These are our observations in Ursa Major

• Two Galaxies: Messier 82 and Sextans A

  I have two Galaxy images to share from recent clear evenings. They probably represent two extremes of ease of imaging.

  Messier 82 in Ursa Major

  The first is Messier 82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, which is a very popular target. M82 is 12 million light-years away in Ursa Major, currently high overhead and quite bright. It is relatively straightforward to capture a visible light image, but perhaps more challenging is to capture some of the outburst of ionised hydrogen gas from the galaxy's core; I used an Antlia dual-band filter to do this.

  

  Image Details

  Data: 94 x 120s RGB, 70 x 300s Ha/OIII between 24–28 March 2025.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien telescope, 0.75x reducer
  • Camera: ASI 071 MC Pro camera, Antlia HaOIII filter
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  Sextans A in Sextans

  The second image is of Sextans A. Sextans A is a dwarf, irregular galaxy that is relatively small and faint in the constellation of Sextans. Despite its relative proximity to the Milky Way at 4.3 million light-years, its small size makes it a tricky target. Its other claim to fame is that, from our perspective, it appears to be square.

  

  The low elevation of Sextans A limits imaging time and attenuates the light we see from UK latitudes. Imaging this target was a test of the capabilities of the ASI 071 camera and my telescope.

  Image Details

  Data: 10 x 300s RGB from 1^st April 2025.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien telescope, 0.75x reducer
  • Camera: ASI 071 MC Pro camera
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  David Davies - (11 April 2025).

• Coddington's Nebula (IC 2574)

  I managed to get out during the recent cold spell and imaged Coddington's Nebula, IC 2574.

  IC 2574 is a faint dwarf spiral galaxy discovered by American astronomer Edwin Foster Coddington in 1898. It is located in Ursa Major and is an outlying member of the M81 Group. It is believed that 90% of its mass is in the form of dark matter. IC 2574 is about 50 thousand light-years across and located some 12 million light-years away. This galaxy is thought to resemble some of the earliest that formed in the Universe and are useful “living fossils” for studying the evolution of more complex galaxy types.

  

  This galaxy proved to be a testing subject as it is quite faint with an integrated magnitude of 13 and a surface brightness of magnitude 23; individual sub-frames showed little more than a smudge against the sky background.

  Image Details

  Data: 45 x 180s RGB sub-images.

  • Telescope: APM 107 refractor
  • Camera: ZWO ASI 071 MC
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8

  David Davies - (24 January 2024).

• Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101

  Finally, the clouds over East Anglia are breaking and revealing not one but two supernovae in familiar galaxies. A faint supernova in NGC4568 is now low on my southwestern horizon, and we also have the bright SN2023ixf in M101. The latest measurements on rochesterastronomy.org put the magnitude at 11.0. It is now so bright that only a 30s exposure produces an image which is not saturated, a 60s exposure, for example, is saturated.

  I suspect many will have a go at M101 despite the lack of astronomical darkness. I captured the attached image on the 22nd and 23rd of May. The supernova is the bright star in the lower-right spiral arm at the eight o'clock location, close to the HII region NGC 5461. Unlike other stars in the image which are in our own galaxy and a few thousand light-years away, the supernova is 21 million light-years away.

  

  Image Details

  Data: 35 x 120s RGB subframes.

  • Telescope: 250mm Ritchey-Chretien with 0.7x reducer (1450mm focal length)
  • Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ8.
  • Acquisition: NINA, GSS, PHD2
  • Image Processing: Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, Gaia Spectro-photometric Color Calibration using custom filters for the 294 camera, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, Photoshop

  David Davies - (23 May 2023).

• Observations of the NGC 2805 group in Ursa Major

  My observation of the January's Galaxy of the Month back in January 2017.

  

  I’ll type my scribbles: 00:30 hrs, 27th Jan 2017, 600mm F4.5, e/p 13mm Ethos giving x208. Seeing Ant II-III, misty low down, 21.1 SQM at time of observation. NGC 2805 low SB. The larger and smaller edge on GX’s (2920 & 2814) stood out more. Small companion to larger edge (2820A or IC 2458) was AV1. Designations identified the following day.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 2 January 2021

• Galaxies in Ursa Major from Kelling Heath Star Party 2016

  Andrew Robertson (Norfolk) and his 600mm Newtonian on a driven Dobsonian mount were at Kelling again this year.

  Observed with an 8mm Ethos for a power of 340x under Antoniadi II-III Seeing and NELM of 5.7 and 21.35 SQM.

  With Ursa Major overhead Andrew made observations on Monday night of a couple of galaxy trios. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  NGC2820 (1), NGC2814 (2) and IC2458 (3)

  

  NGC2857 (1), NGC2856 (2) and NGC2854 (3)

  

  Andrew Robertson - 18 April 2016

• NGC3865 and NGC3866 in Crater

  April's Galaxy of the Month was observed with an 8mm Ethos in a 600mm Newtonian on a driven Dobsonian mount for a power of 340x.

  Andrew notes that the Seeing was Antoniadi III-IV and the sky was 21.30 SQM overhead. Unfortunately Crater is low and in the direction of Holt at the Kelling Heath Star Party 2016. I had to ‘look’ for NGC 3866 but it was at 27° altitude, 40 minutes past meridian and being affected by the Holt clagg!

  He was keen to mention that on the Saturday night those present had the best three hours in many years at Kelling (overhead and to the North of course away from Holt). They had a SQM reading of 21.7 with M13 being easy direct vision N/E!

  Regardless of the conditions, here's the observation. Please click on the image of his observing record for a larger version that may be easier to read.

  

  Andrew Robertson - 18 April 2016

• Supernova 2014J in M82

  

  Images courtesy of Dave Adshead, Doncaster, England. Please click on images for a higher resolution versions. For more images from Dave please visit his gallery.

  Dave's Observation Comments

  This is my effort of the supernova in M82. Taken yesterday evening at an earlier time than I normally image. So, there are some vibrations, well quite a few actually. Taken with a Takahashi FSQ106ED, QSI 583 CCD camera and an Avalon M-Uno mount. The camera was looking through a Ha 3nm filter.

• Supernova 2014J in M82

  Sketches Courtesy of Dale Holt, Hertfordshire, UK and Andrew Robertson, Norfolk, UK. Please click on sketches for a higher resolution versions.

  

  Dale's Observation Comments

  Hi All, here is my sketch of M82 with the glorious Supernova, such a privilege to be able to see such amazing happenings in the universe from ones own garden :) My estimate of current magnitude is Mag 11 to 11.5 using local stars as known reference. I hope that you get to see it soon too, if you haven't seen it already.

  Andrew's Observation

  My sketch from last night (25th Jan 2014) using the 12" D-K Mewlon, pleased with this one. Diagonal used, laterally inverted. Pentax 20mm E/P, 70° AFOV , x180. Not very transparent; Mag 5 Nelm , Ant III Seeing Haven't got a clue where North was (diagonal used, equatorial mount, near the pole etc) :-)