Conditions looked unpromising driving across the central valley with with a pervasive scud layer covering the sky. Fortunately the sky cleaned up significantly after sunset at Fiddletown and along with Shneor Sherman and Mark and Theresa Hansen, I had an enjoyable evening chasing spring galaxies with my 17.5" f/4.4.
Transparency was down about a magnitude (~5.5), particularly in the early evening although I didn't have a problem pulling in Leo I, just 20' north of Regulus as my first target along with two, small dim companions; IC 591 15' W and CGCG 64-74 (blue mag 15.4) 15' N of Leo I.
As the evening progressed transparency improved to 6.0, particularly in the north and it was easy to work on faint galaxy groups. As an example, here are my notes on a galaxy group in Ursa Major (LGG 246) which has several relatively easy non-NGC/IC galaxies --
CGCG 292-007 = PGC 35843
11 35 41.5 +58 19 26
Size 0.5x0.5
17.5": faint, small, round, faint but sharp stellar nucleus. Centered within a group of four stars with a mag 10.7 star 2.3' SSW. Located 12' SW of N3757 on the west side of a group of a half dozen galaxies.
UGC 6575 = MCG +10-17-025 = CGCG 292-009
11 36 26.5 +58 11 31
V = 13.6; Size 1.9x0.4; SB = 13.2; PA = 9d
17.5": faint, edge-on N-S, 1.2'x0.2'. Located 7' E of mag 7.6 SAO 28060 in the N3757 group. Nearby U6566 (16.5 pg) to the west was not seen.
NGC 3757 = UGC 6584 = MCG +10-17-026 = CGCG 292-010
11 37 02.9 +58 24 56
V = 12.6; Size 1.1x1.1; SB = 12.7
17.5": compact, high surface brightness glow, round, 25" diameter, very small bright core. A mag 13 star lies 1' E of center. Several galaxies are within 30' in a group (LGG 246).
UGC 6604 = MCG +10-17-029 = CGCG 292-013 = NGC 3795B
11 38 08.6 +58 45 30
V = 13.9; Size 1.0x1.0; SB = 12.8
17.5": fairly faint, small, round, 0.4' diameter, very small brighter core. Very easy for an UGC galaxy. Collinear with two mag 13 stars to the SE by 2' and 4'. Furthest north in the N3757 galaxy group.
UGC 6616 = MCG +10-17-035 = CGCG 292-005 = NGC 3795A
11 39 21.6 +58 16 06
V = 13.1; Size 2.3x2.2; SB = 14.7; PA = 80d
17.5": this member of the N3757 group appears as a large, diffuse glow, round, ~2' diameter, low even surface brightness. Located just E of the midpoint of two mag 10 stars oriented N-S with a separation of 10'.
NGC 3795 = UGC 6629 = MCG +10-17-038 = CGCG 292-017
11 40 06.7 +58 36 47
V = 13.1; Size 2.1x0.5; SB = 13.1; PA = 53d
17.5": spindle-shaped galaxy, fairly faint, elongated 7:2 SW-NE in the direction of a mag 12 star 5' SW, 1.4'x0.4'. In a galaxy group (LGG 246) with N3757 27' SW.
Seeing was soft above 280x, but as a check I was able to cleanly resolve the closer component of Zeta Cancri (currently a bit over 0.8 arcseconds) using 400x and the star images were rock steady in Mark's new Meade ED APO. Shneor and I hung around until 1:30 and called it a fortunate evening. I plan to observe again at Fiddletown next weekend.