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CalStar 2008 September 26 and 27
Here is a continuation of my CalStar observations. This list consists of mostly Shakhbazian groups plus a couple extras.
Again like my planetary OR, these are pretty rough notes. Some have labels, but most are 2MASX J destinations, but decided not to clutter my OR with long designations. Sky conditions are the same as the Planetary Nebulae OR. I generally spent the first half of each night observing the obscure planetaries, then spent the rest of the night on Shakhbazain groups.
Equipment used:
22” f/4 reflector with no tracking
20mm Pentax XW finder eyepiece
10, 7.5 and 5mm Takahashi LE
8mm Ethos
Shakhbazian 84 (23 34
38 +07 59 35 6 galaxies mag 16.5+ size
1.3’)22” (306 and 460x) – 2 extremely faint glows detected with averted vision. 2MASX J23343750+0759378 lies just 34” north of 2MASX J23343710+0759048. A 14.2 magnitude star lies 45” SSW from the southern galaxy.
Shakhbazian 310 (00 54
52 -03 43 22 11 galaxies mag
17.05+ size 2.2’)22” (306 and 460x) – Three very faint and three extremely faint galaxies detected. The extremely faint members were detected only at 460x. All six galaxies lies in a 2’ circle. The three very faint galaxies are labeled as “vF” and the three extremely faint are labeled as “eF”
Shakhbazian 317 (02
10 53 -06 33 33 7 galaxies mag 15.2
– 17 size 6.1’)22” (287 and 460x) - Nice string of galaxies. 6 were immediately seen at 287x. Upon further observation, two more galaxies were detected at the east end, -64 and 65. At 460x, one more galaxy, which is unlabeled “B” was detected.
The six seen, from west to east, were MCG-1-6-57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and an unlabeled “A”. The unlabeled galaxy, which is the brightest of the chain, is closest to the 13.6 mag star.
Shakhbazian 81 (21 57
59 -01 44 39 11 galaxies mag
17.8+ size 1.3’)22” (306 and 460x) – Very faint unresolved clump. It sits closest to the SW star of the equilateral triangle.
Shakhbazian 331 (22
25 27 -02 47 25 7 galaxies mag
16.31+ size 1.1’)22” (306 and 460x) – 3 very faint galaxies resolved in a very tight group of about 30” long. The brightest member on the north end was not resolved from the very small companion to the west. One very faint galaxy lies 3.1’ WNW of the trio. An extremely faint galaxy is 3.8’ east of the trio.
Shakhbazian 362 (23
32 37 +19 21 34 5 galaxies
mag - size 0.9’)22” (306 and 460x) – 3 very faint resolved members about 45” long. The trio forms a slight arc from west to east. A 10.2 magnitude star lies just 1.7’ NW of the trio. Best to keep it off the field.
Shakhbazian 270 (02
08 40 -13 57 49 10 galaxies mag
16.88+ size 4’)22” (306 and 460x) – Two very faint and 2 extremely faint members detected at 306x. The pair of very faint (vF) galaxies are 25” apart and the pair of extremely faint (eF) galaxies are 1’ apart. Another eF galaxy was seen about 2’ north of the very faint pair. A pair of bright 12.9 and 13.5 mag stars lies about 2’ west. I kept that off the field at 460x using the TMB SMC and that helped a lot in detecting the eF galaxies.
Shakhbazian 279 (04
12 55 -08 29 23 11 galaxies mag
16.48+ size 3.4’)22” (306 and 460x) – A pair of considerably faint galaxies detected. The south member is slightly brighter than the northern galaxy. About 40” apart.
Dwingaloo 1 (MAC
0256+5854) (02 56 51.3 +58 54 42 mag
16.5 size 2.0x1.0’)22” (287 and 460x) – Very faint, even surface brightness elongated (2:1) glow. PA = 120 and the size is about 1.0 x 0.5’. An extremely faint stellar core or star is detected with averted vision at 460x. Forms a nice equilateral triangle with a ~13th mag star to the easy and a very small trapezoid of 13-14 mag stars to the south.
Image taken by G. S. Hughes, & S. Maddox (RGO) et al., Isaac Newton Telescope
Palomar 13 (23 06
44.4 +12 46 19 mag 13.8 size 0.7’)22” (306x) – Very faint, round. Pretty large and about 30” across. A 10.8 magnitude star lies 1.6’ east.
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