leo. Aka Caldwell 40. Bright and easy peasy to observe.

NGC 4244 – Gx in Canes Venatici. Aka Caldwell 26. Very long and bright edge on galaxy, resembles a backslash or forward slash , very photogenic. Popular name : Silver Needle Galaxy

NGC 5907 – Gx in Draco. Very nice and condensed edge on galaxy, reminds me of the Ngc 4945 in Centaurus . Found online that it is also known as Splinter Galaxy, very memorable name.

NGC 5981+5982+5985 – Gx in Draco . Aka Draco Triplet. This one took abit of effort to locate, and visually, 5985 is unmistakably there, 5982 is abit of a struggle with averted vision, 5981 is invisible.

Palomar 6 – GC in Ophiuchus. Faint and small, needs med to high power to make out with averted vision.

Palomar 10 – GC in Sagitta. Easy to starhop but difficult to see. This one took a lot of effort, first verified by Mike and then by Aaron. Very very very faint patch of haze or stellar ‘vapour’ at 160x mag. Those who remembered seeing Stephan’s Quintet through my scope during a past Sept mersing trip using 160x as well, the Quintet is shockingly brighter than Palomar 10!

M13 – GC in Hercules. Read about the propeller structure in Phil Harrington’s cloudynights article. The Propeller is a cute and small 3 vane dust lanes obscuring some of the stars of the GC. Visible at 160x mag.

NGC 6528+6522 – GC in Sagittarius. In the eyepiece, the 2 globulars are separated by 3 faint stars resembling Orion’s belt.

Also stumbled upon binary star 24 Comae Berenices. The colours are strikingly identical to Alberio, almost mirror image, worth a look !

As usual the crowd pleasers of some Messiers, common objects like Omega Centauri GC, Eta Carina nebula, Swan neb , ring , Veil nebula both arcs, Leo Tripet galaxies, Sombrero, Centaurus A Gx, M83 Southern Pinwheel, Markarian's chain region etc etc. And the 2 planets Jupiter and Saturn at high power were a treat. Saturn had a very distinct and obvious brown/rust coloured thin band that early morning. Jupiter's details of swirls and festoons were "in-your-face" that Weizhong remarked its the best Jupiter he has ever seen in his life.

Attempted but cannot see:
-Palomar 5 (cant tell how it looks like even with DSS photographic image, striked it off my visual list already)
-Palomar 4 (too faint even at zenith position and anyway mag 14.2 is way out of reach of my scope)
-Abell 1185 with the famous Ambartsumian’s Knot.
-Minkowski's Footprint planetary nebula (M1-92) as it needs a lot of magnification from a SCT/MCT/Mewlon class of scope.
-Djorgovski 1 , listed in my starcharts as between M6 and M7 but can’t see anything there. Turns out it’s a mag13.6 globular cluster fainter than Palomar 10…hahaha

Looking forward to hopefully a more rewarding trip (2nights good and stable conditions) where I will reconfirm Palomar 12 in Capricorn and Palomar 11 in Aquila.

Regards
Junwei
Last edited by antares2063 on Sat May 11, 2019 10:05 am, edited 4 times in total.
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
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Re: Mersing report- Galaxies Trek: Into Darkness (May 2019)

Post by Airconvent »

Wow...so many objects in one night...Great trip, Junwei!
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antares2063
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Re: Mersing report- Galaxies Trek: Into Darkness (May 2019)

Post by antares2063 »

Thanks Richard, i hope some of the "old birds"with larger dobs than mine can revive their interest and go mersing again..haha

regards
Junwei
I miss the place where stars shine bright, to gaze upwards in awe of the sight
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