TSS Bi-Monthly DSO Challenge for May/June 2023 - Hunting the Messier galaxies in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster

[kt4hx]

I'm back and I wish to thank my friend Graeme for his encouragement that inspired me to release a new edition after a several month hiatus. This bi-monthly challenge will focus on a larger endeavor as one can see from the title. So let's get started shall we?

For many observers spring (fall in the southern hemisphere) means galaxies. Of course galaxies are profusely scattered across all the sky and accessible at every time of the year. But the spring into early summer months in the north bring into view the largest visual concentration of these behemoths in the region of sky between Coma Berenices, Leo and Virgo. In fact, there are so many galaxies in this part of the sky, that at times even the best observers can become disoriented from time to time. So, is there any way to logically find our way through this maze of galaxies without getting turned around from time to time? I would have to say yes and no. There are ways to attack the cluster, but getting off track will inevitably happen to the best of us.

Since so many are working toward their Messier awards here at TSS, we will key in on that specific group of 16 galaxies belonging to this cluster. First off, below is a list of the ones that are part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. The list provides you with their Messier number plus NGC catalogue identifier. Additionally, I have included the visual magnitude, angular size expressed in arc minutes, surface brightness (SBr) expressed in magnitudes per square arc minutes and the galaxy type.


M49 (NGC 4472) – mag 8.4, size 10.2' x 8.3', SBr 13.0, Elliptical
M58 (NGC 4579) – mag 9.7, size 6.0’ x 4.8’, SBr 13.1, Barred Spiral
M59 (NGC 4621) – mag 9.6, size 5.4' x 3.7’, SBr 12.6, Elliptical
M60 (NGC 4649) – mag 8.8, size 7.6' x 6.2', SBr 12.7, Elliptical
M61 (NGC 4303) – mag 9.7, size 6.5' x 5.9', SBr 13.4, Barred Spiral
M84 (NGC 4374) – mag 9.1, size 6.5’x5.6’, SBr 12.7, Elliptical
M85 (NGC 4382) – mag 9.1, size 7.1' x 5.5', SBr 12.8, Lenticular
M86 (NGC 4406) – mag 8.9, size 8.9’x5.8’, SBr 12.9, Elliptical
M87 (NGC 4486) – mag 8.6, size 8.3’x6.6’, SBr 12.7, Elliptical
M88 (NGC 4501) – mag 9.6, size 6.8' x 3.7', SBr 12.7, Spiral
M89 (NGC 4552) – mag 9.8, size 5.1’x4.7’, SBr 13.2, Elliptical
M90 (NGC 4569) – mag 9.5, size 9.5' x 4.4', SBr 13.3, Barred Spiral
M91 (NGC 4548) – mag 10.2, size 5.2' x 4.2', SBr 13.3, Barred Spiral
M98 (NGC 4192) – mag 10.1, size 9.8’x2.8’, SBr 13.4, Barred Spiral
M99 (NGC 4254) – mag 9.9, size 5.3' x 4.6', SBr 13.1, Spiral
M100 (NGC 4321) – mag 9.4, size 7.5' x 6.1', SBr 13.3, Barred Spiral


The approach will be to split this project into three parts, or groups of galaxies. I will call them the Main Group, which contains M60, M59, M58, M89, M90, M87, M86 and M84. The next I will call the Northern Group, containing M85, M100, M98, M99, M88 and M91. Lastly, we will look at the Southern Group, which has our two remaining galaxies, M49 and M61. There are various ways to attack this chore, but I will lay out what I hope will be a logical and very useful way for anyone to complete their run of the Messier galaxies in the Virgo cluster. By all means feel free to try a different approach or to modify my methods to suit yourself. At the end of each portion (Main, Northern and Southern), I will include a chart made using Cartes du Ciel. Everyone has their own sky charts, either printed or electronic, so I include these only to illustrate the movements I describe in the text.

One thing to remember is that you in all likelihood will notice many other galaxies in this part of the sky besides the ones we are looking for here. Don’t let them distract you to the point that you lose sight of the goal of this exercise. Log any you can positively identify, and save the rest for future ventures into the realm of galaxies. The Messier galaxies will almost always be the brighter and larger ones you will see. So pay attention to the charts and how they look (size, shape, and orientation). Please, if anyone notes an error in my descriptions, I ask that they be brought to my attention. The last thing I wish to do is mislead anyone with erroneous information. After all, it is easy enough to get lost in this area without my contributing to the confusion. Be aware that depending upon one’s sourcing; things such as magnitude, angular size and surface brightness may vary slightly.

