NGC 55 coordinates: RA: 00h 14m 54 Dec. -39º 12m

Roger Ivester from North Carolina: Observing notes from +35º 18′ latitude as following:

Galaxy NGC 55 is the only deep-sky object that I was not able to locate and see of the entire 185 Observer’s Challenge reports. This was due to the low southerly sky position, and not being able to find an observing location without light glow.

I’m hopeful that I can again attempt to see this galaxy, but from another dark-site, which I’ve already selected. For convenience, light weight and ease of handling, I’m planning to use a 4.5-inch f/8 Newtonian. Update: Wednesday, November 12th: Too much sky glow overlooking a small town about five miles away. I spent about an hour…but no luck. Another disappointment.

November 14th 2025: I attempted from my backyard, and with a lightblock curtain, using my 10-inch, but unfortunately the galaxy was in the trees. It seems that I’m just not suppose to see this galaxy. I’ve just got to find that “perfect site” and I’m not giving up yet, as there is still time this month!

My notes from November and December 2012 as following:

Sue French observing from the Little Caymen Island:

November 30, 2005, Little Cayman Island. 10:10 PM EST. 113/450mm (4 ½-inch f/4)
reflector. Seeing: good, transparency good, sky, very dark. Scope not collimated.
At 14X, easily visible, highly elongated, bright galaxy with brighter elongated core.
Runs ESE-WNW. At 34X, very pretty. Large mottled core. Faint star south edge, west side.
Galaxy extends farther east than west of core. About 28’ X 2 1/2’. Star mentioned above plus
three others cradled south side. At 64X, mottling much more evident. Many faint field stars
visible. Skinny brighter triangle southwest.

October 2, 2010, 9:15 pm EDT, with a 130/819mm (5.1-inch f/6.3) apochromat. The
seeing and transparency were fair. At 23X there was a bright glow around a fairly bright star.
At 37X, the star was in the southern part of a 1¾ arcminute glow. A fainter, 1-arcminute glow
continued south from the brighter one. UHC or O-III filter not helpful. At 63X, the southern
part showed nicely, and there was a faint star in it. At 102X, the southern part was curved
concave west so the whole thing looked like a fat comma in my mirror-reversed view.

October 6, 2010, PSSG. 10:30 PM EDT. 130/819mm (5.1-inch f/6.3) APO. Seeing fairpoor, transparency good. At 37X, although the sky was milky down there, this large galaxy was
visible as ~26”ESE – WNW elongated galaxy. The western half was generally brighter. Mag.
10 star ~5’ SE of eastern tip and mag. 12 star S X E of western tip. ~ 4’ wide. At 63X, showed
up nicely and was quite uneven in brightness. The bright western area broadly brighter toward
the long axis. Eastern had a weaker brightening toward the east end. Three faint stars along
south flank: The brightest one mentioned above, the second brightest was south of the middle of
the western bright patch, the faintest star was on the galaxy’s edge between the two bright
patches. Another star hugged the south side of the west tip.

November 10, 2007, 8:15 pm EST with a 254/1494mm (10-inch f/5.9) Newtonian. The
seeing and transparency were fair. At 43X, this bright nebula spanned about ¼º and was
brightest around a mag. 7½ star in the center. At 68X, the bright central region of the nebula was
elongated north-south, 3 arcminutes tall, with pinched sides and a faint star off the southeastern
edge. At 213X, the pinch was prominent south of the mag. 7½ star, and the nebula section south
of the pinch was fainter than the northern part.

November 2, 2010. 9:30 pm EDT

I’m afraid my description of that observation was just the sketch. The only details were:
254/1494mm (10-inch f/5.9) Newtonian, 67X. Seeing and transparency, fair.

