Observation session at "Grag Gruppo Astrofili Galielo Galilei" observing site. English Version

"L'acqua ch'io prendo gia mai non si corse;

Minerva spira, e conducemi Apollo,            

  e nove Muse mi dimostran l'Orse"               

Dante, Paradiso

Very cold night on Saturday, December 28th. I arrive at the observation area too late (which for me is equivalent to saying: beyond the hour and a half before astronomical sunset), so I am forced to mount the dobson "Herschel" 50 cm in the dark, among other things bothering my fellow observers. The wind had almost forced me to give up, but then I insisted and it was lucky because it resulted in a superb night full of deep sky objects.

The 20" Dobson "Herschel"

The novelty of the evening is the new 80mm APM finder: fantastic in use and light in materials, it allowed me to quickly search for objects in view by comparing the Sky Safari maps directly with the framed field: practically like a car navigator. It supports good magnification and is perfect with the 20mm eyepiece 70° apparent field with illuminated reticle. I promise to write a review soon.

The fab 80mm APM finder

After a good hour of struggling, I'm finally ready with an excellent alignment of the Nexus DSC. The ServoCAT engines buzz in the dark like a sublime harpsichord while looking for the first deep sky objects to observe.

To warm my eyes I point NGC 381, a scattered open cluster in Cassiopeia. I had seen it a few nights before with the APM binoculars from my home town, Arpino, from the mountainous observational area where I usually go; and I liked it; so I re-proposed it. In the dobson the open clusters are less spectacular, because I am forced to keep the magnification at least 85x, to avoid exceeding the "maximum" exit pupil of 5mm (I'm almost in my 50s). So only the concentrated and weak ones make for a compelling sight: the so-called "eye tearing". This cluster is close to the Navi star, which to me evokes pleasant sci-fi memories (remember "Avatar"?).

NGC 381

I point the bow of my celestial optical ship towards the shores of the Sculptor: in this constellation there is one of the wonders of the sky, the galaxy NGC 253, called "silver coin" because of its appearance, and also because it is objectively beautiful. Full of shades and "chiaroscuro", huge, certainly one of the most beautiful objects ever and really generous in any instrument. In the dobson, as low as it is, it does not disfigure and gives me a breathtaking view.

NGC 253

Further north we find the NGC 247, another classic of this heavenly area. It's a galaxy of low surface brightness so don't worry if at first glance you find it hard to hit it in your instrument.

NGC 247

So I completely change zone, jumping at foot dozens of degrees in a single step and stopping the telescope in the constellation of the Giraffe, true underdog of the sky asterisms: weak and little frequented (but will it be true? It seems that any blogger who writes about the Giraffe says: "little frequented and neglected by the astrophiles"; but then, talking with other stargazers, I discover that instead everyone is going there) but full of really bewitching objects. As is the case of UGC 3697, a galaxy called "integral sign". Such in fact it appears, transporting me back in time to sweet reminiscences of my past engineering studies. In Dobson it appears very beautiful, the "S" thin and evident, I would say persuasive. It shines of mag 12, and is 159 million light years away from us. I wonder if there are aliens there trying to "solve" this cosmic integral... In the same field is the beautiful elliptical galaxy UGC 3714, smaller and almost circular in appearance.

UGC 3697 the "integral sign" galaxy

In short, I start the night well: the engines buzz like music as I go up to the eyepiece and tinker with the dobson, jumping from one object to the other, with an incessant hunger for observations, made worse by months of bad weather and not appeased by the recent successes with my 100 ED APM binoculars...

I go back to the Pegasus, back on the NGC7331 and Stephan's quintet, already seen recently from the GRAG site and I go back there because I really like this spiral: a "little Andromeda" that maybe grants even more details than the famous great galaxy whose name it shares. This time, the quintet offers a better view and I can easily separate the two Siamese NGC7318 A and B. Always a really convincing vision.

