{"id":2151,"date":"2015-05-31T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-31T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2018-01-10T10:06:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T10:06:50","slug":"may-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.popastro.com\/deepsky\/may-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"May 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

During May, four section members sent in a total of 6 drawings and 5 images of deep sky objects. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Beveridge<\/strong>, observing from Aberdeen, imaged 3 galaxies using a 100mm f9 Skywatcher telescope and a SXR-H814 camera, plus an OAG filter wheel.\u00a0 Two of these galaxies are in the constellation of Draco;\u00a0 NGC 5907\u00a0 and NGC 5985.<\/p>\n

NGC 5907 is an edge-on spiral galaxy also known as the “splinter” galaxy;\u00a0 it is about 50 million light years from the Earth and is mostly composed of low metallicity dwarf stars.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NGC 5907<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NGC 5985 is one of a trio of galaxies in this image and is the right hand face-on spiral.\u00a0 In the middle is elliptical galaxy NGC 5982, and on the left is edge-on spiral NGC 5981.\u00a0 This compact group of galaxies lies about 100 light years from Earth.\u00a0 NGC 5985 has an active nucleus and is a Seyfert galaxy.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NGC 5905<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark’s third image is NGC 2903, a barred spiral galaxy about 30 million light years from the Earth in the constellation of Leo.\u00a0 This galaxy is noted for a high rate of new star formation near the central region.\u00a0 It is also emits stongly in radio frequencies, infra red, ultra violet and x-rays.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NGC 2903<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ian Papworth<\/strong> sent in a total of five images this month;\u00a0 three of planetary nebulae and two of galaxies.\u00a0\u00a0 M27 is the “dumbbell” in the constellation of Vulpecula.\u00a0 It was the first planetary nebula to be discovered (by Charles Messier in 1764, although it was William Herschel who coined the name “planetary nebula” in the 1780’s). \u00a0 It is about 8 x 6 arcminutes in angular size.<\/p>\n

\"\"
M27<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

M97 is the “owl” planetary nebula in the constellation of Ursa Major. Discovered by another French astronomer Pierre Mechain in 1781, this object is smaller in angular size than M27 at about 3.4 arcminutes in diameter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
M97<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ian’s third planetary nebula is M57, the “ring” in the constellation of Lyra.\u00a0 Frenchman Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix discovered this object in 1779.\u00a0 Charles Messier also found it within days and entered it into his catalogue.\u00a0 M57\u00a0 is much smaller in angular size than the other two at 1.5 x 1.0 arcminutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"
M57<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is Ian’s image of M66, one of three spiral galaxies that make up the Leo Triplet or M66 group:\u00a0 M66, M65 and NGC 3628.\u00a0 M66 is about 35 million light years from the Earth, and its unusual appearance, due to a past encounter with NGC3628, gives it 16th place in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.<\/p>\n

\"\"
M66<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ian’s final image this month is M64, the so called “black eye”\u00a0 galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices;\u00a0 which has a very distinctive lane of dust obscuring part of the bright central region. This object is about 24 million lght years from the Earth and is classed as a Seyfert galaxy due to its active galactic nucleus.<\/p>\n

\"\"
M64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of Ian’s images were made using a Celestron 6 SE f 6.3 SCT and a AWO ASI 120MM camera plus colour filters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dale Holt\u00a0<\/strong> sent in a drawing of Arp 69 , a face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation of Bootes.\u00a0 There is a small galaxy located above the larger one, which Dale has captured in his sketch; both are about 175 million light years from the Earth so may have interacted in the past; certainly Arp 69 looks gravitationally disturbed and displays a high rate of star formation.\u00a0 In the Atlas of Peculiar galaxies, the original plate does suggest that these galaxies are connected by a very tenuous extention of the larger galaxy’s spiral arm.<\/p>\n

Dale used a 505mm Newtonian telescope attached to a cooled Watec 120N+ video camera to make this sketch.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Arp 69<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mike Wood<\/strong> sent in two sketches of galaxies. \u00a0 NGC 4274, in the constellation of Coma Berenices and NGC’s 4612 and 4623 in the constellation of Virgo.<\/p>\n

NGC 4274 is an almost edge-on barred lenticular galaxy, in the centre of Mike’s sketch;\u00a0 To the right of NGC 4274 three smaller galaxies can be seen, uppermost NGC 4278, middle NGC4283, and NGC 4268:\u00a0 they are all members of the NGC4274 group of galaxies.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NGC 4274<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NGC 4612 (uppermost in the sketch) and NGC 4623 are two lenticular (type S0) galaxies belonging to the Virgo cluster of galaxies, which may have as many as 2000 members.<\/p>\n

\"\"
NGC 4612, NGC 4623<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dave Finnigan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During May, four section members sent in a total of 6 drawings and 5 images of deep sky objects. Mark Beveridge, observing from Aberdeen, imaged 3 galaxies using a 100mm f9 Skywatcher telescope and a SXR-H814 camera, plus an OAGRead more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2151","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-reports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t