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(IAAC) Obj: M 51 and NGC 5195 - Inst: 120 mm KONUS refractor, f/8.33, eq. mount
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Observation Poster: Natko Bajic <natkobajic@yahoo.com>
Observer: Natko Bajic
Your skills: Intermediate (some years)
Date/time of observation: April, 27th, 2001.
Location of site: Vinisce, near Split, Croatia (Lat 43.5, Elev )
Site classification: Rural
Sky darkness: 5.0 <Limiting magnitude>
Seeing: <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Moon presence: None - moon not in sky
Instrument: 120 mm KONUS refractor, f/8.33, eq. mount
Magnification: 40x, 100x
Filter(s): None
Object(s): M 51 and NGC 5195
Category: External galaxy.
Class:
Constellation: CVn
Data: mag 8.4, 9.6 size 11' x 7', 6.4' x 4.6'
Position: RA 13:30 DEC +47:15
Description:
I spent more than four hours on this observation, so at the end I was
really confused what I have seen! At the beginning, at both 40x and
100x I could see just two faint smudges of light with bright star-like
core in each of it. They were similar in brightness, but M 51 had much
larger halo. The higher magnification gave me almost the same
contrast, so I continue to use 100x. Averted vision helped me a little
bit with galaxy halos, but after I draw a star on the sketch I've lost
the whole halo. Soon, when I marked all several stars in the field. I
put a black T-shirt over my head to remove stray lights and begin to
seek for any detail. After really long time I started to reveal four
arcs of slightly brighter light in M 51's halo aronud its core. They
were at the same position as spiral arms should be. Soon, I could see
a dark gap at the outer side of the spiral arm that is closest to
core, and extension of the halo at the outer side of the spiral arm
west of the previous one. In NGC 5195 I saw a very faint and small
structure like spiral arm expanding to east.
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Optional related URLs: http://www.geocities.com/natkobajic
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