Near the 7331 the 5 galaxies called "the fleas" hover in the dark.

I watch everything together with our friend Philip, another deep sky visualist.
Casually I "step" on the blue snowball, an old glory of the bright NGC objects and certainly one of the sky most visited objects by astrophiles of all ages, gender and social background. I observe it at 148x, appreciating its colour (blue) and the perfectly evident internal ring structure.

I'm going back to Cassiopeia, old friend of mine, to soar on the beautiful open cluster, M52, which I like to taste around 80x. From there a small move and I sail on the Bubble nebula, NGC 7635. The brightest part of the bubble is very evident and also very beautiful. I don't find honest to skip a visit to the bright NGCs just because I've been there a thousand times: every time the charm is intact and you discover new things. Going through the Cepheus, starting from the Bubble, you pass through a series of very interesting objects: Markarian 50 is a small star asterism, further down you find the beautiful NGC 7510 cluster that has an elongated look and looks like an arrow. "Moving down" you find another King 19 asterism, composed of a few sparse stars of 9a mag, and to finish the IC 1470 nebula, a small comet-shaped emission nebula. Try hunting these tiny asterisms with your telescope! It's a really rewarding activity and I think it also counts as points for Google fit.


In the Whale, I observe Cetus A, aka M77, a 3/4 view spiral, whose arms I can appreciate well. Discovered by Mechain in 1780, it is a conspicuous and really imposing object at the telescope, 7'x6', elongated NNE-SSW. It's a source of radio waves, hence its code name. At the telescope it shows internal structures, mottled areas of "chiaroscuro" and the presence of beatiful arms.

M77 aka Cetus A

It is sweet to me to jump from one zone to another of the sky, "without destination" as Brancaleone would say; however, I lack discipline only apparently, because this wandering serves me to hunt Herschel objects and cover my observational gaps and -why not- satisfy the mood of the moment.

While I'm in the area, I parachute myself into Eridano, the "celestial river": it's a really interesting area for every visualist, even if it's low at our latitudes. Not bad. Pointing Keid, the star Omicron 2 Eridani, which is not only wonderful but really peculiar: a triple system, composed by an orange primary which is massive more or less like our sun, a secondary white dwarf (!) and a tertiary red dwarf (!!). In my dobson the primary and secondary appear very evident. The white dwarf is one of the brightest in the sky and is visible in small telescopes because it is very close, only 16 light years away. Yet, it is scary to think that we are observing an object so far away that has the size of the Earth! "Next to" it (a few dozen astronomical units) orbits a red dwarf, Keid C, which shines a hundred times less than the Sun; it appears as a red star of mag 11, offering together with the other two a spectacle of violent beauty.

In the science fiction imaginary tales Keid has been honoured with several places of honour: we cite Herbert who, in Dune novel, placed on this star the planet Richese and Star Trek, where Keid is home to none other than the planet Vulcan - the home of Mr. Spock.

Keid, 40 Eridani

You cannot (you must not!) miss a visit to the "crab nebula", M1. In the dobson, exploiting the 50 cm "light bucket" and its brute force, I can perceive a nebula rich in shades and white/dark areas, where the web nature starts to appear; definitely more attractive than the faint fuzz of light I used to see as a boy in my 114mm, now 35 years ago!

In Taurus, I dwell on NGC 1817 and the nearby asterism NGC 1807, definitely weaker; it's a couple of interesting open clusters, discovered by Herschel. The main cluster is quite rich and is more than 6000 light years from Earth. It's worth stopping here if you ever pass by Aldebaran.

NGC 1817 - 1807

Since I'm in the vicinity of the gigantic Orion, these days in the spotlight of media because of the light weakening of Betelgeuse - a favourite, according to some catastrophic dreamers, of an imminent supernova explosion (oh I wish it could happen! take your time I would say) - I pay a visit to M78, the beautiful reflection nebula discovered by Messier. It's a real beacon, so you'll find it easily, a little bit higher and a little bit to the left of the star Alnitak (this indication will have to be enough for you), accompanied at a short distance by NGC 2071, a much weaker nebula. M78 appears in my dobson at 105x like a nice miniature replica of the great Orion nebula.

