While it is raining as I write this, last night in Sonoita AZ was not all that bad, at least until the wind picked up to an annoying level later in the evening. I was using the 22" telescope or the DT (dysfunctional telescope) as I have taken to calling it here in my observatory in Sonoita. While not perfect-there were some clouds on the low southern horizon-it was good enough to pursue on of my new found joys of visual astronomy-galaxy groups. The temperature was in the low 40s and the humidity was in the low 30% range, rather high for here.
I started with NGC 2513 at m12.8. I found this object to be fairly bright with very textured edges and a slightly brighter center. Slightly N of here is NGC 2510, smaller, dimmer, and more oval in shape. Drifting N even more is the smallish galaxy CGC59-27 at m 15, MCG2-21-10 at m 14.8, MCG2-21-5 at m 14.5, and CGCG59-21 at m 15.1. At the end of this rather dim and hazy grouping was the reassuring UGC 4171, a bright m 14.4. I say reassuring in that it was fairly bright with an oblong shape and evenly textured edges after viewing the dim chain of galaxies leading up to it.
There is a narrow separation between NGC 2794 at m 13.9 and NGC 2795 at m 13.8. They are almost twins in appearance-being similar in shape, size, and brightness. North of here is MCG3-24-24 at m15.1, NGC2729 at m14.9, and MCG3 24-22 at m 15.9, Also in the field is IC2454 at m14.1-a very subtle circular glow, with an even brightness.
NGC 2563 at m13.2 and 2562 at m 14.3 are good stepping stones into the realm of the dim. Slightly south is the m 14.4 UGC 4344, NW of here is NGC 2560 that seemed much more difficult than its listed magnitude of 14.9. Bracketed by two magnitude 10 stars was UGC 4329, dim but easy to find. Ever so slightly NW of here is the small, dim, and rather boring CGCG 119-43 at m15.9. It was easy to see once it was found but it is in a rather star-poor area so initial detection was difficult, being a little speck and all. South to NGC 2556, almost lost within the star filed at m15.4.
When looking at the screen on the computer running The Sky, NGC 2832, 2831, and 2830 (m12.5, 15.3, and 15.3) are shown as one object. Intrigued, I decided to give this area a good going over. With a 7mm Orthoscopic eyepiece giving some 497X I could indeed see that there were three galaxies in the field and not one oblong blob that lower magnification views yielded (the wind at this time was becoming annoying, bouncing the image around quite a bit). I also detected in a lower power field of view NGC 2826, 2825, and 2827 at magnitudes of 14.7, 15.3, and 15.6 respectively.
It is interesting to note that it was quite possible to see the galaxies described in a fairly low power field of view (22mm Panoptic, 127X), often the field was filled with galaxies. However, as much fun as I was having, the wind by this time had become quite annoying and it was time to shut the observatory for the night before the wind prevented me from rolling the roof closed (besides ice on the rails, it has happened where the wind has been blowing hard enough to make closing the roof a real chore).
A short but productive night.