Dwarf Galaxies
Click on the photo to see a larger image.
Dwarf galaxies are extremely difficult to discern in the night sky, even with powerful scopes like those in the SSON network. When I first examined these photos, I actually thought an error had occurred and that the scope was simply aimed at the wrong part of the sky. In an attempt to find out if that was the case, I used Nova Astrometry to plate solve the images. They were successfully solved and several bright stars identified. I then took that information back to my go-to planetarium program, Sky Safari Pro, and searched its databases for the stars. To my surprise the stars were in proximity to the Dwarf Galaxies. To show this, I display the photo with the key stars identified. I then display a screenshot from Sky Safari showing those stars and their position relative to the Dwarf. You may have to use a bit of spatial imagination to see what is going on. But my conclusion is that the Galaxies in question are there — but are so faint as to elude easy identification.
Carina Dwarf Galaxy
W / 90 Seconds / 2019-08-03 / 19:06:28 UTC / SIMBAD
Sky Safari Chart of the Carina Dwarf Galaxy and Nearby Stars
This does seem like what sometimes is called a “negative observation.” That is, despite repeated attempts the observer just cannot spot the target. That is a bit annoying, so I made one final attempt. I found a photo of the Carina Dwarf Galaxy on Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carina_Dwarf_Galaxy.jpg#file
If I could not capture the Carina Dwarf in a way that satisfied me, well, neither could the professionals — at least in a way that I expected. As the two photos show, you can identify a number of star patterns that appear in both photos. I have marked some of the commonalities on the photos, below. Maybe I was closer that I thought!
Tucana Dwarf Galaxy
W / 90 Seconds / 2019-08-03 / 15:47:29 UTC / SIMBAD
Sky Safari Chart of the Tucana Dwarf Galaxy and Nearby Stars