Auriga to Orion in 90 minutes

21 January 2020, 18:45 – 20:15

Very cold, slight mist coming in off the sea (condensation started appearing on the scope within minutes of my carrying it outside).

Seeing: poor to average
Transparency: average to poor

Started with a tour of the Auriga Messier clusters at 50x (24mm Panoptic) followed by a look at the Pleiades in Taurus, comparing it with the image I took with the TV60 the previous Saturday night. The nebulosity around Merope and Maia was just about visible, but I think it would need one of those rare nights of exceptional transparency to see any structure to it.

I gave the Ethos a rest tonight (because of the condensation), so all subsequent observations at 133x (Nagler 9mm).

NGC 2281, open cluster, Auriga
Sparse collection of bright stars, four of them making a parallelogram at the western end of the cluster (the trailing two members of this shape are doubles). 133x is probably too high a magnification for this object; hard to tell where the cluster ended and the surrounding star-field began.

NGC 1931, “The Fly”, emission nebula / reflection nebula, Auriga
Little smear of light with 2 or 3 stars at centre. As noted before, quite bright for a non-Messier nebula. If the conditions were better I would have gone up to 240x. I also looked for neighbouring IC 417 (“The Spider”) and saw what appeared to be an extended patchy halo around a bright star, but difficult to say I saw it with any certainty.

NGC 1893, open cluster, Auriga
Sparse group of moderately bright stars. The area in and around the cluster seemed hazy, but not sure if that was because of unresolved stars or the surrounding nebulosity (IC 410). Might make an interesting imaging target if I get an appropriate filter.

Sigma Orionis, multiple star system
Impressive sight at 133x. Brightest component resolves into a wavy line of 4 stars. A pair of fainter doubles roughly northwest, and 2 even fainter stars between the two groups.

NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros
Seemed more ghostly tonight (probably because of the transparency rather than the higher magnification). Averted vision showed a star-like point at the apex of the nebula. The “fan” of the nebula seemed brighter and fuller on the western side.

NGC 1535, planetary nebula, Eridanus
As per previous observation. The higher magnification showed a strong brightening towards the centre, but couldn’t isolate the central star with any confidence. Hint of brightness asymmetry with averted vision, but it came and went depending on which side of the nebula I was looking, so probably not a real feature. Colour less pronounced tonight – more grey than blue-grey.

NGC 1999, reflection nebula, Orion
As per previous observations. Relatively bright given the deteriorating transparency. Size increased with averted vision; star or star-like point at centre. Dark patch visible with averted vision, adjacent to the “star”.

From 20:15 onward the sky clouded over rather quickly, but the severe condensation had pretty much ended the session by that point anyway.

Nature note
Two frogs in the pond.

Orion to Puppis (via Monoceros and Canis Major)

17 January 2020, 21:45 – 00:45

Cold – but not excessively so for mid-January. Some cloud moving from the west which delayed my planned start time by 45 minutes. Condensation on lenses towards end of session.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Average

I left the 13mm Ethos (92x) in the focuser for the entire session as I didn’t know how long I was going to get until it clouded over again – and I didn’t want to waste precious time changing eyepieces. As it turned out the sky was still clear when the moon rose later on.

After spending some time on M42 (where else?) I moved north to the area around Alnitak and Sigma Orionis (a lovely multiple star system in its own right). The Horsehead Nebula was too faint to see (of course), but it did show up in images I took with the TV60 and an unmodded DSLR on Wednesday night (but only after extensive processing).

NGC 2023, emission nebula / reflection nebula, Orion
Visible as a fuzzy star with direct vision; size of nebulosity increasing with averted vision.

IC 435, reflection nebula, Orion
Like a smaller, fainter sibling of NGC 2023. Fairly obvious now I know it’s there, but easily overlooked – especially with all the other distracting objects nearby.

NGC 2024, Flame Nebula in Orion
Just faintly visible tonight. I don’t think the Ethos is the best eyepiece for this object; the super-wide field of view makes it almost impossible to separate the nebula from the glare of Alnitak.