Jaakko Saloranta from Finland: Observing notes for NGC 55, are from the Canary Islands:

As can be suspected of the low declination, this object never rises above the horizon here
in Finland. My latest observation of NGC 55 was made in November last year from the Canary
Islands and specifically from the biggest island, Tenerife. I was observing within the Las
Cañadas caldera at an altitude of 6,670 feet (2,034 meters) with fairly good observing conditions:
naked eye limiting magnitude (NELM) near zenith of 7.1 with SQM-L measurements in the high
21.20s. What makes this observing site pretty good is the high altitude (above the clouds), low
humidity and excellent seeing. They don’t have observatories in here for nothing! My notes
with the 4.7-inch refractor using several different magnifications read as follows:

A gorgeous sight. Huge, WNW-ESE elongated galaxy with a mottled appearance. NW
part of the galaxy contained a bright, elongated nucleus with somewhat mottled appearance.
Two brightenings visible within the halo. Larger and brighter knot appeared as slightly NW-SE
elongated. The smaller and fainter knot appeared as a nearly stellar, roundish spot in the E side
of the galaxy’s halo with a faint mag. 14 star just W of it. A darker void seemed to separate these
two possible H-II regions from each other. Several mag. 10-14 stars in vicinity, within the halo.

The following image provided by James Dire from Hawaii:

My image as following was taken with a 102mm (4-inch) apochromatic refractor at f/6.4 with a SBIG ST2000XCM CCD camera. Note the dark “eye” in the galactic core, with the dark lane angled 60º to the disk superimposed over this.

The following image by Mario Motta at (+42º 36′) from Massachusetts with the galaxy being only 6º’s above the horizon!

This one is really tough being so low in the southern sky, but last night (October 18th 2025) I was able to make the following image. The galaxy was 6º above the horizon when I started and ended. It peaked at 8º at the transit of the meridian. The imagine required two hours of 5 minute subs with my 32-inch f/6.5 reflector telescope, and ZWO6200 camera, processed in Pix. 

I did not attempt color, as it was so low in the sky and have limited time between rising and setting. NGC 55 is actually close at 6.5 MLY in the constellation of Sculptor.

Now I have never tried this before, but decided to experiment, and somehow it worked out.

My 32-inch scope image of NGC 55 was only 6º above the horizon, so I got the brighter central region with detail, but the fainter outer region, especially lower left, was lost in the background glow. I’d made an image from Florida two years ago, and got the entire galaxy, but lacked detail, and did not capture the fainter region (C14)

Adrien Barrajon’s image (which I processed) from New Zealand had color but missing detail, and was taken with an 8-inch telescope.

So, I attempted to combine all images…taking some time, but took the detail of the center, overlapped that on the full image from my C14 from Florida, and then overlaid the color from the New Zealand color data.

The result is the combined data of three different telescopes, of vastly different sizes, and got this combined image. There are many hidden tricks in pixinsight, and I used up quite a few of them to get the following image. 🙂

Mario Motta

Two really “big and full” truck loads! I was so happy watching the trucks leaving with the tree!

Note the “too close” to the house problem tree in the background. If this tree would fall it could hit the house. Photo taken January 2025:

The following photo: October 5th @ 1:30 AM: Note the tree is missing, and now with an unobstructed view of the entire northeastern sky.

March 26th 2025: After the problems I’ve had over a couple of years I just had to observe galaxy NGC 6118, again in 2025. So, during the late afternoon of March 26th, I set my mount up and pinned my auto-marine fabric to wires to create my light block system in my backyard.

I need or require this (wires and cloth) and in this part of my backyard for southern hemisphere objects only.

3:45 AM: I minimized everything I’d require for an early morning observing session. I included three selected eyepieces in my small Pelican box, not wanting to bring a large box. And I brought all of my necessary items or tools in a small zipper bag: This included pencils, sketch cards, set-up stars, red lights, the large S&T Pocket Alas and other.

When making an early morning observation, it’s important to have everything ready, without the need to run back inside for necessary tools and items forgotten.

4:15 AM: I was looking in the eyepiece and in the area of the galaxy using an 11mm 82º apparent field eyepiece, for a magnification of 104x and a 0.79º true field. I began using field motion and then letting the galaxy drift back into the eyepiece field, and could see a faint elongated blur, with averted vision, but not constantly.

