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M33 (Pinwheel Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Triangulum)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Oct 8 00:00:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2303
Last evening, my brother Anthony & I viewed the one day old crescent moon. It was so thin but we still were able to see some craters. We then put the scope on the waning crescent of Venus. There were dark spots embedded into Venus' cloud bank. We also noticed the terminator was wavy looking. That's because the terminator was over a mountain range was directly below. We also observed five galaxies including M31, M32, M33, M110 & NGC 891. In M33, we saw the huge star formation region in one of its spiral arms. That was something to see. We also saw one open cluster & nine double stars. The icing on the cake was seeing the ISS fly overhead.
NGC7331 (Galaxy, in Pegasus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Sep 27 00:00:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2298
Last evening, my brother Anthony & I observed two sections of the Vela Nebula with our 5" MAK. One part, which is called the Crescent Nebula was a really great site as well as the other part we were looking at. We also observed the galaxy NGC7331 which was a pleasant surprise. With my 10X50 binoculars, we were able to view both M31 & M32 galaxies in the same field of view. We also observed several open clusters & a globular cluster. Finally, we also observed the red star Myra & it was plenty red.
M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Sep 11 00:30:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2294
On Friday evening, my brother Anthony & I observed ten galaxies & many more other objects. We observed Galaxies M31, M32, M51 & its companion, M81, M82 & M101 & also some NGC galaxies. The galaxies showed decently despite some smoke from the western wild fires. We also observed a slew of NGC & IC open clusters & some objects with nebula. It was quite a night of viewing.
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Canes Venatici)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Mar 29 01:00:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2240
A few evenings ago, my Brother Anthony & I did some binocular viewing after our computerized telescope malfunctioned. After viewing some binocular double stars we decided to try for The Whirlpool Galaxy. We were both stunned at how easily we were able to observe this galaxy. Soon we will have our telescope up & running again.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Mon Nov 9 23:00:00 2020 UT Obs. no.: 2212
Last evening, my brother Anthony & I observed many objects with his computerized 127mm MAK. Our first planetary target was Mars. With the ortho eyepiece, Mars' land features & north polar hood really stood out. This was our best view of Mars this fall. We then viewed Jupiter where we viewed its two belts & polar caps. One of Jupiter's moons was right next to the planet. We then slewed to Saturn where the Cassini division was easily seen in Saturn's rings. We then observed Uranus which looked like small a bright blue orb in the scope. Finally, we viewed Neptune who's tiny orb looked bluish grey. We then toured five galaxies beginning with M31, The Andromeda galaxy. We were able to see the satellite galaxies M32 & M110. M32 showed very well in the scope but M110 was difficult to see. We then went to M33, The Pinwheel Galaxy. One part of this face on galaxy was seen easily. this was the big star formation part of the galaxy. The last galaxy we observed was the edge on galaxy NGC891. This galaxy looks like a pencil line in our scope. We also viewed two globular clusters M30 & M56. both did not show up well in our scope. We did have great views of several open clusters but for us the beauty of the Double Cluster GREAT! We took over five minutes to examine this. We also viewed the famous double star Albereo. Finally, during the day, we observed sunspot group AR2781 to complete our day night astronomy double header.
M82 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Muse (e-mail: jjharp@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Roswell, New Mexico, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: fair Seeing: poor
Time: Sat Jan 20 15:00:00 2018 UT Obs. no.: 2041
Bortle Class 3 with moving clouds, but the evening was still enjoyable with fellow observers. Saw several objects through other scopes but did bring in M81 and M82 with the wife's 8" Orion Deep Space Explorer. .
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Muse (e-mail: jjharp@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Roswell, New Mexico, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: fair Seeing: poor
Time: Sat Jan 20 15:00:00 2018 UT Obs. no.: 2040
Bortle Class 3 with moving clouds, but the evening was still enjoyable with fellow observers. Saw several objects through other scopes but did bring in M81 and M82 with the wife's 8" Orion Deep Space Explorer. .
