Exploring Lacerta and Pegasus

21 – 22 August 2020, 21:45 – 01:30

Conditions: Strong, frequent gusts of wind. More cloud than the forecast predicted, particularly early on.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Average

Given the windy conditions (and the prospect of clouds forcing a premature conclusion) I stuck to one eyepiece (13mm Ethos, 92x) for almost the entire session. As it turned out I got more telescope time than expected, but with another moon cycle already underway and more stormy weather forecast, it’ll probably be the last session for a while.

After beginning with a look at the always-beautiful Albireo, I crossed the border into the constellation of Vulpecula.

NGC 6802, open cluster, Vulpecula
Moderately large hazy patch on the eastern end of Cr 399 (Coathanger cluster/asterism). A handful of stars resolved with averted vision, the brightest pair being near the centre; otherwise grainy. Nice to finally get a decent look at this cluster. The “Coathanger” of course looked better in the finder than it did in the eyepiece.

NGC 6882/6885 (Caldwell 37), open cluster, Vulpecula
Loose, large group of medium-bright and faint stars surrounding a bright blue-white star (20 Vulpeculae). The identification of this cluster (or clusters) is a thorny issue which I’m staying well clear of, other than to say this is a rich star-field, so it’s hard to tell where the boundaries of this cluster (or clusters) are.

NGC 7686, open cluster, Andromeda
Small group of faint stars surrounding a bright orange-yellow star. Again, sits in quite a rich star-field, so an easy cluster to overlook if you’re just sweeping through the area.

NGC 7296, open cluster, Lacerta
Compact little cluster in a rich section of the Milky Way. The stars form an outline vaguely resembling (to my eyes at least) a water lily flower on a lily pad.

NGC 7243 (Caldwell 16), open cluster, Lacerta
Large, rich cluster; on first glance vaguely triangular in shape. Over time it started to take on the outline of a rocket in flight, with a wide pair of bright stars near the base (the engines) and a closer double near the centre.

NGC 7209, open cluster, Lacerta
Large cluster of similarly bright stars. Quite rich but also loose and sprawling, not condensed. The stars seem to be arranged in a meandering trail, like a snake or a winding river.

While I was in the area I hopped over the border into Cygnus to look for the Cocoon Nebula, but couldn’t see anything obvious. At this point (23:00) the wind was getting really gusty, so I redeployed the telescope counterweight to hold down my star chart. Next stop, Pegasus.

NGC 7331 (Caldwell 30), galaxy, Pegasus
Quick look at an old favourite. Appeared as a bright streak of light at 92x.

NGC 7217, galaxy, Pegasus
Bright round galaxy, south of Pi Peg in western Pegasus. Brighter towards the centre, particularly with averted vision.

NGC 7662 (Caldwell 22), Blue Snowball Nebula, planetary nebula, Andromeda
Couldn’t resist a quick look at this one - another old favourite. Exquisite little blue-grey disc with a slightly darker centre. Definitely one to revisit with the DeLite on a less windy night.

I drew a blank on NGC 7640 (galaxy in Andromeda, south of the Blue Snowball), but I had more luck with the next three galaxies.

NGC 7457, galaxy, Pegasus
Small, faint round galaxy, north of Beta Peg (Scheat). Brighter core with averted vision.

NGC 7332, galaxy, Pegasus
Small streak of light (edge-on galaxy?) west of Lambda Peg, aligned roughly north-south. Bright, star-like nucleus with averted vision. Field star off the southern tip.

NGC 7177, galaxy, Pegasus
Small round galaxy in western Pegasus; somewhat faint. Brighter extended core with averted vision (not star-like).

I also looked for galaxy NGC 7448 near the bright blue-white star Alpha Peg (Markab), but again, failed to see this one.

NGC 7479 (Caldwell 44), galaxy, Pegasus
Faint streak of light, bar-like core with averted vision. Field stars either end of long axis. I remember seeing this one before; it has faint spiral arms which should be just about visible in my scope on a better night.

NGC 7814 (Caldwell 43), galaxy, Pegasus
Bright oval haze, a little brighter towards the centre with averted vision.

NGC 7619 & 7626, galaxies, Pegasus
Pair of small round galaxies in same fov, close to the Pegasus/Pisces border. The western one (7619) was a little brighter and larger; 7626 is 7’ to the east. Both galaxies showed star-like cores with averted vision. I didn’t know it at the time, but these are the brightest two members of the Pegasus I Galaxy Cluster, some 250 million light years away.

