Jimi Lowrey
March 31st, 2015, 06:40 PM
I have always been interested in Lens galaxies and the strange arcs cast by them. Most are very small and faint and are extremely difficult to view visually. Last week I tried a couple of lensing galaxies from the Cassowary Catalog http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ioa/research/cassowary/ and had mixed results.
1st
SDSS J145030.64+390819.1
Z=.289 = 3.345 BLY
Booties
The field was easy to find as it had a direct vision dim star Close to the galaxy. The seeing was not very good and I could only use 488X with the 10 MM ZAO and to my surprise the lensing galaxy was easy to see about 25% of the time. I needed higher power but that was all the conditions would allow on this night. I did not see the lens arc but was pleased to catch the faint light (18.35 V Mag) of the galaxy.
1585
2nd
The Clone AKA SDSS J120602.09+514229.5
Z= .422= 4.5 BLY
U Ma
I have tried the Clone several times before and have not had much luck with its faint light but with my success with the other galaxy I was eager to try it. I used the same eyepiece the 10MM ZAO @ 488X and spent a long time trying to see the Clone but I had no luck. I did see two times a pop of light I thought at the right spot but it was only just a flash and nothing I would log as a observation of this elusive object. I will keep trying the Clone I have not given up on it yet.
1586
1st
SDSS J145030.64+390819.1
Z=.289 = 3.345 BLY
Booties
The field was easy to find as it had a direct vision dim star Close to the galaxy. The seeing was not very good and I could only use 488X with the 10 MM ZAO and to my surprise the lensing galaxy was easy to see about 25% of the time. I needed higher power but that was all the conditions would allow on this night. I did not see the lens arc but was pleased to catch the faint light (18.35 V Mag) of the galaxy.
1585
2nd
The Clone AKA SDSS J120602.09+514229.5
Z= .422= 4.5 BLY
U Ma
I have tried the Clone several times before and have not had much luck with its faint light but with my success with the other galaxy I was eager to try it. I used the same eyepiece the 10MM ZAO @ 488X and spent a long time trying to see the Clone but I had no luck. I did see two times a pop of light I thought at the right spot but it was only just a flash and nothing I would log as a observation of this elusive object. I will keep trying the Clone I have not given up on it yet.
1586