So, let’s begin our journey with the Main Group. You will have to find your way to magnitude 2.8 Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis). Starting here on the below chart, we will slip just over 3.5° to the west-northwest to pick up the magnitude 6.1 star 34 Virginis. Almost 1° southwest of this star, you should stumble upon your first object, M60. In a low power eyepiece, both 34 Vir and M60 should be within the same field of view. This elliptical should appear as an out of round glow that may exhibit some broad core brightness. Only about 25’ west of M60, you should also discern M59, within the same field. Another elliptical, it should appear as a bright oval glow (depending upon your skies), with definite brightness within its core.

Continuing in the same direction from M60 through M59 for just a little over 1° you should bump right into the face-on barred spiral M58. This galaxy should present a bright oval glow, again with a bright core region. Our trip now swings more directly to the northwest for just a little less than 1° until we come to another elliptical, M89. This elliptical should present a fairly bright round disk. However, this is predominantly its central region, and if one is under darker skies, it may appear more oval as the dimmer extensions become visible. The next leg is to the north-northeast for only about 40 arc minutes where we should find M90, a spiral inclined toward our direction. Another fairly bright galaxy, it should present a very obvious oval shape, and may even display a star-like core at its center.

We now have just three more to go to wrap up the Main Group of our journey. Let’s slip to the southwest from M90 for just over 1.5° to the giant elliptical M87. You will notice the 8.6 magnitude star HD 108915 just to its north. This bright and large galaxy will appear mostly rounded to the eye, with a bright central region as is typical of elliptical galaxies. We now will sweep west-northwest for less than 1.5° to the elliptical M86, and just about 16’ to its west-southwest you will find the elliptical M84. As one can easily see, it is at times easier to employ galaxy hopping rather than star hopping because of the nearness of the targets to one another. This fine pair of galaxies stands out within a field rife with smaller and dimmer galaxies. Both are fairly bright and out of round in shape, with brighter core regions embedded within.

Congratulations, if you’ve made it this far you have checked off half of the Messier galaxies we are after. Oh, by the way, while you have M86 and M84 in your field of view, look carefully, don’t they look like a pair of eyes? Well if you look closer, hopefully you can see a nose and a mouth to that face. The nose being the small elliptical, NGC 4387 at magnitude 12.1 (SBr 12.8), and the mouth is the edge-on spiral NGC 4388 at magnitude 11.3 (SBr 13.3). Take a look at the chart below (made with Cartes du Ciel). This graphically represents the movements I described above. As you can see there are other galaxies plotted, and rest assure there are many more than what this chart reveals.

Now that we have the first group under our collective belts, let’s move on to the Northern Group of six galaxies. We begin this sweep at the magnitude 4.7 star 11 Comae Berenices. I will leave it to your own discretion as to how to find this star, but it is just over 8° northeast of magnitude 2.2 Denebola (Beta Leonis) or about 12° northwest of Vindemiatrix. Once you are centered on 11 Com, look at the chart below and follow along.

Starting at 11 Com we will slide a little over 1° to the northeast in order reach the lenticular galaxy M85. This is another obvious fairly bright oval glow with a noticeable core brightness. Now, backtrack to 11 Com and continue to the south-southeast for a little over 1° to reach magnitude 6.7 HD 107612. Follow this same line for just less than 1° further and the face-on barred spiral M100 should ease into view. This barred spiral should appear as a noticeably bright thick oval disk. From M100, let’s track for just over half a degree to the southwest to reach 6.5 HD 107415, and on for just under a degree more to reach another magnitude 6.5 star, HD 106926. Continuing along this line of travel for nearly half a degree more brings us to the star 6 Com (mag 5.1). Now we turn due west for about another half degree and we should find the edge-on barred spiral M98. This galaxy presents a fairly bright thin elongated oval.

After M98, we will backtrack to 6 Com to continue our journey. Moving to the southeast from 6 Com for just less than 1°, the face-on spiral M99 should glide into the field of view as a fairly bright and large oval glow. In the same field just 10 arc minutes to the northeast you should see HD 107170 at mag 6.5. Now we move due east from that star for about 1.5° to the mag 8.0 HD 108301. Then just under 1° further to the east we will bump into HD 108775 at mag 7.3. These movements are quicker in reality than it takes to describe them of course, and just about half a degree east-southeast of the last star you will find the spiral M88. This fairly bright and large oval should be clearly evident. To wrap up the northern group, we look almost 1° east of M88 where we find the face-on spiral M91. A large thick oval glow, this fairly bright galaxy should exhibit a noticeably bright core. There you have it. If all is good so far, you now have bagged 14 of the 16 Messier galaxies in the Coma-Virgo cluster. Well done! As with the previous section the below chart outlines the movements we made to pull in the northern group of Messier galaxies in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster.

