Targets of Opportunity

  I spent last weekend at the Hodges Garden Star Party in Louisiana. This is an annual event sponsored by the Baton Rouge Astronomical Society. This was my first time attending the event, but by no means will it be my last. 

I arrived Thursday, and got set up. The observation field was a large pasture. There were about a dozen or so tents already set up.

Thursday night proved to be some truly awful seeing. I had brought a target list which had a lot of southern objects, but the southern sky seemed to be the worst for this location with a bit of a light dome. So, I turned to the list of H400 objects in Leo. In spite of the seeing, I was able to observe 14 galaxies in Leo and a total of 19 objects before turning in at about 1:30.

Friday evening proved to be another challenge, this time it was scattered cloud. I was able to finish off the H400 objects in Canis Major and I took the opportunity to gaze into the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. This was the first time my 10" scope had explored this region of the sky. I was not disappointed.  The light grasp of this light bucket is truly amazing. I worked on the Eastern side of the cluster, recording  M58, 59, 60, 89, and NGC 4564, 4567, 4568, 4596, 4608, and 4638. The clouds made their reappearance shortly after midnight and I called it a night with 15 objects scratched off my list.

Well Saturday night proved to be amazing conditions. The star party was opened to the public until about 10PM, and so the serious observing did not start until after the public had left. This time I attacked the Virgo Cluster from its dead center. M84 and M86 are located midway on a line between Denebola (Beta Leo) and
Vindemiatrix (epsilon Virgo).



As I looked through the 30mm wide field eyepiece, I saw six, yes six galaxies in the same field of view. M84 and M86 were the most prevalent, but in the also in the view was NGC4435, 4438, 4388 and 4461!
Here is the DSS photograph of M84, M86 and NGC 4438.  The trio form an equilateral triangle with M84 on the right, M86 on the left and NGC 4388 at the bottom. Cores and halos are visible on the Messier objects. M86 seems wider than M84 and suggests that its axis is tilted more towards us than M84's.
NGC 4388 was much fainter with even brightness across its length, no core was visible.

Located to the east of the trio are a pair of galaxies, NGC 4435 and 4438.  This pair is known as "The Eyes" and do look like a pair of eyes staring out of the darkness at you. Cores and halos are both visible.

The night ended with another 22 objects recorded. My H400 count now stands at 93. The performance of the 10" Zhumell was amazing and I am looking forward to the dark skies of Fort Davis at the Texas star Party next month.

Clear skies;

rw