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in partnership with the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust

 

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List of Suggested Targets

Once you have booked your Live Observing slot, you can plan out what you’d like to see in the sky! The location of your telescope will depend on whether you have a morning (am) slot or afternoon (pm) slot. Morning slots are for Faulkes Telescope South in Australia. Afternoon slots are for Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii.

After checking the location, you then need to choose your targets. We have given some suggestions on this page. Each one has been chosen because of their size (to fit the camera's frame of view) and position in the sky (so they'll be visible throughout the entire 30-minute session).

Here's an explanation of each table column:

Target Name

This is the name of the object. The letters usually stand for a catalogue of some kind (e.g. M being Messier, NGC being New Galactic Catalogue), and the number is just the object’s place in the catalogue.

Any other names for the object are given in brackets.

Classification

This tells you what the object is (e.g. star cluster, nebula, galaxy).

There might also be some extra information about it's classification. For example, the star cluster may be globular or open.

Image

This gives an idea of what the object looks like. Where possible, these have been taken with the telescopes available in the Live Observing sessions (which are credited to Las Cumbres Observatory). Some are taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and have been processed into 3 colour images. You won't see these colours when using the telescopes in your Live Observing sessions.

Note: images are not a true indication of what you will observe. There are many factors (such as weather, moon phase, light pollution, etc.) that can affect the observing conditions from night to night. 

Viewable Site/s

This tells you which location (Australia and/or Hawaii) the target will be visible from.

Remember to check the time of your Live Observing slot to know where your telescope is based – morning (am) slots for Australia and afternoon (pm) slots for Hawaii.

Right Ascension

Part of a celestial coordinate system that lets us measure the locations of objects in the sky. It is a set of three numbers: the first is given in hours, then minutes, and the last is seconds.

For simplicity, these have been left out of the table below and the numbers are separated with a colon. This is how the right ascension needs to be inputted on the Real-time Interface (if using manual mode - read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information).

Declination

Part of a celestial coordinate system that lets us measure locations of objects in the sky. It is a set of three numbers: the first is given in degrees, then arcminutes, and the last is arcseconds.

For simplicity, these have been left out of the table below and the numbers are separated with a colon. This is how the declination needs to be inputted on the Real-time Interface (if using manual mode - read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information).

Exposure Time (s)

This is how long the camera needs so it can take a good image. It is measured in seconds (s).

Enough light must be collected so that we can see the object. Faint, far away objects will have a longer exposure time than objects that are bright and closer to Earth.

The exposure times are the same for each filter - red, green, and blue. For example, suppose an object has an exposure time of 30 seconds. You would input that into the exposure time for the red filter, green filter, and blue filter.

These pictures are taken simultaneously. So, going back to the example object, you won't need to wait 1 minute and 30 seconds to have all 3 images. Once the telescope has found the object, the camera begins exposing, and the red, green, and blue pictures will have been taken after 30 seconds. You'll be able to view these when they've been processed.

Read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information about taking and viewing images. 

Check the exposure times and decide the number of targets for your session. You’ll also want to look at your images – even if only quickly – when they’re ready to view, so factor this into your planning as well. And remember that the telescope can sometimes take a few minutes to move from one object to another, depending on where it is in the sky.

But it is always better to have too many targets than not enough! If you don’t get to see everything, you can always book another session.

 

Target NameClassificationImageViewable Site/sRight AscensionDeclinationExposure Time (s)

NGC 1763 (The Bean Nebula)

 

Emission Nebula

 

A grey nebula against a black background with lots of white dots of stars in various sizes throughout. The cloud-like nebula is lighter grey towards the middle and darker grey around the edges. Its shape is an elongated, bean-like structure.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International

 

Australia

 

