Grand Est, spring 2025

Talma (Grandpré), 27 April - blog 2 of 4

The night of 25-26 April was a good one. Unexpectedly good and cut short only by a need for sleep. Now, a good night's sleep in a house shared with 12, that's a different story. 5 Hours of rest is the most one can expect, tops. It's a good thing the daytime camaraderie more than makes up for lost hours of downtime.

The cloud forecast for the night of the 26th gave no reason for optimism. Neither did the expected weather for the following night. We had every reason to rest in the fact that the preceding night was all that this weekend brought, astronomy wise. That being said, I was planning ahead. I did not need to make it back home until Thursday 1 May and the forecast for Monday through Wednesday was clear skies to the max. Conveniently, the first of May would be the first day when the Moon would truly start to interfere.

Extending my stay in northern France by a few nights would mean having to move to another location, as this house had new visitors arriving soon after our departure on Monday. With two locations available, I picked nearby Boureuilles, a mere 20 minutes away. The same town I had visited 3 times before. Different house, same owner.

The night of the 26th the skies were overcast and at times it rained. The morning of the 27th the weather apps continued to look grim well into the afternoon. Around 3 o' clock, things changed. Clouds: what clouds? Magically, every forecast made an abrupt 180 and the satellite imagery agreed: the skies would be clear at night.

A tweak to my observing plan, a short pre-dinner nap, scope cover removed, dew cap attached, timelapse camera prepped and I was all set for the night. Similar rituals were taking place elsewhere on the field and up on Mount Talma. The images below show Han van Biezen, Dick van Kleef, Maurice Toet and yours truly, prepping for the night ahead.

As the skies darkened, it was clear (...) straight away that this night was to be at least as good as the night of the 25th. If not better, as the transparency was something else.

As I like to put it: "SQM is nothing. Transparency is everything". This night, we got the best of both.

As has become the norm, I spent the final stretch of evening astronomical twilight observing a handful of doubles. Again in Ursa Major. I split 12, of which Espin 2638 (WDS11414+5855) and John Herschel's nr. 508 (WDS11422+3940) were the best.

Espin 2638
AB split, wide. A nice double.
A is yellow, a distinct, clear color, B is white-blueish, a subtle blueish hue.

HJ508
AB split. A beautiful double despite the stars not being very bright.
A is yellow, a distinct, clear, deep color, B is faint and is orange, clearly contrasting.

Double star observations in Ursa Major

Just after eleven, I was back in Coma Berenices. CSOG's 12-14" Gx-8 guide led the way.

Always nice to kick of deepsky observations with something bright and pretty. The first object in the guide, Messier 98, provided for just that. NGC4186 shared the field of view. Images below are from CSOG's Messier edition, the "by object" guide.

Messier 98
A large, NNW-SSE elongated streak, gradually brighter in the middle with a bright nucleus that is visible without AV and that is in a small, slightly NNW-SSE elongated brighter central part that is just a bit SW of the middle, but no distinct core is discernible. With AV the galaxy is slightly irregular and slightly brighter NW of the middle. NE of the brighter part a subtle "bite" is taken from the galaxy, this can only be discerned with AV. SE of the middle the galaxy is even in brightness, farther to the SE a slightly brighter, NW-SE elongated part is visible, slightly canted with respect to the axis of the galaxy. The knot SE thereof is not visible.
1/3 FoV to the SSE is NGC4186. NGC4192A to the SW is not visible.

NGC4186
Sharing the FoV with Messier 98 (NGC4192), 1/3 FoV to the NNW: A faint, slightly ENE-WSW elongated glow, without AV gradually brighter in the middle. With AV slightly more elongated and more suddenly brighter in a round core, with AV the faint nucleus is just visible.
To the NE is a mag. 13 star, twice that distance to the ENE is a slightly curved shape of mag. 11 and fainter stars.

Not as large as the Messier but quite bright and clearly irregular, was NGG4212. Images are from CSOG's Herschel edition, again a "by object" guide.

Quite a bright, irregular, ENE-WSW elongated, oval glow. Irregular even without AV and clearly brighter in the WSW part. With AV clearly irregular and slightly more bulging NW to SE to the SW of the middle. With AV the nucleus or a superimposed star is visible to the SW of the middle (when working out this observation determined to be the nucleus). Towards the WSW the galaxy is suddenly fainter, towards the NE the galaxy gradually becomes fainter.
1/2 FoV to the NW is the fainter galaxy IC3061, 1/2 FoV to the NE is IC3091.