NGC 1535, planetary nebula, Eridanus
Little blue-grey disc of light at 92x (unfiltered). It was already well past the meridian when I tracked it down, but it was quite obvious despite the light pollution. Averted vision suggested an extended outer fuzz. Need to catch this one earlier in the evening.

NGC 2324, open cluster, Monoceros
Loose group of stars shaped a bit like a letter K. Moderately bright.

NGC 2301, open cluster, Monoceros
Rich, condensed cluster (visible in finderscope). Bright tail of stars to the south, fainter one to the east. Bright yellow star near centre.

NGC 2254, open cluster, Monoceros
Very small “fuzz”, four stars resolved with direct vision. Oddly, looked much the same using averted vision. One of the two clusters plotted in the Pocket Sky Atlas lurking between the Christmas Tree and the Rosette.

NGC 2251, open cluster, Monoceros
Elongated “fang” of stars, forming a sort of bugle/horn outline. Larger, brighter than 2254. Second of the two PSA clusters lurking between the Christmas Tree and the Rosette.

NGC 2244, OC, Monoceros
The central cluster of the Rosette. Well framed in the Ethos, but magnification a little too high to separate the nebula from the surrounding star-fields. Might be worth trying this again with one of the filters.

NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros
Bright little fan-shaped nebula. Bright spot or condensation at apex.

NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster, Monoceros
Beautifully framed in the Ethos. Bright blue star at base (S Monocerotis) with fainter close companion to NE, both surrounded by haze/halo. Couldn’t see any other nebulosity on this occasion.

At around 22:45, while taking a break from the eyepiece, I saw two meteors travelling in opposite directions, one after the other in the space of a couple of seconds. The second one travelled from the east and passed directly in front of M44 (the Beehive Cluster). What a photo that would have made…

M41, open cluster, Canis Major
Looked good in the Ethos despite the low altitude. Bright stars, loosely concentrated. Arranged in a wavy “cross” shape, like a flattened hour-glass. Bright orange star near centre.

It’s worth noting here that the 9x50 finder really helped me locate the following open clusters (as well as the previous objects noted in Monoceros). I’ve struggled with these constellations in the past due to their southerly declination and absence of bright stars (my old Vixen 102 had a 6x30 finder), but the new finder showed me all the stars I needed to see – and often showed the clusters themselves.

M50, open cluster, Monoceros
Rich arrow-shaped cluster pointing west. Bright yellow-orange star on southern corner.

M48, open cluster, Hydra
Rich, large, loose cluster of bright stars – a “typical” Messier cluster if there is such a thing. Curving line of stars to east, close double near centre.

M47, open cluster, Puppis
Rich mixture of bright and faint stars – very attractive in the Ethos. Brightest members form a triangle, with prominent doubles at east and west corners angled towards each other (the eastern pair of equal brightness). This cluster is so prominent in the finder, I wondered if it might be visible to the naked eye; it is – with averted vision.

M46 & NGC 2438, open cluster + planetary nebula, Puppis
Rich cluster of moderately bright stars; a short hop east from M47. (Both clusters look great in the Ethos.) NGC 2438 immediately obvious as a grey disc of light on northern edge of cluster. Bright star on eastern edge of nebula, fainter one shining through. Probably the highlight of the evening.

NGC 2423, open cluster, Puppis
Moderately rich cluster overshadowed by nearby Messiers. Close double on western edge.

NGC 2396, open cluster, Puppis
Sparse cluster of stars just south of a bright double. The double was probably more interesting than the cluster: pale yellow primary, blue secondary (west), and a fainter third star southeast.

NGC 2374, open cluster, Canis Major
Small cluster, faint stars. Averted vision suggests underlying richness.

NGC 2360, open cluster, Canis Major
(Caldwell 58) Rich little cluster, well worth tracking down. Stars arranged in gently curving chains. Straight line of faint stars leading to bright star on NE edge of cluster.

M93, open cluster, Puppis
Another rich little cluster of bright stars, looked good in the XT10 despite low altitude (-24 degrees declination). Central triangle of stars surrounded by loose assembly of bright stars on either side.