4:45 AM: Increasing the magnification, so I used 2.8x University Optics Klee Barlow, for a magnification of 291x and with a 0.28º true field, but the view was no better. And still only an intermittent blur, but this time more elongated. The galaxy was at such an altitude it was mostly above the light dome. However, there was another problem going on: A wildfire of over over 3,000 acres was raging in Polk County, which is only about 35 miles away. I’m not sure if smoke was an issue or not, but the sky had a reddish look along the horizon. So, probably likely.

5:14 AM: I lifted my eye from the eyepiece and “Gave Up The Ghost” as related to this galaxy for the final time, not likely to return. This galaxy has acted like a ghost for me, now going on two years.

My quest began in the later summer of 2023, and ended on March 27th 2025, but never being able to see the galaxy to a level I would like. Sometimes it’s important to know when good is enough, and time to quit. I made no new sketches or written notes…

This recording and post update @ 4:28 PM (EDT) on March 27th 2025. It was my plans or hope to attempt this galaxy again in the spring of 2025, however, I have not been able to do so. I’d say, most likely….I’ve made my last observation of NGC 6118 known as “The Blinking Galaxy.”

Roger Ivester

Previous observations as following:

I attempted two very early morning observing sessions in March and April of 2024 from my suburban backyard, but again without success. A dark site is really needed to observe any low-surface-brightness galaxy, especially one as dim and faint as NGC 6118.

However, traveling to a dark-site has been over for me now, for many years. The disassembly of a heavy equatorial mount and handling a large solid-tube Newtonian, loading, driving, unloading, reassembly, and then having to do it all again, became just too much. I will just continue to do my best from the backyard.

Almost thirty years ago, I fabricated a humble fabric light-block system (as pictured below) which has helped me many times over the years to see difficult and faint galaxies.  It’s easy to set up and take down.

Light pollution will only get worse, so maybe the following inexpensive “light-block” system might work for you also.

I use a medium-duty, lighter weight equatorial mount when observing from my backyard which requires star-hopping….not my GoTo mount from my back deck.

Darker skies from my back deck…

Fortunate for me, I was able to get a problem streetlight in front of my house, changed from a 4,000K LED unshielded light to a 3,000K light with a shield, and with optimum orientation away from my house.

A 5,000K multiple-bulb “residential carport light” is now my greatest problem when observing more southerly deep-sky objects. I have to move from my back-deck to my backyard for all deep-sky objects that are less than “about” +15º north declination.

Good news! The above light has been adjusted as following: February 21st 2025

My plans are now to re-observe NGC 6118 at about 1:00 AM, early May 2025, in an attempt to duplicate my 2024 observation. Will the “Blinking Galaxy” be easier with the now “redirected” 5,000K carport light?

The house is now vacant, waiting for a new owner, and still shines from sunset to sunrise, but now, not toward my house.

Date: May 11th 2024 (early AM observation and seeing NGC 6118) despite looking over the town of Boiling Springs, and the terrible “carport” light

Saturday morning: May 11th 2024 @ 1:00 AM, with a 5.0 NELM overhead, but far less in the location of NGC 6118, due to overlooking the town of Boiling Springs, and the problem “carport light” pictured above.

The following cellphone photo is from that night (May 11th) and beside my telescope. Note the constellation Scorpius toward the right lower corner. Now see the brighter pair of stars, almost in the center of the photo, above or north of Scorpius.

The most northern star, is known as “Yed Prior” at mag. 2.7. The second star toward the south or closest to Scorpius is “Yed Posterior” at mag. 3.2. Now move your telescope slightly to the NE of “Yed Prior” and use your star atlas to dead center, where NGC 6118 should be.

With a bit of difficulty and after almost an hour, I was finally able to see the galaxy. One of my greatest problems had been a pesky LED streetlight in close proximity, shinning directly into my backyard. My portable “make-shift” observatory was the answer to this.

