NGC 4038 / NGC 4039


 
Steve Bodin 
Galaxies:  NGC 4038 / NGC 4039 (The Antennae)
Date & Time: 2 and 3 June 2003 11 PM to 3 am
Sky darkness: 6 <Limiting magnitude>
Transparency:  fair to good
Seeing:  <1 worst - 10 best>
Location of site: Silverdale WA, USA 47N 123W
Conditions: temp 45-50 F, dry
Site classification: suburb-rural
Telescope: 17.5 DOB, Bigdog
Eyepieces: not used
Magnification: app. 200x integrated 2 sec exposures
I noticed at sunset on the third that this strange pair might just be visible low in the SW sky just after it got dark. The slender moon probably added to the magnitude loss from something only 18 deg above the horizon. Couldn't get the ' antennae' , only the ' kidney bean' centers of these two interacting glows. Looked back in my logs from the years in Hawaii 25 years ago and noted that the antennae structures were visible in my old 10 inch, but these things were high in the mag 7 skies there.
   
 

   
 



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