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Canes Venatici)
Observer: mihai mataringa (e-mail: mihaimataringa@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 102-mm refractor Location: Prilipeti, Banat, Romania
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Aug 24 20:20:00 2011 UT Obs. no.: 1875
M51,the Whirlpool galaxy,like a fuzzy patch,difficult.
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Alex Mataringa (e-mail: melhonar@gmail.com)
Instrument: 102-mm refractor Location: Prilipeti, Banat, Romania
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Aug 24 20:10:00 2011 UT Obs. no.: 1874
M81 galaxy in Ursa Major, oval shape,faint,25 mm eyepiece, in the same field of vue withM82 galaxy.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Oct 3 01:15:00 2010 UT Obs. no.: 1858
This evening my friend, Joe Cseh and I tried to observe Comet Hartley 2 with Joe's mounted 16X50 binoculars. To our dismay, we utterly and completely failed to pick the comet out. After recovering from our shock, we turned Joe's binos on M31, The Andromeda Galaxy. At 16X we were able to pick out the starlike core in the center of the galaxy. The rest of the galaxy fanned out nicely. The Double cluster also looked great but at 16X, we had to view each cluster seperately. We then turned his mounted binos on Jupiter and Uranus. Three of Jupiter's moons were on one side of the planet and the other one was on the other side of the planet. When we pointed the binos on Uranus neither of us was able to see any color on Uranus. This has been on going since I started observing Uranus about two months ago. Every other year I was able to see a blue green color on Uranus but not this year with either a telescope or binoculars. Finally for a laugh, we tried to look at Uranus with our naked eye and we both had no trouble seeing Uranus with our naked eyes.
M33 (Pinwheel Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Triangulum)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 18-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Ashford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Sep 19 02:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1834
This past weekend My friend Steve Borer and I attended the Connecticut Star Party in Ashford Ct. Some of the outstanding views we had were of the brighter sections of The Vela Nebula. We were able to observe the nebula without O3 filters. The Saturn nebula was very blue and it really does resemble a fuzzy version of Saturn. We also observed the Helix Nebula. As for galaxies we observed Stephen's Quintet. Some of the people in our group including Steve were able to observe all five members of the group. However most of us including me were only able to see four galaxies. However to me the galaxy of the trip had to be M33, a spiral galaxy located in Triangulum. We were actually able to see the spiral arms extending out from M33. Finally, Jupiter was magnificent with all its belts and zones on it. We all ended up having quite a time.
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Canes Venatici)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 9-inch refractor Location: Hidden Lake Observatory, Mass., United States
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Mar 22 01:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1819
Last evening my friends Steve Borer, Mike Dzubaty, his son Mike and I went to our friend Ruben Kier's Hidden Lake Observatory north of Colebrook Ct. There was a total of eight guys at this informal star party. We had the use of a 7" and 9" refractor in operation. Limiting magnitude was about 6.2 which meant we had a very dark sky. The first thing we observed was M42 the Orion Nebula. The nebulosity filled the whole field in our eyepiece. We were even able to see M43 quite easily and it was very impressive in its own right. We then observed two planetary nebulas, The Eskimo Nebula and The Jupiter Ghost Nebula. Both planetaries were very blue and I was actually more impressed with The Jupiter Nebula. The Ekimo Nebula did resemble a little eskimo in the sky. We observed one globular cluster, M3. We were able to see many individual stars on the outer edge of M3. But the best part of the night was our observations of the parade of galaxies swarming in the night sky. Our first two galaxies were M65 & 66 in Leo. These galaxies were not impressive because because there was a patch of cirrus clouds in their area. The next two galaxies were M81 & 82 located in Ursa Major. We were able to glimpse the spiral effect of M81 during moments of good seeing. M82 however blew our minds. The dark dust lanes entwined in M82 were outstanding and we were able to see incredible detail in the Galaxy. It was as if we were looking at the galaxy with the hubble telescope. The next galaxy we observed was the great edge on galaxy NGC 4565, The Needle Galaxy. The dust lane going through it was very obvious and the huge edge on could be seen throughout the eye piece. Next we came upon M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy. We were able to see the individual spiral arms very easily and let me tell you words cannot descibe the view. M51 was something to behold and it was easily our best object of the evening. We then went to M64 The Black Eyed Galaxy. The dust lane showing its black eye was great but once again we were utterly shocked when saw the individual spiral arms on the galaxy also, though not as easily as M51. Finally were arrived at NGC 3148 The Little Pin Wheel Galaxy. This galaxy is a face on galaxy that looks like M33 The Pin Wheel Galaxy although smaller in size. This was my first view of this galaxy ever. With binoculars we saw M36, M37, M38, M44, M45 and Bernice's Hair. Our host Ruben Kier has a website www.stardoctor.org. If you visit his website you will see some amazing pictures that he has taken. In fact Ruben will be publishing a new astronomy book that will feature 115 of his best pictures. It should be out in the fall and I for one will be buying a copy. In summery I would have to declare this one of my five best observing experiances ever.