Telescope: 10-inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian observing notes:

Description: A tiny and subtle brighter middle, which resembles that of a planetary nebula. And like so many planetary nebulae, when using direct vision, vanishes or winks out. The galaxy has a very faint and diffuse irregular halo, which is oriented NE-SW. After observing NGC 6118, it’s easy to understand why its named “The Blinking Galaxy.”

For the past few months while watching T Corona Borealis, I didn’t realize there was a potential “observable galaxy” using a 10-inch telescope” and fairly close to the novae star:  But, what about a 10-inch from a magnitude ~4.7 NELM location. (?)  However, due to the “high-surface brightness” it just might be possible, but very doubtful.  

The following information from the “Observing Handbook and Catalog of Deep-Sky Objects” by Christian Luginbuhl and Brian Skiff:  

“…galaxy is very small and unconcentrated, but of high surface brightness.  In 25 cm it is circular, about 35 arc second diameter, with a faintly granular texture.” L&S

Interesting to note: This galaxy is not listed in either the Herschel-400 or the H-2 lists.  I’m wondering if it would be more difficult than galaxy NGC 6118: Which is considered by “most all” amateurs to be the most difficult object in the Herschel-400 list. This galaxy (NGC 6118) was “very, very difficult” for me from my suburban backyard, taking me several observing sessions over a couple years.

Note: For those with a 12-inch telescope, galaxy NGC 5961 can be observed using a 12-inch telescope. This is the second of only two deep-sky objects listed in the Luginbuhl and Skiff Observing Handbook.

Galaxy NGC 5961: “Though it is a small moderately faint object for 30 cm, this galaxy has a high surface brightness.” L&S

If I have a very clear night with excellent transparency, I might give NGC 5958 a try with my 10-inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian. A clear and transparent night during the summer months is very rare for me, observing from the foothills of North Carolina. Due to increasing light pollution and glow on my best nights I can hardly achieve ~4.7 in a winter sky!

What is a magnitude ~4.7 NELM (naked eye limiting magnitude) and how was it derived?

This is the longtime system used by many “mostly” visual observers, using the stars of the little dipper to determine the faintest star that can be seen naked eye.

I learned this from an Edmund Scientific (Sam Brown books) many years ago, and have been using the NELM system for more than 40 years. However, since the sky glow from the horizons is growing from light pollution, I sometimes (on nights) for reasons might add 1/2 magnitude to my NELM near the zenith.

Bortle scale chart:

https://rogerivester.com/2023/10/19/light-pollution-is-increasing-everywhere-what-is-the-bortle-scale-how-to-use-the-following-chart-to-determine-how-bright-your-site-is-without-all-of-the-science-and-calculations/

My backyard Bortle scale number is ~6.5-7.0 which has increased over the past 40 years, as most all backyards in America.

The Bortle scale puts my (NELM) naked eye limiting magnitude at about 4.7-4.8 on a good night, which corresponds pretty close to the Bortle scale.

However, during the summer months, with high-humidity, heat and haze, my NELM sometimes will hover around 4.0 or even less! Defintely not good nights to attempt faint galaxies or nebulae, but can be excellent nights for viewing double and multiple stars.

I’ll never forget the days of growing up in the country and seeing the Milky Way glowing overhead, and extending “seemingly” almost to the southern horizon.

Galaxy NGC 5958 in Corona Borealis:  Wikisky.org snapshot as following:

Recently, we had a good friend to lose their father. I wanted to say something meaningful and not just “I’m very sorry” and nothing more. So, quite a few years ago, I read this poem by James S. Tippett and thought it to be something very good to share with anyone who had just lost a loved one. And it has great meaning for all of us to think about from time to time.

The train photo from Public Domain: Strasburg Railroad of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And “The Train of Life” by James S. Tippett

At birth, we board the train and meet our parents, and we believe they will always travel by our side.

As time goes by, other people will board the train; and they will be significant i.e. our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of your life.

However, at some station our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone.

Others will step down over time and leave a permanent vacuum. Some, however, will go so unnoticed that we don’t realize they vacated their seats.

This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells.

Success consists of having a good relationship with all passengers requiring that we give the best of ourselves.

