At that point I made the decision not to set up at that time feeling things were simply not going to go well generally with the sky. Then just before 2100 hours I went out again, and while some clouds remained, the skies seemed to be clearing from the west. So I then rolled back my previous decision and began setting up my gear. I finished close to 2130 hours and went back inside for a little bit, heading out just before 2200. Astronomical darkness would not be in place until about 2227.
Looking skyward things were doing so-so for the most part. Just a few clouds mostly toward the eastern and southern horizons were present. As the Milky Way started to fill in I saw the same characteristics as the evening before. The main plane of our galaxy was present but in a very subdued manner. Rather than a bright and highly structured entity, it presented a sickly pale ban that did not reach horizon to horizon. The sky in general had a muted appearance, not nearly as crisp as usual. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to stick to my guns and seek some galaxies.
I poked around a little in eastern Libra, and then had a momentary pause in Aquila before finishing up in Delphinus. I utilized chart 128 in the Uranometria All-Sky Edition for Libra and chart 84 for Aquila/Delphinus. There were times when the stars in the field of view held steady as points, then would dissolve into bloated blotches of light. Once in a while even at 152x (8.7x/inch) stars could not be focused. So this really made galaxy hunting challenging. This forced me to be careful and dutiful in my assessment of the star fields to insure I did not mistake a blurry dim star for a possible galaxy. Just part of the galaxy hunting game though and something I do every time out. There were times I was surprised I was seeing much in the way of galaxies. It seemed conditions were highly variable which adds its own dynamic to the process. While the hunt was slow, it was successful, even if in a more modest sense than I usually strive to achieve. But, the key thing was that galaxies were had, and I count that as a success since hunting those little buggers is my primary motivator in the field. So why not come along with me as I try to extract a few faint fuzzies out of a mucky sky. But as Jimmy Duggan said in A League of Their Own – “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” At least that’s how I see it!
(Equipment used)
17.5 inch
Ethos 13mm (152x, 0.7° TFOV, 2.9mm exit pupil)
XW 10mm (199x, 0.4° TFOV, 2.2mm exit pupil)
XW 7mm (283x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.6mm exit pupil)
Aiming my scope at mag 2.6 Beta Scorpii (Graffias) I swept about 8.5° into eastern Libra to mag 3.9 Gamma Libra (Zuben Elakrab). From here I slipped SSE almost 2° to begin my evening’s journey. Come along, won’t you?
Up first was this elliptical, which was located using 152x. It presented a small and dim thick oval glow that was smoothly diffuse in appearance. Dropping in the 10mm Pentax XW (199x) it was even more apparent but remained homogeneous to the eye. There was also a second galaxy in the view just under 2’ to the east. However,
MCG -3-40-3 (Libra, spiral galaxy, mag=14.2, size=0.6’x0.3’, SBr=12.2):
Just east of
Returning to Gamma Librae, I continued northward to 37 Librae (mag 4.6). Then I hopped to the northeast about 2° to locate this lenticular. Found with 152x it was a very small and fairly dim little oval that was slightly elongated in appearance. Viewed at 199x it remained a smooth little oval with no hint of interior brightening. Though dim it was not particularly difficult. (New)
MCG -1-40-4 (Libra, spiral galaxy, mag=14.3, size=1.0’x0.6’, SBr=13.6):
About 40’ west of the previous object and just over 1’ SSW of a mag 9.5 field star I located this little dust bunny. The nearby star seemed to throb at times with changes in seeing. It would shift between being a stellar point and bloated out of focus. The galaxy remained visible at 152x though very small and fairly dim. Going up to 199x the galaxy was more apparent snuggled up to the star and its elongated oval disk remained a smoothly illuminated entity. (New)
As an aside to the galaxy, I took note of a pretty double star only about 16’ ESE of MCG -1-40-4 and within the same field of view. The pair catalogued as STF1962, were aligned almost north-south. The two components are of magnitude 5.4 and 6.4, with a separation of about 11.6’. The pair appeared white and quite bright and pretty. There was a third unrelated star in close proximity south of the pair, mag 6.6 HD 139460. It gave the appearance of a nice triple in a north-south orientation.
