NGC 247 and More

Objects: NGCs 247, 216, and 210
Date: 12 December 2006 U.T.
Time: 2:46, 3:08, and 4:05 U.T. respectively
NELM: greater than or equal to 6.5
Seeing: Good (for magnifications used)
Telescope: 30cm Newtonian
Magnifications: 56x, 81x, and 98x
Site Latitude: 45.5 North
Temperature: +22 F. (-6 C)



NGC 247: (RA 00hr 47.1', Dec. -20 46') Above is a sketch of NGC 247 with south up and preceding (west) to the left. The sketched area is approximately 31' wide. This fairly bright galaxy appeared better on this night at 56x. NGC 247 appeared large and elongated with a very gradually, little brighter, elongated, central region. An easily visible star punctuated the galaxy's southern end. The north end of NGC 247 appeared to be a little wider and more indistinct (fainter) than the galaxy's south end. Twenty-one point five degrees south declination is near the southern limit for the 30cm telescope. This is the same limit as one series of charts in the Millennium Star Atlas. The south wall of my open-air observatory prevents an unobstructed view much closer to my southern horizon. Consequently, current plans call for observing objects (with the 30cm telescope) at or north of 21.5 degrees S. Dec.

NGC 216: (RA 00hr 41.4', Dec. -21 03') This galaxy was missed at 56x; but at 98x it looked like a small, faint stain on the background sky.

NGC 210: (RA 00hr 40.6', Dec. -13 52') At 98x NGC 210 was small and bright with a much brighter center. A bright star was just west of this galaxy.

Other Notes: An aurora fooled me into thinking the moon was about to rise (most of my low northern sky was blocked from view as seen from my observing site). Frost found its way to most exposed surfaces fairly quickly on this night. I took a quick look at the Great Orion Nebula. It was an awesome sight! Following up on a posting I read on sci.astro.amateur, I used 8x42 and 20x80 binoculars to checkout NGC 2174 in the northeast corner of Orion. This patch of nebulosity is indeed visible with small binoculars. I failed to take time out for a high magnification view of Polaris for an accurate determination of seeing conditions; but stars remained reasonably sharp at all magnifications used on this night.