Clusters in Cygnus and Scutum

7-8 July 2021, 23:30 – 02:00 (BST)

Seeing: Average

Transparency: Average/poor

Conditions: A breezy night with patches of high cirrus passing overhead; quite cool for the time of year. England won a major football semi-final tonight for the first time in 50+ years, so there was lots of noise coming from the town centre: people singing and car horns blaring until well after 1 AM.

Light condensation building gradually over the course of the session – mostly on the atlas and the telescope tube; fortunately the optics remained unaffected up until the last few minutes.

NGC 7044, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. I’ve looked at a lot of Cygnus clusters recently, and most of them have been immediately obvious. However, at first all I could see here were two moderately bright stars embedded in a very small and very hazy knot of light. Averted vision showed another faint haze nearby, but it was unclear whether one or both of these belonged to the cluster. At 171x a few stars popped out with averted vision, and a third star joined the two brighter ones to form a triangle. Perhaps not the best object to start a session (I was expecting something brighter).

NGC 7027, planetary nebula, Cygnus

171x. Small but bright blue-green nebula with bi-lobed structure. Bright spot stood out on the western side – as noted on previous occasions.

NGC 7086, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. Rich, compact cluster (visible as a hazy patch in the finder). Stars arranged in a loose, ragged spiral. Orange star on the western side. Underlying haze of unresolved stars.

NGC 7063, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. Large, loose cluster of bright stars with a central asterism shaped a bit like a stick representation of a horse.

I then relocated to the constellation of Scutum and, after spending some time in the company of M11 (the Wild Duck Cluster), I revisited an open cluster and a globular cluster:

NGC 6664, open cluster, Scutum

133x. Large, loose and sparse collection of moderately bright stars, shaped a bit like a partially peeled banana. Slightly washed out by the glare from 4th magnitude Alpha Scuti to the west.

NGC 6712, globular cluster, Scutum

133x and 171x. Grainy round glow in a rich star field – seemed larger than I remember. Bright field star to east. Faint stars visible with averted vision; even more so at 171x, though the field is so rich it’s hard to tell which ones belong to the cluster and which belong to the Milky Way. The cluster itself appeared “lumpy” at this power, with a prominent knot of stars south of the core. I’ve been underwhelmed by this object in the past, but tonight it really came to life – the best view I’ve had to date.

I spent quite a lot of time looking at this cluster, and at one point a slow-moving MEO satellite crossed the field on a southerly trajectory, its brightness oscillating slightly as it rotated.

NGC 6934 (Caldwell 47), globular cluster, Delphinus

171x. Small, compact globular; more condensed than 6712, with a brighter core. Bright 9.5m star leading 2’ to the west. Grainy with averted vision, but harder to resolve than 6712. The most prominent members appeared to be south of the core, with another one just northeast of the core.

M27 (Dumbbell Nebula), planetary nebula, Vulpecula

171x (no filter). Large and boxy at this power; no obvious colour. Brightest field star on the western corner, with a couple more visible through the northern half of the nebula. The central illuminating star wasn’t immediately obvious against the nebulous background, but was visible with averted vision, popping in and out of view with the seeing. It's not particularly difficult, but you have to make a conscious effort to seek it out, which is probably why I haven’t seen it before. Sources seem to vary on the brightness of this star: some have it at 13th magnitude; others have it nearer 14th magnitude. Based on my observation, I would put it nearer 13 than 14.

I rounded off the session with a first look at Jupiter for the year, starting at 171x, before moving up to 240x and then 333x. (Saturn is still low and currently behind the neighbour’s fast-growing tree for most of the night, but Jupiter looks like it might just clear it.) All four Galilean moons were on view (one west, three east) and the Great Red Spot was on the meridian, looking a bit faded compared to the last time I saw it. By contrast the NEB had a very dark core and a distinct orange-brown hue. I was almost tempted to get the laptop and capture some videos, but the condensation started to interfere at this point. Bodes well for the next couple of months though.

3 Open Clusters and 3 Globulars

31 May 2021, 00:10 – 01:20 (BST)

Seeing: Poor

Transparency: Average – Poor

A mild night to begin with, but cooled gradually over the course of the hour. Also a little breezy. As the temperature dropped, the condensation grew, collecting on the telescope tube and softening the pages of the notebook. The absence of true astronomical darkness was also apparent, making me wonder how I managed to see so much last summer (perhaps the light pollution from the town centre is starting to return to pre-2020 levels).