M78 and the "close" NGC 2071

But be enough of the fun for its own sake, the youthful debauchery and the levity of heavenly free roaming: it's time to return to the ranks, because duty calls me to the completion of the Herschel 400 list, which I'm far from finishing. It is the turn of the Big Dipper, which contains a truly impressive amount of Herschel objects. They are almost all galaxies: there are galaxies for all tastes, galaxies of every form, class and religion. No galaxy lover will be able to avoid indigestion when passing through these areas of the sky: Ursa Maior is literally choke full of galaxies; so much that, if you aim randomly, you are almost certain to catch one. Like in artificial lakeswhen fishing trouts.
A quick glance at the evergreen M82 (whose destiny is linked, forever, to that of M81, or at least in our limited concept of "forever", and they always travel together, they are always quoted together, they share the destiny ofthe Assyrians and the Babylonians) introduces my eye to the panspermia of galaxies that I am about to observe.

How to mention them all? Let's start from UGC 5336, aka Holmberg IX, a small galaxy of Mag 14 in the Bear. It is a satellite of M82 and appears as a ghostly, vague glow in its vicinity. My Dobson shows it well, and that's enough for me.

NGC 3077 is a small galaxy of Mag 9a, 13 million light years away. All in all, close to us. Elliptical, it appears irregular because it interacts gravitationally with M81; all considered it is quite evident. It's part of the M81 group.

NGC 3077

Let's move on: NGC 2976, another galaxy of 10 mag in the Bear; it is a spiral but appears indefinite in the edges. There are no traces of arms. Hubble has portrayed it so why not show it to you?

NGC 2976

NGC 2681 is a spiral, appears circular in shape, surrounded by a halo. NGC 2742 is a spiral of 10 mag. It appears elongated, evident, very beautiful to see even if quite small in apparent diameter. It is located 60 million light years from us and is half the size of the Milky Way.

NGC 2742

Let us continue on our heavenly sailing. In the meantime, an unfortunate inconvenience happened to me: the engines stopped responding to the electronic appeals that Sky Safari was sending out (it turned out later that the hand made circuit I realized was the culprit), so I had to take a hand track. Actually, I used the passive targeting system from Sky Safari as a navigator. It proved to be a fabulously precise method: even when the engines are turned off, this wonderful app makes the sky "spin" in the background, with the result that pointing the telescope is easier than stealing apples from an infant - just put the pointer's headband over the object. And the object will be dead center in the field, even at 150x! I wish I could tell you that I've spent hours manually struggling, as a new Magellan, to find these 14th magnitude galaxies, sweating like a dog even at zero degrees. But I would lie: with one hand I was holding the cell phone, with the other I was moving the 60 kg beast using only two fingers, and if I had a third hand, I bet I would have eaten a sandwich whistling while the galaxies appeared in the center of the eyepiece. Piece of cake, with 40,000 PPR encoders. Deh, technology!

All right, after this self-deprecating, self-help debacle, let's get back to my report. NGC 2768 is an elliptical that appears in the dobson without any particular relief. It's the usual elliptical, 70 million light years away, obviously with the usual supermassive black hole in the middle. NGC 2787 is a barred lenticular, which appears without any detail to the telescope. NGC 2841 is a spiral discovered by Herschel in 1788. It is majestic in the dobson and offers many details. It is located 46 million light years away. I invite readers to look for it in the dark blue plains of the Bear.

NGC 2841

NGC 2950 is an 11th lenticular that shows no particular details. NGC 2985 appears extended, with a bright core, it is a Sab spiral 75 million light years away and 80 thousand light years wide. In short, when the light started (I had to play this game too, didn't I?) in Italy lived the great "Mosasaurus", an 11 meters long beast, and still dinosaurs had to live ten million years before extinction.

