2024-01-06

• Condition: G7
• Location: Home, Spearfish: 44.49, -103.87

Had a small window of visibility between cloud fronts.

6:51PM

• Target: NGC 253, Sculptor Galaxy[1]
• Const: Sculptor
• RaDec: 00h47m -25°17
• Type: Galaxy
• Scope: AT102ED
• Setting: 55x
• Image: ../images/2024-01-06_NGC253.jpg[2]

I could just barely see it over Butch's rooftop. I had about a 30 minute window to view between his tree and his roof, and I was lucky to catch it. AV is not required for detection (I could detect it in the finder-scope). It is a long, mostly edge-on galaxy. The brightness tapers off linearly from the center to the edges, and AV does not seem to help increase the size at all. I'm marking this one down for a revisit in the future from darker skies.

=> [1] NGC 253, Sculptor Galaxy (ID) | [2] ../images/2024-01-06_NGC253.jpg

7:10PM

• Target: NGC 246, Skull Nebula[1]
• Const: Cetus
• RaDec: 00h47m -11°52
• Type: Planetary Nebula
• Scope: AT102ED
• Setting: 55x, Ultrablock, AV
• Image: ../images/2024-01-06_NGC246.jpg[2]

AV lends a little definition to the shape and gives the impression that it might not be perfectly circular.

I had a few more targets for tonight, but the clouds started rolling in, bummer.

=> [1] NGC 246, Skull Nebula (ID) | [2] ../images/2024-01-06_NGC246.jpg