The mystery to everyone is: We do not know at which station we ourselves will step down.

So, we must live in the best way, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are.

It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty, we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

This poem was written “again” by James S. Tippett, but you might find a similar poem with variations via online.

April (2025) photo…

Sue French: Observer from New York

M40 is a double star near Megrez (Delta Ursae Majoris). Oddly, M40 was once considered a non-existent Messier object. In his 1784 catalogue, Charles Messier described his 40th object as: “Two stars very close to one another and very small, placed at the root of the great Bear’s tail.” Precessing Messier’s coordinates to equinox 2000 takes us right to such a star pair. Messier noted this double while searching for a “nebulous star” reported by Johannes Hevelius. Messier assumed that Hevelius mistook these two stars for a nebula, but the latter was actually referring to a different pair of stars – also without nebulosity.

To locate M40, start at Megrez and hop 1.1º northeast to mag. 5.5 70 Ursae Majoris. Continue that line for 1/4º to arrive at M40. My 4.1-inch scope at 28x reveals an east-west pair of mag. 10 stars, with the western one slightly brighter. Through my 10-inch scope, I see the primary as yellow-orange and its companion as yellow-white. 

Two galaxies share the field at 118x. NGC 4290 is a small northeast-southwest oval, and NGC 4284 is a tiny faint spot forming a 1½’ triangle with two mag. 13 stars. 

The galaxies are about 140 and 190 million light- years away. Although the distances to its stars are poorly known, M40 is probably an optical (unrelated) pair.  Independently discovered in 1863 by the German astronomer Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke, M40 carries the double-star designation Winnecke 4. Winnecke is also the original discoverer of eight NGC objects, and ten comets that bear his name.

Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina 

Due to our recent bad skies, I was unable to make a new observation of M40, and galaxies NGC 4284 and NGC 4290. I was forced to use a sketch and notes from an earlymorning observation on February 25, 2000. 

On that night, I was using a 10-inch reflector from my moderately light-polluted backyard with a 5.8 NELM. It was an especially good night with excellent transparency.

M40, a pair of mag. 10 stars, also known as Winnecke 4, was very easy with a wide separation of about 50 seconds of arc. The pair was oriented mostly east-west and both appeared as whitish-yellow in color.

Two faint galaxies were located very close to M40. All three objects were located within a 1/2º field-of-view.  Just to the west of M40, lay faint galaxy NGC 4290 at mag. 12.0, elongated NNE-WSW. I saw a very subtle brightness in the central region. Very close and to the west of it was a very faint mag. 14 galaxy, NGC 4284, which was extremely difficult, appearing as a faint, mostly round blur. And during a previous observation from the same location with a friend, and in a side-by-side comparison with the 10-inch reflector and an 8-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain.  We couldn’t see NGC 4284 with the 8-inch SC telescope, but could in the 10-inch Newtonian.  

The following pencil sketch was made using various graphite pencils and a blank 5 x 8 notecard with the colors inverted using a scanner. 

Jaakko Saloranta: Observer from Finland

Here’s all I’ve got: With a 4.5-inch reflector @ 152x (20′), the galaxy appeared as a fairly faint, NE-SW elongated galaxy, without detail, close to double star M40. NGC 4284 was invisible. Altitude of the object was 74°.

Mario Motta: Observer from Massachusetts 

This image took some effort. I captured the galaxy in Lum with my 32-inch this past December from Gloucester, but did not have enough night to get it in color.  

I tried in Florida, but it lacks the detail of the 32-inch as it is only 4.5 by 2,4 arc minutes, thus needs the larger telescope for detail.  However, I then used a process in pixinsight to combine images from 2 different optical systems, and it worked. So…lum from the 32-inch scope with about 75 minutes lum ZWO 6200 camera.  

Then RGB from C14 scope in Florida again ZWO 6200, (about 70 min total), processed then combined with dynamic alignment tool in Pixinsight. Note NGC 3896 close by to the immediate east.This worked, I may try for more such galaxies in color only to add to my 32 inch collection of galaxies in Lum only. Spring is so short a season for all the galaxies available.  

