by Ron Bhanukitsiri
Tonight, under a fairly good sky with some light pollution from the west and the south, the TV-102 Light Cup got sucked into the Whirlpool Galaxy at midnight. LM=5.6 (5.9 at times with star SAO 63217). I've taken a quick look at M51 last year and earlier this year, but tonight I spent quality 45 minutes looking at it near the zenith!
At 44x (20mm TV Plossl), both looked like two big nebulous blob with a brighter nonstellar core. The mag 9.2 M51 clearly looked larger than its mag 10.6 neighbor NGC 5195. At this low power, I could see why Messier didn't include NGC 5195; they could have been mistaken as a single very large comet ;-). A new revelation is shown at 73x (12mm TV Radian) with a *very* non-stellar core now seen in both galaxies. Suddenly, I was almost stomped out of my chair; an elephant head with two eyes and a trunk with two nostrils was staring back at me! M51, NGC 5195 formed the eyes and two very close stars mag 11 GSC 3463:58 and mag 11.5 GSC 3463:348 form the two nostrils at the end of the trunk. At this point, the darn, blindingly bright mag 7.1 SAO 44642 was ruining my night vision and I had to move it out of the FOV. What's this; there is a hint of spirals with averted vision due to its uneven brightness in the nebulosity. Also, both galaxies looked like it's merged together through a faint but continuous nebulosity extending from M51. Grainy texture can be detected in the nebulosity. Both galaxies have a very good size nebulosity surrounding them. 110x (8mm Radian) confirmed the grainy texture and a more definite glimpse of the spirals with averted vision. One star popped inside the nebulosity of M51 at 176x (5mm Radian) but it blinked in and out. The non-stellar core of M51 itself now begin to show grainy texture as well. The star within the nebulosity inside M51 is easier to see at 220x (4mm Radian). Core of M51 is now very large and quite grainy, perhaps the size of Mars at this magnification a month or so prior to opposition. From the core, the grainy and uneven nebulosity dims gradually as it extends outward. Here are two sketches I found on the web.
http://hem.passagen.se/oeriksson/www/astronomy/reports/1999-12-02.htm#m97
(reverse it to a black background, note the aperture used to make this sketch)
http://www.jwebdale.btinternet.co.uk/m51.htm
What I saw lies inbetween this two sketches. Alas, I could not say with 100% certainty that I could see the bridge at any magnification.
Last year, if someone has asked me "Ron, have you seen the Markarian's chain with your 4" refractor (C102-HD at the time)?", I would have replied "No way would I waste my time looking at the Markedly-Dim chain" because galaxies were very disappointing. Well, I've since discovered that the TV-102 Light Cup did not disappoint with galaxies. So tonight being hurled out of the M51. the Light Cup landed into the Markarian's chain. See this link for info on the members (with a nice photo too) and the member's magnitude.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/stellar/scenes/object_e/makarian.htm
I spent a wonderful one hour (LM=5.7); Virgo caught some light pollution by the time I was done.
At 22x (40mm Pentax XL), all members of the Markarian's chain could be seen in the same 3 degree FOV, M84/M86 being the brightest and the largest, NGC 4461 being almost stellar and quite dim. At 44x, M84, M86 and NGC 4438/4435 fits the narrow Plossl's FOV. M86 is clearly larger than M84, but M84 seems to have a slightly brighter core. Moving the scope, NGC 4461, 4473, 4477 fits into the Plossl's FOV also; NGC 4461 has very little nebulosity around it while NGC 4473 and 4477 both have stellar core. Often enough, the 12mm Radian Galaxy Grabber is very revealing. At 73x, M84/M86 and NGC 4438 form almost a perfect love triangle ;-). But what is this? I tell you the TV-102 Light Cup showed me another very dim galaxy right smack in the middle of the triangle at the very edge of detection. It's not on my chart! (Later I checked with The Sky and it's a mag 12 NGC 4387 galaxy, 1.4' x 42" in size.) In the photo, there is supposed to be a mag 11.7 NGC 4402 galaxy (3.3' x 1.0' in size) nearby. But it's no where to be seen :-(. M84 and M81 gradually brightens toward the center, oval shape. NGC 4435 is elongated but NGC 4438 has a brighter core. Moving to the other side of the chain, NGC 4473 and 4477 form a neat triangle with a mag 10.2 star GSC 880:567, with NGC 4473 having a brighter core. The tiny NGC 4461 is non-stellar now and form almost a perfectly straight line with a mag 9.4 star SAO 100120 and mag 11 star GSC 880:640. Incredibly, a grainy texture is seen at 110x in M84 and M86 but their cores are still stellar. At this magnification, I thought I had glimpse NGC 4402 with averted vision, but I really couldn't be sure. NGC 4438 and NGC 4435 looked almost like they're almost touching. NGC 4414 is clearly elongated and still dim. NGC 4473 and 4477 still have stellar core. Wow at 176x; M84 and M86 can take magnification. Non-stellar cores now in both galaxy, more pronounced grainy texture in both galaxies with gradual brightening toward the center. See these two very nice sketches I found on the web; they are very close to what I saw at low power.
http://www.jwebdale.btinternet.co.uk/virgocluster.htm
http://www.jwebdale.btinternet.co.uk/virgocluster2.htm
In all this, I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't see the mag 11.7 NGC 4402 for certain while I could see the mag 12 NGC 4387 quite positively. Could the difference in size of only a few arcmin have caused this?
If you haven't seen the Markarian's chain, you've got to see it even if you have small telescopes! In all these excitement and freezing finger numbing 40 degree F, M87 was completely forgotten :-(.
At this rate of progress, I'll be "chained" ;-) to Leo, Canes Vernatici, Coma Berenices and Virgo for a life-time in order to view all of the galaxies within the reach of the modest aperture of the 4" TV-102 Light Cup!