After drawing a blank on NGC 7741 (galaxy in the square of Pegasus), I relocated to Aquarius.

M72, globular cluster, Aquarius
A little condensed, grainy with averted vision. With time some faint stars became visible on the outskirts of the cluster, including two stars south of the core. Two bright field stars east of the cluster.

NGC 7009 (Caldwell 55), Saturn Nebula, Aquarius
Bright, pale aquamarine ellipse. Quite elongated for a planetary nebula.

At this point (1:30) I was almost ready to pack up for the night, but there was one last target rising from the east which demanded my attention (and a higher magnification).

Mars, 171x (7mm DeLite): The red planet is starting to look very impressive now. Still in its gibbous phase, but the SPC was very bright, and appeared to be surrounded by a dark hood. Syrtis Major was prominent and showed hints of finer detail, including a dark feature that appeared to divide as it extended towards the bright limb of the planet. The Baader Contrast filter didn’t show me anything that wasn’t visible in the unfiltered view, but it made it easier to see, and provided a warmer, more aesthetically pleasing image. Despite the wind and the fact it was still only just clearing the fence, this was definitely the best view I’ve had of Mars to date.

Nature note:
More frogs (at least 11); more bloody mosquitoes.

Revisiting Old Favourites

18 – 19 August 2020, 22:00 – 00:30

Conditions: Mild to begin with, but started to turn chilly towards the end of the session. Patchy cloud passing overhead.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Good

I began with a look at the two giant planets of the solar system (both of which are now one month after opposition). Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was visible, along with a very turbulent-looking NEB. Saturn could be seen casting a shadow across its rings and the Cassini Division was showing well. As the seeing was fairly good (considering Jupiter’s low altitude) I swapped the eyepiece for the Canon 80D and captured a few videos before the clouds got in the way.

I didn’t expect to get much else done tonight, so when the sky cleared again I decided to take a quick tour of some old favourites, as well as tracking down a couple of new targets.

Veil Nebula, supernova remnant, Cygnus
50x (24mm Panoptic) + OIII filter. Both sides of the loop and the inner triangle were visible, along with the “hooks” on the eastern veil. Like a lot of deep-sky objects, the more times you look at it, the easier it is to see the fainter details.

M31, Andromeda Galaxy
50x and 171x. Needs to be higher in the sky to get the best out of it, but the usual details were present and correct. Satellite galaxy M32 showed a star-like core.

M33, Triangulum Galaxy
50x. Ditto – needs to be higher in the sky, but quite bright considering, albeit lacking in detail. This is the first time I’ve looked at this galaxy since I got the 9x50 finder, and I’m pleased to say it was faintly visible in the finder – which means I won’t have to waste time sweeping for it anymore. I upped the magnification to 171x to look at NGC 604, which showed just a hint of the extended structure visible in photos, but I think I’ll need to go to a much higher magnification (on a really good night) to be sure.

NGC 404, Mirach’s Ghost, Andromeda
171x. As I thought it might be, the 7mm DeLite is the perfect eyepiece for observing this galaxy. Showed a bright core and the shell-like structure noted on previous occasions.

NGC 663, open cluster, Cassiopeia
171x. Large, rich cluster; visible in finder.

M103, open cluster, Cassiopeia
171x. Rich, condensed cluster. Red star in centre.

NGC 637, open cluster, Cassiopeia
171x. Small, triangular cluster with bright stars overlying an unresolved haze of fainter stars.

IC 1747, planetary nebula, Cassiopeia
171x. Nor far from Epsilon Cas. Very small round disc; perhaps brighter on one side, but hard to be sure even at this magnification. I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been specifically looking for it, and I imagine it appears star-like at anything under 150x. Not surprisingly, plotted in SA 2000, but not the PSA.

Nature note:
Not just the usual roaming frogs to contend with, but also plenty of spiders and bloodthirsty mosquitoes.

Open Clusters and Falling Stars

11 August 2020, 22:00 – 23:30

Conditions: Very warm and muggy. Patchy cirrus (especially in the south) and distant flashes of lightning.

Seeing: Average
Transparency: Poor

A short observing session, curtailed by increasing cloud and mist and what I thought was an approaching thunderstorm. The lightning was flashing every few seconds after 11pm, but I never heard a single rumble, and the expected storm didn’t materialise in the end. I also tried – and failed – to photograph some Perseids, although I did see a couple of bright ones streaking through the haze as I was packing up. Typical meteors!

