From Cygnus to Aquila (via Lyra)

9-10 June 2021, 23:50 – 01:50 (BST)

Seeing: Good

Transparency: Average within 20-30 degrees of the zenith, poor everywhere else

Conditions: Yet another still night with the temperature steadily falling from a mild start. Smell of honeysuckle on the breeze. Earlier in the evening (at around 22:30) the signs looked promising for a noctilucent cloud display low in the north, but it fizzled out before it ever really got going.

I began with a return visit to Nova Cassiopeia 2021 / V1405 Cas (at 133x) which is still binocular-bright at somewhere around 7th magnitude. After fading from its dramatic May peak, it appears to be creeping back up in brightness again. 

That was followed by a look at summer favourite Albireo before plunging into the Milky Way again.

NGC 6834, OC, Cygnus

133x. A rich cluster arranged in clumps, with an overall shape resembling a wide upturned tree or a Jewish menorah. The latter description is perhaps more apt because the cluster’s brightest stars are aligned in a row where the candle-flames would be. Lots more faint stars pop out with averted vision, breaking up the shape a little. This is one I overlooked from the previous session, but now I’ve seen it I’m glad I made the effort to track it down.

SA 2000 lists a planetary nebula (NGC 6842) near here, but I couldn’t see it, so onto the next object.

M1-92 (Minkowski 92, aka the Footprint Nebula), PPN, Cygnus

My first protoplanetary nebula (not that I have many to choose from). Interestingly, both the PSA and SA 2000 use the regular square nebula symbol for this object. I had to increase the magnification to 240x (5mm Nagler) to find it and even then it was tiny, appearing as an elongated fuzz east of a field star. The nebula itself was fairly bright and did actually resemble a footprint (albeit a very, very small one), with the western component appearing larger and brighter than the other. I might revisit this one at 333x or 428x when it’s nearer the zenith (assuming I can find it again).

While in the area I also looked for Campbell’s Hydrogen Star (PK 64+5.1). I’m pretty sure I had it in the fov, but there was no obvious sign of anything red and/or nebulous. Again, I think this is one for 333x or higher.

I had planned to explore the Milky Way with the 13mm Ethos, but with the seeing actually reasonably stable for a change, I opted to stay at high power and revisit a few well-known (and a few not-so-well known) objects.

All four components of Epsilon Lyrae (the Double-Double) showed a good split at 240x. I could also see three fainter stars and one brighter star (east) between the two pairs. 

M57 (the Ring Nebula) also looked good at 240x, near its maximum elevation. Nothing new I can write about the nebula itself on this occasion, but I was able to see (with averted vision) a couple of very faint stars on the northern side of the ring (opposite the 13m and 14.1m stars noted previously). One of these is the combined light from a multiple star, but the other is listed as magnitude 14.7, the faintest (confirmed) star I’ve yet seen with the XT10.

M56, globular cluster, Lyra

240x. Loses its shape a little at this power, but lots of stars resolved across the face of the cluster, particularly with averted vision. Bright star leading.

NGC 6826, “the Blinking Planetary”, Cygnus

Impressive view at 240x; holds brightness well. Pale blue-green disc with a bright central star. No detail within the disc that I could see, though (as I later found out) I was looking for darker areas when perhaps I should have been looking for brighter ones.

NGC 6804, planetary nebula, Aquila

240x. Faint amorphous disc, with a star on the northern edge and a fainter one near the centre. No obvious sign of nearby NGC 6803 (it must be really small), but I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for it.

NGC 6760, globular cluster, Aquila

240x. Faint (for a globular) round glow which brightens towards the centre. Averted vision shows it to be mottled with some faint stars popping into view on the outskirts – are these actual members or foreground stars?

NGC 6781, planetary nebula, Aquila

240x. Large, faint disc – too large for 240x. A better view came at 171x with the OIII filter, giving the nebula a clumpy, punctured appearance –like a balloon that’s just started deflating.

And finally, before the sky became too bright:

M8, Lagoon Nebula, Sagittarius

171x + OII, 133x. A quick look through the neighbouring garden’s rapidly increasing foliage (I don’t think I’ll be seeing many of the treasures in Sagittarius this summer, unfortunately). The finder showed a line of bright stars embedded in nebulosity. 171x + the OIII filter showed the nebulosity intensifying to a tight core that looks like it’s been pinched and twisted into the distinctive hourglass shape. There was also a suggestion of second, narrower dark area west of the main “lagoon”. At 133x (minus filter), the open cluster NGC 6530 dominated the view, the stars arranged into an angular, unwinding spiral.

Nature note

My stargazing was accompanied by the sound of frogs moving through the garden again.