Realm of Galaxies in Tele Vue 76

Took a little romp through the Realm of the Galaxies from my backyard
early this morning. I was out with my TV76 for about an hour from
12:30am to 1:30am local PST. My backyard skies are usually around mag
4.5 and i wasn't really sure how many (if any) of the Messier objects in
this area i'd be able to see from home with the little 3" scope. Turns
out i can see most of them! I was using my 13mm Widescan Type III for
all observations. I basically worked eastward across the area starting
with M98. This was a disappointing start as i couldn't see it. At times
i almost thought i could see something but not enough to count. Things
got better with M99, then M100, then north a bit to M85. All three were
dim (of course) and right on the edge of visibility. Pretty much all the
galaxies in this area are just on the edge of visibility through my home
skies. Back to the center of the realm for M84 and M86 and then a
clockwise loop to pickup M87, M89, M90 and M88. M91 was like M98 in that
i couldn't make a positive sighting. Back down to M58 and then east to
M59 and M60. M60 is one of the brighter galaxies in the area. I
completed the tour by swinging south to M49 and found i could also see
NGC 4526. Last target was M61. Of all the Messier galaxies in the area
only two, M98 and M91, were out of reach. This weekend i'm planning to
get out of town to some dark skies and will do the tour again. I should
then be able to pick out many of the dimmer galaxies in the area.

-Florian at Stargazing dot com

Thanks Florian, I've been lusting after a TV76 for a travel scope for awhile
....

--

Clear Skies,

Chuck

"Florian" wrote in message
...
Took a little romp through the Realm of the Galaxies from my backyard
early this morning. I was out with my TV76 for about an hour from
12:30am to 1:30am local PST. My backyard skies are usually around mag
4.5 and i wasn't really sure how many (if any) of the Messier objects in
this area i'd be able to see from home with the little 3" scope. Turns
out i can see most of them! I was using my 13mm Widescan Type III for
all observations. I basically worked eastward across the area starting
with M98. This was a disappointing start as i couldn't see it. At times
i almost thought i could see something but not enough to count. Things
got better with M99, then M100, then north a bit to M85. All three were
dim (of course) and right on the edge of visibility. Pretty much all the
galaxies in this area are just on the edge of visibility through my home
skies. Back to the center of the realm for M84 and M86 and then a
clockwise loop to pickup M87, M89, M90 and M88. M91 was like M98 in that
i couldn't make a positive sighting. Back down to M58 and then east to
M59 and M60. M60 is one of the brighter galaxies in the area. I
completed the tour by swinging south to M49 and found i could also see
NGC 4526. Last target was M61. Of all the Messier galaxies in the area
only two, M98 and M91, were out of reach. This weekend i'm planning to
get out of town to some dark skies and will do the tour again. I should
then be able to pick out many of the dimmer galaxies in the area.

-Florian at Stargazing dot com

Thanks Florian, I've been lusting after a TV76 for a travel scope for =
awhile


Hi Chuck,

Me too! I'm really enjoying the scope.

-Florian

"Florian" wrote in message ...

Took a little romp through the Realm of the Galaxies from my backyard
early this morning. I was out with my TV76 for about an hour from
12:30am to 1:30am local PST... Of all the Messier galaxies in the area
only two, M98 and M91, were out of reach.

Yep, those are definitely the two toughest Messier galaxies in the
Virgo cluster under serious light pollution. But if you could find
all the others from your back yard, M98 and M91 should be a piece
of cake from a dark-sky site.

- Tony Flanders