Observations of Deep-Sky Objects
These are the observations made by amateur astronomers from around the globe. I'm keen to present the work of an observer (members or not) to further the aims of the Webb Deep-Sky Society. Images, sketches or even your observing notes are of interest.
If you have any observations of your own that you'd like to submit I'd be delighted to hear from you. Please try to include as much detail about the object (after all that's why we observe them) as possible. Time, date, location and observing conditions are useful.
We have observations of these Objects
14 Aur 16 Dra 17 Dra 20 Gem 39 Dra 47 Tau AC1 ARN31 Abell 84 Arp143 Arp180 Arp186 Arp43 Arp49 BU63 IC1364 IC1367 IC1534 IC1535 IC1536 IC1730 IC2458 IC405 IC458 IC459 IC460 IC461 IC464 IC465 IC504 IC505 IC506 LAU4 LGG117 M101 M102 M11 M12 M20 M35 M41 M42 M44 M46 M50 M53 M56 M57 M67 M73 M74 M76 M92 M95 M96 MCG+3-30-35 NGC1057 NGC1060 NGC1061 NGC1066 NGC1067 NGC1501 NGC1502 NGC1555 NGC188 NGC1964 NGC2022 NGC2237 NGC2275 NGC2283 NGC2288 NGC2289 NGC2290 NGC2291 NGC2294 NGC2340 NGC2371 NGC2372 NGC2389 NGC2486 NGC2487 NGC2683 NGC2749 NGC281 NGC2814 NGC2820 NGC2854 NGC2856 NGC2857 NGC2903 NGC2964 NGC2967 NGC2968 NGC2970 NGC3018 NGC3023 NGC3482 NGC3790 NGC3801 NGC3802 NGC3803 NGC3806 NGC3837 NGC3840 NGC3841 NGC3844 NGC3845 NGC3851 NGC3865 NGC3866 NGC4109 NGC4111 NGC4114 NGC4117 NGC4118 NGC4314 NGC4449 NGC457 NGC4725 NGC48 NGC49 NGC5053 NGC51 NGC5222 NGC5746 NGC5777 NGC5857 NGC5859 NGC5866 NGC5965 NGC6548 NGC6549 NGC6702 NGC6703 NGC6745 NGC6764 NGC678 NGC680 NGC6901 NGC6906 NGC6928 NGC6934 NGC6956 NGC6959 NGC6961 NGC6962 NGC6964 NGC6965 NGC6967 NGC7006 NGC7010 NGC7046 NGC7241 NGC7264 NGC7265 NGC741 NGC742 NGC7448 NGC7537 NGC7541 NGC7549 NGC7635 NGC7724 NGC7727 NGC7768 NGC90 NGC93 PGC214715 PGC23493 PGC23509 PGC23510 S502 S503 SN2014bc SN2014j SN2014l SN2016coj STF163 STF2525 STF2690 STF2816 STF2840 STF3050 STF485 STF644 STT147 STT461 UGC11320 UGC11435 UGC11964 UGC12914 UGC12915 UGC6697 UGC7089 iota Cas iota Leo omi Cap pi Ari rho Cap
Which fall into these classes
HII-region Herbig–Haro object asterism cluster double double star emission nebula flat galaxies galaxy globular globular cluster nebula open cluster planetary nebula supernova variable nebula variable star
And these Constellations
Andromeda Aquarius Aquila Aries Auriga Bootes Camelopardalis Cancer Canes Venatici Canis Major Capricornus Cassiopeia Cepheus Coma Berenices Cygnus Delphinus Draco Equuleus Eridanus Gemini Hercules Hydra Lacerta Leo Lepus Lynx Lyra Monoceros Ophiuchus Orion Pegasus Perseus Pisces Puppis Sagittarius Scutum Sextans Taurus Triangulum Ursa Major Usra Major Virgo Vulpecula
Or if you'd just like to browse through our most recent observations
The Spindle Galaxy (M 102) in Draco
The Spindle Galaxy was discovered by Pierre Méchain on 27th March 1781. Méchain described the object as a nebula between the stars Omicron Boötis & Iota Draconis, adding that it is very faint; near it is a star of the sixth magnitude. Méchain probably meant Theta Boötis, not Omicron, which contributed to the subsequent confusion around the identity of M 102. Omicron Boötis is more than 40 degrees away from Iota Draconis, which makes the possibility of an error very likely. Méchain reported the discovery to Messier, who added the object to his catalogue.