It did not take long before the objects for what was to be one of the best observations of the night entered my field of view. A threesome of galaxies: NGC4222, NGC4216 - the "Silver Streak Galaxy" and NGC4206 that together go as Holmberg 353, overlapping the border of Coma and Virgo. It's an awfully pretty sight. Images below are from CSOG's Holmberg Double and Multiple Galaxies edition.

NGC4222
A NE-SW elongated streak, without AV it is clear that the galaxy is brightest in the SW 2/3 part. With AV the galaxy is suddenly fainter on the SW side and gradually faint towards the NE.

NGC4216
A NNW-SSE very elongated streak, gradually brighter in the middle and brightest in a part that is slightly elongated in the same direction and that is clearly slightly SSW of the middle, containing a small, round core and a bright nucleus that is on the SSW edge of the round core, which is notable. East of the nucleus is a mag. 14 star (4UCAC516-054692), just detached from the glow of the galaxy. The galaxy is subtly wider on the SSW side and on that side is suddenly fainter, more gradually fainter towards the NNE. A very nice galaxy.

NGC4206
A north-south very elongated streak, without AV quite suddenly brighter in a very elongated central part (elongated in the same direction) but no distinct core visible. With AV more elongated and subtly brightest in the southern 3/5 part with the central part of the galaxy in the northern part thereof. No nucleus visible.

I will be making another visit to this group on the earliest occasion, as I want to try for group member D - IC771 and PGC39247 that is just north of the groups primary galaxy A - NGC4216.

With only faint IC3094 observed in between, another bright and pretty one was in the bucket. Messier 99 - the "Coma Pinwheel Galaxy" including the HII region Rubin, Moore, Bertiau 55 on its east-northeastern edge. Images below are from CSOG's Messier edition, the "by object" guide and the 12-14" HII Regions guide for Coma, respectively.

Quite a large, irregular glow, gradually brighter in the middle, with AV the spiral shape is discernible. On the south side an arm is visible that bends towards the west and that curves slightly towards the NW. The galaxy is centrally brighter in a slightly east-west elongated part, the nucleus is visible with AV. The galaxy is more suddenly fainter on the NE side and on that side rounded with the bulging side towards the NE. With AV a faint part is very subtly visible on the north side that originates on the west side of the brighter part, runs slightly towards the north and that curves slightly towards the NE where it ends quite suddenly, this is (the beginning of) the northern arm of the galaxy. No arms are discernible on the east side of the galaxy. A beautiful galaxy.
On the ENE edge of the glow of the galaxy, with AV, a small, faint, east-west elongated, evenly bright glow is visible: the HII region Rubin, Moore, Bertiau 55. South thereof, just detached from the glow of the galaxy, is a mag. 11.5 star (4UCAC523-054688).
1/3 FoV to the NE is a bright white-yellow mag. 6 star (SAO100039).

An NGC galaxy well worth observing is nr. 4237. It appears irregular and sports an offset nucleus. A bright yellow star to the southeast enhances the view.

Quite a large and bright, WNW-ESE elongated, irregular, oval glow, brightest WNW of the middle. The nucleus is visible in the SE part of the brighter part.
Gradually fainter towards the WNW and more suddenly fainter towards the ESE. Quite a nice galaxy.
1/2 FoV to the SE is a bright yellow mag. 6 star (SAO100023).

Even better than 4237 is 4293. Like the previous, it clearly shows irregularity. I liked NGC4293 just a bit better.

A pretty large, quite bright, ENE-WSW elongated, irregular glow that is clearly brightest in the WSW 2/3 part. ENE of the middle of the brighter part a slightly brighter, irregular central part is visible that is elongated in the same direction with a faint nucleus that is visible with AV. With AV more of the outer glow of the galaxy is visible, especially on the ENE where the galaxy is suddenly fainter, the galaxy stretches out more and gradually becomes fainter towards the WSW. A nice galaxy, irregular structure is clearly visible.

One of the smaller galaxies in the guide is PGC39904. Any other day... night, it would be just another faint glow. This galaxy, however, has a little knot on its eastern edge. I went for it, even applied some extra magnification, but a somewhat teardrop shape overall was the best I could make of it.