I started with a look at three open clusters in western Cygnus, two of which I’ve seen before (but only in passing, judging by the brevity of my notes).

NGC 6811, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. Large mass of similarly bright stars near Delta Cygni (and within the Kepler space telescope field of view); shaped vaguely like a fat spinning top, or an arrowhead. Hard to separate from the rich Milky Way background at this magnification; would probably look better in the Ethos.

NGC 6866, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. Compact group of about two dozen bright stars arranged in winding chains, with an underlying haze of fainter members. Quite pretty.

NGC 6819, open cluster, Cygnus

133x. Another compact cluster, shaped a bit like a wishbone or a pair of pliers. Comes alive with averted vision; revealed as a rich spray of faint stars with what looks like a dark lane cutting through the centre of the cluster. The wishbone suddenly becomes a flying squirrel(!), gliding through the Milky Way. Very pretty cluster; worth revisiting at a higher magnification on a better night.

M80, globular cluster, Scorpius

133x. Grainy round glow with a bright core; averted vision appears to expand the size of the cluster. 8th or 9th magnitude field star to the north-east. At 171x the impression remains much the same: a very condensed core and a few “speckles” with averted vision. The most prominent of these speckles (and the only one I was able to hold in view for a significant amount of time) was roughly halfway between the core of M80 and the aforementioned field star.

M12 and M10, globular clusters, Ophiuchus

133x. Both clusters looked a little washed-out tonight, and even increasing the magnification to 171x didn’t make much, if any, improvement to the contrast. (I think to see them at their best you really have to stay up very late on an April night.) Of the two, M10 looked better from an aesthetic point of view, appearing rounder and more condensed. M12 appeared unruly (almost “messy”) by comparison, with 2 particularly bright stars south of the core. As noted last year, the southernmost of the two is so prominent I wonder if it might be a foreground star.

With a waning gibbous moon starting to rise in the southeast, this was always going to be a truncated session, so I rounded off with a quick look at M11, which still looked superb despite the brightening sky. See my article on Love the Night Sky for more on this magnificent cluster.

With a similar forecast for the following night I took the scope out again (31 May, 23:45 to 1 June, 01:00), but, despite the moon rising half an hour later, the sky transparency was even worse. M4 (which looked so good last year) wasn’t even visible above the background glow.

Given the unfavourable conditions, I didn’t bother taking detailed notes, but I did look at M56 in Lyra, plus M80, M12 and M10 again (at 133x). I also looked at M57 and M13 at 333x (9mm Nagler + 2.5x Powermate), but the seeing wasn’t really good enough for such a high magnification.

As usual for this time of year, the sky was alive with satellites, including two bright ones which raced through the field of view while I was looking at M10 and M57.

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.

Old Favourites in Gemini and Auriga

9 January 2021, 19:00 – 20:15

Conditions: Very cold; hazy cloud and a slight mistiness in the air. Windy earlier, but dropped off by the time I took the scope outside.

Seeing: Poor / average

Transparency: Poor (mostly)


And still the bad weather continues; this being the first clear(ish) moon-free night in nearly a month. With hindsight I’m glad I got so much observing done last winter, because this one's looking more and more like a write-off.


Mars: 240x. Rather small now. The variable seeing made it hard to pick out detail, but there appeared to be a bright spot or cloud close to the SPC.

While in the area I took a quick look at Gamma Arietis (the headlight double) and also stumbled upon a similarly-spaced double in the same constellation. Possible Pi or Epsilon Arietis (most likely the former).

NGC 1514, Crystal Ball Nebula, Taurus

171x + OIII filter. Large (especially at this magnification), but quite faint tonight – even with the filter. Irregular outline with averted vision, but internal structure hard to see. Central star like a dim light shining through candyfloss. Also viewed at 92x (Ethos 13mm) without a filter; the nebulosity was still visible, but if it weren’t for the two halo-less stars flanking it, it could easily have been mistaken for the effects of condensation on the mirrors.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini

171x + OIII filter, and 92x (no filter). Bright, condensed, approximately half the size of NGC 1514. If 1514 was like candyfloss then this was like a scrunched-up swab of cotton wool. The shell structure I’ve seen on previous occasions was smeared out by bad seeing. Central star easier to see at 92x without the filter.

