[Lvas] NGC-2403 Contributors Notes

Wed Apr 8 18:16:52 PDT 2009

The following are observation notes for our March observing project, NGC-2403 in the constellation of Camelopardalis

I would like to recognize and thank our newest contributor Paul Webb. He is a very accomplished and experienced visual observer. Paul we are most appreciative for your efforts and participation. Your notes are excellent.   

Other observational notes are from myself (Roger Ivester) and Fred Rayworth.

Fred Raywoth: Observer from Nevada, Telescope: 16-inch Reflector.
Location: North shore of Lake Mead 

Eyepiece: 32mm Erfle @ 80x

Description: Nice round face-on galaxy, situated between two bright equal magnitude 11th magnitude stars. Very elongated, with a subtle brighter middle. The edges are very uneven and fade very gradually outwards.

Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina, Telescope: 10-inch Reflector.

Location: South Mountains 35 minutes N of Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Eyepiece: 16mm University Optics Konig with the employ of a 2x Apochromatic 3-element short barlow @ 142x.

Description: Large, bright with a slightly brighter and more concentrated middle. It is elongated and is positioned between two 11th magnitude stars. The outer halo extends beyond these stars. It is oriented in a SE-NW elongation. I can see three stars within the halo, averted vision is required and I cannot hold all three constantly.

Telescope supplemental:  4 inch Vixen Refractor

Eyepiece: 20mm Vixen LV plus a 2x barlow @ 100x

Description: Fairly bright, brighter middle, elongated and situated between two bright 11th magnitude stars. I cannot see the halo extending beyond these stars. The texture appears mostly even.

Paul Webb: Observer from South Caroina, Telescope: Celestron C-14.

Conditions: 37°, transparancy good with average seeing.  A lot of pollen lightened the night sky but overall nice.  

Description:  I started off using the C-14 with 300x.  Wow!  That is a large galaxy!  16' x 10" in size and magnitude 8.4.  It does remind me of M-33.  There was evident modeling in the outer arms of this galaxy. Nice bright core. At first I thought it might be a small companion off to the western side.  Not sure. It was nebulous knots!  The east side contained the same clumping in the outer arms. As the session went on I decided to drop the power down to 197x.  Good choice, it allowed for more boost in contrast especially with the bright foreground stars in the same field.  This is the first real session for galaxy hunting with my new C-14.

Would there be anyone in the LVAS that would like to volunteer to take over Part III of the observing report, notes? This would reduce my workload an hour or so each month, and would allow for the participation of others.

I will continue to do Part I and Part II.

Hope you have enjoyed this months report on object NGC-2403. 

Many of you have already completed work on this months project which is the Virgo Cluster. I want the opportunity to observe this galaxy cluster at a dark site, at new moon. I have observed this group many times but I want to do a new sketch and I am interested if I can see all nine galaxies in the 1° FOV again.  

I would like to thank all of the participates in this months report.

Best regards to all... Roger Ivester

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