by Ron Bhanukitsiri
This evening there were lots of clouds but gone by 10pm! The normal light pollution from my west sky got completely obliterated. There were some moisture tonight and the limiting magnitude was 5.7 in Leo! So it's the night for getting back on the Lion's trail. I usually get observation idea from reading books or reading other's people observing report. But not always. If you have a weak stomach read no further ;-).
First a digression to M95, M96, M105 and NGC 3384 (mag 10.7) and 3389 (mag 12.4). M95, M96 and M105 could all be seen at 22x. M95 was dimmest of the 3. At 44x, it is surrounded by a group of stars that reminded me of Auriga, a stellar core is seen. The core is surrounded by gray nebulosity and started to get blurry at 110x. M96 at 72x looks elongated. At 110x, it brightens toward the gray central core. The core seems to be as bright as the mag 11.2 star GSC 849:685. M105 is a lot more interesting. At 44x, it seems to also take the form of Auriga. There are two very pretty double double stars both yellow nearby. NGC 3384 can now be seen next to M105. At 73x, NGC 3389 can now be seen with averted vision. M105 is slightly larger and a wee bit brighter than NGC 3384. Both galaxies had fuzzy core, at time stellar. Large nebulostiy seen with M105. No core seen in NGC 3389 and appeared more diffused than NGC 3384; it is much, much dimmer than NGC 3384. All three galaxies got a better view at 146x being brighter. NGC 3389 now seemed to have a bright core with averted vision. 176x made the core brighter in M105 and NGC 3384. NGC 3389 got dimmer but noted nonstellar core. At 220x (4mm Radian), the core and outer nebulosity of M105 and NGC 3384 showed grainy texture. NGC 3389 can still be seen but very diffused. I simply can't figure how Messier couldn't have missed NGC 3384!
Next was the Hickson 44 group rematched. If you recall, the TV-102 Light Cup only caught NGC 3190 and 3193. Well, tonight it bagged the mag 12.2 NGC 3185 and could be seen with averted vision at 73x. With great effort and moving the nasty mag 7.6 star SAO 81276 out of the FOV which was destroying my dark adapted vision, it caught a glimpse of the mag 13.4 NGC 3187. I noted the 4 stars that formed a parallelogram to reference later: GSC 1425:565, GSC 1425:521, GSC 1425:771 and GSC 1425:779. They are all brighter than the NGC 3187. Checking my sketch with The Sky software later, I confirmed its position! The TV-102 Light Cup finally completed this Hickson group.
Alas, I spent an hour on Leo I and still a failure. I'm beginning to have doubts whether it is within the reach of the 4" :-(. And finally... ;-)
When I was preparing to observe the galaxies in Leo a month ago, I saw these 3 galaxies that are next to each other: NGC 3681 (mag 12.4), NGC 3684 (mag 12.1) and NGC 3686 (mag 11.8). From its position near Leo's hind legs, it looked to me like the Lion was excreting galaxies ;-) from its a_ _ the star Delta Leonis. (You may see this better if you have a charting software and set the magnitude of the stars down to 6 and galaxies down to 12.6.) So tonight the TV-102 Hematologist took me out to find out. They couldn't be seen at 22x. NGC 3686 was hinted in my new 20mm TV Plossl (44x). All 3 could be seen with averted vision at 73x (12mm Radian). NGC 3681 was next to star GSC 1437:2510, NGC 3684 was next to star GSC 1437:2384 and NGC 3686 was next to star GSC 1437:1796. A core was hinted in NGC 3681, no core seen in NGC 3864 or 3686. At 110x (8mm Radian), NGC 3686 (the brightest) was much easier to see with direct vision and looked like a dim oval gray puff. NGC 3684 (dimmest) was also easier to see with direct vision with core. NGC 3861 (dimmer than 3686) was also easier to see with core dimmer than NGC 3686 but brighter than NGC 3681. Dim gray puff in all cases. All 3 can still be seen 146x but much dimmer. By the way, I have been trying to catch these droppings for a couple of weeks without any success. So Leo's dung does not look brown nor black, but gray ;-). Umm but what is this horrible smell? Oh, the skunk was coming too close for a look through the TV-102 :-(.
I often wonder where galaxies came from and never really believe too much in the big bang. Well, the TV-102 Hematologist showed me where these galaxies **really** came from tonight ;-).