Andrew Cooper
May 21, 2022    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6.5 Moon: 0%

Big, bright, a very bright core surrounded by an oval halo about 5' x 3' extended east to west, seen in the 40mm finder 20' west of Sombrero's Arrow, about 11° due west of Spica

Andrew Cooper
Apr 18, 2022    Waikoloa, HI (map)
15cm f/4 Newtonian, Makaʻiki mk2 @ 27x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6.5 Moon: 0%

Small in the RFT, bright and obvious, a bright center region within a clearly elongated shape 10' x 5' running east to west, Sombrero's Arrow and The Stargate visible in the low power field

Andrew Cooper
Apr 18, 2022    Waikoloa, HI (map)
15cm f/4 Newtonian, Makaʻiki Mk2 @ 27x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6.5 Moon: 0%

Quite small in an RFT, bright and obvious, a bright center region and a clearly elongated shape 10' x 5' running east to west, Sombrero's Arrow and The Stargate visible in the field

Andrew Cooper
Jun 17, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 127x
Seeing: 5 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Big, bright, an edge-on galaxy elongated east-west, a stellar core sits on the north side of an obvious dust lane bisecting the disk from east to west

Andrew Cooper
May 12, 2018    Kaʻohe, Mauna Kea, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 102x
Seeing: 8 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Large, bright, a beautiful edge-on galaxy with a conspicuous dust lane, a stellar core just to the north side of the dust lane, elongated 5:1 east to west

Andrew Cooper
May 29, 2017    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 175x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6 Moon: 24%

A beautiful edge-on spiral, a distinct dust lane bisects the disk with a nearly stellar nucleus to the north side of the dust lane, 6'x3' in size running east-west, bright, easy to find north of Corvus

Andrew Cooper
Apr 17, 2010    Hale Pohaku, HI (map)
46cm f/4.5 Newtonian, Deep Violet @ 175x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Beautiful, a wonderful edge-on spiral, large, bright, a bold dust lane cuts across the disk, bright core to the north of the dust lane

Andrew Cooper
May 6, 2005    Caballo Loco Ranch, Pima Co., AZ (map)
28cm f/10 SCT Nexstar 11

Very nice!! Sombrero! bright! good dust lane and a condensed core, elongated 6:1 east-west

Andrew Cooper
Apr 18, 1999    Organ Pipe National Monument, AZ (map)
20cm f/10 SCT

Finally a more interesting fuzzy! dust lane clearly visible in the elongated direction, elongation on the PA 90 degrees

Rev. T.W. Webb
May 19, 1885    Hardwick, Herefordshire, England (map)

Long, h., 5'x30", nucl. and dark cleft. Beautiful low powered field: fine and singular 7 mg. group np.

― Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, T. W. Webb, 1917

Pierre Méchain
May 6, 1783    

On May 11, 1781, I discovered a nebula above Corvus which did not appear to contain a single star. It emits a weak light and is difficult to find if the micrometer wires are illuminated. This does not appear in the Connaissance des Temps."

― Messier's correspondence to Bernoulli

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

A complete list of credits and sources can be found on the about page