M82 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://www.joecaggiano.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Feb 17 01:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1813
Spotted M82 as a faint streak through my 10" at 40x. M81 shared the FOV with it. Easily saw structure of M82 and a dark diagonal rift between the 2 lobes. M82 showed more detail than M81. Detail showed up rather well on time exposure using a camera. I have posted pics on my website.
NGC1888 (Galaxy, in Lepus)
Observer: Les (e-mail: lesjdguard-astrolog@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector Location: Blackwell, Oklahoma, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Jan 9 02:15:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1808
Barred spiral galaxy in Orion. Quite faint-no structure observed. 20mm eyepiece with Celestron LP filter.
M33 (Pinwheel Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Triangulum)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 25-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Ashford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Sep 16 02:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1710
I just attended the Connecticut Star Party in a dark location in the northeastern hills of Connecticut. On Saturday night the skies were crystal clear so I planted myself with the observers using the huge 25" dobonian from the astro club in Westport Ct. One object that showed beautifully was M33 The Triangulum Galaxy. In the 25" this galaxy showed clearly its spiral arms. Usually, this object is somewhat unrewarding in ordinary scopes. Another great object was The Swan Nebula. This nebula looked exactly like a swan and the details were rich. M8 The Lagoon Nebula showed its nebula side beautifully while the open cluster on the other side was also outstanding. When we looked at the Trifid Nebula we were able to see the dust lanes cutting through the nebula rather easily. Another great nebula we observed was The Helix Nebula which also seemed to have dust lanes in it. The two globular clusters in Hercules M13 and M92 showed so many individual stars it almost looked 3D to me. Returning to galaxy observations I had the great pleasure of observing Stephens Quintet for the first time through a telescope. We were able to see all five galaxies with difficulty in the 25". That alone was worth the trip. The top open clusters we observed were M11, M36, M37 and M38. M11 the wild duck cluster was absolutely stupendous while in M36,37&38 I was able to see asterisms within the star cluster. For planets the seeing was only fair. On Mars I was able to see only faint albedo shadings and the north polar hood. Uranus' disk was a light blue and grey mixture and Neptune's disk was aqua blue. With binoculars my view of M31 the Andromeda Galaxy was the best it's been in a long time. The wings went way out and I could see a dust lane going across the top of the galaxy. The Pleiades Open Cluster also was something to see with binoculars. I also observed the crescent of Venus and The Hyades cluster. Before I went to sleep I took a quick look at M42 The Orion Nebula with my Binos. I was quite impressed with the how much I could see. Finally we saw a number of bright meteors falling from the sky. There seemed to be a shower occuring. When you put a dark sky with a light bucket of a telescope together only good things can happen.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:20:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1696
Massive at both 30x and 48x. The core was bright with hints of the spiral structure. M32 was also bright as a large hazy star just a few arcminutes away.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Aug 5 05:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1688
Viewed the Andromeda Galaxy last night for the first time with the new scope. Even though it's location was still fairly low in the east with a good deal of light pollution, I spied more detail than I could in more ideal conditions with my old 6". Also, M32 was much more apparent too. Viewed through a 40mm ep for 30x.