M35 and NGC 2158, open clusters, Gemini

Glorious view at 92x. NGC 2158 fairly obvious as an extended misty patch SW of M35 – seemed larger than I remember. A few stars resolved with averted vision, mostly on the outskirts.

M36, open cluster, Auriga

92x. Pretty cluster, bright stars arranged in pairs, but somewhat overshadowed by M37.

M37, open cluster, Auriga

92x. Spectacular view in the Ethos, easily the highlight of an otherwise indifferent night. Superbly rich in stars – arguably the best winter cluster (if you count the Double Cluster as an autumn object). The orange-red star at centre seemed particularly prominent tonight.

M42, Great Nebula, Orion

92x. Partially obstructed by neighbour’s tree, so just a quick look to make sure I get my annual fix. The Trapezium stars seemed to be showing slightly different colours (mostly likely due to combination of poor seeing and diffraction).


As tempting as it was to wait for Orion to clear the neighbour’s tree, the cold was really starting to bite at this point, so I called it a night.

A Gap in the Clouds

8 December 2020, 17:30 – 19:00

Conditions: Cold, clear, still (for once). Sky crawling with satellites. Very damp and muddy from recent rain. Smell of smoke in the air.

Seeing: All over the place – mostly poor but occasionally excellent

Transparency: Average / poor


The run of bad weather continues; the strong winds blow in a new batch of clouds almost as soon as the old ones have cleared, giving me barely enough time to observe with binoculars, let alone a telescope. Tonight’s 90-minute window felt like a luxury by comparison.


NGC 189, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. A pick-up from a previous session. (This is the first entry in O’Meara’s Hidden Treasures, but it’s not plotted in either the PSA or SA 2000.) Faint spray of stars in the rough shape of a Christmas star (appropriate for the time of year), though if you include the straight chain of stars trailing to the west it start to look more like a magic wand. Smaller than the nearby cluster NGC 225; would probably look better in a darker sky.

NGC 7293, Helix Nebula, Aquarius

50x + OIII filter. Very faint and ghostly tonight, even with the filter. Double-ring structure just about visible with some effort. Not a patch on last year’s viewings. It was at this point I had to concede that the low surface brightness objects on my target list (NGC 253, NGC 246, etc.) would have to wait for another night.

Mars: At 240x (plus the BCB filter) Mars was small and distinctly gibbous, but Syrtis Major was clearly visible. Increasing the magnification to 333x (same filter) made it easier to define the somewhat ragged outline of Syrtis Major, but the diminished SPC was hard to see. Looked as if there was a bright cloud extending from the Hellas region to the morning limb.


I also attempted (very optimistically) to track down IC 289 (a PN in Cassiopeia) and NGC 1275 (a galaxy in Perseus which has eluded me on several occasions) but the transparency wasn’t improving – if anything it was getting worse. Even M77 (one of the brighter Messier galaxies) was disappointingly faint. With the clouds gathering and the condensation increasing, I rounded off the session by popping the Ethos in the focuser and taking a quick look at – what else? – the magnificent Double Cluster.

Nature Note:

A fox casually trotting through the garden during the daytime, causing some anxiety among the local gulls.

Open Clusters in Cassiopeia

21 – 22 September 2020, 21:45 – 01:00

Conditions: Mild to begin with, but soon turning chilly. No wind. Condensation increasing over the course of the session.

Seeing: Average
Transparency: Poor

Again, with a couple of hours to spare before Mars reached a usable altitude, and the transparency no better than the previous night, I filled the time by touring some of Cassiopeia’s many open clusters.


M52, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Rich, vaguely delta-shaped cluster with a bright star on the eastern corner.

Also of note: between 21:50 and 21:55 BST, while looking at this cluster I spotted an unusually slow-moving satellite of about 8th or 9th magnitude, winking into view every three seconds. It was travelling west to east, and passed just south of M52, taking about a minute to cross the field of view. Later, when I was back indoors, I used a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation to estimate it was on a 12-hour orbit. This puts it squarely in the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) range; the first time (as far as I can remember) that I’ve observed one of these satellites.