MCG -1-40-1 (Libra, spiral galaxy, mag=13.6, size=1.3’x0.4’, SBr=12.8):
I now nudged west just over 1° to a field about half a degree northwest of the mag 5.1 variable IU Librae. I picked up this galaxy at 152x just as the field was trying to sneak behind a tree. It appeared fairly dim and small and I felt that the tree might have been compromising the view slightly. It’s somewhat elongated oval disk was evenly illuminated. Using 199x it was weak and I went ahead to 283x to have a look as well. It remained dim and very diffuse in appearance. Since the field I was working was becoming compromised by leaves, I now headed northward. (New)
Turning to chart 84 in Uranometria I aimed the scope at mag 3.7 Beta Aquilae (Alshain) then hopped eastward about 7° reaching the border with Delphinus. Before slipping into the celestial dolphin’s waters, I stopped at this previously viewed (four years ago) galaxy for a quick look and to seek a second galaxy I missed previously. Easily located with 152x it appeared as a small oval glow that seemed to have an intermittent stellar core trying to pop into view periodically. This was easily the brightest galaxy of the evening.
Nudging slightly west from
UGC 11599 (Delphinus, spiral galaxy, mag=12.7, size=2.3’x1.7’, SBr=14.0):
Okay, so now we wander into Delphinus aiming the scope at mag 4.0 Epsilon Delphini (Deneb Dulfim). I then eased eastward to mag 5.4 Iota Delphini studying the field immediately to its WNW. I easily located this small and slightly dim homogeneous oval using 152x. It was quite easy at 199x, but its thick oval disk remained smoothly illuminated. (New)
UGC 11605 (Delphinus, elliptical galaxy, mag=13.6, size=1.2’x1.1’, SBr=13.9):
About halfway between Iota and Kappa Delphini (mag 5.1) I located this elliptical. It presented as a dim and very small round diffuse glow with an 11th mag field star just off its southern edge. Then at 199x it was slightly more apparent, at times I was picking up a tiny, non-stellar brightness in its core. (New)
UGC 11602 (Delphinus, lenticular galaxy, mag=13.6, size=1.3’x1.0’, SBr=13.7):
About 24’ southwest of the previous object I spotted this lenticular. A mag 8.8 field star lay between them. At 152x it was a small and dim oval that was homogeneous in appearance. Though dim it was not difficult. Moving to 199x its appearance remained similar though slightly more apparent. (New)
UGC 11572 (Delphinus, elliptical galaxy, mag=13.5, size=1.0’x0.9’, SBr=13.4):
Moving back to Epsilon I slid southwest less than a degree to 1 Delphini (mag 6.0). Just west of this star is a loose gaggle of four galaxies. This elliptical was the first of the group spotted using 152x. It presented a small and dim diffuse disk. Viewed at both 199x and 283x it was still a little dim, but not difficult. It also remained homogeneous with not uptick in internal brightness noted. (New)
UGC 11571 (Delphinus, barred spiral galaxy, mag=14.1, size=1.9’x0.5’, SBr=13.9):
In the same view and immediately southwest of the previous galaxy I was looking for this barred spiral. At 152x I was not picking up this little barred spiral. Even at 199x it was merely suspected as a dim dust mote but was not totally convinced. Finally at 283x I was able to confirm its presence as a very dim and small subtly elongated diffuse oval glow. Looking at the sky, I could see things were starting to get a little worse up there. (New)
UGC 11568 (Delphinus, spiral galaxy, mag=13.8, size=2.1’x0.6’, SBr=13.9):
In the same field of view as the last two objects and about 11’ WNW of them, I picked up this spiral using 152x. It presented a small and fairly dim oval glow. At both 199x and 283x it remained visually weak, but not difficult to discern within the view. (New)
UGC 11564 (Delphinus, spiral galaxy, mag=14.0, size=1.5’x0.2’, SBr=12.5):
About 9.5’ west of UGC 11568 and within the same field, I just had a fleeting suspicion of this object immediately north of two dim field stars. Going on up to 199x I had a stronger suspicion of the presence of a thin diffuse glow, but was still not satisfied. Then at 283x as seeing settled down I was picking up this small and fairly dim elongated diffuse glow north of the stars. It was weak visually, and using averted vision definitely helped pick it up under these conditions. It was more difficult than I would have thought honestly. (New)
My final object was located southeast of mag 5.7 Theta Delphinus, about 1.5° from the star. Located using 152x, it was a small and dim homogeneous oval glow. It remained dim and small at 199x and its envelope was still smoothly illuminated. (New)
It was now about 0100 hours and frankly I was tired of peering through the muck. I struck out more than a few times on other galaxies. At times the seeing caused the light from dim stars to smear sending false alarms of a possible galaxy in the field of view, but taking my time I vetted each observation to make 100% certain I was seeing or not seeing my targets before they were logged. A rough night in the field, but it was still rewarding on many levels. That is about the lowest object count I’ve had in a long time for around three hours in the field, but the conditions simply forced me to slow down and take longer with many objects to confirm their presence in the eyepiece. A labor of love I guess one could say. Anyway, thank you for tagging along with me, and I hope to see you out there sometime soon, but under much better conditions!
Congrats on the 