We have conquered all but two of our targets now. So for the final southern group, we will begin again at mag 2.8 Epsilon Vir (Vindemiatrix). Moving southwest for just over 5° brings us to our jump off point, 32 Vir (mag 5.2). We now head west for 3.5° to find the mag 6.0 star HD 108985. In the same field of view just half a degree to the star’s northwest you should easily see the elliptical M49. This is a bright galaxy, pretty large in size and oval in shape. At a dark site I have even spotted it in an 8x50 RACI finder. Just over 3° southwest of HD 108985 you should easily locate the double star 17 Vir (mags 6.4 and 10.5). Our final galaxy, the face-on barred spiral M61 is found not quite 1° south of 17 Vir. This out of round face-on barred spiral is fairly bright and you may notice some core brightness within its disk.

Having observed those last two galaxies, you have now completed your mini-Messier Marathon. Observing sixteen galaxies in one session is a good piece of work by any measure. I will again reiterate that you will very likely encounter more fuzzy glows than this challenge entails – depending of course on your aperture, sky quality and observing skill level. The charts I made for this write-up are meant to guide you to the targeted galaxies. So I recommend a much more detailed chart if you intend to dig deeper into the realm of galaxies. I bid you good luck and happy hunting!

[helicon]

The temperature here is cooling and we are supposed to have a couple of clear nights. Hope to make some hay especially as the new moon is the 19th!

Edit: Just set up the Twilight II on the deck. Should be ready for the scope at 9:30 or so local time, weather still clear (fingers crossed). Hopefully will get a view of the Virgo Cluster @kt4hx. Bortle 5ish from home.

[kt4hx]

Excellent Michael. Good luck with ferreting out some galaxies!

[helicon]

The 102 mm XLT at 10 pm. Not quite dark, but here it is...

After that I waited another half hour. I was able to spot M87 at the heart of the cluster shortly after that, aiming at the midpoint between Denebola in Leo and Vindemiatrix in Virgo. I also caught M89 and M84 on either side of the giant Virgo A. After that a few clouds started showing up and the humidity rose. With time short, I checked out a double star (Gamma Virginis or Porrima, which is separated by 4 arc seconds). Ramping up the power in my 6mm eyepiece I thought I saw two lobes of similar brightness, so you could say I split them, but the seeing was not perfect.

[Graeme1858]

Good challenge Alan, you have clearly put a lot of work into it! We had a clear night last night and I printed off the details of the Northern group but the day had been uncharacteristically physical at work! So I had to go and get some sleep! Tonight is also clear and it's not a school night. The Moon is a bit in the way but I'll have a go at capturing some images to show what the Northern six look like even if they're not photographic prize winners!

Regards

Graeme

[kt4hx]

Good challenge Alan, you have clearly put a lot of work into it! We had a clear night last night and I printed off the details of the Northern group but the day had been uncharacteristically physical at work! So I had to go and get some sleep! Tonight is also clear and it's not a school night. The Moon is a bit in the way but I'll have a go at capturing some images to show what the Northern six look like even if they're not photographic prize winners!

Regards

Graeme

Hello Graeme, and thanks for checking in. Sometimes work does interfere with having fun! Look forward to your images. You never know, you might have a prize winner in the lot!

I need to post some of my visual observations of this group from over the years.

[Graeme1858]

Sometimes work does interfere with having fun!

I'm retiring in August so it won't any more!

Well I got the guide camera focused with the main camera during the day on a tree at the back of a house on the other side of the road through a gap between our house and our neighbours, so I was feeling confident. At 2200ish it was dark enough to see M91 on my computer screen, even with an almost quarter Moon not too far away. I managed 20 x 60 second subs and 20 x 60 second on M88 but my guiding still doesn't seem to want to work and while I got away with it on an Ursa Major target, it doesn't work on something closer to the celestial equator. So the images were mostly star traily. Then the ambient temperature got too close to the dew point and everything started getting wet! I'll have a blink through the images to see if there's enough half decent ones to stack but I'm guessing I might have more luck in the middle of June.

Graeme

[kt4hx]

Sometimes work does interfere with having fun!

I'm retiring in August so it won't any more!