NGC 7790, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Compact cluster of about 20 faint stars with an underlying unresolved haze. Quite a nice view. In the same field of view to the NW was an even smaller triangular cluster of about 6 stars plus an unresolved haze – what I assume to be NGC 7788.

I looked (rather optimistically, it has to be said) for the galaxy IC 10, but couldn’t see it. However I did spot a very close double star nearby, just to the north.

NGC 129, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Large, loose cluster with a mixture of bright and faint stars. No underlying haze that I could see.

NGC 225, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Large cluster of about 20 to 30 similarly bright stars.

King 14, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Faint stars plus haze in a rich star field, just NW of 15 (Kappa) Cas. It's a nice field in the Nagler, but the cluster doesn’t really jump out.

NGC 7789, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Not so well resolved tonight as on previous occasions, but still wonderfully rich. Looked like a hazy “swarm” of stars.

NGC 559 (Caldwell 8), open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Small, hazy, rectangular cluster with bright stars on each corner; the brightest stars on the eastern side formed a triangle. More stars popped out with averted vision.

NGC 663 (Caldwell 10), open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Rich, large, lots of bright stars, plus that distinctive horseshoe shape. Always impressive.

NGC 659, open cluster, Cassiopeia

133x. Small, arrowhead-shaped cluster near NGC 663. Fainter stars of similar brightness plus two bright ones (are these foreground stars?).

IC 1747, planetary nebula, Cassiopeia

I added the 2.5x Powermate to boost the magnification to 333x, but before heading to Mars, I paid a return visit to this little planetary nebula. There wasn’t much to see other than a faint little disc – but at least it was an obvious disc as opposed to a bloated star. With averted vision it seemed slightly brighter on the western side, but this feature (if real) was very subtle.

Mars: 333x. The seeing wasn’t quite as good tonight as it had been over the weekend, but the Sinus Sabaeus region was still showing well, with just a hint of Syrtis Major on the evening limb.

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.

Completing the Messier Catalogue

20 – 21 July 2020, 23:30 – 2:00

Conditions: Mild to begin with, but got chillier. Very gentle breeze; light condensation towards the end of the session. Proper astronomical dark was back at last (for an hour at least).

Seeing: Average
Transparency: Good

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE continues its progress over the north-western horizon. Becoming harder to see with the naked eye, but still a good sight in binoculars. Definitely fainter now, but the tail is longer.

All observations (apart from the planets) at 92x with the 13mm Ethos. The XT10 was propped on the improvised “Observing table + bricks” platform again – hopefully for the final time. For the last couple of sessions I’ve been using a magnetic 3 lb counterweight to help balance the scope when attaching the camera or heavy eyepieces like the Ethos to the focuser. I’m not sure it’s worth the price Orion charge for it, but it does the job (without marking the scope), so I can’t argue with that.

M8, Lagoon Nebula, Sagittarius
A quick look (sans filter). The Ethos is the best eyepiece for framing this object, showing the nebula, the cluster (NGC 6530) and 7 Sagittarii all in the same field of view.

NGC 6522, globular cluster, Sagittarius
Quite obvious in the Ethos, if faint. Small and condensed; averted vision revealed some faint stars on the outskirts of the cluster – possibly foreground stars.

NGC 6544, globular cluster, Sagittarius
Small, faint globular, south-east of M8; very condensed core with averted vision – almost star-like. Faint star west; three more east.

NGC 6553, globular cluster, Sagittarius
Large, extended globular, south-east of 6544 and M8; brighter towards centre, but not particularly condensed. Faint star just north-west of core.

NGC 6624, globular cluster, Sagittarius
As per previous observation: bright, condensed. A bit more prominent tonight.

M69, globular cluster, Sagittarius
More obvious tonight, but still faint. Quite condensed core with averted vision. Bright star NNW.

M70, globular cluster, Sagittarius
Faint, low surface brightness globular, but clearly visible tonight – though not as obvious as M69. Some sources list M70 as being smaller than M69, but to my eyes it seemed a little larger, perhaps because M69 is more concentrated. Bright field star to west. The cluster appeared condensed with averted vision, which also revealed a faint star north of the core, plus a suggestion of fainter stars east of the core.

