Who's ready for galaxy season?

blueberryrose

blueberryrose

Well-Known Member
Spring is galaxy season in the Northern hemisphere, so if you have a telescope and can get out of the city to relatively dark skies (when it's clear and if you're really lucky it's close to the new moon)

The current fantasy:
At least within a week up to the new moon or up to a few days after, I'll be looking for clear skies, and when they come, I'm going to head to Algonquin park Ontario for some of the darkest skies you can get to in this part of the world. With me (and probably in addition to a small cooler and my tent if needed) I'll be bring this
mydob.jpg
My dobsonian telescope has a 10" primary mirror so it's a bit of a light bucket. With f/5 focal-length the scope and a small collection of eyepieces that give me different magnifications I'll be setting up and chasing the faint fuzzies. In Spring Leo rises in the East in the evenings and with him Virgo. It's here that we find the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and there are hundreds of them you can see under the right conditions, cosmic strands of galaxies, ranging 50 to 70 million light years away. One region in particular I'll be observing will be Markarian's Chain https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/uNdKIwl22aPr_1824x0_kWXURFLk.jpg I caught this one last summer with my dob and it was amazing. My first glimpse of the Great Galactic Face (with NGC 4387 as the nose) last Summer confirmed I had found the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Scientists tell us that NGC 4387 is actually blueshifted - that is it's coming towards the Milky Way Galaxy (which also happens to be falling towards the center of the cluster with NGC 3487. And what is located at the center of the Virgo Cluster? Well the giant elliptical galaxy M87. You may remember some years back when we got our first glimpse of the shadow of a black hole.
My scope isn't big enough to resolve the radio jet that emits from the black hole at the center of this this galaxy. But you never knew, in a few more years I may just upgrade my scope to a 20" :cool:
Any other stargazers out there? Does a nice dank spliff make the night for you like it does for me? What dso's are you aiming for this year?
Some of my all-time faves:

M101
M51
M13
M42
M81 M82
M65 M66 Leo Triplet with the Hamburger galaxy

I could go on and on

Clear Skies!!
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
blueberryrose said:
Spring is galaxy season in the Northern hemisphere, so if you have a telescope and can get out of the city to relatively dark skies (when it's clear and if you're really lucky it's close to the new moon)

The current fantasy:
At least within a week up to the new moon or up to a few days after, I'll be looking for clear skies, and when they come, I'm going to head to Algonquin park Ontario for some of the darkest skies you can get to in this part of the world. With me (and probably in addition to a small cooler and my tent if needed) I'll be bring this
View attachment 4859561
My dobsonian telescope has a 10" primary mirror so it's a bit of a light bucket. With f/5 focal-length the scope and a small collection of eyepieces that give me different magnifications I'll be setting up and chasing the faint fuzzies. In Spring Leo rises in the East in the evenings and with him Virgo. It's here that we find the Virgo cluster of galaxies, and there are hundreds of them you can see under the right conditions, cosmic strands of galaxies, ranging 50 to 70 million light years away. One region in particular I'll be observing will be Markarian's Chain https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/uNdKIwl22aPr_1824x0_kWXURFLk.jpg I caught this one last summer with my dob and it was amazing. My first glimpse of the Great Galactic Face (with NGC 4387 as the nose) last Summer confirmed I had found the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Scientists tell us that NGC 4387 is actually blueshifted - that is it's coming towards the Milky Way Galaxy (which also happens to be falling towards the center of the cluster with NGC 3487. And what is located at the center of the Virgo Cluster? Well the giant elliptical galaxy M87. You may remember some years back when we got our first glimpse of the shadow of a black hole.
My scope isn't big enough to resolve the radio jet that emits from the black hole at the center of this this galaxy. But you never knew, in a few more years I may just upgrade my scope to a 20" :cool:
Any other stargazers out there? Does a nice dank spliff make the night for you like it does for me? What dso's are you aiming for this year?
Some of my all-time faves:

M101
M51
M13
M42
M81 M82
M65 M66 Leo Triplet with the Hamburger galaxy

I could go on and on

Clear Skies!!
Click to expand...
Fifteen year ago in the gold country, the skies sometimes got dark enough that I could trace Markarian’s Chain with handheld 20x90s.

My two biggest scores were NGC 147 and 6822, that fuzzspot in northeastern Sgr.

Big one that got away: NGC 6888.

Personal favorite: the Helix. How M. Messier missed that one ... (elaborate shrug)

The skies there have degraded badly since.

