[AZ-Observing] Re: March 28 report from Hovatter Norte
- From: "tpolakis@xxxxxxx" <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:47:48 -0400
Before nightfall on on Saturday, Dean Ketelsen showed a nice image he took
on Friday night of NGC 4631 and NGC 4656. This was on the display on the
back of his camera, so I'm looking forward to the processed version. I
think he took this through a Hyperstar setup what appeared to be a C14.
Tom
Original Message:
-----------------
From: stevecoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:43:11 -0400 (EDT)
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: March 28 report from Hovatter Norte
Paul;
AJ said, about NGC 4656, "the center is not in the middle!". True, the
core seems to be off to one side. A strange shape indeed. And 4631 is
truly massive and very mottled. Lots of fun.
Steve Coe
> Although the Moon set late and the clouds came in at 2 am, I and the
> coyotes had a few great hours to experience the universe from one of the
> world?s dwindling dark sky sites at Hovatter Norte last Saturday night.
> There are always a few views through the 25" that specially jolt me and
> stick in my mind for days afterward. The latest are: 1) NGC 3395/96:
> the curved wings on 3395 stunned me when I saw and felt the gravitational
> wrenching going on during this interaction. I've seen lots of other
> interacting galaxies visually but none that impart such a visceral
> realization of gravity at work on a cosmic scale! Don't know what's so
> special about this pair, but I'm still thinking about and feeling that
> view two nights later. 2)NGC 4656: A half of a galaxy! There is the bright
> core at one end (!) and an arm streaming out and curving sharply at the
> tip. A litle averted vision and the vastly fainter arm on the other side
> comes into view, but without any curved tip. Not really a "half galaxy",
> after all. The strange appearance of this one is gravity again, they
> say--the effect of nearby NGC 4631. OK, let's look at that one: 3) Gasp!
> An enormous edge-on rich in glowing detail. Goes wall to
> wall in a 13mm Ethos. Could stare transfixed at this all night. Forget
> photos, you can see and feel this one blazing away. Amazing. The
> wrenching of 3395 makes visible sense you can feel. But how this big
> galaxy induced 4656 to look the way it does probably requires the usual
> not-so-apparent and probably speculative astrophysics. I surmise a big
> wave of star formation was somehow triggered in that "half a galaxy" by
> the tug of this wall to wall wonder? How, I puzzle, does that work in
> this case? All these things rummaging around in my mind tonight when I
> should be working on other things. Ah, well, screw the other things;
> those views were a treasure!
>
> Videmus stellae,
>
> Paul Knauth
>
>
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