Southern Deep Sky Objects from Fremont Peak

On May 8, 2008, at 11:24 PM, Mark Johnston wrote:

> Observed at Fremont peak Wed May 7, 2008 .....
>
> So the night was ok and the best part was to bag some extremely low
> targets, lowest of which was NGC5286 confirmed by extremely near
> forground bright star and a very near doublish star just north and
> a very careful star hop which included at times using trees in the
> viewfinder to move a few degrees as they were more plentiful than
> bright enough stars. What a riot.
> I will say that the observation was very poor at that but indeed
> present.
>
> Other targets down south were finally NGC4945, a fairly elongated
> object that was getting close to the lights so really had to coax
> it and wait for it. This would be the 3rd attempt this month to
> catch that one so I was very happy to finally get a definite 30%
> with averted type look.

I want to chime in and say congratulations on detecting either of
these objects from the south bay area! To put things in perspective,
Fremont Peak's latitude is +36d 45.6m, so the theoretical horizon is
at -53d 14.4m declination. NGC 5286 resides at declination -51d 22 .
4m, so not only does it appears for only a short window of time, it
culminates (peak elevation) at less than two degrees elevation!
Atmospheric refraction does shove it higher in the sky by about a
half-degree, but still I've never heard of an observation of a
globular this far south from our latitude! I believe the furthest
southern globular I've looked for is NGC 6352 (-48d 25') from the Tri-
Valley site off of Mines Road. Well, with one exception. I've
observed Canopus (and I'm sure others have), although it technically
culminates *below* the theoretical horizon.

  NGC 4945 is a bit higher in the southern muck at -49d 28.1m (still
less than 4 degrees maximum elevation). But the surface brightness
of this galaxy is *much* lower than the globular NGC 5286. So, this
observation may be even more impressive. I'm not sure I've observed
a galaxy further south than NGC 7213 (-47d 10').

Here's how NGC 5286 from latitudes further south --
13.1" (2/20/04 - Costa Rica): at 105x this globular appeared very
bright, moderately large and well-condensed with an intense, mottled
core. At 200x, 15-25 14th magnitude stars pop in an out of view
(some in chains), though only a handful are easily resolved including
a brighter star just east of the core. Located 4' NW of yellow 4.7-
magnitude M Centauri in the same high power field! Easily visible in
the 9x50 finder, though small. NGC 5307, a fairly bright planetary,
lies 44' ENE.

8" (7/13/91 - Southern Baja): moderately bright, fairly small, 2.5'
diameter, round, evenly concentrated to a bright central region and a
small bright core, mottled halo, one brighter mag 12 star on the SE
side. On the verge of resolution although viewed at only 8°
elevation. Mag 4.7 M Centauri with mag 11 companion 40" separation
just 4.1' SE of core!

NGC 4945 is a southern showpiece -- at least from Costa RIca!
13.1" (2/19/04 - Costa Rica): beautiful, huge edge-on spiral oriented
SW-NE. At 166x, appears ~15'x2' with tapering tips that fade out
towards the ends of the extensions. There is only a broad
concentration with gently bulging core, although the surface
brightness is somewhat irregular or mottled due to dust. The galaxy
fades a bit to the SW of the core and then brightens slightly further
SW. The NE extension seems a bit splotchy or mottled. I was very
surprised that the view from Costa Rica was a bit better than from
Bargo, outside of Sydney, Australia, with a similar aperture.

Steve

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