With a clear night finally coming and falling on a Sunday night, I decided last minute to take a half day of vacation the following day to allow for a full night of observing. Not only was I longing for getting out under the stars, but I had been planning for months to start tackling galaxies in the Virgo constellation, a galaxy hunter like myself’s dream!
In preparation, I used SkySafari to create a list of magnitude 13 and brighter objects in the constellation, which came out to 278 total objects, all but 1 (NGC 5634, globular cluster) of those being a galaxy. This list also includes 11! Messier objects! While this list won’t be exactly what I’ll follow, I at least want to make sure I see all of these objects, as well as any detectable galaxies nearby to them, and will use it primarily as a guide on where to start each session.
Brad and I arrived at our normal spot North of Kansas City, setting up shortly after 10pm and waited for moon set at around 12:45am. The temp started out at 46°F and was a cool 36°F when we packed up around 5am.
eat
Since we still observed social distancing, we didn’t end up sharing food. I did, however, bring along a special treat that coincidentally would pair great with the drink; fresh homemade caramel popcorn! Absolutely delicious! While ours is a family recipe, here’s the closest one we could find for you to try at home — https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24952/caramel-popcorn/
drink
As mentioned above, the drink of the night was a great match with caramel popcorn, Captain Morgan Private Stock. This rum is right between being a mixer and a sipper, but I prefer it neat to anything else. You can usually find a bottle for right at $23, making this a great budget rum. On this rather cold night, it was the perfect choice!
astronomy
I started out the night, as mentioned above, in Virgo and spend most of our best hours here before moving to Coma Berenices, Bootes, and Ursa Major for a few late-night observations. Our skies were clear and registered an outstanding 21.73 on the SQML!
Virgo
N 4168 Group
NGC 4168 – This large galaxy was by far the brightest of the group, at ~mag 11, I described it as round with a brighter core, and bright overall.
NGC 4165 – This companion was faint at mag 13.5 but easily held with direct vision. I noted it as somewhat large and elongated SSE to NNW.
NGC 4164 – This is the smallest and faintest of the trio, only observed using averted vision. I noted it as extremely faint with no shape seen. I also noted a mag 15 star immediately nearby, (pictured above just above and to the right of the galaxy).
N 4216 Group
What an awesome group and treat this was, exactly the kind of thing Virgo is known for!
NGC 4216 – Obviously the showpiece galaxy of this group, I noted it as very large, bright (~mag 10) edge on spiral with a very bright core, elongated SSW to NNE 10:1. I documented that the light cuts off sharply on the E edge, indicating there’s a dust lane here (pictured above), and that a dim mag 14 star just off-center of the galaxy (pictured above). Wow!
PGC 39247 – I noted that this was a small, faint galaxy, almost held with direct vision. I calculated the magnitude of this galaxy to be ~14.46. Fun fact: NGC 4216 is approx. 45 million light years away, while this faint PGC galaxy is ~620 million light years distant!
NGC 4206 – I noted this galaxy to be a large, somewhat bright (~mag 12.2) edge on with arms extending N to S 6:1, with more arms seems to the N.
IC 771 – Small, very faint (calculated to be ~14.66), held with direct vision, no shape visible.
PGC 39331 – Extremely faint (calculated to be ~14.74), small, averted vision only.
NGC 4222 – Somewhat faint (~mag 13.3), moderately sized edge on galaxy, elongated WSW to ENE with even surface brightness across.
PGC 1431022 – Now this galaxy was FAINT! Calculated at mag 15.18, this was the fifth faintest galaxy I’ve ever recorded at the time of writing! I wrote that it was extremely faint, very small galaxy seen with averted vision only.
N 4267 Group
NGC 4267 – Very bright (~mag 11) galaxy with an extremely bright core, round, includes some visible halo.
IC 775 – Small, faint (calculated to ~13.43), easily held with direct vision.
PGC 39550 – Another top 5 faintest galaxy I’ve ever seen to date, this one was calculated to mag 15.22!! I noted it was small, extremely faint, only seen with averted vision in glimpses. Loving Virgo so far!
Bootes
N 5888 Group
NGC 5888 – I noted this galaxy as somewhat bright (~mag 13.4), moderately sized, elongated SSE to NNW, brightest and largest in a trio of dim galaxies.
NGC 5886 – Very small, faint (~mag 14.1) galaxy, middle brightness in a trio, very nearby dim mag 15 star (pictured).
N 5889 – Extremely faint (~mag 15.4), very difficult to see, in and out with averted vision, roundish in shape, somewhat small. While the first two galaxies were 430 and 410 million light years distant, NGC 5889 was a whopping 630 million light years away!!
Ursa Major
I decided late in the night go head over and look at huge spiral galaxy M101. Nearby were two little known galaxies that I’d never logged, so I quickly hit both of them. Here’s what I saw:
NGC 5474 – Somewhat bright with low surface brightness, irregular, dim mag 14 star just to the NE of galaxy.
NGC 5477 – Moderately sized, faint face on spiral, better viewed with averted vision, elongated E to W, very close-by to M101.
I also viewed several objects in this session not listed above, including NGC 4193, NGC 4192, NGC 4186, NGC 4189, and NGC 6341. Feel free to reach out to me for any notes on those.
By this point, it was nearly 5am, cold, and time to call it a night!