I setup closer to the house than I normally do because I wanted to get as much of the
It is important to note that while my backyard is actually pretty dark, and I can see some Milky Way, there are light sources all around, so I never truly become dark adapted.
M94 - Bright fuzzy, core is very evident. Part of a triangle with a dim star leading to the west, and a brighter to the north. Larger with averted vision. Using the 11mm makes it a little bigger, but probably not a better view. Also using "Moon & SkyGlow" Filter. Does not seem to help view much, if at all with this. Some Clouds rolling in from there to end the observation.
M64 - A dim patch, that although dimmer than M94, seems bigger, somehow. Has a star trailing behind. Averted vision not helping much. It has a leading star to the soutwest. The 11 makes it bigger and the core is a little more defined. I think the galaxy runs N-S?
M59 and M60 - Twin galaxies M60 and M59 - M59 leading M60. Two fuzzy eyes in my
M58 - A dim core that took a bit to come out of the dark. Has a companion star leading it along. And another trailing behind.
M89 - Wow, this guy is really dim - hitting the limits of my backyard and non really dark adapted eyes. Can make out the core. Not sure, but I think there is a companion galaxy to the south east? I know there are a few others around it. It kind of sits in the middle of yet another triangle
M90 - A dim fuzzy, as all of tonight has been - seems to run N-S ish, tilted towards NE. Core is there, but dim. Star to the east. 11mm doesn't seem to help, much.
M88 - It's there. I can barely make it out in my conditions, but It's there. Very dim - cannot really make out a "core" - I suspect the dim patch I see IS the core. Again, as one dim star leading and another trailing.
M85 - Small, dim patch - with a near trailing star. Core is brighter with this, and becomes more elongated (N-S?) with averted vision. Again, I am sure I am seeing other objects in the
That was all I was able to get from the Virgo Cluster - it had mostly fell behind the trees, so I moved on. That was about 1.5 hours of observing.
M102 - Actually a pretty bright core of a galaxy. It has dim stars on the North and south, and moving out a triangle of much brighter stars surround - 1 west, 1 north, and 1 south.
I also looked at a couple of Alan's Deep Sky Challenges, but I didn't log them. The Ring and Dumbell were stunning with the OIII filter - The Ring was a bright blue, the hole was evident with averted vision. The Dumbell was bigger with the OIII than I remember it being without (I did not check it without). Very nice, large puff ball.
This also pushed me over 70 for the M70 award, I will post a thread there as well.
Thanks for reading!
