Deep sky challenge
Explore obscure deep-sky wonders lurking far beyond the stars of the Great Bear
Although far away compared to our own Sun, in cosmic terms the familiar stars of the Big Dipper are quite close to Earth – all between 80 and 123 light years away. But when you look at and through the Big Dipper, you’re looking away from the Milky Way’s cluttered star clouds, past its frothy, curving spiral arms and out into the endless depths of space. This month your deep-sky targets all lie many thousands or even many millions of light years away, and are all so faint you will definitely need a large telescope to see them all. Most are remote, exotic galaxies, far beyond the outer rim of our Milky Way, but one is a famously odd-looking planetary nebula, the ghostly remains of a once-proud star that exploded more than 6,000 years ago. Time to swing your telescope around to face north, slot in your best eyepiece and start hunting.
1 Messier 109 (NGC 3992)
This barred-spiral galaxy lies 84 million light years away. At magnitude +9.6, it only looks like a small pear-shaped smudge in small telescopes.
4 NGC 3928
This elliptical is so faint that it can only be seen through largeaperture instruments. Even then it is just a small, circular smudge in a high-power eyepiece.
2 The Owl Nebula (M97)
This popular magnitude +9.8 planetary nebula has a bluegreen tinge and a pair of dark lobes within its puffy disc which give it the look of an owl’s face.
5 NGC 5005
This spiral is inclined to us, so large telescopes show it as a small, oval-shaped patch of light. High powers bring out hints of its dark dust lanes.
3 Messier 108
This edge-on spiral galaxy is 32 million light years away. Large telescopes show it as a small, faint streak with a bright centre and mottling along its length.
6 NGC 5173
This +12 elliptical is over 130 million light years away, so you’ll need a large telescope to see it. Even then it will only look like a tiny, round smudge.
“SPY REMOTE, EXOTIC GALAXIES, FAR BEYOND THE OUTER RIM OF OUR MILKY WAY”