At 00:15 there was a very bright ISS pass, almost directly overhead.

M22, globular cluster, Sagittarius
A refreshing change after all those faint globulars: large, rich and expansive – brimming with stars; really fills out with averted vision. I imagine seeing this from the UK must be a bit like seeing Omega Centauri from the southern US states.

M11, open cluster, Scutum
Amazing as always. The lucida is on the eastern corner of cluster. Finely resolved in the Ethos – gives a really crisp view.

M26, open cluster, Scutum
Small kite-shaped cluster with a curving chain of stars to the north and a fainter spray of stars to the east. Central asterism curiously empty.

🍾 M55, globular cluster, Sagittarius 🍾
Very large, low surface brightness globular – like a ghost of M22. No wonder I struggled to see it at the higher magnification last time out, but tonight there was no mistaking it with the Ethos. With time and averted vision, a faint sprinkling of stars began to appear, the brightest one located south-east of the core (not sure if this was a true member or a foreground star). It’s taken a while, but I’ve now seen every single Messier object – all of them from my garden, and all but one of them with the XT10. A modest achievement perhaps, but one I didn’t think was possible until a few months ago (when I saw M83).

I rounded off the session by upping the magnification to 171x and taking a look at a couple of planets, beginning with Saturn at opposition. The view was a little hazy because of the increasing condensation, but the enhanced brightness of the rings immediately stood out (they were so bright they made the closer moons a little harder to see than usual). The Cassini Division was showing well and there was even some brightness variation across the rings (which I’ve only previously seen in photos). The colour contrast between the dusky, slightly tan planet and the very pale blue-tinged rings was also noticeable. The effect was subtle and came and went with the seeing, but at times it really did look like the Saturn I’ve seen in photos.

Mars is gradually increasing in size and phase. Some vague dark markings were visible and the polar cap was bright, but the seeing in this part of the sky is still quite poor. Hoping a dust storm doesn’t obscure the surface at opposition like it did in 2018.

Nature note:
A noisy wader (possibly an oystercatcher) flying around for much of the night provided an atmospheric soundtrack to the session. Also, a frog jumped on my foot (I heard it approaching, so I wasn’t taken completely by surprise).

Globular Clusters in Ophiuchus and Sagittarius

22 – 23 June 2020, 23:30 – 3:30

Conditions: Very mild, light wind with occasional gusts. No clouds and no condensation tonight.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Quite good considering the time of year

Once again I set up two scopes in the garden: the XT10 with the 13mm Ethos (92x) and the TV60 with the 9mm Nagler (40x). The XT10 was balanced on my observing table, enabling it to point a little further south than usual (and also so I could observe while sitting down).

After warming up with views of M13, M57, M56 and Albireo, I turned my attention south to a selection of globular clusters.

M19, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Bright, condensed globular, about the same declination as Antares. Speckled appearance with averted vision. One star resolved north of the core, another one east of the core.

NGC 6284, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Small, condensed blur, a little north of M19. Swells in size with averted vision. Faint star east of core.

NGC 6293, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Another small, condensed blur. No resolution, but the core seemed particularly bright.

M62, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Large, condensed blur (one of the Messier globulars below -30 degrees). Bright core, a little grainy with averted vision.

NGC 6316, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Very faint round blur, east of M19 and M62, and about midway between them in terms of declination (-28 degrees). Condensed with averted vision. There were also a few stars superimposed over the top, surrounding the core; I assume these are foreground stars and not true cluster members.

M9, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Bright, asymmetric globular. Starts to resolve with averted vision, but really needs a darker sky to get the best out of it. Apparent dark patches southwest of core.

NGC 6342, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Faint, condensed blur, south of M9. Brighter core with averted vision. Faint star SW of core.

NGC 6356, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
92x. Bright, condensed globular, northwest of M9 and only a little smaller and fainter than its M-designated neighbour. No resolution, but some faint stars visible on the outskirts of the cluster.

M6, open cluster, Scorpius
92x (and skimming the neighbour's fence!). Better-framed at this magnification (than at 133x), but still a little too large for the fov. More stars visible, giving it an almost “chunky” appearance. On this occasion its overall outline reminded me a little of M24.