Jaakko Saloranta: Observer from Finland

Back in March, the galaxy duo was visible in a good, high (77°) spot in the sky. Using high magnification (304x) with a 4.5-inch reflector, I described the view as follows: Fairly bright, N-S elongated galaxy with a brighter nucleus. Faint mag. 13 star touched the halo in NW. 

NGC 3896 appeared as a tiny, fairly faint and slightly SE-NW elongated galaxy just south of a mag. 13 star. Observing conditions were average: NELM around 6.0 with SQM-L readings of 20.20 near the object. Temperatures still dropped well below zero Celsius on the night of 26 March.

Roger Ivester: Observer from North Carolina 

I wanted to share an article concerning an observation I made on April 20, 1993. It’s a testament that documenting and taking good notes is indeed a good thing! During some recent cloudy weather, while reviewing past logbook entries, I discovered that I had not followed up on an object viewed on 20 April, 1993. The main object was NGC 3893, a mag. 11 galaxy in Ursa Major. While making my sketch of this excellent galaxy, I noticed a smaller, very faint object, SE and very close. I noted this in my logbook as one to look up later. It was almost ten months later, while browsing through the logbook, that I remembered to follow up on this observation.

I checked Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Tom Lorenzen’s 1000+, and the Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0, only to find that none of these sources listed a companion galaxy. I then went to the NGC 2000.0 Catalog by Roger Sinnott, and found the companion listed as NGC 3896, a 14th magnitude galaxy. I was elated to find out this was a faint galaxy. It should also be noted that my observation was made from my back deck, with several unshielded streetlights nearby.

If I had not sketched NGC 3893, it’s possible that I would have missed NGC 3896. If I had not logged the mysterious companion, I probably would never have checked any reference material on a future date. 

So, the moral of this story is: Keep a logbook, sketch your observations, and periodically review your notes. You never know what you might find.  I was very excited about going back to NGC 3893 and NGC 3896 after twenty one years, and surprised that they appeared exactly as I remembered them. 

It’s truly amazing how the brain can remember a faint galaxy pair after all this time.Using a 10-inch Newtonian reflector, I could easily see NGC 3893 at 57x, appearing as a faint oval, oriented NNW-SSE. When I increased the magnification to 200x, the halo became enlarged and I saw a faint stellar nucleus. I also spotted a mag. 13 star on the NW tip.

The faint companion galaxy, NGC 3896, at mag. 14.0 was very difficult, especially when observed from my moderately light polluted backyard. Using 200x and averted vision, it appeared mostly round with low surface brightness. I noted little to no detail. With patience and careful viewing, I saw two very faint stars on the NW tip.

I received an email Saturday morning (March 7th 2025) from expert visual observer, Jaakko Saloranta from Finland. He asked me if I’d ever seen Uranus without optical aid. Seems that Jaakko had a “lively” discussion with some reporters concerning the visibility of seeing Uranus naked eyes.

March 18th 2025: My observation to see Uranus was unsuccessful, as transparency was poor and my NELM was less than 4.8 at the zenith, and the planet has a magnitude of ~ 5.75. And unfortunately, Uranus was already getting into the light dome of Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

After more than an hour of careful observing with a small 6 x 30 finder (by design) then looking over the finder, I could not see the planet naked-eye. I’d suggest this technique is an advantage as opposed to attempting to find Uranus in a mostly blank area of the sky. I used a 4.5-inch f/8 Newtonian on a GoTo mount to locate Uranus. A planet…unlike a deep-sky object does not have a permanent sky address.

My observational attempts are now over until November 2025. The trees and plants (March 22nd) are showing new life and pollen is beginning to fill the sky and reduce the sky transpacy considerably. I’d suggest pollen is similar to snow covering reflection.

I made the following wide-field sky photos last night (March 18th) at 9:30 PM using my iPhone. Can you see Uranus?