Winter Clusters

30 December 2019, 20:00 – 23:15 GMT

A cool, still night, but relatively mild for the time of year (although my feet were very cold towards the end of the session.

Seeing: good
Transparency: a slight haze mixed in with smoke from somewhere, but still much better than the 25th.

This time I came prepared with a makeshift dew-shield for the 9x50 finder – constructed from a piece of black card and some duct tape. It doesn’t look pretty, but it worked a treat. The condensation (while nowhere near as heavy as the previous session) started to appear on the body of the XT10 after about an hour, but the finder remained dry throughout. With hindsight the conditions were probably good enough for imaging too – and maybe I should have done; clear moonless nights seem to be rarer than usual this winter.

As before, I started with a tour of the Auriga Messier clusters using the 13mm Ethos. M37 was the highlight once again, with the dark rifts and overall “beetle” shape showing up particularly well.

Betelgeuse has made the headlines recently and it does look noticeably dimmer to the naked eye (though probably not for the reason most professional astronomers would like). It was one of the first stars I learned to recognise by name, and I can’t remember it ever looking this subdued. Through the eyepiece of my still cooling telescope it regained some of its lost grandeur, appearing as a bright, boiling red-hued star.

NGC 2169, open cluster, Orion
Follow-up observation from last week, at 92x and 133x. Tilting my head 90 degrees really made the “37” asterism become obvious, although the top-left star of the “7” is rather faint compared to its companions. The double star Struve 848 is located in the top right corner of the “3”.

NGC 2194, open cluster, Orion
Faint “boxy” cluster. Looks like an inconspicuous misty patch at first glance, but gets more impressive the longer you look at it. Some stars resolved; even more with averted vision. Quite rich and dense. Long tail of stars extending to the south.

NGC 1662, open cluster, Orion
Sparse but distinctive bird-shaped cluster with long wings and a diamond-shaped asterism forming the head. Red-hued star at the neck of the diamond.

NGC 1807 & 1817, open clusters, Taurus
The poor man’s double cluster. The northern one (1817) is rich and faint while the southern one (1807) is sparse and bright, with a prominent triangle asterism at its centre. Both clusters are well-framed in the Ethos.

NGC 2403, galaxy, Camelopardalis
A galaxy I've struggled to locate in the past (it resides in a barren area of the sky), but the new finder made it much easier. At 92x it appeared as an amorphous cloudy patch with two bright field stars at either end and a fainter one off-centre. Averted vision revealed an extended faint outer region, presumably corresponding with the spiral arms, although no structure was seen on this occasion.

M45, Pleiades, Taurus
Although this cluster doesn’t need a finder, it certainly helps me get my bearings when switching back to the eyepiece (M45 is too large for the fov even at 50x). At 92x the Merope reflection nebula was visible mainly by contrast with its surroundings. The nebula was large and fan-shaped, but I couldn’t see any of the banded structure apparent on photographs.

M78, reflection nebula, Orion
As previous observations. Two stars embedded in fan-shaped swathe of nebulosity (like condensed version of the Merope nebula). Prominent dark gap between M78 and the more diminutive NGC 2071.

M42, Orion Nebula
Spectacular in the Ethos despite condensation starting to creep in. Five stars resolved in the Trapezium at 92x. Exquisite detail in and around the Huygens region. The little arc of nebulosity in the opposite cavity wall showed up really well in the Ethos; it wasn’t quite so obvious at 133x, despite the better contrast. The higher magnification is better for picking out fine detail in the core, but overall, the view in the Ethos was much more majestic. Adding the OIII to the Ethos reinforced previous observations with this filter: it filled in the northern half of M42, giving the nebula a lopsided, asymmetric appearance.

NGC 2174-5, emission nebula + open cluster, Orion
Nebulosity (2174) faintly seen with Ethos and OIII. Switching to the 9mm Nagler (no filter) revealed the central cluster (2175) – stars arranged in a neat little parallelogram.

Rigel, Beta Orionis
0.1 magnitude blue-white star (currently considerably brighter than Betelgeuse) with 7th magnitude companion 10 arcseconds away. Clean split at 92x and 240x, not hindered by diffraction spikes on this occasion. The best view I’ve had of this double.