Well I got the guide camera focused with the main camera during the day on a tree at the back of a house on the other side of the road through a gap between our house and our neighbours, so I was feeling confident. At 2200ish it was dark enough to see M91 on my computer screen, even with an almost quarter Moon not too far away. I managed 20 x 60 second subs and 20 x 60 second on M88 but my guiding still doesn't seem to want to work and while I got away with it on an Ursa Major target, it doesn't work on something closer to the celestial equator. So the images were mostly star traily. Then the ambient temperature got too close to the dew point and everything started getting wet! I'll have a blink through the images to see if there's enough half decent ones to stack but I'm guessing I might have more luck in the middle of June.

Graeme

Glad you are headed for retirement, that will certainly help with your free time and energy. I am 69 and now fully retired. Looking forward to what you can can capture of these objects.

[kt4hx]

Here are some excerpts from my visual observation notes pertaining to the Messier galaxies highlighted for May/June. All observations were made at our dark site location, most with the 17.5 inch, but a few older ones were with the 12 inch. Hopefully someone will find them useful in their own pursuits. Good luck!

Messier 49 / NGC 4472 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=8.4, size=10.2’x8.3’, SBr=13.0):
Initially seen in the 8x50 RACI optical finder, at 152x in the main scope it was a very bright and pretty large thick oval glowing disk. Its interior presented a very noticeable broad brightness set within a diffuse outer halo. This one is a beautiful example of an elliptical galaxy. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 58 / NGC 4579 (Virgo, barred spiral galaxy, mag=9.7, size=6.0’x4.8’, SBr=13.1):
This barred spiral was easily seen at 94x presenting a somewhat large and very bright out of round glow. The core was strongly stellar in appearance within the diffuse glow of the galactic disk. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 59 / NGC 4621 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=9.6, size=5.4’x3.7’, SBr=12.6):
After observing other nearby galaxies at 152x, I easily scooped up this fine elliptical with the same eyepiece in place. This very bright thick oval glow was somewhat large to the eye, and contained a crisp stellar core at its center. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 60 / NGC 4649 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=8.8, size=7.6’x6.2’, SBr=12.7)
After observing M59 with 152x, I next moved ESE about 24’ to pick up another nice elliptical. I picked up its glow first in the 8x50 RACI finder as a tiny diffuse glow just WSW of the mag 6.1 star 34 Vir. At 94x it was a somewhat large thick oval disk that was extremely bright to the eye. Its interior exhibited a broadly brighter central core area, and all in all it was truly a fine object. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 61 / NGC 4303 (Virgo, barred spiral galaxy, mag=9.7, size=6.5’x5.9’, SBr=13.4):
More to the southern end of the Virgo cluster I located this barred spiral just over 1° NNE of 16 Vir (mag 5.9). Viewed at 152x it was a somewhat large and pretty bright glowing disk that was slightly out of round. A bright stellar core was evident, as was a dim field star involved at the southwestern edge of the galactic disk. Viewed also at 199x, subtle spiral structure was visible, with a brighter knot being apparent in the northern spiral arm. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 84 / NGC 4374 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=9.1, size=6.5’x5.6’, SBr=12.7):
A little smaller and more rounded than nearby M86, this treasure doesn’t pale in comparison. Somewhat large and very bright at 84x, its sizeable halo is also crowned with an intensely bright core. It made a noticeable pair with M86 in the finder scope. (Observed with 12 inch at dark site)

Messier 85 / NGC 4382 (Coma Berenices, lenticular galaxy, mag=9.1, size=7.1’x5.5’, SBr=12.8):
Somewhat large and bright oval with an intensely bright core viewed with 84x. .A 10th mag foreground star was involved at the outer edge of the halo. This fine object was easily visible in the 8x50 finder. (Observed with 12 inch at dark site)

Messier 86 / NGC 4406 )Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=8.9, size=8.9’x5.8’, SBr=12.9):
This pretty galaxy was large and bright at 84x. It flaunted a large halo with a sizeable bright core at its heart. It was an easy object in the 8x50 finder along with M84, and the pair were an amazing sight, like two brilliant eyes staring back at me. (Observed with 12 inch at dark site)

Messier 87 / NGC 4486 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=8.6, size=8.3’x6.6’, SBr=12.7):
Another easy catch in the finder scope, this terrific object was a very large and bright oval. It displayed an intensely bright and large core set within the diffuse envelope set within its diffuse galactic disk. (Observed with 12 inch at dark site)

