Along the Milky Way in Cygnus and Vulpecula

7-8 June 2021, 23:50 – 01:30 (BST)

Seeing: Poor

Transparency: Poor / average

Conditions: Mild (but cooling quickly), almost no wind. Some patchy high cirrus, but nothing like the forecasted amount.

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Note: The previous Saturday (5 June) I took the 7x50 binoculars out for what was supposed to be a quick look, though (as is often the case) I lost track of how long I actually spent scanning the Milky Way. The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) in Cygnus is just about visible with binoculars on a good night, though it’s hard to distinguish from the very rich star field. I’ve tried previously to see if I could spot it unmagnified by holding up one of the nebula filters to my eye, but without success. This time I experimented with holding the filter over one of the eyecups of the binoculars. The OIII filter dimmed the view too much, but the brightest parts of the nebula were clearly visible through the Ultrablock filter (even when I switched over to my right eye). As expected, I wasn't able to see the Veil Nebula or the nebulosity around Gamma Cygni using this method.

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Tonight I started out with another scan along the Milky Way, with the 24mm Panoptic (50x) plus the Ultrablock filter:

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) was huge and obvious, but indistinct in shape.

The Veil Nebula was its usual ethereal, spooky self.

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) was visible as a subtle arc of light (like the Veil, I think it responds better to the OIII filter, but it does seem very sensitive to viewing conditions).

M27 (the Dumbbell Nebula) was very bright and somewhat elongated.

NGC 6823, open cluster, Vulpecula

50x + Ultrablock filter. Small nest of stars overlaying a fine mist, but hard to tell if this is the nebulosity (NGC 6820) or just unresolved starlight. Switching to 133x (no filter) revealed a tight delta-shaped formation of four stars (including one red star) surrounded by a loose spray of 20+ stars. No nebulosity that I could see at this power. Note: according to Wikipedia, NGC 6820 is a reflection nebula and both it and the cluster are embedded in a much larger, fainter emission nebula, Sh 2-86 (SA 2000 plots this larger nebula, but labels it as 6820). A possible future astrophotography target. 

NGC 6830, open cluster, Vulpecula

133x. Loose formation of stars shaped like a fold-up chair. Doesn’t really jump out from the surrounding Milky Way.

Stock 1, open cluster, Vulpecula

133x. Very large and loose collection of bright blue-white stars (and one lone red star). Shows quite well in the finder. Too large for the main fov, but one or two close doubles in the cluster.

NGC 6800, open cluster, Vulpecula

133x. Another loose, large group of moderately bright stars. Unremarkable. One for smaller, wide-field scopes. Note: this is one of those rare examples of an object that’s plotted in the PSA but not in SA 2000.

NGC 6871, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. “Split” cluster in an incredibly rich star-field. Not sure where this cluster ends and the Milky Way begins, but the core area consists of a triangle of bright stars on the north side, two bright stars on the southern side, surrounded by 8 or 9 fainter stars.

NGC 6819, open cluster, Cygnus

171x. Revisiting this cluster from an earlier session. Not substantially different at this magnification, but retains its richness. Looks a bit like a globular cluster that’s slowly being peeled in half.