I’m now in the northern Antelope Valley. Mojave, desert good, yes? No. I am surrounded by light domes. Bleah.
 
C

ChubbyGreaser

Member
I have a question to ask of the amateur astronomers. The stars move as one mass around Polaris aka North Star which is situated vertically over the north pole. The stars position relative to each other has never changed. If the stars are at varying distances then how could this be possible? F I R M A M E N T. bongsmilie
 
D

DreHaze

Well-Known Member
ChubbyGreaser said:
I have a question to ask of the amateur astronomers. The stars move as one mass around Polaris aka North Star which is situated vertically over the north pole. The stars position relative to each other has never changed. If the stars are at varying distances then how could this be possible? F I R M A M E N T. bongsmilie
Click to expand...
From our perspective, it's Earth rotation causing stars to move in our sky, including the sun. Also, star patterns have changed over time and will continue to change but most of it happens very slowly.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
DreHaze said:
From our perspective, it's Earth rotation causing stars to move in our sky, including the sun. Also, star patterns have changed over time and will continue to change but most of it happens very slowly.
Click to expand...
Don’t bother. That one is heavily armored against fact; inspect Flat Earth thread. His game is “frustration argument.”

 
C

ChubbyGreaser

Member
DreHaze said:
From our perspective, it's Earth rotation causing stars to move in our sky, including the sun. Also, star patterns have changed over time and will continue to change but most of it happens very slowly.
Click to expand...
Did you forget? According to your heliocentric theory the milky way galaxy is speeding through the universe at 100's of thousands MPH. Yet no parallax. Stars have not changed over time and Polaris is stationary. How can Polaris be stationary when the entire solar system is traveling 500,000 MPH through the universe? The earth is stationary and the cosmos revolve around Polaris. What ever degree north latitude you are is the same degree as Polaris is in the sky.
 
D

DreHaze

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
Don’t bother. That one is heavily armored against fact; inspect Flat Earth thread. His game is “frustration argument.”

Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up. I'm very new to internet. I had a feeling the question came from a 5 year old or someone who is threatened by reality. I just met my first troll! I think?
 
W

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
ChubbyGreaser said:
Did you forget? According to your heliocentric theory the milky way galaxy is speeding through the universe at 100's of thousands MPH. Yet no parallax. Stars have not changed over time and Polaris is stationary. How can Polaris be stationary when the entire solar system is traveling 500,000 MPH through the universe? The earth is stationary and the cosmos revolve around Polaris. What ever degree north latitude you are is the same degree as Polaris is in the sky.
Click to expand...
Stick to putting grease on your chubby and leave the astronomy to the grown folk.
 
blueberryrose

blueberryrose

Well-Known Member
ChubbyGreaser said:
Did you forget? According to your heliocentric theory the milky way galaxy is speeding through the universe at 100's of thousands MPH. Yet no parallax. Stars have not changed over time and Polaris is stationary. How can Polaris be stationary when the entire solar system is traveling 500,000 MPH through the universe? The earth is stationary and the cosmos revolve around Polaris. What ever degree north latitude you are is the same degree as Polaris is in the sky.
Click to expand...
Yeah, your statements are false. This thread was for discussing amateur astronomy, telescopes, and dark skies.
Go back to /x/
 
blueberryrose

blueberryrose

Well-Known Member
Just ignore him. If you hover over someone's username, you'll see the handy-dandy ignore button.

I started this thread to see if any of my fellow growers on the site also shared my passion for astronomy. Instead, we have a flat-earth troll dominating the discussion.

Next time I won't bother.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
blueberryrose said:
Just ignore him. If you hover over someone's username, you'll see the handy-dandy ignore button.

I started this thread to see if any of my fellow growers on the site also shared my passion for astronomy. Instead, we have a flat-earth troll dominating the discussion.

Next time I won't bother.
Click to expand...
I am not sure how my first response doesn’t qualify.
 
D

DreHaze

Well-Known Member
Got my gear out a couple nights ago. First time this year and no moon. It's awesome to be out this time of year. A little cold at night but no mosquitoes. Managed a ok shot of Markarian's chain. Needs a bit more post processing. I will probably shoot the Leo triplets on my next session.
markarian1.jpg
 
C

ChubbyGreaser

Member
The stars are close and relatively small. Certainly nothing you can land a rover on. They move as one mass concentric with Polaris which is stationary.
 
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