Messier 33

33 final

Object:   M33 (NGC 598) Date:               2019 January 9
Type:  Spiral galaxy
Constellation:           Triangulum Time & altitude:          20.40 UT    56º
Catalogue data: Seeing (5 high):                               3/5
            R.A:                1h 34m Transparency (5 high):               2-3/5
            Dec:                30º 40 Telescope:     0.5m f4.1  Dob.
            Magnitude     6.0 Eyepiece       17mm Ethos              x120
            Size (mins)    62 x 39 Filters:            None

Notes:

A lot of moisture in the air is aggravating light pollution, but not so much at this altitude. Earlier broken cloud has cleared now.

This galaxy fills my 50 arcmin field. There is no dark sky around it so it is difficult to see it in its setting. The view is filled with stars and clumps of barely visible faintly glowing haze. Conspicuous are the central core and a huge HII region, NGC 604. A spiral arm leaves the core’s E side and turns S. Another arm from the W side of the core turns N. A ‘full’ drawing of all the complexities would need multiple sketches and hours at the eyepiece. The drawing presented here is a merely a rough and ready impression of the region around and between the galaxy’s core and NGC 604.