M1, Crab Nebula, Taurus
At 133x it appears as a faint, amorphous “puff of smoke”. Not a "frame-filler" by any means, but still a potential imaging target for the TV60, after M45 and the Horsehead.

NGC 2022, planetary nebula, Orion
Quick look at 133x. Pretty little disc of light, somewhat faint tonight.

NGC 1999, reflection nebula, Orion
At first sight it appears as a small hazy halo surrounding 11th magnitude V380 Orionis. At 133x the dark hole is visible with averted vision.

IC 418 (aka the Spirograph Nebula), planetary nebula, Lepus
Very small, looked like a bloated blue star even at 133x. Much more obvious at 240x (5mm Nagler). A pretty little blue-green disc surrounding a bright 10th magnitude star. Maybe a very slight yellowish tinge to the central star, but admittedly that’s a stretch. No structure apparent on this first viewing, but the northern half of the nebula seemed brighter than the southern half.

M79, globular cluster, Lepus
Viewed at 240x. Faint (very low in sky) grainy fuzzball with condensed core. Distinct 12th magnitude star north of core – as noted previously.

Hind’s Crimson Star (aka R Leporis), carbon star in Lepus
Viewed at 240x. Didn’t seem especially bright (though currently listed as 7.6m), but striking red colour, like a glowing ember or coal. One of the reddest stars I’ve seen.


Other notes:
Didn’t see any frogs when I looked in the pond (although I did see one when I was imaging the moon the previous month), but I did hear a distinctly frog-like “plop” at one point.

A Christmas Comet

25 December 2019, 19:00 – 21:00 GMT

Conditions: Cold evening (and getting colder), no wind. Slight haze affecting transparency. Condensation appearing after only a few minutes – by the end of the session the telescope was dripping wet and all exposed lenses were dewed over.

The session also served as the first test of a new Orion 9x50 RACI finderscope to go alongside the red-dot finder. It did a good job – until the condensation got to it.

After aligning the two finders (on Polaris), I began the session with a look at the Messier clusters in Auriga. All three showed up clearly in the finderscope, and looked particularly good in the Ethos 13mm, with M37 being the standout. M38’s neighbour NGC 1907 was partially resolved in the Ethos and more so in the 9mm Nagler. That extra 40x magnification does make a difference for pulling out faint stars.

M35 and NGC 2158, open clusters, Gemini
Again, M35 looked great in the Ethos, although I think M37 surpasses it (at least in the XT10). NGC 2158 started to show some resolution with averted vision, but not as good as 1907.

Comet C/2017 T2 (Panstarrs)
92x (Ethos). Small nebulous patch of about 9th or 10th magnitude high up on the Perseus/Camelopardalis border. Stellar nuclear region surrounded by a faint coma which swelled with averted vision. Suggestion of a faint tail fanning out to the south, but hard to be sure; the condensation was already starting to interfere. An improvement over the last comet I saw (ASASSN), but nothing to get too excited about. Still, at least I can say I made the effort to track it down.

M81, M82, galaxy pair, Ursa Major
The Ethos is large enough to show them in the same field of view, although both fall outside the central sharp zone. On individual examination both galaxies were bright and distinctive (shape-wise), but lacking detail on this occasion. Not really a night for galaxies.

NGC 2169, open cluster, Orion
The so-called Shopping Cart cluster or 37 cluster. A small but distinctive grouping of stars split into two halves. Comprising about 16 bright stars and a suggestion of fainter ones with averted vision. The Ethos resolved the brightest member of the cluster (in the eastern half) into a tight double: Struve 848, approximately 2.5” separation.

At this point the condensation had effectively taken both finders and the Ethos out of action. I struggled on with the 9mm Nagler for a while before eventually admitting defeat. The new finderscope proved its worth in the short time I was able to use it: it shows the same stars plotted in the Pocket Sky Atlas (and at the same orientation), which will make star-hopping much easier – particularly in galaxy season. I just need to make a dew-shield for it before I take the scope out again.