Great Galactic Face
27.03.2006 20:40 UTC
Whoa, what a weather. It has been ages, since I was able to observe in good conditions. When the weather is great, there is an exponential growth of targets what you can see compared for example to my backyard. So basicly I was just wandering in the zoo of galaxies in Virgo cluster. It did not matter where I aimed my scope in Virgo. There was always a couple of galaxies in the field of my Nagler. Then, when I decided that It was a time for some serious sketching, I saw for my horror that I had only one (1) sketching card with me. I almost pulled all my hair off. Well, I had to choose one target. I shooted in the center of Virgo cluster, and immediately I found what I was looking for. The Great Galactic Face. This is a really remarkable sight; I had never been able to see so many bright galaxies in so narrow field. The "eyes", M84 (down east corner) and M86 (west) are the brightest members of this group. The "nose" in center, NGC 4387, was the dimmest one. Also the remaining "mouth" was also rather dim, but all galaxies was visible even if I looked straight to.
NGC Object List:
NGC4388 galaxy RA:12h25m46.9 Dec:+12°39m'43" BMag:11.8, UGC 7520
NGC4387 galaxy RA:12h25m41.7 Dec:+12°48m'37" BMag:13.0, UGC 7517
NGC4374 galaxy RA:12h25m03.6 Dec:+12°53m'13" BMag:10.2, M 84 Markarian Chain
NGC4406 galaxy RA:12h26m11.5 Dec:+12°56m'47" BMag: 9.9, M 86 Markarian Chain
| Location: Anjalankoski | Seeing: 2(5) | Background Sky: 2(5) | Magnification: 115x | Great weather, wery little light pollution. |
Added: 04.04.2006 15:30 UTC