NGC 2985

NGC 3079 is a peculiar crossed out spiral, in the dobson it looks very nice and shows a lot of details. The core has "bubbles" formed by gas expelled as a result of intense stellar formation. Definitely a beautiful object.

NGC 3079, starburst bubble galaxy

I mean, there really is something for everyone.
To get away from the routine of the galactic festival, I decide to aim to the nebula B 33, IC 434, in short, you all know it: it's the horsehead, by golly. A difficult but not desperate task, especially if supported by a fair diameter. Well, I arrive in the area and with the help of the field stars I can position myself right on the spot. The dark nebula is there and I can see it but not very well, it's hard to see. So I put on the H-beta filter, and as if by magic the horsehead comes out, very clear and evident. The more I observe, using also the diverted vision and getting used to the darkness of the field, the clearer it appears. On the left of the framed field there is an evident zone of nebulosity where several small stars stand out, the nebulosity appears reddish-pink but maybe it is an illusion; on the right, instead, the pitch black absence of stars is stunning because there stays the dark nebula. The head protrudes towards the left side, invading the reddish-pink nebulosity with its magical and disturbing presence. My friend Antonio Giarrusso comes to enjoy the show and confirms the vision. Ah, if only I could have exclaimed "I saw the horsehead!" twenty years ago. And you don't know how long I've been searching, unhelped and naively, for it with every instrument of mine.

So I go back to the Bear, to continue the path taken among the cosmic pinwheels, those "universes-island" that so many debates ignited at the beginning of the last century between Shapley and Curtis. The target is NGC 3184, a superb spiral seen from the front, which shows its blue arms and mocked details (I wouldn't know how to translate the Anglo-Saxon "mottling" used for galaxies). Beautiful, beautiful I say.

I look at NGC 3198, another beautiful spiral object by Herschel, and then the NGC 3310, a beautiful starburst of 11th magnitude that you have to see at least once in your life.

NGC 3184

It is the turn of M108, a conspicuous spiral, really beautiful and dramatic to observe in the dobson, where one can appreciate details, dark areas, star clouds and mottling. Close to it is M97, and I say, who am I not to observe the owl, which I have been observing for more than twenty years now? I'm returning there, and I'm happy to go. You know, bright NGC are like old friends. I love to meet them once in a while and grow old together. The vision at 150x is very clear, as it shoild be in my dobson, with the "eyes" hollowed out like a diving mask and much detail. It's a planetary nebula that I like a lot and I always observe with great pleasure. It can't be missed in any observational list when starwalking the Bears, not even when you'll be as famous as Sagan.

It's the turn of NGC 3610, a young elliptic of 12th, and then NGC 3613, another even weaker elliptic. "Seen an elliptical of 12th magnitude and 3' of apparent diameter, seen them all," you'll say. And you know what? This statement is not immune from a certain foundation of truth. But let's go back to medias res.

NGC 3619 is an elliptic that doesn't show me any particular worth of interest; so I take a pindaric flight to the constellation of Andromeda, where I visit NGC 891. It is a superb galaxy, it measures 12' diameter and appears in the dobson as a monstrosity full of details and crossed by a prominent band of dust lanes that characterizes it a lot. It's really imposing and magnificent. Not very easy, sometimes I had difficulty to find it even with the C8, if the sky is not dark it can hide well because it has low surface brightness. It's worth stopping here at all ages, with any telescope (but at least a 150mm reflector I dare say). Wonderful, phantom, ghostly, is the "little 4565", we really like it a lot. You meet it halfway between M34 and Almach, and that's all I can tell you. I leave not without a glance to my friend M34, scattered with stars, and a couple of spirals in Perseus, NGC 1169 (beautiful, 9 mag, shows details and has a companion, the PGC 2280846 of 16th mag) and NGC 1023 (the latter lenticular and also equipped with companion, the B, easier though).

