Three Galaxies in Ursa Major

9 March 2021, 20:00 – 22:00

Seeing: Average

Transparency: Average to terrible (deteriorating because of high cloud)

It was relatively mild when I took the telescope outside, but the temperature plummeted over the next two hours (although there was no condensation). Very light wind. Hazy, high altitude cloud increasing steadily over the course of the session.


NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros

133x and 171x. Appeared quite bright considering it had already crossed the meridian (into the more light-polluted part of the sky). Fan-shaped nebula pointing south. Star-like point at apex. No structure visible, but the nebula seemed more diffuse on the western side and sharper-edged on the eastern side.

Sirius: Viewed at 333x (9mm Nagler + 2.5x Powermate), but no sign of the Pup, even when I held Sirius just outside the fov. Possible it might have been covered by one of the diffraction spikes.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini

333x. Central star and shell structure showing well with averted vision. In moments of good seeing the inner shell seemed slightly misshapen with three bright segments, plus a small dark area around the central star (this may have been a contrast effect).

Zeta Cancri was a clean split at 333x, when the seeing allowed. This system is a good test for seeing conditions during late winter / early spring.

NGC 2841, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Large streak of light with a bright core. Star off western end. I’ve seen this galaxy before, but tonight it was a consolation prize after failing to spot NGC 3079 (that one will have to wait for a better night).

NGC 3675, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Oval patch of light aligned north-south. Brighter towards centre. One star off southern end. Appeared to be a dark cut-off on the eastern side.

NGC 3893, galaxy, Ursa Major

133x. Large oval haze, gradually brighter towards the centre. Faint star of approximately 13th magnitude just west of the core (not to be confused with a supernova). This one is worth revisiting as it has a faint companion galaxy on the opposite side which I might be able to spot on a better night.

NGC 4051 and 4111 were next on my target list, but the clouds got to them first. I did however stumble upon a nice triple star system southeast of Chi UMa: the western component being a very close double. (Identified in NSOG as 65 UMa.)

With haze now blotting out all the faint galaxies (even M106 was barely visible), I decided to quickly revisit a bright double star before packing up.

Algieba, Gamma Leonis

133x and 171x. One of the season’s best double stars. Orange primary (west), pale yellow secondary (east).


Nature note:
At least 11 frogs in the pond, some of them quite vocal. Another unexpected vocal performance came courtesy of a Dunnock which briefly burst into song at 9pm and again at 9:30.

Open Clusters in Canis Major and Puppis

6 March 2021, 19:30 – 21:30

Seeing: Average

Transparency: Poor / average

A bitingly cold, breezy evening with plenty of large low clouds scudding from northeast to southwest. Some fireworks were going off in the local park while I was setting up; I assume they were for someone’s birthday or anniversary, as I can’t think of anything else (on a national level) worth celebrating at the moment.

As I was uncertain how much observing time the clouds were going to allow me, I stuck to one eyepiece (the 13mm Ethos at 92x) for the entire session. The conditions weren’t great and my eyes weren’t properly “tuned in” for viewing faint objects (like any skill, averted vision can get rusty if you haven’t used it for a while), but it was a relief to do some actual deep sky observing again after what seemed like an eternity. On another plus note, I tightened up the azimuth bolt and the milk washer trick has worked – the scope turned like a dream, with no stiction. I’m not sure how long it will stay like that, but it’s a cheap and relatively easy fix.

After warming up with a look at the Orion Nebula (because it would feel like a crime not to, when you’ve got an Ethos in your scope), it was over to the other side of the sky to mop up some galaxies in Camelopardalis and Ursa Major.

NGC 2655, galaxy, Camelopardalis

Large round blur with a bright core surrounding a stellar nucleus. The PSA plots another galaxy (NGC 2715) nearby, but I wasn’t able to see it on this occasion.

More clouds obscured the view while I was looking for NGC 2366, so I was forced to relocate back to the far southern reaches of the sky, and an old favourite:

NGC 2362, Tau Canis Majoris cluster (Caldwell 64), Canis Major

Stunning as always; there’s no other cluster quite like it. Not much I can add to previous descriptions, but tonight the seeing steadied enough to show two faint companions east of Tau.

h3945, double star, Canis Major

Beautiful golden primary and duck-egg blue secondary. Another highlight I couldn't resist coming back to.

