DEEP SKY OBSERVING
March 2008
by Mark Wagner

Targets are rated 1 to 4 for challenge, with 1 being very easy, 4 being most difficult. All objects are within a one hour of right ascension, north to south, in the east at astronomical dark. Available as a Megastar .obs file or Excel spreadsheet.
Rating
 Object Const. Type
Size
Mag
R.A.
Dec.
2
 NGC 2655 Cam GX
6.6'x4.8'
11.0B
08 55 38
78 13 28
  Bright core, face-on shape, with a twirl in the arms, interesting at 126x.
2
 NGC 2787 UMa GX
3.1'x2.0'
11.8B
09 19 18
69 12 12
  Very small, faint (mag 10.8) round galaxy with a non-stellar center.
2
 N2805 Uma GX
6.3'x4.7'
11.5B
09 20 19
64 06 07
  Faint, large, irregularly round, very low surface brightness.
3
 NGC 2742 UMa GX
3.0'x0.5'
12.0B
09 07 33
60 28 46
  160x shape sharpens to a diamond, with a slight brightening at the center - not well defined.
2
 NGC 2768 UMa GX
8.1'x4.2'
10.8B
09 11 37
60 02 22
  Very bright, moderately large, elongated 2:1 E-W, faint halo extends to 3.0'x1.5'.
4
 Abell 28 UMa PK
4.7'
14.6P
08 41 35
58 13 49
  Very faint and large. Just a brightening of the background sky with a generally round shape.
3
 N2756 UMa GX
1.7'x1.1'
13.2P
09 09 00
53 50 55
  Elongated with a bright core, at mag 13, and larger by 1/3 than NGC 2639.
2
 NGC 2681 UMa GX
3.6'x3.2'
11.1B
08 53 32
51 18 52
  Bright core, looking face-on, big with plenty of dust, 4 foreground stars.
3
 N2639 UMa GX
2.1'x1.3'
12.6B
08 43 38
50 12 20
  Nice elliptical galaxy elongated 4:1 with a 2:1 elliptical core.
4
 HCG 35 Lyn GX6
0.5'x0.3'
16.1B
08 45 21
44 31 14
  With concentration two close galaxies were resolved oriented N-S.
3
 Arp 283 Lyn GX
2.5'x0.9'
13.0B
09 17 22
42 00 02
  NGC 2798 forms a close pair with NGC 2799. Other galaxies in field.
3
 NGC 2782 Lyn GX
3.8'x2.5'
12.3B
09 14 08
40 06 08
  small circular galaxy with a point core at 100x, The core is more diffuse at 210x
3
 Arp 202 Lyn GX2
1.3'x0.3'
13.9
09 00 15
35 43 43
  NGC 2719, 2719A and NGC 2724 make a nice view in one field.
3
 AGC 779 Lyn GXCL
50.4'
13.8
09 19 48
33 46 00
  NGC 2830, 2832, 2826, 2829, 2825, 2834, 2827, 2828, 2833, 2839 direct but difficult.
2
 Arp 315 Lyn GX2
2.4'x1.9'
11.9V
09 19 46
33 44 59
  NGC 2830 and 2832 in center of AGC 779.
2
 NGC 2683 Lyn GX
10.5'x2.5'
10.6B
08 52 41
33 25 03
  Superb galaxy, edge on stretch out 6:1 with bulge at core. The best at 100x, some mottling.
4
 HCG 37 Cnc GX5
2.1'x1.5'
13.6
09 13 39
29 59 33
  NGC 2783 brightest member, three have been visually observed.
1
 M44 Cnc OC
95.0'
3.1
08 40 24
19 40 00
  Beehive cluster, best viewed in wide field telescope or binocular. Naked eye.
4
 Abell 30 Cnc PN
1.8'
15.6P
08 46 53
17 52 14
  Faint, round 120" disk is even brightness, 14th magnitude central star.
4
 HCG 36 Cnc GX4
1.7'x0.7'
15.0B
09 09 22
15 47 46
  IC 528 is brightest of four members at mag 15. All four observed in large aperture.
1
 M67 Cnc OC
29.0'
6.9'
08 51 24
11 49 00
  Nice moderately loose with large numbers of stars visible. Easily seen in the finder.
4
 Abell 31 Cnc PN
16.2'
12.P
08 54 13
08 53 59
  100x + OIII filter, faint huge roundish glow around mag 10 star, halo is not crisply defined.
2
 NGC 2775 Cnc GX
4.2'x3.4'
11.0B
09 10 20
07 02 19
  Obvious, bright core, possible spiral with diffuse halo. Maybe elongated NW/SE.
3
 N2765 Hyd GX
2.1'x1.1'
13.1P
09 07 36
03 23 33
  Fairly faint, small, elongated 5:2 WNW-ESE, gradually brighter core but no sharp nucleus.
3
 N2781 Hyd GX
3.4'x1.5'
12.5B
09 11 27
-14 49 01
  Fairly bright, mod large, elongated 2:1 E-W, sharp concentration, prominent 40"x20" core.
3
 N2610 Hyd PN
58.0'
13.6P
08 33 23
-16 08 58
  A faint small disc with a small darkening in the center that suggested a ring shape.
3
 NGC 2811 Hyd GX
2.5'x0.8'
12.2B
09 16 11
-16 18 48
  Contained supernova in 2005. small, pretty dim, quite elongated.
4
 Abell 29 Pyx PN
6.6'
14.3
08 40 17
-20 54 14
  Two rather faint even surface brightness crescent pieces about 8' apart. Very rich star field.
2
 NGC 2613 Pyx GX
7.2'x1.7'
11.2B
08 33 22
-22 58 24
  Not too small, but dim low surface brightness, elongated roughly E/W.
2
 N2784 Hyd GX
6.2'x2.2'
11.3B
09 12 18
-24 10 22
  Very bright, mod large, very bright core, much fainter extensions, elongated 2:1 WSW-ENE
3
 NGC 2627 Pyx OC
11.0'
8.4
08 37 15
-29 57 00
  Small, dim, roughly triangular, long, narrow; brightest star at the apex.
 

Source catalogs:

Messier, Arp, Abell Planetary, Abell Galaxy Cluster (AGC), Hickson Compact Galaxy (HCG), Sharpless HII Regions, Barnard Dark Nebulae, Herschel 400, Herschel 400-II.

Herschel 400 are identified as NGCXXXX,
Herschel 400-II are indentified as NXXXX.
Descriptions are from the following web-sites:

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