The confusion about the object started two years later, in May 1783, when Méchain wrote to Bernoulli in Berlin saying that the listing of M 102 was a mistake and that the object referred to was a duplicate observation of M 101. One can imagine that M 102 could not be found due to the error in the original observation notes.
It was the French astronomer Camille Flammarion who identified NGC 5866 as M 102 in his "List of the Messier Objects," published in L'Astronomie in November 1917, arguing that the Greek letter Omicron (ο), written down by Messier, was in fact a lowercase Theta (θ). This was probably correct because the object found at this location corresponds to Messier's description of M 102.
The Spindle Galaxy was independently discovered by William Herschel in 1788. Herschel determined the position of the object on May 5, 1788, describing it as very bright. Considerably large. Extended. Following [east of] 2 stars.
M 102 is a spindle-type galaxy, seen edge-on and around 41 million light years distant. It is magnitude 10.7 and 6 x 3 arc minutes in extent. There are many faint galaxies in this image including mag 14.9, NGC 5826, at bottom centre and mag 16.2, PGC166188 towards top-right.
This image of M 102 (NGC 5866) was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream. Click on the image for the larger version.
I find the image to be particularly pleasing as I seem to have captured the pearly white glow of the halo around the galaxy, the warp at the eastern (right) edge of the dust lane, something of the blue glow of star-forming regions at the western edge of the dust lane and the orange glow of old stars in the core. This cropped image shows more detail.
A close-up of M 102 (NGC 5866) provided by David Davies.
Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien at 1660mm focal length.
Camera: QSI 583 with Astrodon filters.
Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.
Data for this image were captured between 27th May and 17th June - yes on the shortest nights and with a waxing Moon. The data comprises 23 x five-minutes luminance and seven each of five-minutes RGB subs, all binned 1 x 1.The main image is 30 minutes each of RGB in two-minute subs.
David Davies - (21 June 2017).
Two faint globular clusters in Delphinus
The first is NGC 6934, imaged on 16th August 2018 but processed only earlier this year.
NGC 6934 is a faint globular cluster of magnitude 8.8 and containing 16th magnitude stars and fainter. It is 51,000 light years away.
This image of NGC 6924 was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. The image comprises 10 each of RGB subs of five minutes exposure. To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream. Click on the image for the larger version.
The second is NGC 7006 captured in September 2018.
NGC 7006 lies on the fringe of the Milky Way's halo at a distance of 135,000 light years. In the 1910s and 20s, studies by Shapley of the stars in NGC 7006 and other globular clusters were used to measure the size of the Milky Way galaxy.
This cluster lies at a low galactic latitude and its brightness is dimmed by the intervening dust. It has a visual magnitude of 10.6 and stars near the core are around mag 15.6.
This image of NGC 7006 was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. It comprises 10 x seven-minute subs of RGB. To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream. Click on the image for the larger version.
Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien at F/8.2
Camera: QSI 583 with a Lodestar as off-axis guider
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6
David Davies - (20 March 2019).
Observational Sketches
Dale Holt recently sent me a large selection of sketches, for which I have to thank him. I've taken the liberty of selecting a few that I find interesting because of the process they show.
NGC 2283 in Canis Major
The first is Dale's pencil sketch of this galaxy showing his annotations. He's back to using his 505mm Newtonian with an analogue Watec 120N+ camera.
An EAA pencil sketch of NGC 2283 by Dale Holt from his Chippingdale observatory in Hertfordshire.
Next Dale's reversed the first sketch to provide a light on dark sketch that can help detail pop out. It's perhaps a better representation of what you see in an eyepiece of a really large scope with nice skies.
However Dale's using Electronic Assistance (EA) here to view on a monitor under (as he mentions in his notes) hazy British skies. I expect that's what he's going to talk about at our Annual Meeting in Cambridge this summer when he "goes deep on the cheap".
