Proud to be part of LJMU,
in partnership with the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust

 

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List of Suggested Targets

After booking a Live Observing slot, you should plan out what you'd like to see in the sky!

You'll first need to know which telescope will be used in your session and its location. This will depend on the timing of your session. All time slots are given in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This is a worldwide reference time and avoids confusion when changing time zones. Morning slots will happen in Australia with Faulkes Telescope South. Afternoon slots will happen in Hawaii with Faulkes Telescope North.

Once you know the location, you can then select some targets to observe. We have given suggestions in the table below. These objects fit nicely in the camera's frame of view. They'll also 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). 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 its classification. For example, the star cluster may be globular or open.

Image

This gives an idea of what the object looks like.

But please be aware that your own images might look different. There are many factors (such as weather, moon phase, light pollution, etc.) that can affect observing conditions from night to night.

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 you're using manual mode (read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information).

Objects with similar right ascensions and declinations are close to each other in the sky. Use these coordinates to help order your observations. This minimises the time taken for the telescope to move between targets.

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 you're using manual mode (read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information).

Objects with similar right ascensions and declinations are close to each other in the sky. Use these coordinates to help order your observations. This minimises the time taken for the telescope to move between targets.

Exposure Time (s)

This is how long the camera is open, or exposing, for when taking a picture. It is measured in seconds (s).

The camera collects light when it is open. To see an object in detail, we need to collect enough light from it. This means leaving the camera open for the correct amount of time. Faint, far away objects require longer exposure times than those that are bright and closer to Earth.

The exposure times are the same for each colour filter. This needs to be inputted on the Real-time Interface if you're using manual mode (read the Guidance for Live Observing for more information). For example, if an object has an exposure time of 30 seconds, you would enter that value for the red, green, and blue filters.

These pictures are taken simultaneously. Consider the object again with an exposure time of 30 seconds. You won't need to wait 90 seconds for all 3 images. When the telescope finds the object and starts exposing, the red, green, and blue images will all have been taken after 30 seconds. You'll be able to view these when they've been processed.

Use the exposure times to help you 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.

Note: Objects with similar right ascensions and declinations are close to each other in the sky. Use these coordinates to help order your observations. This minimises the time taken for the telescope to move between targets.

 

Australia

Target NameClassificationImageRight AscensionDeclinationExposure Time (s)
M14Globular 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 North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
17:37:35.37-3:14:39.130
NGC 6384Spiral 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 North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
17:32:23.677:3:46.690
NGC 6584Globular 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
18:18:37.6-52:12:56.830
NGC 6744 (Pavo 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
19:09:46.13-63:51:26.9180
NGC 6769, NGC 6770 and NGC 6771Interacting Galaxies
A black background with white dots of stars. There are 3 small galaxies centered in the middle of the image. Two are next to each other with one below these. The galaxy's have bright white, circular centres surrounded by grey cloudy dust. The top left has defined spiral arms that extend up and down while the top right has spiral arms wrapping around it entirely. The bottom galaxy is angled almost side-on, making the grey dust a thin disc shape.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
19:18:33.09-60:30:53.21150
Pillars of Creation in M16 (Eagle Nebula)Emission Nebula
A grey, cloudy nebula against a black background with small dots of white stars. The nebula covers most of the image, but there's a dark patch of the night sky towards the lower left corner. In the middle of the image, pillar-like structures of dust rise up towards the top-right corner.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
18:18:57.7-13:52:15.5110
Section of NGC 6357 (Lobster Nebula)Emission Nebula
A nebula in various shades of grey against a black background with some white dots of stars scattered around. A few shine brightly inside the nebula as well. The cloudy nebula is lightest grey in the middle, and mostly extends horizontally across the image, with the clouds becoming darker there.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
17:24:44.4-34:10:3330

 

Hawaii

Target NameClassificationImageRight AscensionDeclinationExposure Time (s)
NGC 891 (Silver Sliver Galaxy/Outer Limits Galaxy)Spiral Galaxy
A thick, grey, fuzzy line stretches across the image from the upper left to the lower right. Within this, there is a brighter, white, circle in the middle, and a bumpy, dark, thinner line stretches the whole length too. The background is black with white dots of stars.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:22:33.4142:20:56.7660
NGC 925Weakly Barred Spiral 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. Spiral arms extend 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 North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:27:16.933:34:45.1290
NGC 936 (Darth Vader's Galaxy)Barred Lenticular Galaxy
A spiral galaxy against a black background with a few dots of white stars. The galaxy resembles a circle, the centre shining a bright white. A grey, dusty, spherical cloud surrounds the galaxy's centre.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:27:37.46-1:09:22.6160
NGC 1055Barred Spiral Galaxy
A spiral galaxy, positioned edge-on, against a black background with white dots of stars in various sizes. The centre of the galaxy shines bright white, but it obscured by a band of dust that wraps around it. The band is various shades of grey.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:41:46.40:26:43.290
NGC 1073Barred 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. It is surrounded in a grey, cloud-like fuzziness. This cloud forms an almost bar shape across the centre of the galaxy, though it is obscured by the centre shining brightly.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope South) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:43:40.61:22:33.1390
Section of IC 1795 (Fish Head Nebula/Northern Bear Nebula)Nebula
A cloudy nebula against a black background with white dots of stars scattered across the image. The nebula is various shades of grey, with the brightest part towards the middle-right of the image. To the right of this part, a dark patch of sky extends almost vertically. The nebula spreads towards towards the upper-left and lower-right, in a wide funnel-like shape.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
2:25:49.6762:00:59.7330
Section of NGC 1491 (Fossil Footprint Nebula)Emission Nebula
A nebula in various shades of grey against a black background with some white dots of stars scattered around. A few shine brightly inside the nebula as well.
This work by Las Cumbres Observatory (taken with Faulkes Telescope North) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International
4:03:15.951:18:5445