Messier 88 / NGC 4501 (Coma Berenices, spiral galaxy, mag=9.6, size=6.8’x3.7’, SBr=12.7):
This beauty was a somewhat large oval, and very bright at 152x. The light distribution across its large oval disk was uneven or mottled in appearance. This conjured up the impression transitions between bright spiral arms and dustiness along their edges and in between. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 89 / NGC 4552 (Virgo, elliptical galaxy, mag=9.8, size=5.1’x4.7’, SBr=13.2):
Just under 1° northwest of M58 I locked on another one of Messier’s galaxies. With 94x it was a pretty bright and somewhat large rounded glow. It contained a broadly brighter core region that was punctuated by a stellar core. A beautiful example of an elliptical. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 90 / NGC 4569 (Virgo, barred spiral galaxy, mag=9.5, size=9.5’x4.4’, SBr=13.2):
Just NNE of M89 I easily picked up this barred spiral. It and M89 fit into the same field of view at 94x. It presented a large oval that was very bright to the eye. It sported a very obvious stellar core blazing away at its center. Overall it and M89 made a beautifully brighter pairing in the eyepiece. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 91 / NGC 4548 (Coma Berenices, barred spiral, mag=10.2, size=5.2’x4.2’, SBr=13.3):
Viewed at 84x, this barred spiral presented a somewhat large and pretty bright out of round disk. Its envelope was quite diaphanous in appearance, and was punctuated by an intensely bright core. (Observed with 12 inch at dark site)

Messier 98 / NGC 4192 (Coma Berenices, barred spiral galaxy, mag=10.1, size=9.9’x2.8’, SBr=13.4):
This barred spiral was easily swept up using 152x, and presented a large and pretty bright elongated thin oval. Its core was a very bright non-stellar concentration set within the diffuse envelope. I also noticed a very small clump of brightness immediately northwest of the core, which was most likely an H-II region within the inner arm. This was confirmed with 199x. All in all, this was a beautiful galaxy to behold. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 99 / NGC 4254 (Coma Berenices, spiral galaxy, mag=9.9, size=5.3’x4.6’, SBr=13.1):
This grand design spiral viewed at 152x was somewhat large and pretty bright. The out of round disk was very diffuse in appearance and contained a strong broadly brighter core region. At 199x a weak stellar appearance was seen within the bright core. The galactic disk became more mottled in appearance and I detected some subtle spiral structure in its disk. (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

Messier 100 / NGC 4321 (Coma Berenices, barred spiral galaxy, mag=9.4, size=7.5’x6.1’, SBr=13.3):
A little over 2.5° northwest of M88, I dropped in for a quick visit with this old friend. At 152x its bright and somewhat large oval disk was very ghostly in appearance. Taking a look at 199x I was now picking up subtle hints of spiral structure within its diffuse and uneven envelope. Quite a nice one! (Observed with 17.5 inch at dark site)

[Graeme1858]

My M88 came out ok in the end and there's a couple of background galaxies too! You can see the spiral arms and you can see the Moon shine and lack of guiding too, even after a bit of a fight in PixInsight!

Graeme

[kt4hx]

My M88 came out ok in the end and there's a couple of background galaxies too! You can see the spiral arms and you can see the Moon shine and lack of guiding too, even after a bit of a fight in PixInsight!


M88.jpg


Graeme

Thank you for your image of this beautiful galaxy Graeme. Indeed one can pick out the spiral structure and dark lanes, which ads nicely to the aesthetics. I see what you mean about the moon glow. Picking up other galaxies is always a nice bonus, whether its visually or in an image. The very dim one left of the two brighter stars is PGC 41515 (mag 15.65) while the brighter one near the right edge is NGC 4516 (mag 12.8). I appreciate you posting it and hope to see some more from you and others.

[Graeme1858]

Thanks Alan

This is the second image I managed to capture from your Northern group before the humidity put a stop to proceedings. In fact I only managed 14 x 60 second subs, so I'm surprised there's an image at all! This is M91 with even more Moon shine, sitting as it does slightly more West, towards the Moon than M88 was. Doesn't look like the flat frames aligned too well either! But there is clearly a bar with twin spiral arms coming from the ends. M91 would make an excellent target, probably next year now, for a more lengthy exposure, without the focal reducer. It's a good looking galaxy!

I'll try and finish the Northern group after the full Moon has passed.

