Fine summer night galaxy hunt and my 2000th galaxy.

[Bigzmey]

7/22/22

Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 3.0.
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.

All session was carried with just two EPs:
Pentax XW 14mm 70 deg (168x, 1.4mm exit pupil, 0.42 deg TFV)
Pentax XW 20mm, 70 deg (118x, 2.0 mm exit pupil, 0.6 deg TFV)

We are having monsoon weather and at first the weather forecast for this weekend looked bleak with high clouds for all three nights. Then on Friday afternoon it has changed showing clear window for the evening. Of course, I got fooled by forecasts on many occasions, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. So, Friday evening I packed the truck and left for the desert under heavy clouds cover. The clouds were still there when I have arrived, but eventually they started to move and by sunset the sky was 90% clear. Phew! I checked forecast and now it showed that the clouds will be back by 23:00. Typical!

21:00. Determined to catch at least a few galaxies I have jumped to EP even before the sky got fully dark.

Booties galaxies

NGC 5438 (aka NGC 5446) – faint elongated oval (118x, 168x).
NGC 5436 – smaller and fainter elongated oval in the same FOV with NGC 5438 (168x).
NGC 5434A – faint round disk (168x).
NGC 5424 and NGC 5423 – two faint ovals in the same FOV
NGC 5431 – smaller fainter elongated spot in the same FOV with NGC 5424, detected with AV by moving EP (168x).

NGC 5409 – extremely faint wide oval, detected with AV by moving EP (168x).
NGC 5673 – faint narrow edge-on with AV (168x).
NGC 5703 (aka NGC 5709) – small, elongated oval with AV (168x).
NGC 5704 – faint narrow oval (118x).

Canes Venatici galaxies

NGC 5355 – small faint oval (168x).
NGC 5358 – faint narrow AV lens in the same FOV with NGC 5355 (168x).
NGC 5352 – fain AV oval (168x).
NGC 5337 – faint elongated AV oval (168x).
NGC 5346 – maybe, but not confident enough to call it. FAIL for now.

NGC 5336 – faint small spot (118x, 168x).
NGC 5320 – faint oval (118x, 168x).
NGC 5318 – faint wide oval with brighter central area (118x).
NGC 5312 and NGC 5321 – two small faint spots in the same FOV with NGC 5318. (118x).

NGC 5321 was my 2000th galaxy observed!

NGC 5313 – elongated oval with brighter central area (118x).
NGC 5311 – wide oval with brighter central area in the same FOV with NGC 5313 (118x).
NGC 5305 – very faint wide oval, detected with AV by moving EP (168x).
NGC 5303 – small relatively bright narrow shape (168x).

For the last half hour I have been watching for the clouds forecasted to arrive around 23:00, but the sky was still clear. Keep going then. Booties and Canes Venatici were getting low to the LA light dome in the west, so I have switched my attention to the darker eastern area.

Aquarius galaxies

NGC 6945 - faint AV glow next to bright star (118x, 168x).
NGC 6959 – small faint spot with AV (168x).
NGC 6961 – another small faint AV spot (168x).
NGC 6968 – faint oval with AV (118x).
NGC 6977 and NGC 6978 – two very faint AV ovals in the same FOV (168x).

NGC 6975 – FAIL, not a slightest hint.
NGC 7001 – faint AV oval (118x, 168x).
NGC 7010 – extremely faint glow with AV (118x).
NGC 7047 – faint small narrow oval with AV (168x, 118x).
NGC 7051 – small disk with brighter central area (118x).

By 00:30 high clouds started to roll in, but I already had a good run. In the morning, the clouds provided dramatic backdrop for the desert views.

[Thefatkitty]

Great report and pics Andrey, I so envy your location. 2000 galaxies...!! That's incredible, good for you! Nice window of time there

Not a fan of clouds, but those are some nice shots

All the best,

[Bigzmey]

Great report and pics Andrey, I so envy your location. 2000 galaxies...!! That's incredible, good for you! Nice window of time there

Not a fan of clouds, but those are some nice shots

All the best,

Thanks Mark! I know right?! I remember there was a time when I straggled to find any galaxy other than Andromeda.