Another jump and I go to see a cluster that I love very much, NGC 188, in Cepheus: it is close to the polar and starting from the northern star you can find it, not too easily because it is composed by weak stars. It is an old cluster (9 billion years), perhaps the oldest in the galaxy and for this reason it deserves respect like all elder people.

NGC 188, the big elder

Well, I'm going back to the Bear, where I spent, among jokes, smiles, screams of ecstatic admiration and ham sanwiches, most of my night.

NGC 3631 is 10th, Sc, looks small, has two prominent spiral arms.

Arp 27, aka NGC 3631

Moving on with the observation of the Bears infinite galaxies. This constellation has more galaxies than islands Greece has. NGC 3665 is a lenticular that shows me no particular details. NGC 3675 is a beautiful spiral that houses a black hole estimated at about forty million solar masses.
Then I observe NGC 3726 which is a spiral with a ring structure and central bar. It's a beautiful vision but I can't suggest any noteworthy details. I continue with NGC 3729, a galaxy that also shows a bar and a circular structure of nebulosity around it. I promise to look at it again at higher magnification. In the photographs, it resembles the rotating space station imagined in the 1960s by Von Braun.

NGC 3729

I observe NGC 3813, a galaxy of Mag 3813 located 70 million light years away from us.
The night flows quietly and peacefully around me and my club friends: first of all the dog Orion, a puppy shepherd who often comes to visit me and loves to crouch at the foot of the telescopes. He is without a shadow of a doubt a shepherd astrophile, and after all, so are we: we love to chase in the sky these distant light balls, the galaxies, enormous whirlwinds of matter that at the telescope appear more like sheeps than like gigantic Gargantua of stars that devour matter, were born and one day will die.

I think that the starry vault teaches us this: everything spins without a particular reason. But everything flows; and together with the cosmos we also rotate, on an arc of trajectory in space-time, small traits of a huge theory of intersections and relations, blind circumvolutions of nothingness, living mandalas of emptiness. And I think that if we come to accept and see this, then we will know how to live our lives in a better way, with an awareness that cures and soothes: we will be part of a small but conscious circulation of the cosmos.
NGC 3877 is a beautiful spiral galaxy 5' in size, mag 12. It shows an internal structure that is nothing but its regions of HII dust. NGC 3893 is a tenth magnitude spiral that shows faint details. It has spiral arms but they are weak.
NGC 3896 is a spiral galaxy of 13, very weak and small. I observe it enraptured. Each of these galaxies deserves its own study, a focused dedication. Incredible how many details you can see when you take the time to train your eye to the object you are observing; indeed, this is what the deep sky watcher has to master: train your eyes, as you do with your muscles in the gym (it is hard, and as for the gym, sometimes you pay the monthly fee but you do not work out hard enough: constancy is essential).

NGC 3928 is a fairly weak and very small galaxy of 13th. It is called the "miniature spiral". It is seen from the face and in the photos it offers the vision of magnificent arms. NGC 3898 is small and weak and doesn't show me any important details so I touch and go. NGC 3990 is also a wad of light. NGC 4036 is a galaxy of tenth magnitude, spiral, which appears elongated, with a denser and brighter core. NGC 4041 is a galaxy of 11th magnitude, of 2.6x2.3 arcmin of dimension, which shows itself face on.

NGC 4041

NGC 4051 is a galaxy of 13th magnitude and size around 6 arcmin. It is satisfying to look through the telescope where it shows its thin spiral arms. The galaxy is interesting because it is a Seyfert, a super-active galaxy that is home to huge energy processes hosting a super massive black hole. NGC 4088 is an eleventh mag spiral galaxy, located near NGC 4085, which is brighter and more extensive. I see them both in the dobson with a big grin.

