Julien Lecomte
When I arrived at Dinosaur Point around 6:45pm, the conditions looked bleak to say the least. The sky was almost entirely covered with high clouds, promising very poor transparency. After a quick setup, we were ready to look at the ISS. I caught a few glimpses of it through my 12" scope at 95x, and it was pretty big. However, without tracking, it's sort of hard to see much detail. I should have brought my little Meade ETX 105 as it is able to track artificial satellites.The sky remained pretty much unworkable until about 10:30pm, time around which it started clearing up nicely. Around 2am, I did a limiting magnitude test in Leo. I counted 20 stars in that triangle (that's mag 6.3) However, as my eyes were sweeping that region of the sky, I was able to catch glimpses of many more fainter stars, but decided not to count them as I could not reliably keep track of where they were and how many I was seeing. Anyway, as you can see, the conditions were pretty good.
I spent most of the night in Leo, looked at some eye candy through Mark Johnston and Greg LaFlamme's scopes, talked shop while waiting for the sky to clear up, and caught my first glimpse of M13 and M57 right before packing up. Overall, it was a good night, with 18 new H-400 objects logged. Cheers!
NGC 3900 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h49m40.5s Dec. +26°58'02", 12.3 mag, Alt 56°
10:35p - Best seen with a Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1') Elongated N-S 2x1
with a pretty faint non-stellar core surrounded by a very faint
uniform halo. Located near the middle of the hypotenuse of a right
angled triangle formed by 3 stars of similar magnitude.
NGC 3626 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h20m35.2s Dec. +18°18'11", 11.8 mag, Alt 61°
11:00p - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy showed a fairly bright almost
stellar core surrounded by a much fainter halo elongated almost N-S
2x1.
NGC 3607 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h17m25.9s Dec. +17°59'58", 10.9 mag, Alt 63°
11:10p - Using a TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1'), this galaxy shows a
fairly bright almost stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform
halo. This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly dimmer NGC
3608, located only 5' N, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2'
S-W. NGC 3599 is located about 15' W.
NGC 3608 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h17m30.4s Dec. +18°05'42", 11.6 mag, Alt 63°
11:10p - Using a TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1'), this galaxy shows a
fairly bright stellar core, surrounded by a roundish uniform halo.
This galaxy forms an interesting group with slightly brighter NGC
3607, located only 5' S, and much dimmer NGC 3605, located only 2' S-W
of NGC 3607. NGC 3599 is located about 15' W.
NGC 3681 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h27m01.0s Dec. +16°48'33", 12.4 mag, Alt 63°
11:25p - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears round, with a faint
almost stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo. This galaxy
forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC 3681. These three
galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by
about 8' from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also
visible, about 10' E of that line.
NGC 3684 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h27m42.3s Dec. +16°58'34", 12.3 mag, Alt 63°
11:25p - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears round and fairly
uniform, with no obvious core. The halo seems to become slightly
brighter toward the center. This galaxy forms an interesting group
with NGC 3686 and NGC 3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on
a N-E/S-W line, and are separated by about 8' from their nearest
neighbor. Much fainter NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10' E of that
line.
NGC 3686 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h28m15.1s Dec. +17°10'12", 12.0 mag, Alt 63°
11:25p - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears elongated 2x1 N-S. It
looks fairly uniform, with no obvious core (a slightly brighter
central condensation was suspected) A faint superimposed star is
visible using averted vision, about 1.5' S of the center of the
galaxy. This galaxy forms an interesting group with NGC 3684 and NGC
3681. These three galaxies are almost aligned on a N-E/S-W line, and
are separated by about 8' from their nearest neighbor. Much fainter
NGC 3691 is also visible, about 10' E of that line.
NGC 3242 - Ghost of Jupiter - Planetary Nebula in Hydra, R.A.
10h25m14.7s Dec. -18°41'34", 8.6 mag, Alt 34°
11:40p - Using a TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7'), this planetary
nebula appears very bright, round and very uniform. It shows an almost
surreal fluorescent blue-green color. When using a TeleVue Nagler 5mm
(305x, 16.1'), the nebula loses its color, but starts revealing
details, especially an elliptical ring, elongated 2x1 N-S, nested
inside the nebula. The central star was suspected during very brief
moments. Its visibility seems extremely dependent on the seeing.
NGC 3655 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h23m25.9s Dec. +16°32'08", 12.3 mag, Alt 68°
12:05a - Using a TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1'), this galaxy appears
elongated 2x1 N-S with a non stellar core surrounded by a uniform
halo. Located about 2' W-SW of a star of comparable magnitude.
NGC 3489 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h00m49.9s Dec. +13°50'55", 11.1 mag, Alt 67°
12:20a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears elongated 2x1 E-W
with an almost stellar core surrounded by a uniform halo.
NGC 3628 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h20m47.9s Dec. +13°32'14", 10.0 mag, Alt 66°
12:25a - This is an edge-on spiral. As such, it appears very elongated
E-W. Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler 9mm
(169x, 29.1') eyepieces, the dust lane was detected, but not easily at
all! The galaxy does not appear perfectly symmetrical like some other
edge-on spirals do. It looks like its disc is warped a little. A faint
superimposed star is visible near the eastern end, 1' south of the
center line. This galaxy is a member of the splendid Leo triplet,
which also contains the much brighter M65 and M66, located about 20'
south. All three galaxies fit within a single field of view of the
TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and show distinct morphological
differences.
NGC 3412 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 10h51m24.7s Dec. +13°21'37", 11.5 mag, Alt 64°
01:00a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears fairly bright, with
an almost stellar core surrounded by a faint roundish uniform halo,
very slightly elongated N-S.
NGC 3593 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h15m08.1s Dec. +12°45'52", 11.8 mag, Alt 65°
01:05a - In the field of view of the TeleVue Nagler 9mm (169x, 29.1'),
this galaxy appears pretty faint with a non stellar core surrounded by
a faint uniform halo elongated 3x1 E-W.
NGC 3384 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 10h48m48.3s Dec. +12°34'37", 10.9 mag, Alt 61°
01:15a - Seen using a TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7'), this galaxy
appears fairly bright with an almost stellar core surrounded by a
uniform halo elongated 3x1 NE-SW. This galaxy forms a beautiful tight
triangle with brighter M105 and smaller and much fainter NGC 3389. The
members of this group are separated by only 4' approximatively.
NGC 3810 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h41m29.5s Dec. +11°25'01", 11.3 mag, Alt 64°
01:25a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears pretty faint, with a
low surface brightness. The halo looks pretty uniform, with only a
slight brightness gradient toward the middle. The halo is slightly
elongated 2x1 NE-SW.
NGC 3640 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h21m37.4s Dec. +03°10'51", 11.3 mag, Alt 54°
01:35a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy shows a fairly bright and
large core, surrounded by a roundish halo.
NGC 3521 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h06m19.2s Dec. -00°05'17", 9.9 mag, Alt 49°
01:45a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7') and TeleVue Nagler
9mm (169x, 29.1') eyepieces, this galaxy appears fairly bright and
large, with a bright stellar core surrounded by a fairly uniform halo
elongated 4x1 N-S. The western portion looks slightly dimmer. I
confirmed this later by looking at actual photographs. Dust clouds
seem to be more prevalent on the western half of this spiral galaxy.
NGC 3912 - Galaxy in Leo, R.A. 11h50m35.5s Dec. +26°25'28", 13.2 mag, Alt 76°
01:55a - Using the TeleVue Nagler 16mm (95x, 51.7'), this galaxy is
hard to find. A good finder scope is of great help! It appears tiny,
faint, and elongated 2x1 N-S.
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