[kt4hx]

Another excellent report Andrey and certainly VROD material. Also, hardy congrats on achieving the 2,000 galaxy plateau. Seems you are trying very hard to catch up to me! Very happy to have a friend who enjoys the galaxies as much as I do. :smile:

Regarding NGC 6975 in Aquarius, I observed this back on 08 July 2018 using the 17.5 at the dark site. This galaxy is part of the Hickson 88 compact group. Below are my notes for this group from that session. Depending upon one's source, it may be found as NGC 6975 or 6976. They are both one in the same.


Hickson 88 Compact Galaxy Group (Aquarius):

I now moved northeast to pick up the stars 4 and 5 Aquarii. Just to their southeast I found this member of the Hickson catalogue of compact galaxy groups. It contains four galaxies, all of which I observed at 110x to 226x, with details as follows:

NGC 6976 (spiral galaxy, mag=14.0, size=0.8’x0.7’, SBr=13.2):
In some sources, this galaxy is incorrectly identified as NGC 6975, which was a duplicate observation of NGC 6976 by Bigourdan. Visually it remained a dim and small oval of homogeneous light at all magnifications and a subtle presence in the field.

NGC 6977 (barred spiral, mag=13.2, size=1.2’x0.9’, SBr=13.2):
A dim and little elongated puff of light that exhibited some broad central brightness. It was small but obvious in the field.

NGC 6978 (spiral galaxy, mag=13.3, size=1.5’x0.7”, SBr=13.2):
A dim oval that was very slightly brighter in the center. As with NGC 6977, it was small but obvious.

PGC 65612 (spiral galaxy, mag=14.9, size=0.9’x0.2’, SBr=12.9):
This galaxy is sometimes incorrectly identified as NGC 6975 (Uranometria and Sky Tools 3 are two examples). Regardless of the confusion, it presented as a very fleeting pip of light that remained challenging at 226x and even at 296x. It is also catalogued as MCG -1-53-14.

[John Donne]

Nice work Andrey.
Thank you.

[Makuser]

Hi Andrey. The latest in a wonderful line of observing reports from your Anza Desert Dark Sky Site. It looks like you took great advantage of your window of opportunity and caught a huge handful of wonderful NGC galaxies in Bootes, Canes Venatici, and Aquarius. Thanks for your excellent report and desert photos Andrey and it is very deserving of a TSS VROD Award.

[Bigzmey]

Another excellent report Andrey and certainly VROD material. Also, hardy congrats on achieving the 2,000 galaxy plateau. Seems you are trying very hard to catch up to me! Very happy to have a friend who enjoys the galaxies as much as I do. :smile:

Regarding NGC 6975 in Aquarius, I observed this back on 08 July 2018 using the 17.5 at the dark site. This galaxy is part of the Hickson 88 compact group. Below are my notes for this group from that session. Depending upon one's source, it may be found as NGC 6975 or 6976. They are both one in the same.


Hickson 88 Compact Galaxy Group (Aquarius):

I now moved northeast to pick up the stars 4 and 5 Aquarii. Just to their southeast I found this member of the Hickson catalogue of compact galaxy groups. It contains four galaxies, all of which I observed at 110x to 226x, with details as follows:

NGC 6976 (spiral galaxy, mag=14.0, size=0.8’x0.7’, SBr=13.2):
In some sources, this galaxy is incorrectly identified as NGC 6975, which was a duplicate observation of NGC 6976 by Bigourdan. Visually it remained a dim and small oval of homogeneous light at all magnifications and a subtle presence in the field.

NGC 6977 (barred spiral, mag=13.2, size=1.2’x0.9’, SBr=13.2):
A dim and little elongated puff of light that exhibited some broad central brightness. It was small but obvious in the field.

NGC 6978 (spiral galaxy, mag=13.3, size=1.5’x0.7”, SBr=13.2):
A dim oval that was very slightly brighter in the center. As with NGC 6977, it was small but obvious.