NGC 4085 e 4088

NGC 4157 is a galaxy view of cutting, 6' extension and mag 11. It is really magnificent in the telescope, it shows as a weak needle of light. NGC 4102 is a spiral galaxy of 11th extended three arc-minutes. It's a satisfying sight but I don't see particular evidence of its "circular" spiral arms.NGC 5322 is an elliptical 11th that shows no major details, its core is quite evident and bright though. 5473 is another elliptic with no details, 11th, two arcmin of extension. I look at it and move on. NGC 5485 is a galaxy of mag 12.3 and 3 arcmin of extension. It is very particular because it is pervaded by a dark band, but I don't remember to have appreciated its presence in the telescope.

NGC 5485 and its dust lane "ringworld" alike

Pointing finally to M101, aka NGC 5457, otherwise known as the "pinwheel" galaxy. After a massive indigestion of 13th magnitude galaxies, seeing this is like seeing the lights of "Piazza Navona" square in the center of Rome: huge and spectacular. Discovered by Messier, but it is Herschel who glimpses its arms: in fact, it shows majestic spiral arms, which in the dobson are superbly mottled and full of dark areas, dust and stellar formation zones. M101 is beautiful in any telescope, there are no distinctions of race and religion. I include a photo to prove it (obviously, observing it through the telescope is a pale simulacrum of its photographic beauty). NGC 5450 is a diffuse nebula that is part of this immense arm structure. It appears weak but evident.

In the Dragon I observe NGC 5631, a very small lenticular that shows little of itself.
I direct the telescope to the "monster", M51, the "whirlpool" galaxy. If I'm not mistaken it's my friend Philip who called it "a couple of galaxies unwinding like tapes" and there's no better description: in fact a bridge of matter passes or seems to pass from the largest to the smallest, like a gigantic magnetic tape that is moving from one roller to another.
In the dobson it appears literally photographic: the spiral arms are huge, brilliant, they make an history by themselves, showing in all their splendor, you can not describe their beauty, they twist around the core in families of clouds and gas, dark areas and gulfs of matter. On good evenings and when M51 is high, there is enough reason in this galaxy to spill the blood needed to buy a 50 cm dobson.

M51

I return, like a faithful friend, to observe the trio of open clusters in the heart of the Auriga, the coachman: M38, the "starfish" cluster and his companion NGC 1907. They are magnificent: M38 shows its tangle of cosmic "little streets" made of stars, and looks like a country seen from afar. M37 is concentrated and always superb at all magnifications. I love to see it in my APM binoculars, but tonight I point it with dobson too. M36 is one of my favourites. Also called "Pinwheel", is a cluster that actually seems to suggest its shape indeed. From the center are the "arms" of stars, almost perfectly symmetrical, wrap around towards the outside.

Maybe because I grew up in the 80s, but to me more than a pinwheel, M36 seems really identical to the magnificent weapon that was used by the main character of Krull, a science fiction movie of 1983, mostly underrated, starring Ken Marshall, also known for having starred in Marco Polo television series and Star Trek.

M36, the "Krull" cluster

The glaive, glorious boomerang weapon appeared in Krull

I don't understand why nobody associates this cluster with that movie!

In Auriga, you can really wander for hours. I observe the nebular association of IC417 (Spider Nebula) and the adjoining open cluster Stock 8. A short distance away there is a very remarkable object, NGC 1931, a nebula called "miniature Orion" and observing it you can understand why. It is splendid, the nebulosity surrounds a tide of stars. I must say that this object does perform better in APM binoculars around 40x.

NGC 1931 the little Orion

In Auriga, I love to linger in the area of the mini-Dolphin, an asterism that seems to replicate in miniature the homonymous constellation. Not far away is the nebula Flaming star, never particularly evident, and the fugitive star AE Aurigae. This star was expelled for reasons of stellar dynamics from the region of the Orion nebula and is now in Auriga. If you look at how much angular distance there is in the sky between the two zones, you'll understand why it's called that way!