M7, open cluster, Scorpius: 40x (TV60 + 9mm Nagler)
A slightly better view tonight, reinforcing my initial impressions: a large, loose cluster with the dozen brightest stars arranged in a wavy x-shape.

NGC 6520, open cluster, Sagittarius
92x. I picked this up by accident while sweeping the area south of M8. A compact and very distinctive open cluster comprised of bright, colourful stars overlying a rich unresolved haze. Prominent orange star near the centre. This cluster stood out well despite its low altitude (-28 degrees declination).

M21, open cluster, Sagittarius
92x. Rich cluster with bright stars; not particularly condensed. Bright pair near centre.

M28, globular cluster, Sagittarius
92x. Bright, condensed globular. Grainy appearance. Hint of resolution with averted vision. Somewhat overshadowed by its illustrious neighbour…

M22, globular cluster, Sagittarius
92x. Very large “flattened” globular – spectacular in the Ethos. A few dozen stars resolved in direct vision; countless more with averted vision. Appeared to be a dark lane or rift on the western side. Tonight at least, it surpassed even M13 in visual splendour.

M24, star-cloud, Sagittarius
92x. Incredibly rich star-field. Even in the Ethos it covers several fields of view, but this is probably the best eyepiece for appreciating this region’s grandeur and sheer density of stars. I could easily spend an entire session here. The dark dust clouds which give M24 its distinctive sharp-edged appearance are conspicuous by their relative absence of stars. I know this region is actually a window into a deeper part of the galaxy, but the impression I get is of an iceberg of stars caught in the process of calving off from the Milky Way.

M18, open cluster, Sagittarius
92x. Bright little cluster; not particularly rich, but the brightest stars seem to form the shape of a pointy toadstool, or a partially opened umbrella.

M54, globular cluster, Sagittarius
92x. Small, round condensed blur. Prominent bright core, but not even a hint of resolution. Apparently gravitationally bound to the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (SagDEG).

M69, M70 and M55 (the only Messiers I haven’t yet observed) eluded me tonight. M69 and M70 are only a couple of degrees lower than M54, but that’s a lot of atmosphere to look through, making them too faint for the TV60. They also don't quite clear the fence as viewed from the XT10 - even with it balanced on a table. At -31 degrees, M55 should be viewable in the XT10, but – being further east than the other objects – the sky was too bright by the time it emerged from behind the tree. However, as a consolation, the conditions were just right for viewing the planets (with the 7mm DeLite).

Jupiter, 171x: Possibly my best view yet of the giant planet. Some sustained moments of excellent seeing revealed superfine detail, including festoons trailing from the notably turbulent NEB. Io’s shadow was visible as a perfect little dark spot on the NEB, and I was able to follow Io itself as it nudged across the darkened Jovian limb to begin its own transit. I did briefly add the 2.5x Powermate to increase the magnification to 428x, but the seeing wasn’t quite that good.

Saturn, 171x: Same detail as noted in the previous session, but holding steady for longer. The Cassini Division showed particularly well. Again, despite the brightening sky, Titan, Tethys, Dione and Rhea were clearly visible, along with a nearby faint star masquerading as a moon; I’d have to do a same-night comparison with the 5mm Nagler to be sure, but the DeLite does seem to control light-scatter better than any other eyepiece I’ve looked through.

Mars, 171x: First telescopic view of the red planet for this year. The seeing wasn’t quite as good here (it was still only just clearing the neighbour’s rooftop), but the gibbous phase was obvious along with some vague dark markings that showed a little better when I added the Baader Contrast Booster filter*. Disc still small at 11 arcseconds, but the best is yet to come (barring another dust storm like the one in 2018).

(* I bought the BCB years ago for the Vixen SP-102; I had no idea it was useful as a Mars filter until I read about it recently on Cloudy Nights.)

Summer Clusters and Nebulae

18-19 May 2020, 23:45 – 2:30

Conditions: Breezy, relatively mild (first night I haven’t needed my winter coat). After a day dominated by high cirrus, the sky cleared suddenly, with just a few lingering vapour trails crossing the sky. Cloudy later on.