M84 (Galaxy, in Virgo)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Promised Land State Park, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Apr 22 06:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1643
These are the galaxies at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. They span about 1 1/2 anchored on the western end by M84 and M86, both around 9th magnitude. Also visible were about a half dozen others but because of their faintness, I am not positive of their identity.
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Promised Land State Park, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Apr 22 06:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1642
An excellent night of galaxy hunting continued with M81 and M82 in Ursa major. Spiral detail was easily seen in M81. Both were easily visible and M81 was quite large with both direct and averted vision. These 2 closely locked galaxies are 11 million LY distant from us.
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Canes Venatici)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Promised Land State Park, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Apr 22 06:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1641
An absolutely beautiful sky adorned the Pocono Mountains this weekend for our annual fishing trip. Moving 3 1/2 off the end star of the handle of Ursa Major I easily spotted M51 a & b. It was surprisingly bright in the binos and I could easily see detail of the whirlpool form. No averted vision was needed to pick out subtle detail with continuously steady skies.
M65 (Galaxy, in Leo)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Promised Land State Park, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Apr 22 06:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1640
From our campsite in Promised Land State Park in Northeastern Pennsylvania, we had incredibly clear skies for our annual trout fishing trip. The night sky was the best I had seen ever up there! It was about as dark as my trip a few years ago to West Virginia. With my binos I finally saw the "Trio in Leo". M65, M66 and NGC3628 all appeared readily. I could even make out the spiral structure in M66. I estimate that M65 and M66 have about the same angular distance as M81 and M82 (which I aslo viewed.)The Leo Triplets are about 35 million LY distant.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 25-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Sep 23 03:00:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1565
This weekend, I attended the Connecticut Star Party. While most of the weekend was clouded out, we did have a two hour window of clear skies on Friday night to observe some deep space objects. The largest telescope at the star party was a 25" Dob and that is what I looked through. We observed Galaxies M31 and M32. M31 has a bright central core which can be seen, even with the naked eye. We were able to see one dust lane and the outer halo of the galaxy with no trouble. M32 is a satellite of M31 and it is a small eliptical galaxy. We also observed three small ngc galaxies which were very hard to see. We also observed four nebulas, including The Crab, Dumbell, Little Dumbell and the Blinking Nebula. The Crab Nebula was difficult to see but the glow from it was obvious. We couldn't see any detail. Both the Dumbell Nebulas showed quite well and their dumbell shapes were obvious. The Blinking Nebula is a star with a small area of blue nebula around it. The star appeared to be blinking to all who observed it. Finally, we observed open clusters M36, M37 and M38. Both M36 and M38 filled the scope with beautiful stars while M37 showed many stars in a small compact area. Alas, the clouds then returned.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: mihai mataringa (e-mail: mihaimataringa@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 7x50-mm binoculars Location: constanta(obs.location:Prilipeti,Romania), romania
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Fri Aug 18 21:25:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1587
The central core of M31 clearly visible as a bright patch,a little prolonged.The oval halo around it stretches about one third of the field of view(witch is approx.6degrees).A very nice view this night being done the good sky conditions.My first observation of M33(galaxy in Triangulum) was a little difficult,but i find it considering the distance between beta And-M31,witch is approx.equal with that of betaAnd-M33 in the opposite direction.This distance is about the diameter of my 7x50 binos field of view.M33 appears like a fuzzy patch ,not very bright without visible central core,more easily detected by peripheral vision and with small movements of the instrument. (
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jan 21 07:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1472
Viewed M81 & M82 early Saturday morning. Not too much detail was visible through the binos but at least they are visible from my back yard. There was also high level wisps of clouds.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Luis Drags (e-mail: nst@yahoo.co.uk, web: http://www.geocities.com/night_sky_tome)
Instrument: equatorial reflector Location: No location given
Time: Thu Jan 12 23:23:23 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1539
Large!! actually make that enormous! The bright core is a large ball of stars at the center with the oval halo reaching far past either edge of the field even at the lowest power (60x, 1deg), extended northeast-southwest, a dark rift separates a spiral arm along the southeastern edge, M32 and M110 flank the core above and below
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