March 8th 2025 Observation:

Despite a bright moon, I wanted to use a 4.5-inch Newtonian from my suburban backyard, just to observe the planet telescopically. I’ll then try the small 6 x 30 finder, and then my 7 x 21 Pentax mini-binoculars. I was successful in seeing the planet with all three, but never attempted naked eyes for obvious reasons. Roger

Reports as following…

Alan French (New York)

Long ago, it was the late 1980s or early 1990s, Sue and I made a point of catching Uranus by eye from the Texas Star Party. If I recall correctly, the folks at TSP suggested it because the planet was in a sparser star field than usual.  It’s not something I could probably do today. 

Observer 2: March 8th 2025 @ 8:30 PM EST

Roger Ivester (North Carolina)

March 8th 2025: 71% illuminated Moon, excellent seeing @ 50º

First let me say, I was using a Goto mount when attempting to see the planet Uranus. A GoTo system would give anyone an advantage. And a faint planet can be difficult to locate…unlike a deep-sky object that has a permanent sky address.

Yes, I know that the objective is to see Uranus without optical aid, but I just had to first see it with a 4.5-inch f/8 Newtonian. It was easy, appearing as a mostly white star using a magnification of 35x. When increasing the magnification to 128x, it still appeared as a star, but now with a greenish tint.

I could easily see with a small 6 x 30 finder scope, but a bit fainter through a pair of 7 x 21 Pentax binoculars. Then when looking over the finder, then alternately looking through the finder, I could not see Uranus without optical aid.

I wanted to document all things on this night, even with a photo of the telescope and mount used. This was a telescope given to me recently by a friend, and I’ve been spending a little time this week tuning it up. I was interested in seeing Uranus with the tiny 6 x 30 finder.

Observer Three: March 9th 2025

Mario Motta (Massachusetts)

Hi Roger,

As it turns out I have such an image, taken five years ago with my 32-inch telescope. The small planet size at such a great distance, does indeed has a slight greenish color, just like you mentioned in your post.

Taken with my 32-inch f/6 telescope, with ZWO asi 071 OSC camera, video the stacked and processed

The second image presents five of the planets moons…and very nicely!

Mario

Supplemental: Successful observation without optical aid by Mario Motta:

I once saw it naked eye from my place in New Hampshire, about 20 years ago with a mag. 6.5 sky.

Observer 4: Jaako Saloranta from Finland:

Hey Roger,

Here’s my sketch of Uranus – this is the original one I made at the site and as I no longer have a working scanner… this is all I could muster with my phone.

I rode my bicycle roughly 10 kilometers west from my house and found a decent, dark spot for myself. Temperature was roughly 27°F so it didn’t take too long for me to get cold after some sweaty cycling! While waiting for full night vision I could see M34, M35 and maybe M36 with the naked eye. Winter Milky Way was faintly visible from Perseus to Monoceros. 

But Uranus itself… seeing it was quite difficult because of the low altitude (~30 degrees). I could see roughly down to magnitude 6.5 from the west/zenith but at the general region of the Pleiades I could barely make out 6 magnitude (I managed to saw 65 Arietis only a few times during the 30 minutes I was observing Uranus) stars. I could see Uranus only… maybe 30% of the time with optimal averted vision. See Uranus back in 2011 was a lot easier from Canary Islands (high altitude, higher object altitude, darker skies and younger observer).

After I was done observing, I noticed that green aurora borealis arc in the northern sky. When I eventually got back home, I could see faint aurora glow even at the zenith.

/Jaakko

Observer 5: Steve O’Meara (Tucson)

Hi Roger,

Sometime in the 1980’s, I was outside David Levy’s Tucson home, casually stargazing by eye with Steve O’Meara, when Steve noticed Uranus in the sky.

Clear skies, Kelly Beatty

Saturday February 22nd 2025:

My plans for this year (2025) are to use my 6-inch f/6 Newtonian almost exclusively as my primary deep-sky telescope. The 6-inch is relatively light and much easier to set up and bring back inside after a night of observing, as compared to my much heavier 10-inch solid-tube Newtonian.