Seeing: Average - poor
Transparency: Poor - average

The nights are so short now that it doesn’t get reasonably dark until after 11pm, which makes for a lot of hanging around in the evening when (like tonight) the clear-sky forecast is ambiguous. With the sky near the northern horizon staying noticeably light, and vapour trails drifting overhead, the seeing and transparency varied considerably from minute to minute and from one part of the sky to another.

After warming up with M12 and M10 (both clusters looked a little hazy tonight), I tracked down another lesser-known globular in Ophiuchus:

NGC 6426, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
133x. Very faint hazy patch; a little condensed with averted vision. Unimpressive.

NGC 6572, planetary nebula, Ophiuchus
133x and 171x. Small, very bright oval disc; almost stellar at 133x. Stands out largely because of its strong green-blue colour. At 171x, the central star or core region (it was hard to tell exactly what I was seeing) overwhelms the surrounding nebulosity in direct vision. In averted vision the opposite is true: the outer nebulosity becomes the dominant feature.

NGC 6633, open cluster, Ophiuchus
133x. Follow-up from previous observation. Loose cluster of bright stars elongated roughly N-S. As noted previously, shows well in finder. Small “arrowhead” asterism of about 8 stars separated from main cluster on western (leading) side. Quite large, but a bit more “telescope-friendly” than the nearby IC clusters 4665 and 4756.

IC 4756, open cluster, Serpens
133x. Not as bright as IC 4665 and NGC 6633, but a very rich, very large cluster – best suited for smaller wide-field scopes.

NGC 6791, open cluster, Lyra
133x. Faint, extended haze. Starts to resolve with averted vision, giving at least a sense of its richness. Not much, if any, improvement on my previous observation, but I am slowly warming to this cluster.

M56, globular cluster, Lyra
133x. A little washed-out compared to previous observation. The triangular core was less apparent tonight, but I did notice a bright star leading the cluster and a long “x” shape of stellar arms.

M57, The Ring Nebula, Lyra
171x. Additional prep work for sketch (first draft below). The transparency must have been good in this part of the sky because I could just about detect a faint 14th magnitude star east of the ring (just beyond the brighter 13th magnitude star).

At 1:20 I was distracted by the unmistakable sight of the ISS passing high overhead.

After quick looks at M27, M4 and M80 I was irresistibly drawn to an old favourite:

M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, Scutum
133x. After all these years it still boggles me that I don’t have to travel any further than my back garden to see something as breathtakingly beautiful as this cluster. I have mixed feelings about the bucket list approach to life, but if you insist on such a checklist, seeing M11 through a telescope should probably be on it.

At around 2 AM the clouds returned with reinforcements, but after I’d taken the scope indoors – wouldn’t you know it – the sky suddenly cleared again from the south, and now it was remarkably free of haze. With only about half an hour of usable dark left, it wasn’t worth carrying it back out again, so all remaining observations were carried out with 7x50 binoculars and the naked eye (the most important instrument of all!).

M24, star-cloud, Sagittarius
I don’t recall ever seeing M24 with the naked eye before (the Milky Way in Sagittarius is always a little washed out from my location), but tonight it was visible as a hazy patch, a little smaller than the Scutum star-cloud further to the north. The binoculars revealed it to be sprinkled with stars, the brightest ones forming a distinctive almond shape.

This part of the sky (the steam rising from the spout of the Sagittarius teapot) is rich in bright clusters and nebulae, many of which showed up well in the binoculars (particularly M8, the Lagoon Nebula). Also visible in the binoculars were M12, M10, M11 and M27.

The binoculars resolved several more stars in M6 tonight, giving a much better view than 17 May. I also got my first glimpse of M7, which was just visible as a faint hazy patch very low in the south. I propped my elbow against a door-frame to steady the view and over time a few faint stars began to pop out. Averted vision also showed the cluster to be larger than was first apparent. From the same vantage point I could also see the bright stars Lambda Scorpii (Shaula), Upsilon Scorpii (Lesath) and G Scorpii through the binoculars (but not with the naked eye), all three of which culminate at less than 2 degrees above the horizon from my location. I don’t think I’ll be able to get the XT10 on M7, but it might be possible in the TV60.

