9-26-05/9-29-05

Date- 9-25-05

Location- Lafayette, CA

Equipment- XT8 Orion Classic Dob, 9mm MA Meade, 17mm Orion/Vixen Lanthanum, 8x42 Nikon Monarch binocs.

Class- 5 (4.5 LM)

Object Observed- NGC 7331 (and friends)

Only had time for a quick observation tonight, so I went with a nice bright galaxy.

NGC 7331

At first I was surprised when I saw this. All I could see was a rather bright nucleus, but I was mistaken. After a few minutes I could see very long jets extending from each end. This thing is HUGE! Here are my notes:

Small, after 3 min. of observing grows much larger. HUGE. I can see one companion that is circular.

Date- 9-29-05

Location- Lafayette, CA

Objects Observed- NGC 7814, NGC 6992

Class- 5 (4.5 LM)

Equipment- Same

Wanted to observe a lot of stuff tonight but one pesky galaxy took up all my time...

NGC 7814

Despite this galaxies high magnitude it was tough! I was pretty frustrated for about ten minutes, but was absolutely positive I was in the right field, so I just waited there just hoping it would jump out at me after a couple minutes. Here are the notes:

Tough surprisingly. After 15 minutes it eventually was coaxed out. High power didn't help too much. It kept popping in and out and was needle, then circular.

NGC 6229

I only could observe this for a little bit. Fun though. Really bright. No stars resolved.

Zack,

After a few minutes I could see very long jets extending from each end.

Are you describing the tilted disc itself or the spiral arms? Have you tried to relate to any image of 7331?

Dmitri

Guess I am a little confused. Lafayette is in some pretty polluted skies according to the light pollution map, and NGC 7331 is listed at 13.6 mag. Is there something you are leaving out?