Note the number of counterweights, as the 6-inch with an 80 mm f/5 refractor and required another weight to properly balance.

Vixen has an odd diameter declination shaft, which will allow only a Vixen weight. I just ordered and received the extra weight only yesterday (Friday February 21st 2025.)

Note the carbon fiber tape around the back or bottom of the optical tube: This is to prevent “bumping” into the back of another mount used with this telescope, which is a CGE-Pro, when setting in place, and removing. The optical tube has to be set in from the upper or top side, and removed by pulling up also, which puts the tube in an awkward position, as it’s above waist height.

The piggyback 80 mm refractor with an amici diagonal (correct image) serves as both a second telescope and my finder. Note: I also have a Rigel Quick Finder for quick pointing, and as another source to locate brighter deep-sky objects.

Using a Celestron CGE-Pro GoTo mount is always possible for finding “immediately” those very faint deep-sky objects without spending an excessive amount of time. This mount will be used to locate and see those objects on the threshold of the 6-inch. When I know a “very faint” object is in the center of the telescope field of view, “it’s much easier” to see.

During the summer of 2023 while my wife, Debbie and I were in Gaffney, South Carolina, we stopped at a drive-thru restaurant. Upon leaving I noticed a person sitting at an outside table under an umbrella, shielding themselves from the sun. It appeared they might possibly have had all of their earthly possessions in a shopping cart. The contents in that cart were piled high and so much so, they were spilling over the sides. 

However, when driving past, a strange feeling came over me, that I just had to stop and talk to this person. I stopped and asked If I could buy them something to eat. They hardly looked up, all the while continuing to write on a sheet of paper. They glanced up with an annoyed look and said:  “I’m not here for you to buy me something to eat” I’m here to pray for you.” I was a bit taken aback, but said thank you.

This person continued writing almost fervently, and I asked: Could I have the prayer to take with me, and read later?  The person said: “No…I’ll read it to you” but saying so with conviction.  

The mysterious person began reading the prayer, but I could not seem to hear or understand anything they were saying.  It was just unintelligible words, and I could not comprehend a single thing being said. After reading the prayer, the mysterious person put their pen and prayer away rather hurriedly.  

There was something else, as strange as it sounds, but I could not seemingly see their face. Maybe I wasn’t suppose to and If asked later, what did they look like, I couldn’t say. 

So, we drove away, but there was traffic in the parking lot of the restaurant and shopping center, and was forced to turn around only a few hundred yards away.  This took, maybe a couple minutes or so, at most. I began thinking about the stranger and our encounter, and just had to go back to see them again. However, upon returning to the table and umbrella…neither the person nor the overflowing shopping cart were there.  We drove around the restaurant, looking in all directions, but the person that just read a prayer to me, was nowhere to be seen.

It would have been impossible to simply leave this fast and with a grocery cart running over with bags of clothes and whatever.  But yes, the person seemingly had just vanished into thin air!  And why would this person…this apparition, after not willing to give me the written prayer, suddenly leave?  And now after almost two years, I continue to think and wonder: Was this truly a supernatural event?  Could it really have been something unworldly, maybe even an angel sent to me for a purpose? It could have been for many purposeful reasons, such as a delay to keep us from from leaving, and getting back on the highway. It could have been for countless other reasons, and one day, I believe this reason, or purpose will be manifested to me.

Angels are mentioned in the bible, almost 300 times. And if you believe in God, you also believe in angels. President George Washington experienced a vision, being described as an angel at Valley Forge, during the American Revolution. This event has been well documented by both Washington and others. And there are countless stories of angel encounters, but most of the time people ignore them, and most often, just don’t believe.

However, I cannot definitively prove anything in my story, and it’s just my own recording of a personal event, that happened almost two years ago, on a summer afternoon. If my wife, Debbie had not been with me, and also witnessed this incredible event, I would never have considered writing this story…

Roger Ivester (Boiling Springs, NC on March 16th @ 6:30 AM EDT, 2025) 

https://rogerivester.com/