Graeme

[kt4hx]

Thanks Alan

This is the second image I managed to capture from your Northern group before the humidity put a stop to proceedings. In fact I only managed 14 x 60 second subs, so I'm surprised there's an image at all! This is M91 with even more Moon shine, sitting as it does slightly more West, towards the Moon than M88 was. Doesn't look like the flat frames aligned too well either! But there is clearly a bar with twin spiral arms coming from the ends. M91 would make an excellent target, probably next year now, for a more lengthy exposure, without the focal reducer. It's a good looking galaxy!


M91.jpg



I'll try and finish the Northern group after the full Moon has passed.

Graeme

Another good image Graeme. While I understand from an AP'er perspective you see various issues with the image. However, from a purely observational optic, I see an excellent view of this galaxy. Lots of detail for the eye to feast upon. First and foremost, the bar is prominent. In looking at some really deep images of this galaxy the bar is not as prominent to the eye because the core region is blown out by the brightness. The arms in your image show a lot of delicate diffuse detail that I can just start to discern using the 17.5 inch at our dark site. Very well done, despite the limitations of the sky and the processing issues you described. I look forward to the rest of the northern group later.

[sdbodin]

A 'by accident' DSO challenge submission. Was not specifically looking to image most of the targets in one swoop, but it happened. A short 20 minutes thru the Rokinon 135 telephoto got a fair share of the galaxies. I purposely left in the satellite trails as I am sure a wide field view would have them crossing quite often thru a wide field RFT. I will get the 4 inch 16x RFT out when the moon goes away next week for a visual look too, should be fun.

Just 20/1 min subs thru Rokinon 135mm telephoto at f2.4, ASI1600MC-cool OSC, w/IR cut filter, no cal frames, no guiding. Image, full frame, but 36% full size for forum restrictions.

Clear skies,
Steve

[kt4hx]

A 'by accident' DSO challenge submission. Was not specifically looking to image most of the targets in one swoop, but it happened. A short 20 minutes thru the Rokinon 135 telephoto got a fair share of the galaxies. I purposely left in the satellite trails as I am sure a wide field view would have them crossing quite often thru a wide field RFT. I will get the 4 inch 16x RFT out when the moon goes away next week for a visual look too, should be fun.

14may_135f24_DSOs.jpg


Just 20/1 min subs thru Rokinon 135mm telephoto at f2.4, ASI1600MC-cool OSC, w/IR cut filter, no cal frames, no guiding. Image, full frame, but 36% full size for forum restrictions.

Clear skies,
Steve

Thank you Steve, we appreciate your submission. The satellite trails do not bother me because as you pointed out, we all see them. Multiple times for every observing session I see them or meteors through the eyepiece, sometimes crossing right over a target I am observing. Just part of the night sky. That said, I do understand taking them out for aesthetic purposes in images more focused on a specific object.

[Graeme1858]

A 'by accident' DSO challenge submission. Was not specifically looking to image most of the targets in one swoop, but it happened. A short 20 minutes thru the Rokinon 135 telephoto got a fair share of the galaxies. I purposely left in the satellite trails as I am sure a wide field view would have them crossing quite often thru a wide field RFT. I will get the 4 inch 16x RFT out when the moon goes away next week for a visual look too, should be fun.

That's an excellent variation on a theme!

Regards

Graeme

[Graeme1858]

So here's M98 and M99 still warm out of PI. I captured them on Saturday night but the guiding was still not working. I uploaded my logs to the PHD google groups and was advised that I should Download PHD2 2.6.11dev6 and run the new Calibration Assistant tool.

They are both just 20 minute ish exposures so I didn't spend long processing them. But they do show what the galaxies look like. And they do show that my flat frame light box wants looking at!

M98 is at quite an angle from our point of view but the dust lanes are still quite prominent.

M99 is a lovely face on spiral with lots going on in the spiral arms. It will be well worth a serious try at it when I get sorted. Probably April or May next year.

Graeme

[kt4hx]

So here's M98 and M99 still warm out of PI. I captured them on Saturday night but the guiding was still not working. I uploaded my logs to the PHD google groups and was advised that I should Download PHD2 2.6.11dev6 and run the new Calibration Assistant tool.

They are both just 20 minute ish exposures so I didn't spend long processing them. But they do show what the galaxies look like. And they do show that my flat frame light box wants looking at!

M98 is at quite an angle from our point of view but the dust lanes are still quite prominent.


M99 is a lovely face on spiral with lots going on in the spiral arms. It will be well worth a serious try at it when I get sorted. Probably April or May next year.


Graeme

Thank you Graeme. Both show nice detail indeed. While face-on spirals such as M99 typically show a lot of detail due to their orientation, highly inclined spirals such as M98 can reveal more than we might expect. Well done.