In the Giraffe with dizzying Pindaric flight I observe the exemplary spiral NGC 2403, bright NGC worthy of note: you can see many nuances in its spiral arms, it is extended, brilliant and is one of the objects "missed" by Messier.

NGC 4244 is called "the silver needle" and you can immediately understand why after pointing it at the telescope: it is really a needle in the sky, very long and very thin, wonderful and evident to the telescope. Its silver light is satisfying to see in every telescope.

Silver needle galaxy

Jumping into the Hunting Dogs, a constellation which, together with the nearby Coma, for the galaxy lover is like an heavenly theme park. I observe M106, beautiful and very evident in its structure. It is surrounded by a swarm of galaxies, and here "you point you fish", as in the aforementioned trout pond. M94 is another example of a spiral galaxy seen from the face, showing a very bright core and spiral arms with a ring surrounding it. NGC 4449 is an irregular galaxy in Canes Venatici, beautiful to look at, it looks like a Magellanic cloud. This is also a starburst galaxy, i.e. a starburst generator with a dizzying rhythm, like M82.

NGC 4449

You can not miss the M63, sunflower galaxy that needs no presentation for how much is bright, beautiful and proud of its spiral arms. It shows in any instrument and is always generous in the emotions it grants. Since we have talked about it before, I observe the NGC 4565, perhaps the most famous cutting edge galaxy seen in the sky. It's huge, it fills the field of my eyepiece and it shows itself very elongated. In the structure, it's reminiscent of 891. No one can deny a whirl of emotions when gazing this monster.

NGC 4565

Then I observe NGC 4169 and 4173, 4174 and 4175, a fantastic quadruplet that forms a square: in fact it is called "the box galaxies". If you pass by here in the sky, you must not lose them at any cost!!

The "box" of galaxies

At the end of the night, tired, I head for an old glory, a friend I always follow: the NGC 4631, the "whale galaxy". It is a conspicuous object, that in the telescope shows to deserve its appellation, highlighting the elongated shape of the well known marine mammal; you can notice the head of the whale (the galaxy is asymmetrical), the thin tail and the "fin".

NGC 4631 the whale galaxy

I then observe NGC 4656, spiral galaxy of 9th magnitude in hunting dogs, and the elliptic of 12th magnitude NGC 4627.
I point to NGC 5005, spiral galaxy in Dogs. It is a spiral with a bright nucleus and several "dust lanes" or dark bands of dust, it is bright and wide, with a halo surrounding the nucleus.
I observe the evergreen and beautiful open cluster M67 in Cancer.

I finish this long, river-flowing night with one of my favorite (and many astrophiles' one) galaxy, the M64, the "black eye" galaxy. One should say rather that this galaxy is "eye make-up" galaxy, in fact it really looks like a human eye where "Rimmel" eye-liner has been applied.

It is a galaxy that at the dobson shows in all its impressive beauty and the dark band of eye-liner is really prominent.

M64, the eye-liner galaxy

Me and the 20" "Herschel" scope

What else can I say? I leave the observation area of "Lasco di Picio", north of Rome, with an enormous baggage of emotions.

Like a true lover, on the way back, on the highway, I think back to all the wonders of the cosmos I saw during the night. I know their weak pale light will stay on my retina for many hours, even when, exhausted and thrown into the coveted and warm bed after returning home, I will fall asleep almost immediately.

This is a whirlwind of galaxies, nebulae and stellar visions that accompanies us like a unique magnificent background to our lives, a spectacle that most people is not even aware of; for us stargazers instead it is important, it is vital, we find reassuring to know that these mysterious and distant objects are available to be found up there, night after night, new moon after new moon, true terrae firmae of our lives; we are too small and our existential flashes are too short to grasp the slow modifications that characterize their evolution; we perceive though that they, nebulous galaxy stars and clusters, elements suspended in space-time, so different and distant, are finally and supremely linked to us humans by a thin thread that is not only imagination: it is rather a peculiar, and perhaps unrepeatable, generation of our souls.