NGC 2367, open cluster, Canis Major

Small, triangular cluster with about a dozen stars visible.

NGC 2384, open cluster, Canis Major

Small, sparse cluster with meandering trail of stars to the northeast.

NGC 2421, open cluster, Puppis

Rich spray of faint stars. Averted vision suggests underlying haze on the brink of resolving into even more stars.

Another cloud pushed me south again, and while in the area I noticed an interesting asterism south of 3 Puppis which looked like a loose open cluster, but wasn’t marked as such in the atlas. Also, to the north, a beautiful bright double star (k Puppis) comprised of twin white stars. (If h3945 is the winter Albireo, this looked like the winter Gamma Arietis).

M93, open cluster, Puppis

Lovely, rich cluster which looked a bit like a butterfly tonight (brighter stars in the western wing). Two prominent red giant stars on the southern edge of the cluster.

NGC 2482, open cluster, Puppis

Sprinkling of medium-bright to faint stars; larger and looser than M93. Appeared to be an isolated knot of stars of the eastern side of the cluster. My initial impression was favourable, but this cluster seemed to get less impressive the longer I looked at it. (With hindsight, it’s possible there could have been a very thin layer of cloud passing slowly across it.)

NGC 2489, open cluster, Puppis

Small haze sprinkled with faint stars. Just north of three distinctive field stars. I didn’t spot it straightaway, but it is somewhat low in the sky.

With another cloud starting to creep across, I pushed north again and (thanks to the silky-smooth azimuth motion) I swung the scope back and forth between M46 and M47, comparing the two clusters. Photographs tend to bloat out the stars and perhaps make them seem more alike than they really are, but visually the difference between the very bright stars of M47 and the fainter but more homogenous stars of M46 was striking. Planetary nebula NGC 2438 on the northern edge of M46 was not quite as prominent tonight as previous viewings, but still obvious.

More clouds pushed me out of this part of the sky, so I resumed the galaxy hunt.

NGC 3198, galaxy, Ursa Major

Faint streak of light, brighter towards the centre with averted vision. Field star off the northwest edge.

Yet another cloud pushed me south to look for NGC 3432 in Leo Minor, but I couldn’t see anything on this occasion. At this point I realised I was fighting a losing battle (with the cold as well as the clouds), so I finished up with quick visits to NGC 2903, the Leo Triplet, and M81/M82 (including NGC 3077 and NGC 2976). None of them were looking anywhere near their best, so I called it a night.

Nature note:

The garden was quiet tonight; the frogs appear to have concluded their “business”, leaving one third of the pond full of frogspawn.

Zeta Cancri

2 March 2021, 19:30 – 20:30

Seeing: Poor – average

Transparency: Very poor

A cool night with a soupy haze that developed into mist and then cloud over the course of the hour. Only the brightest stars were visible to the naked eye; the Beehive Cluster (usually a good indicator of transparency at this time of year) wasn’t even visible with averted vision. I wouldn’t normally take the telescope out under such below-par skies, but I wanted to test the plastic milk-jug fix for the azimuth stiction (verdict: it still needs some work), and it was also an opportunity to revisit Zeta Cancri, subject of Phil Harrington’s latest Cosmic Challenge on Cloudy Nights.

Starting with something familiar, Rigel was an easy split this evening, compared to 12 January. Sirius however was dancing and swimming and hard to keep in tight focus. I returned to it a couple of times and viewed it at both 171x and 240x, and once or twice I did get a glimpse of something possibly glinting in its wake, but not to the point where I could I say I was confident of the sighting.

Zeta Cancri is a lovely triple star comprised of two very close stars (currently 1.2” apart) and another bright star following behind at a more comfortable 5 arcseconds. When the variable seeing allowed, Zeta Cancri A and Zeta Cancri B were cleanly split at 240x. The split was also visible (if not quite so obvious) at 171x, which is probably more testament to the sharpness of the 7mm DeLite than my eyesight.

I also had a look at the Gemini twins: Castor, a very bright double star; and Pollux, not a double star, but showing a distinct tangerine hue.

Nature note:

At least a dozen frogs in the pond – some mating, some croaking – and several clumps of frogspawn.