M31's other satellite galaxies

I saw NGC 185 for the first time last night and have to tell you all about it.

I have, as yet, no GOTO or DSC, so everything I find is by hunting. I had not
searched for 185 or 147 very hard because I had read they were difficult and
presumed they were out range for my instrument and climate (the murky
midwest). But Burnham says it is possible to see them with a 6", so I gave it
another shot.

Telescope: 6" f/8 Synta refractor at 43x, giving about a 1.2 degree
field. Mounting: tall wooden tripod with a dobsonian cradle, a la Richard
Berry. I use a Rigel unit-power finder. Sky: mag 5.

Using some charts, I scanned straight west from phi And to omicron and pi Cas,
then noticed that both were visible to the naked eye and I could have started
there. They are aligned N-S and there is a 5.6 mag star between them, closer
to omicron on the north. NGC 185 is at the opposite edge of a 1.2 degree field
to the west of omicron. Large, with low surface brightness, this was difficult
to see at first, but became more obvious with time. The altitude was
increasing and possibly the night was improving.

I could not see 147, which should be a similar distance from 185 to the
west. Most references say it is more difficult, although Walter Scott Houston
wrote that they seemed equal to him.

So: finding 185 was pretty easy, although seeing it took some time. The secret
of my success was that at the time and for that bit of sky, the E-W lines
required only altitude movement with my alt-azimuth mounting. I expect I'll be
able to find it again now that I know where it is. I'll keep looking for 147.

It's a simple tale, but seeing an other satellite of M31 was more exciting
than I can easily explain. I expect most saa readers will understand.

-Bill
--
Sattre Press Curiosities of the Sky
http://sattre-press.com/ by Garrett Serviss
http://sattre-press.com/csky.html

Hi Bill,

I've had a hard time finding NGC 147 as well. These are my notes=20
while searching with my Tele Vue 76 from the Joshua Tree desert
in July...

North of Andromeda in Cassiopeia are three little=20
galaxies... NGC 185, 147 and 278. 185 is fairly easy=20
but could not see 147. I was a bit surprisingly to=20
see little 278. Very small, but unmistakable in the=20
10mm Radian at 48x.=20

My TV76 is alt-az mounted as well.

-Florian

I could not see 147, which should be a similar distance from 185 to the
west. Most references say it is more difficult, although Walter Scott Houston
wrote that they seemed equal to him.
I'll keep looking for 147.

Those mag5 skies are definitely making 147 tougher in a 6inch.
147 is only another field west of 185, but it's brightness is spread
over a slightly larger area. And it doesn't have the bright core that
185 has. Bumping up the power will probably help as well.
Check the two out for comparison he
http://www.seds.org/~spider/ngc/ngcic.cgi?NGC185
http://www.seds.org/~spider/ngc/ngcic.cgi?NGC147
(click the data tabs)

Happy Hunting,
SSX

In the TV show Stargate Atlantis our intrepid hero archetypes travel
through manufactured wormholes to this impressively-named land, far far
away.

I know that recently more satellites have been detected, but..

Is there a "genuine" dwarf galaxy behind the stars of Pegasus? That
direction is below the Plane, so how could a galaxy hide there?

Tia, Sheep

If you shine a flashlight back and forth across Ursa Major, far above our
galaxy's plane, some of those photons will travel for a google google
years as our universe continues to expand.

Try it tonight. You will be the source of a truly cosmic event!

Nothing else you will ever do will have the likely potential to mean so much.

Defender

In article
,
Sheep defender wrote:
Is there a "genuine" dwarf galaxy behind the stars of Pegasus? That
direction is below the Plane, so how could a galaxy hide there?

It seems so.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990122.html
But most reports I see have it as being a satellite of the
Andromeda galaxy (M31), not of the Milky Way.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233

sheep defender:
Nothing else you will ever do will have the likely potential to mean so much.

What a sorry existence this dodo has. PLONK!

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

"sd" == sheep defender writes:

sd I know that recently more satellites have been detected, but..

sd Is there a "genuine" dwarf galaxy behind the stars of Pegasus?

See URL:http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990122.html for a picture
of the Pegasus dwarf spiral galaxy.

sd That direction is below the Plane, so how could a galaxy hide
sd there?

Once you see the picture, I think you'll understand. Dwarf galaxies
can be fairly diffuse. One of the challenges can be identifying a
group of stars as a dwarf galaxy versus a collection of stars within
the Milky Way.

--
Lt. Lazio, HTML police | e-mail:
No means no, stop rape. | http://patriot.net/%7Ejlazio/
sci.astro FAQ at http://sciastro.astronomy.net/sci.astro.html

In article , wrote:

sheep defender:
Nothing else you will ever do will have the likely potential to mean so much.

What a sorry existence this dodo has. PLONK!

Davoud



What are you eleven?

If you didn't understand what I posted, just ask. Maybe someone will help you..

Defender

"sheep defender" wrote in message
...

If you shine a flashlight back and forth across Ursa Major, far above our
galaxy's plane, some of those photons will travel for a google google
years as our universe continues to expand.

Try it tonight. You will be the source of a truly cosmic event!

Nothing else you will ever do will have the likely potential to mean so much.


"sheep defender" wrote in message
...
In article , wrote:

sheep defender:
Nothing else you will ever do will have the likely potential to mean so
much.

What a sorry existence this dodo has. PLONK!

Davoud



What are you eleven?

If you didn't understand what I posted, just ask. Maybe someone will help
you..

Perhaps he said what he did because he did understand.
What meaning is there in sending a few photons into
space that will never be detected again? Most of the
rest of us do things every day that have vastly more
significance, like eat breakfast or sneeze. YMMV.

George