17mm Nagler T4: A faint ENE-WSW elongated glow that is slightly wider north to south on the western side, faint but somewhat has a teardrop-shape. The knot on the eastern side is not discernible.
1/3 FoV to the NE is a bright white-yellow mag. 5 star (11 Comae Berenices).

12mm Nagler T4: Using this magnification the galaxy is a faint, slightly ENE-WSW elongated, oval glow, evenly bright, no knot is visible.

Among the best in this night's selection of Coma galaxies was the pair Holmberg 377 (NGC4298 & NGC4302). Neither galaxy is very bright, but an irregular western galaxy flanking a very elongated eastern one, that's hard to beat.

Both galaxies are visible, not very bright galaxies but a very nice pair.
The eastern galaxy B - NGC4302 is slightly fainter than the western galaxy A - NGC4298 is, a clearly north-south elongated streak, without AV clearly brightest in the southern 3/5 part. With AV the galaxy is larger and more elongated and the brighter central part is slightly larger, too. Centrally in the brighter central part a small, slightly brighter core is visible. The dark lane is not discernible and no nucleus is visible. With AV the galaxy is slightly irregular. The galaxy is more suddenly fainter towards the south and gradually fainter towards the north. On the NNW edge is a mag. 13 star (4UCAC524-053462). The knot and the star USNO377218214 to the south are not visible.
The western galaxy A - NGC4298 is an oval, NW-SE elongated glow, clearly brighter than the eastern galaxy B - NGC4302 is. Without AV slightly irregular, with AV very clearly irregular and brightest just SE of the middle, slightly flattened on the NE side on a line from NW to SE, subtly bulging on the SW side. To the NE is a mag. 12.5 star (4UCAC524-053461).

Messier 100 followed soon after and while appearing very differently from the Holmberg pair, I found it equally appreciative. The hint of spiral structure was subtle, but the bright southern arm was unmistakable. Nearby NGC4323 and NGC4328 allowed observations, too.

Messier 100
Quite a large and bright, oval glow, slightly elongated NE to SE and suddenly brighter in a small, round core that is clearly SW of the middle of the galaxy with a bright nucleus that is visible without AV. On the SW side the galaxy is quite suddenly fainter where the galaxy does not bulge as much, slightly flattened on a line from WNW to ESE. The galaxy is gradually fainter towards the NE where it is clearly flattened on a line from NW to SE. NE thereof a fainter part is subtly visible that gradually dissolves. With AV clearly irregular with a slightly dark part NW of the central part, that's a hint of spiral structure. On the south side, with AV, a band is subtly discernible running east to west (slightly WNW-ESE), that's an arm of the galaxy. On the NW edge is a mag. 14.5 star.
To the NNE is the galaxy NGC4323, to the east is NGC4328.

NGC4323
A small, faint glow, visible without AV but pretty much "overshadowed" by Messier 100 (NGC4321) to the SSW. Without AV even in brightness, with AV subtly brighter in the middle, no nucleus visible.
To the ENE are a mag. 12.5 (SSW) and a mag. 13 (NNE) star aligned SSW to NNE.

NGC4328
To the east of Messier 100 (NGC4321), slightly larger and bright than NGC4323 to the NNE of Messier 100 is, a round glow, easily visible without AV. With AV gradually brighter in the middle, no nucleus visible.

NGC4421 is not a showpiece, but it is quite bright and does reveal a clearly elongated core. To me, the nucleus appeared just a bit offset.

Quite a bright, north-south elongated streak, quite suddenly brighter in a core that is clearly elongated in the same direction with a bright nucleus that is visible without AV and that is just a bit SSW of the middle of the galaxy, which is notable.
To the WNW is a white-yellow mag. 10 star (SAO100101).

NGC4383 a.k.a. Markarian 769 forms a pair with much fainter MCG+03-32-027 (PGC40506). The brighter galaxy's nucleus appeared to be on the edge of its brighter core. The MCG required averted vision to be teased out.

Both galaxies are visible.
The NNE galaxy NGC4383 is a NNW-SSE elongated glow with a very bright nucleus that is clearly visible without AV. With AV slightly larger and subtly brighter in a core that is slightly elongated in the same direction. The nucleus clearly is on the WSW edge of the brighter core, which is notable.
The SSW galaxy MCG+03-32-027 (PGC40506) is a faint, round glow, evenly bright, no detail visible and only visible with AV. Is to the SSE of a mag. 11.5 star together with which the two galaxies form a flattened triangle with the star in the WNW tip.