4:56:51.5-66:24:2560
NGC 1232 (Eye of God Galaxy)Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy angled face-on against a black background with white dots of stars. The galaxy has a small, circular, bright, white centre and dusty grey spiral arms sweeping around it.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia3:09:45.51-20:34:45.48120
NGC 1365 (Great Barred Spiral Galaxy)Double-Barred Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy angled face-on against a black background with white dots of stars. The galaxy has a small, circular, bright, white centre with a bar-like structure, and two dusty grey spiral arms sweeping upwards and downwards.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia3:33:36.46-36:08:26.37120
NGC 1261Globular Star Cluster
Lots of stars against a black background. Each star is a white dot of varying sizes. Though some are scattered around the edges of the image, most are concentrated in the centre which glows brightly as a result.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia3:12:16.21-55:12:58.430
NGC 456Nebula with Open Cluster/HII Region
A grey nebula against a black background with white dots of stars in various sizes. The nebula is a small sphere in the centre with another, smaller sphere above it on the right. There is also a patchy, grey, cloudy area on the image right, suggesting the nebula continues in that direction.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia1:13:44.4-73:17:26120
NGC 1097Barred Spiral Galaxy
A bright white circle glows in the centre. There is a grey fuzziness around the circle, stretching towards the upper right and lower left, with a small curl at either end. The background is black with a few dots of white stars. Towards the upper right is a small, fuzzy, white blob.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia2:46:19.06-30:16:29.68180
NGC 1313 (Topsy Turvy Galaxy)Irregular Galaxy
A spiral galaxy against a black background with some small dots of stars. The centre of the galaxy, in the middle of the image, appears almost like a thick, white, vertical line. A spiral arm extends away towards the left and the right, with fuzzy grey around the galaxy's centre and spiral arms.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia3:18:16.05-66:29:53.74180
NGC 1360 (Robin's Egg Nebula)Planetary Nebula
A large, grey, egg-shaped nebula against a black background with some white dots of stars. In the middle of the nebula, a larger, white star shines brightly.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Australia3:33:14.65-25:52:17.98120
M108 (Surfboard Galaxy)Barred Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy, positioned edge-on, against a black background with white dots of stars in various sizes. The galaxy resembles a flattened oval. The centre shines bright white, but it obscured by a band of dust that wraps around the galaxy. The band is various shades of grey.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii11:11:30.9755:40:26.84120
M64 (Black Eye Galaxy)Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy, viewed from above, against a black background with a few dots of white stars. The galaxy resembles a disc, the centre shining a bright white. A thick, grey band of dust encircles the middle. The cloud-like structure extends outwards, though becomes thinner and more diffuse.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii12:56:43.721:40:57.5760
NGC 4151 (Eye of Sauron) and NGC 4156 in top-leftNGC 4151 - Intermediate Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4156 - Barred Spiral Galaxy
A black background with white dots of stars in various sizes. In the centre is an oval-shaped galaxy. It has a white circle shining brightly in the centre and is surrounding by cloudy dust in shades of grey. Another, smaller galaxy is in the image top-left. This also has a bright centre, and the cloudy dust is shaped into spiral arms that extend away and wrap around it.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii12:10:32.5839:24:21.06120
NGC 4490 (Cocoon Galaxy) with smaller companion NGC 4485NGC 4490 - Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4485 - Irregular Galaxy
A large galaxy in the middle of the image with a small galaxy above, both against a black background with a few small white dots of stars. Both galaxies are in shades of grey, lighter in the centre, and resemble smudges. The larger one has more detail, with swirls of dust around it. It's centre glows a bright white.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii12:30:34.541:38:26120
M51a (Whirlpool Galaxy) with smaller companion NGC 5195/M51bM51a - Spiral Galaxy, NGC 5195/M51b - Dwarf Galaxy
A large spiral galaxy, viewed face-on, with some white dots of stars visible in the background. The centre of the galaxy has a small, white sphere that glows brightly. Spiral arms in various shades of grey extend away and wrap around it. Slightly to the left of centre, at the top of the image, one of the spiral arms extends up towards a smaller galaxy. This also has a bright centre, and dust surrounds it in an oval cloud.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii13:29:52.747:11:42.93120
M94 (Croc's Eye Galaxy/Cat's Eye Galaxy)Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy against a black background with some white dots of stars randomly placed throughout. The middle of the galaxy glows as a bright white sphere. Cloud-like swirls of light grey dust wrap around the sphere, and a faint slightly darker grey fuzziness extends outwards and forms an oval shape around the galaxy.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii12:50:53.0741:07:12.990
M97 (The Owl Nebula)Planetary Nebula
A spherical nebula against a black background with some small white dots of stars. The nebula is cloud-like, grey, and fuzzy.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
Hawaii11:14:47.7155:01:8.48120