PGC 65612 (spiral galaxy, mag=14.9, size=0.9’x0.2’, SBr=12.9):
This galaxy is sometimes incorrectly identified as NGC 6975 (Uranometria and Sky Tools 3 are two examples). Regardless of the confusion, it presented as a very fleeting pip of light that remained challenging at 226x and even at 296x. It is also catalogued as MCG -1-53-14.

Thanks Alan! As you know it is not like you wake up one day and say: I am going to observe 2000 galaxies! Those milestones kinda snick up on you. At the time of observation I was not aware that NGC 5321 would be 2000th. I was going to say that if I knew I would pick something nicer, but probably not, since I have already run out of brighter galaxies.

[Bigzmey]

Nice work Andrey.
Thank you.

Hi Andrey. The latest in a wonderful line of observing reports from your Anza Desert Dark Sky Site. It looks like you took great advantage of your window of opportunity and caught a huge handful of wonderful NGC galaxies in Bootes, Canes Venatici, and Aquarius. Thanks for your excellent report and desert photos Andrey and it is very deserving of a TSS VROD Award.

Thanks Mark and Marshall!

[kt4hx]

Thanks Alan! As you know it is not like you wake up one day and say: I am going to observe 2000 galaxies! Those milestones kinda snick up on you. At the time of observation I was not aware that NGC 5321 would be 2000th. I was going to say that if I knew I would pick something nicer, but probably not, since I have already run out of brighter galaxies.

You're quite welcome Andrey. When we start pursuing objects we are certainly aware that the numbers are growing as we move along, but its not something that we think about obsessively. I think because we are not focused on the numbers these milestones creep up on us while we are having fun. As we both know the number of bright galaxies are limited at each aperture level. Fortunately we are lucky to have darker locations from which to observe, therefore we will not run out of observable galaxies in a lifetime. We will just have to work a little harder at times to scrape some of them from the sky. :smile:

[helicon]

Wow, what a great report Andrey. You were highly productive out there. Thanks as well for the nice descriptions of what you observed. And congrats on the VROD as nominated by Marshall!

[Butterfly Maiden]

Congratulations Andrey on receiving a well-deserved TSS VROD award for your excellent report.

[Bigzmey]

Wow, what a great report Andrey. You were highly productive out there. Thanks as well for the nice descriptions of what you observed. And congrats on the VROD as nominated by Marshall!

Congratulations Andrey on receiving a well-deserved TSS VROD award for your excellent report.

Thanks Michael and Vanessa! And thanks for the VROD, much appreciated!

[Unitron48]

Two thousand...no surprise! Congrats on your milestone and VROD, Andrey! Hope I'm around for number five thousand!!

Dave

[AstroBee]

Andrey, as an imager, I'm always impressed with what you visual folks manage to do. Not just the actual viewing but the record keeping is very impressive. Congrats on #2000!

[Bigzmey]

Two thousand...no surprise! Congrats on your milestone and VROD, Andrey! Hope I'm around for number five thousand!!

Dave

Andrey, as an imager, I'm always impressed with what you visual folks manage to do. Not just the actual viewing but the record keeping is very impressive. Congrats on #2000!

Thanks Dave and Greg! Keeping logs becomes absolute necessity once you pass your first 100. For many years I was lazy about that until my daughter pointed out that we keep observing the same targets over and over.

[davesellars]

Congrats Andrey on the 2000 & of course the very well deserved VROD!

[Bigzmey]

Congrats Andrey on the 2000 & of course the very well deserved VROD!

Thanks Dave!

[Frankskywatcher]

WOW what a report !
I’m so green with envy both for your location and what you get to see!
I haven’t spotted one galaxy yet BUT I found M-3 last night to the right of Arcturus and the night before M4!
2,000 sightings like WOW fantastic

[Bigzmey]

WOW what a report !
I’m so green with envy both for your location and what you get to see!
I haven’t spotted one galaxy yet BUT I found M-3 last night to the right of Arcturus and the night before M4!
2,000 sightings like WOW fantastic

Thanks Frank and congrats on logging M3 and M4! You are on the right track.

[Lady Fraktor]

Congratulations on the milestone Bigzmey!