Another Holmberg and again two galaxies to describe: NGC4350 & NGC4340 form the bright and relatively wide pair Holmberg 391.

Both galaxies are clearly visible, nice.
The ESE galaxy A - NGC4350 is a NNE-SSW elongated streak, quite suddenly brighter in a central part that is slightly elongated in the same direction, containing an even brighter, round core with a very bright nucleus that is visible without AV.
The WNW galaxy B - NGC4340 is a round glow, quite suddenly brighter in a round core with a bright nucleus that is visible without AV but that is not as bright as the nucleus of A - NGC4350 is. With AV slightly elongated NW to SE and gradually brighter in the middle.

The galaxies in this guide, combined, were a pretty compact gathering. One hour at the eyepiece and 29 entries for my log, of which 25 first timers. Together with the observations of two nights before, I was finally making a dent in my Coma Berenices galaxy list.

Galaxy observations in Coma Berenices

Taking a break from observing I slewed the scope to some bright galaxies for my new my new astrotrip buddies to enjoy. Taking in the big picture, it was impossible to ignore how amazingly good the skies were. Darkness, transparency, seeing: it cannot possibly get any better in this region. Skies like this normally require a drive to the Alps.

Back from my break I set out to observe galaxies in CSOG's 12-14" Gx-6 guide for Boötes, in the southwestern part of the constellation, filtered for the ones I had yet to observe.

First observation in Boötes was a Karachentsev pair: MCG+03-35-013 (PGC48074) & MCG+03-35-014 (PGC48073) = KPG 387.

Both galaxies are visible.
The SSW galaxy A - MCG+03-35-013 (PGC48074) is subtly larger and brighter than the NNE galaxy B - MCG+03-35-014 (PGC48073) is, both galaxies are round little patches and in both galaxies the nucleus is visible without AV, the nucleus of the SSW galaxy A - MCG+03-35-013 is just a bit brighter. The NNE galaxy is evenly bright, no change with AV. The SSW galaxy is subtly brighter in the middle.
To the west is a mag. 11 star.

IC950 & PGC3442468 form another pair. Initially, I could only see the IC but a bit of time and patience allowed my eyes to distinguish the very small and faint PGC as well. The same happened with the pair that followed, MCG+03-35-034 (PGC49330) & PGC1463828. Here, the I was unable to visually 'hold' the PGC galaxy continuously, but it peeked its head often enough to call it a positive observation.

IC950 & PGC3442468
Initially I only see IC950: A small, faint, round glow, even in brightness. With AV slightly elongated north to south and gradually subtly brighter in the middle. Forms the NW tip of a slightly crooked, flattened triangle with a mag. 11.5 star to the ENE and a mag. 11 star to the south in the base.
After a while I am able to discern PGC3442468, too: A small, faint, round glow WSW of IC950, only visible with AV, even in brightness, detached from IC950.
Almost 1/2 FoV to the SSW is the galaxy IC4337.

MCG+03-35-034 & PGC1463828
Initially I only see the southern galaxy MCG+03-35-034 (PGC49330): A small, faint, round glow, even in brightness without AV. With AV subtly brighter in the middle and with AV the faint nucleus is just visible.
After a while I see PGC1463828, too: To the NNW of MCG+03-35-035, with AV, a faint glow sometimes jumps into view, observed with certainty but not held continuously.
To the NNE is a bright white mag. 10 star (SAO100750).
To the ENE there appear to be a small, faint galaxy and a star, no certainty about this while observing. When working out this observation determined to be two faint stars aligned east to west (4UCAC524-055271 and -2).
To the ENE of these two stars is the galaxy PGC1464025.

KPG 408 also revealed its two members IC970 & MCG+03-36-029 (PGC50014), with a distinct difference in brightness.

Both galaxies are visible.
A - IC970 is the brighter and larger NNW galaxy, a NE-SW elongated glow, quite suddenly brighter in quite a distinct core that is elongated in the same direction with an offset nucleus to the SW of the middle, which is notable.
The southern galaxy B - MCG+03-36-029 (PGC50014) is a much fainter, north-south elongated glow, with AV at the limit of visibility, with AV gradually brighter in the middle, no distinct core discernible and no nucleus visible.

Final pair in the Herdsman was Arp 117. Both IC's were visible. North-northeastern IC983 revealed its outer regions, but lacked detail.

