Selected \Observations

Some Deep Sky Observations

All these observations are made in rough at the telescope, and then written up as soon as possible afterwards (usually the following morning). The drawings are made in pencil on white paper. These have been scanned and inverted in an attempt to show what is actually seen at the eyepiece. North is up in all cases.

This is a small selection of my observations. Whilst I particularly enjoy hunting galaxies, I will make observations of any deep-sky objects except open clusters, which are very boring.

	NGC 1 in Pegasus Galaxy type SA(s)b: II-III Mag 12.9 Surface Brightness 13.4 31/08/1997 12" Newtonian FOV 35' Small, faint and round. No details seen. No nucleus or central brightening apparent. I only put this here because it is numerically significant, and I had been hunting it for some time.
NGC 23 in Pegasus (Mk 545) Galaxy type SB(s)a Mag 12.0 Surface Brightness 13.1 31/08/1997 12" Newtonian FOV 35' Small but reasonably bright. Clearly elongated. Surface brightness even over the visible surface at medium power. No central brightening. Under high power, the galaxy is remarkable. There appears to be a dark lane bisecting the nucleus at 90 degrees to the elongation. There is a bright blob at the southern tip of the galaxy, and the northern half has a brighter centre.
	NGC 3185/3190/3193 in Leo Galaxies types (R)SB(r)a, SA(s)a pec, E2 Mags/SB 12.2/12.8, 11.2/13.0, 10.9/12.7 13/02/1996 12" Newtonian 35' FOV 3185 - Fairly faint but not difficult. Elongated with no visible structure. 3190 - Pretty bright. Brighter central region. Very elongated. 3193 - Very small and round. Bright. No nuclear condensation seen, but a small star is superimposed.
NGC 3605, 3607, 3608 in Leo Galaxies types E4-5, SA(s)0:, E2 Mags/SB 12.3/11/8, 9.9/12.9, 10.8/12.6 09/04/1997 12" Newtonian 35' FOV 3605 - Small and faint. It appeared quite round and there was no structure seen, not even any nuclear brightening. 3607 - Fairly bright and immediately obvious, though fairly small and compact. It appears circular and has a bright centre. No detail was seen in the galaxy even at high magnification. 3608 - Despite the difference in type, this galaxy is like a smaller twin of NGC 3607. It appears almost round with a bright nuclear condensation. No other structure was seen.

	NGC 1952 (M1) The Crab Nebula in Taurus Supernova Remnant Mag 8.4 13/12/1996 12" Newtonian FOV 35' Very bright and easy. Elongation immediately visible. The ends of the nebula appear twisted away from the central axis, in opposite directions. The northern end appeared almost pointed whilst the southern end had a distinct inclusion.
NGC 2068 (M78) in Orion Reflection Nebula Mag 8.3 13/12/1996 12" Newtonian FOV 35' Fairly bright and immediately obvious. This nebula surrounds a pair of 10th mag stars and extends in a semi-circular patch south east of them. The brightest portion of the nebula is just east of the two stars. The north western edge appears quite straight.
	NGC 6720 (M57) The Ring Nebula in Lyra Planetary Nebula Mag 8.8 19/04/1996 12" Newtonian FOV 13' Extremely bright, elongated ring. The shorter ends of the ring are distinctly fainter than the rest. The inside of the ring is filled with faint, non-homogeneous nebulosity. The nebula has a very peculiar green colour.
NGC 6826 The Blinking Planetary in Cygnus Planetary Nebula Mag 8.8 28/07/1998 10" Starsplitter Newtonian FOV 23' Very bright. Three distinct areas are visible. The centre is almost starlike and extremely bright. This is surrounded by a very bright, smooth, almost circular region. Outside this is a dimmer area, which nearly doubles the apparent width of the object and gives it a clear elongation.
	NGC 6853 (M27) The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula Planetary Nebula Mag 7.6 14/08/1996 12" Newtonian FOV 13' Huge and very bright. The brightest area is the southern half of the 'dumbbell' which is an irregular oval in shape. This has an uneven surface brightness and several brighter knots. The northern dumbbell is larger and more triangular in shape. The 13.8 mag central star was clearly seen with averted vision and appeared to be in a slightly darker inclusion.

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