by Jon Ruyle
I was not expecting last Friday to be an observing night- it was raining all day and the forecast I read said "mostly cloudy" for the night. Perhaps I should have known it would clear up, though: my wife and I had friends visiting for the weekend, so I would not be able to observe all evening. However, at midnight when everyone else went to sleep, I went outside and was amazed to see that it was still clear. So I set up my 4" refractor in the back yard, made a cup of coffee, and was at the eyepiece by 12:15.
I started with Gemini. I wanted to observe the Eskimo nebula before it got too low, but I couldn't resist peeking at Castor and gamma gem first. The brighter pair in Castor showed elongation at 45x and clean split at 90x. Gamma also showed a clean split at 90x. The Eskimo nebula was just small dim fuzz at 30x, but seemed much brighter and showed central brightening at 67x. The central star was visible at 108x.
I then moved Leo and my main target for the night: the NGC3190 group, almost straight overhead. Last time I observed the group from home with the 4", I was able to see only 3190. This time, 3190 and NGC3193 both seemed equally easy, so I don't know how I missed 3193 earlier. Though they flickered in and out with averted vision at 67x, they almost held steady at 108x. At the higher power, 3190 seemed to show central brightening in the best moments. I searched for NGC3185 and NGC3187 at various powers up to 180x, but was unable to detect either of them.
It was past 2 am. The sounds from highway 1 were dying down, and were being replaced by the sounds of waves breaking (I don't live very close to the water, but I can hear them late at night). There is something about hearing the sound of waves crashing while viewing a distant galaxy- it's like stepping up close to a giant David painting and seeing a few small details and then stepping back and taking in the whole thing at once. The feeling that there is more there than one can see or imagine is somehow amplified.
I was getting a bit sleepy, but I wasn't going to quit without a first looking at some of the M galaxies in Leo. At 30x, M105 and M96 were visible in the same field. Zooming on the M105 area, I was able to see nearby NGC3384. M105 and 3384 both showed stellar cores. I was unable to detect NGC3389.
After a quick peek at M65 and M66, I ended my observing with a look at M104. I gazed at it for a while at 67x, listening to the waves and thinking of that amazing the photo in Burhnams handbook. I could not see the dust lane but the elongation and central brightening were obvious.
I happily brought the small refractor inside. It was just past 3am. I had plenty of time to get a good nights sleep.