Here Dale's reversed the first sketch to provide a light on dark view of NGC 2283
I couldn't resist comparing that view to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). I think that Dale's capturing a fair amount of the detail in the image below, especially around the bar. The Digitised Sky Survey (DSS) isn't as detailed as Dale's view.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) view of NGC 2283.
NGC 2683 in Lynx
The final sketch I'd like to present represents a change in drawing technique. Dale says that he found this galaxy stunning and decided to use pastels on black paper as opposed to my usual graphite on white . It has a much softer feel than the pencil sketches.
An EAA sketch using pastels on black paper of NGC 2683 by Dale Holt from his Chippingdale observatory in Hertfordshire.
James Whinfrey - (4 March 2019).
A Galaxy and a Flame
Last night's weather conditions could not have been better. I had a wonderful clear sky all night. This is something that we don't often see under British Skies.
This was good enough that I was able to finally save some ancient light from two targets. The first one is in the constellation Auriga, and the other one, in the late Winter-Spring constellation Leo.
NGC 2903 is a field barred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel who catalogued it on November 16, 1784. NGC 2905 is a bright star cloud within this galaxy. NGC 2903 has a very high speed of creating new stars in the central region. Wikipedia
Distance to Earth: 30.66 million light years
Apparent magnitude (V): 9.7
Apparent size (V): 12'.6 × 6'.0
Redshift: 556 ± 1 km/s
Constellation: Leo
Barred Spiral NGC 2903 in Leo taken by Paul A Brierley using an Altair 115 EDT with an Atik 428EX and Atik EFWII.
My picture was taken with 5-minute exposures x36 to give a total exposure time 3hrs.
IC 405 is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the bluish star AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0. Its celestial coordinates are RA 05h 16.2m dec +34° 28'. Wikipedia
Magnitude: 6
Apparent magnitude (V): 6
Distance: 1500 ly
Coordinates: RA 5h 16m 5s | Dec +34° 27' 49"
Constellation: Auriga
The Flame Nebula (IC 405) in Auriga taken by Paul A Brierley using an Altair 115 EDT with an Atik 428EX and Atik EFWII.
This picture was again 5 minutes in length. I took 24 exposures for this two-hour composite, using a 7nm Ha filter.
Paul A Brierley - (3 February 2019).
NGC 188 in Cepheus
I have upgraded the mount in my observatory from an EQ6 to an EQ8 and have taken the opportunity for a restructuring of the cabling and power supplies.
Looking for an interesting challenge as a first image, I selected NGC 188. At just 4 degrees from Polaris, it represents a challenge for observers with an equatorial mount due to the awkward geometry and is in a part of the sky that is not often observed.
First discovered by John Herschel in 1831, NGC 188 is an open cluster of old yellow stars sitting about 1,600 light years above the galactic plane and 5,000 light years from us. It is moderately faint, with a combined magnitude of 8.1 and containing around 200 stars of 10th to 18th magnitude with the 10 brightest stars being yellow giants.
This image of NGC 188 was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream. Click on the image for the larger version.
Telescope: APM 107 Apo refractor
Camera: QSI 583 with an SX Lodestar as off-axis guider
Software: Pixinsight and Photoshop
David Davies - (22 November 2018).
NGC 678, NGC 680 and IC 1730 in Aries
An EAA sketch of the trio of NGC 678, NGC 680 and IC 1730 (right to left) by Dale Holt from his Chippingdale observatory in Hertfordshire.
I sketched these galaxies on the 17th November. I used the 505mm Newt with the old Watec 120N+ camera, I have ditched the digital CCD Ultra star at least for now! I am also running without GoTo software so it is a matter of star hoping by input of RA and Dec coordinates into the AWR handset, labourious, but at least I'm getting some observing and sketching done!
Dale Holt - (20 November 2018).
M56 in Lyra
I'm continuing my observations of globular clusters so this is Messier 56 in Lyra.