All observations at 92x (13mm Ethos).

M39, open cluster, Cygnus
Showed well in the finder as a triangular concentration of stars. At 92x it became a loose collection of about two dozen bright blue-white stars barely fitting in the Ethos field of view, plus a scattering of fainter ones blending into the rich Milky Way background.

M29, open cluster, Cygnus
Visible as a partially resolved fuzzy patch in the finder. The eyepiece view showed a compact, basket-shaped little group of eight bright stars and about half a dozen fainter ones (I expect a lot of them were washed out by the hazy sky). As noted before, this cluster is kind of like a pocket Pleiades. Not rich or condensed, but the wide field of view of the Ethos shows it quite nicely in the wider context of the surrounding Milky Way.

NGC 6709, open cluster, Aquila
Fairly rich v-shaped cluster comprised of stars with a mixture of brightnesses. The central region seemed somewhat hollowed out.

NGC 6760, globular cluster, Aquila
Round, condensed blur; very faint – only glimpsed with averted vision (although the sky was getting very hazy by that point). I’d like to try this one again on a better night.

Nebulae in Sagittarius

22 – 23 July 2020, 23:00 – 1:00

Conditions: Breezy, partial cloud cover to begin with – clearing over the course of the session and then returning towards the end.

Seeing: Poor / average
Transparency: Average / poor

I know I’ve spent a lot of time exploring Sagittarius lately, but at the rate the neighbour’s trees are growing and the likelihood of local light pollution returning to its pre-lockdown levels, this might be the last best chance I get to study this object-rich part of the sky. With the nights growing longer again, the wonders of Cygnus and Cepheus will still be well-placed for the next two or three months; the same can’t be said for the southern Milky Way.

NGC 6440, globular cluster, Sagittarius
133x. Faint condensed blur in same field as NGC 6445, brightens with averted vision.

NGC 6445, planetary nebula, Sagittarius
133x (no filter) and 171x (OIII). Quite faint without the filter (one of the consequences of averted vision is that this nebula was easier to see when I was looking straight at 6440). With the filter in place, 6440 disappeared and 6445 became much more obvious. The higher magnification made the misshapen ring structure more apparent (it looked more like a buckled wheel than a box). Most prominent feature was a bright condensation on the northern rim.

M8, Lagoon Nebula, Sagittarius
171x + OIII filter. Obviously M8 loses a lot of its impact at this magnification, but the brightest part of the nebula is easier to study. Hourglass shape apparent, of which the southern component brighter. Smattering of embedded stars visible with averted vision.

M20, Trifid Nebula, Sagittarius
171x + OIII filter. M20 also loses some impact at higher magnification, but the central star system was easier to resolve (when the seeing allowed) as a line of three very close stars. Nebula and dark lanes best seen with averted vision.

M16, Eagle Nebula, Serpens
171x + OIII. Averted vision showed a dark patch at the centre of the nebula, but the contrast was still too low to make out any kind of shape or structure. Lower magnifications are better for this object.

M17, Swan Nebula, Sagittarius
171x + OIII. Nebula still very bright at 171x. This magnification doesn’t really add anything to this object although the dark lanes were a little easier to see, giving it a segmented appearance. The body section does appear remarkably straight, like it’s been “dragged” across the sky with a paintbrush.

NGC 6629, planetary nebula, Sagittarius
171x + OIII. Very small, bright little disc, north of M28. I may have seen the central star with averted vision, but it was tough to separate from the nebula.

I also looked for other Sagittarius planetaries 6537, 6567 and 6644 with this eyepiece/filter combination, but they eluded me on this occasion. Or to put it another way, nothing jumped out at me in the manner that 6445 and 6629 did.

M28, globular cluster, Sagittarius
133x. As per previous observations. Bright, condensed; grainy with averted vision.

M22, globular cluster, Sagittarius
133x. If this is my last look at Sagittarius for the year I had to finish with arguably its most spectacular object. Several dozen stars seen in direct vision. The low altitude can make this cluster look somewhat washed-out at first glance, but it's well worth investing the time to let the magnificent view build up on your retina like a developing photo.

As usual I closed the session with a look at Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter was the stand-out tonight with the GRS on show and all four Galilean moons positioned on one side of the planet. However the seeing was too mushy to bother with an imaging run.