Galaxies observed with a 114-mm telescope
NGC 185 is a difficult galaxy belonging to the local group. It is faint, but visible with direct vision at 50x. It has an irregular shape, with diffuse evenly spread light.
NGC 4237 in Coma Berenices is a 11.7 magnitude galaxy. In the eyepiece it appears large, with a faint and diffuse nucleus. Along the northern edge I’ve seen three faint stars.
NGC 4559 is one of the most interesting galaxies I have ever seen. In the elongated body of the galaxy, using 120x, I’ve observed three stars aligned in a north-south direction. The most northern star is visible with direct vision, but for the other two I had to use averted vision. The star to the north is TYC-1992-1757-1 (magnitude 11.86), and the other two to the south are GSC 1992-1659 (magnitude 12.35) and GSC 1992-2058 (magnitude 13.4).
M91 and M88 are two galaxies that share the same visual field, located in the Virgo-Coma cluster. They look very alike, bright and large.
NGC 891 is one of the most famous galaxies. Seen trough a 114-mm telescope is quite difficult, due to its low surface brightness. I have managed to see it only with averted vision, its elongated spindle shape is easily visible. Of course no trace of an equatorial line.
NGC 4312 is at the absolute optical limit for a 114-mm telescope. Its magnitude is 11.8, I’ve barley managed to see it, but the identification is positive.
NGC 4379 is a difficult 11.7 magnitude galaxy. It is small and faint, the nucleus is visible only with averted vision.
NGC 4350 is located only a few arcminutes west from NGC 4340. It is difficult and appears as a small diffuse cloud that surrounds a very bright nucleus.
11th magnitude NGC 4340 is small, round, without an evident nucleus.
NGC 4595 is round, bright, and has a diffuse nucleus.
NGC 4293 is elongated, it has a diffuse faint nucleus. Near the western edge I’ve observed two faint stars.
NGC 4236 is an extremely difficult galaxy in Draco, magnitude 9.7 but 22.5’x6.5′ size! I’ve managed to observe it only after a few minutes of staring in the eyepiece, using averted vision.
NGC 4261 is faint, round, with a diffuse nucleus.
NGC 4725 is 9.8 magnitude, and easily seen with direct vision. It is elongated and becomes brighter towards the nucleus.
NGC 4565 is located four degrees southeast of 31 Comae Berenices. It is easily seen even through a 50-mm finder scope, from a location with a dark sky. Its size is 15’x2′, in the eyepiece it appears extremely elongated, with a bright diffuse nucleus. The nucleus doesn’t have the typical round form, it appears elongated as well. I haven’t managed to see the dark equatorial line.
NGC 4494 is located near the double star 17 Comae Berenices, easily separated into magnitude 5.5 and 6.6 components. The galaxy is faint, with a diffuse nucleus. Near the northern edge I’ve seen an 8th magnitude star.
Two degrees north from NGC 4494 you will find 11th-magnitude NGC 4448. It is easily seen with direct vision, elongated, without condensation towards the nucleus.
NGC 4278 shares the visual field with other three galaxies. Its magnitude is 11.1, it has a round shape and a bright almost stellar nucleus.
NGC 4274 is a little elongated, brighter then NGC 4278, but I didn’t manage to observe a nucleus.
The third galaxy in this group is NGC 4245, difficult to see with direct vision, it has a round shape without an evident nucleus.
The last galaxy is NGC 4314, 11.3 magnitude, elongated, with an easily seen diffuse nucleus.
NGC 4203 is an extremely small galaxy, with a size of only 0.8 arcminutes. It appears as a small round patch, without condensation towards the center.
Next » Galaxies: Page 3