Another time another place.

[NGC 1365]

Last night was the second night in a row of good seeing this year, the first since early December. I set up the 18 inch scope about two hours before the observing session and by the time I started, the scope was pretty much acclimated. Seeing was good but there was light glow from Sydney about a 100 Km's away, (Bortle 3- 4) .The plan for the evenings session was only a few objects, as I had a long day at work and the following day was busy as well, plus I was up late the night before. The main object this evening was a quasar in the southern constellation of Pictor, with a red shift Z=1.713, (Light travel time of 9.8 Billion Light years). I got the data from the Simbad Astronomical database and made a few finder charts using WikiSky. The field is not far from Canopus, so star hopped from there and in about 15 minutes was able to identify the 15 magnitude quasar and held it with direct vision using a 13mm and 9mm eyepiece for 153 and 220x magnification. This is a faint object among many faint stars so doesn't look much, but knowing the nature of this object from an earlier epoch of our universe, and the extreme time and distance scale involved makes the effort worth it. The light from this quasar has been travelling for nearly twice the age of our solar system when I viewed it last night, very ancient light ( Hence the tacky title from a Space 1999 episode, that's what came to mind as I was viewing the quasar). This is the third quasar I have tracked down after 3c273 in Virgo (2.4 Billion LY) and CTA 102 in Pegasus (7.8 Billion LY), and there are a few more I'd like to see, especially Einsteins Cross, but that's probably beyond the limits of my scope.
Other objects seen last night were the Pup (Sirius B) easy at low power with the 18, the Tarantula nebula in the LMC, which filled the view in the 9mm Morpheus and the Homunculus nebula (Eta Carina) where the two lobes were very distinct and showed detail and the skirt of ejected material between the two lobes was easily seen in the 9mm (For me personally, Eta Carina is the most spectacular DSO seen in any of my scopes, and doubly so with an OIII filter).Tonight looks like another clear night as well so I'll take advantage of it as clear nights are few and far between.
Thanks for reading.

[bladekeeper]

Wow, a nice and rather profound observation, Ivan! That one certainly surpasses CTA 102! Well done sir!

[NGC 1365]

Thanks Bryan.

[Peter802]

Ivan.
Thank you for an interesting report.
Wishing you luck in your quest.

[NGC 1365]

Thank you Peter.

[kt4hx]

Very nicely done Ivan. I have always said that observing is not done with the eye alone, but with the mind. Being a long time dedicated galaxy hunter, I get as excited about a dim barely perceptible dusting of light from a distant galaxy of magnitude 15 as I do about the majesty of something like M31. The two are in no way comparable visually, but its the fascination of what I am seeing, the time and distances involved for either. So your description of observing quasars with their extreme redshifts, rings quite true for me as well.

I also agree, I cannot imagine a more beautiful sight than NGC 3372, the Eta Carinae Nebula. I have observed it several times with the naked eye and small apertures during travels to more southern latitudes than where I live. As fine as Messier 42 in Orion truly is, the Eta Carinae complex surpasses it in my opinion.

[helicon]

Sounds like a great night out Ivan. 9.8 billion light years away is almost incomprehensible. And yes, just knowing that the photons reaching your eyes are 9.8 billion years old, or, as you mentioned, almost twice the age of the solar system is highly exciting. The only quasar I have observed as of yet is 3C273 in Virgo, hope to catch more of them though.

[hal2000]

Nice report Ivan. As a northern hemisphere resident, I always enjoy reading reports from the guys down under. The only one of the objects you listed which I have ever seen is 3c273 (Sirius is just too low down for me to have any hope of seeing the pup), but I have seen photos and heard lectures about the southern sky by those who have been lucky enough to see it, and I tried to picture the objects in my mind as I read the report. Maybe one of these days.

[NGC 1365]

Thanks Alan, Michael and Stevie. Alan, you are right about observing with the mind, contemplating what you are seeing especially with distant galaxy clusters and quasars just adds to the experience. Michael, as far away as that quasar is, there are quasars still farther out visible in amateur scopes, out to 12 or so billion years, this is viewing in the cosmological realm. Stevie, as great as the southern sky is, I'd love to see some of the objects in the northern sky which are either too low or not visible at all for me.