Charles Messier found M56 on the 19th March 1779, on the same night he also discovered a comet. He reobserved M56 on the 23rd March and noted that it was a nebula without a star and little light close to a 10th magnitude star . Five years later, John Herschel succeeded in resolving this globular cluster into individual stars. He described M56 as a fine compressed cluster, inclining to a triangular form, brighter towards the middle, with stars of 12th to 14th magnitude .
This image of M56 was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream. Click on the image for the larger version.
M56 has a very eccentric orbit around the galactic centre taking it from a few thousand light-years of the galactic centre out to 40,000 light years from the centre. M56 is currently 27,000 light-years from us as it traverses the outer half of its orbit. It has around 200,000 solar masses and is just one third the size of M13. The 25 brightest stars have an average magnitude of 15.3. Notable is the 10th magnitude blue-white star to the west (right side) which was noted by Messier.
Camera: QSI 583 wsg and Lodestar guide camera
This is an RGB image with five 5-minute exposures per colour captured on 5-6 August 2018.
David Davies - (17 September 2018).
June's Galaxy of the Month: M101
This is a image of M101 with data captured over the 13th, 16th and 20th of March 2018 for a total of 4h10m (25x600s) of luminance and 20m (2x600s) each of Red, Green and Blue.
I used an Altair Astro GSO 10" F8 scope with a Starlight Xpress H694 camera and Astronomik filters from Mileaway Observatory in East Sussex.
M101 by Paul Whitmarsh from his Mileaway Observatory in East Sussex.
Paul Whitmarsh - 5 June 2018
Winter Open Clusters
Recent months have given us the worst run of observing weather I can remember and during this time I've been using what clear spells we've had to do some telescope testing. This has meant that I've been out grabbing a few test images when conditions would otherwise have kept me indoors. So looking back, I can now see that some of these test images are quite presentable so I thought I'd share them with you. So these are a small collection of Winter open clusters looking south from my observatory in Cambridge.
Messier 46, NGC 2437 and the planetary nebula NGC 2438 in Puppis
M46 is one of the richest open clusters with over 500 stars, over 180 of them brighter than magnitude 13 and the brightest being around magnitude 9. M46 is around 4480 light years away. There are a few red giant stars indicating a cluster age of around 500 million years. The planetary nebula NGC 2438 lies in the northern region of M46 and it is still debated whether it is part of M46 or is a foreground object. M46 was imaged on 10 February 2018.
This image of M46 was provided by David Davies and taken from Cambridge in the UK. Please click on the image for the larger version.
Messier 50, NGC 2323 in Monoceros
M50 is a much sparser open cluster with around 100 stars at 2900 light years distant. Noteworthy is the magnitude 7.8 red giant star to the south of the cluster and the double stars on the northeast edge. M50 was imaged on 24 February 2018.
Messier 67, NGC 2662 in Cancer
M67 is 3000 light years away, is one of the oldest open clusters known and is thought to be 3.7 billion years old, almost the age of the Solar System. It contains highly evolved stars, including around 20 red giant stars. M67 was imaged on 8 March 2018.
Messier 44, NGC 2632 in Cancer, Praesepe or The Beehive Cluster
This image is of the central region of M44, the field of view was too small to capture the whole cluster. At just 610 light years distant, M44 is one of the nearest open clusters. It contains over 200 stars with the brightest at magnitude 6.8 and over 20 brighter than magnitude 8. The cluster contains a large number of double and triple stars and over 100 variable stars. Despite the short exposures, there are several faint galaxies visible in the image. M44 was imaged on 8 March 2018.
Telescope: 8" Ritchey-Chretien plus 0.7X reducer at F/5.3
Camera: QSI 583 plus Astrodon RGB filters and a Lodestar guide camera
All images are typically six subs of each RGB colour and of two or three minutes exposure each.
David Davies - (11 April 2018). To see more of David's work please visit his Flickr Photostream.
NGC 4314 in Coma Berenices
A single sketch of a wonderful face on barred spiral in Coma B NGC 4314 from April 4th. Starlightxpress Ultrastar digital video camera and 505mm mirror used.
A sketch of NGC 4314 by Dale Holt from his Chippingdale observatory in Hertfordshire.
Dale Holt - (8 April 2018).