NW of a white mag. 10 star (SAO100889) is a round glow (IC983) with a very bright nucleus that is clearly visible without AV. With AV slightly larger but the glow surrounding the nucleus is very faint, the glow is notable but there is no structure visible.
SSW of IC983 is IC982, a small, faint, round glow, even in brightness, clearly visible without AV. With AV the nucleus is visible and the glow is slightly larger but even in brightness.

Galaxy observations in Boötes

With Boötes observations in the bag I centered Messier 13 in the field of view and pointed out its telltale dark "X". A line quickly formed at my scope, amongst them at least one pirate. Hercules' other Messier globular, nr. 92, was equally appreciated.

After half an hour I scattered the herd, installed myself at the south side of the scope and set out to capture some leftovers in Draco.

I tried to pick out PGC28165139 - "Sancho's Object" but failed, even when I could observe the western galaxy PGC3136298. The "Blue Sausage" that is MCG+10-22-009 (Vorontsov-Vel'yaminov 1747, PGC54421) that followed was clearly elongated but underwhelming, too.

One of the Dragon's ultimate showpieces is the "Draco Triplet". This group was first cataloged as such as Holmberg 719. Truly a great galaxy sampler.

All three galaxies are visible, a nice view.
A - NGC5982 is the central galaxy, brighter than the eastern galaxy B - NGC5985 is, a slightly east-west elongated glow, quite suddenly brighter in a core that is slightly elongated in the same direction with a bright nucleus that is clearly visible without AV. With AV the brighter core is suddenly brighter and slightly larger and more of the fainter outer parts of the galaxy is visible.
The ESE galaxy B - NGC5985 is quite a bright SSW-NNE elongated glow, quite suddenly brighter in the middle but no core discernible. Without AV the nucleus is just visible that is clearly NNE of the middle, which is notable. With AV the galaxy is slightly larger and subtly irregular, but no arms can be discerned.
The WNW galaxy C - NGC5981 is the faintest galaxy, a SE-NW elongated streak, quite suddenly brighter in a core that is very elongated in the same direction. No nucleus visible, nor with AV. With AV it is clear that the brighter core is slightly NW of the middle of the galaxy.

Galaxy observations in Draco

Moving back to the north side of scope to continue my observations in Hercules, I noticed the view was deteriorating. The skies were not to blame, as the conditions remained splendid. It was getting ever so slightly colder this time of night and that made it easy to figure out what was going on: Dew. Drat.

My dew heaters had been on since earlier in the session, but always taking care to not turn up my corrector plate's dew strip too high, I had obviously set it just too low. A quick glance at the front of the telescope confirmed my suspicion. Now, every astrotrip up until this one I packed a hairdryer. Never had to use it up until now so I didn't pack it this time around. Figures...

It took a good twenty minutes for my optics to dry and once they did, I was back at it for some more faint fuzzies.

Of the eight galaxies and galaxy groups observed in this part of the sky, nothing was spectacular. The sole Holmberg pair amongst them, nr. 747, only revealed its primary galaxy NGC6145. MCG+07-34-022 (PGC58078) that is close to the southwest remained out of sight, too, but even so the view still made for two galaxies observed, as NGC6156 is nearby as well. I liked NGC6156 better.

NGC6145 (Holmberg 747A)
A - NGC6145 is a north-south elongated glow, gradually brighter in the middle. With AV larger, slightly more elongated and more suddenly brighter in a core that is slightly elongated in the same direction, no nucleus visible.
B - NGC6147 and MCG+07-34-022 WSW thereof are not visible.
To the SSE is the galaxy NGC6146.

NGC6146
Sharing the FoV with NGC6145 (Holmberg 747A) to the NNW: A round glow, brighter than NGC6145 is, gradually brighter in the middle with a bright nucleus that is clearly visible without AV. With AV quite suddenly brighter in a small, round core.
To the ENE is a mag. 13 star.

Galaxy observations in Hercules

Over half an hour remained before the start of morning astronomical twilight. Time I spent chatting with my friends on Mount Talma, where Maurice Toet was grabbing his final French M51 frames, before heading indoors.

This observing run had become a red letter session. Never before had I observed in this region under skies so clear and dark as they had been this night.

Truly an Ardenner Special.

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Observations

1 globular cluster
1 HII Region
81 galaxies & galaxy groups
13 double stars
Total: 96 observations
First time observations: 76 objects

Details of the objects observed in this session are in the table below.

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