Night of the Globular Clusters

14 -15 April 2020, 23:30 – 02:45

Conditions: Slight breeze, hazy bands of cloud receding low in the southeast.

Seeing: Poor
Transparency: Average

I was in the mood for something different after all those faint galaxies, so I started a bit later than usual with a session devoted (mostly) to globular clusters. All observations carried out at 133x with the 9mm Nagler. In the XT10 this eyepiece seems to hit the sweet spot for framing and resolving globulars; also, sticking to one magnification for the entire session makes it easier to compare one cluster to another.

M13, globular cluster, Hercules
What better place to start? (I returned to this cluster several times during the session as it rose higher in the sky.) Stunning as always, and for the first time I clearly saw the dark Y-shaped “propeller feature” adjacent to the core. Like the nearby galaxy NGC 6207, I suspect it’s one of those things that becomes fairly obvious after you’ve seen it once. No overall colour to the cluster that I could see – at least not on this occasion.

M92, globular cluster, Hercules
Smaller than M13, but an impressive globular in its own right. Well resolved. Oval shape. Slight blue tinge.

NGC 6229, globular cluster, Hercules
The “baby bear” of the three Hercules globulars. Small, condensed, quite bright. Grainy, but no stars resolved.

M104, Sombrero Galaxy, Virgo
A “stop-off” on the way to M68. Long, saucer-shaped galaxy with central bulge and bright stellar core. Dark lane clearly seen offset to the south.

M68, globular cluster, Hydra
Large, faint misty patch of light, all but washed out by its low altitude and atmospheric haze. With averted vision it seemed a little mottled, but that was all I could make out. A tough object – I lost it a couple of times and had trouble relocating it.

NGC 4565, Needle Galaxy, Coma Berenices
Very long and thin compared to M104, extending almost halfway across the field of view. Star-like nucleus embedded in slightly bulging core. Dark lane cutting across core; with averted vision it can be seen extending further out across the galaxy.

NGC 5634, globular cluster, Virgo
Small, round unresolved fuzzball, not very condensed. Faint star to west, bright one to east.

M5, globular cluster, Serpens Caput
A lovely, rich condensed cluster, rivalling M13. Well resolved most of the way to the core. (It’s such a stunning cluster I completely forgot to check for colour.) Stars appear “swept back” to the east. Particularly prominent star just southeast of the core. Further away, just out of the field to the southeast, lies a bright and closely paired double star (5 Serpentis).

M83, Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, Hydra
Took a while to track down, and when I did it was literally grazing the neighbour’s fence (culminating at less than 9 degrees above the horizon!). The galaxy itself was just visible as a condensed fuzzy core, with a distinctive line of 3 stars to the south and east. Averted vision revealed a very faint surrounding haze. A minor miracle that I’m able to see a galaxy this far south (I only searched for it on a whim because the haze had cleared and all the neighbours’ lights were off). That I was able to see it all illustrates that it must be a spectacular object when viewed from more southerly latitudes.

M12, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
Unusual, spidery cluster with a pear-shaped core and two long straight “arms” of stars forming a flattened “X” shape. Also a seemingly detached clump of stars to the west and a bright (foreground?) star southeast of the core, reminiscent of the one in M5. A straggly cluster, quite well resolved, with lots of intriguing detail.

M10, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
A more “conventional” globular than M12, appearing as a rich, condensed ball of stars. Most distinctive features are a wavy arm of stars to the north and an opposing one extending south (like the integral sign or the f-hole on a violin). Well resolved.

M56, globular cluster, Lyra
Small, condensed globular residing in a rich Milky Way field. Bright star to west. Distinctive triangular core. Resolved fairly well with averted vision.

M14, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
Large, grainy, condensed cluster. Very few stars resolved – not sure if this was due to haze, interstellar dust extinction, or tiredness creeping in.

M107, globular cluster, Ophiuchus
A relatively faint, condensed cluster, smaller than M14. Grainy with averted vision. Again, possible haze/dust/tiredness affecting the view.

IC 4665, open cluster, Ophiuchus
Loose, boxy cluster of bright, blue-white stars of similar magnitude. Too large to fully appreciate at 133x, but looked very good in the finderscope and in 7x50 binoculars.

As tempting as it was to wait around for Scorpius (another constellation typically lost to the midsummer continuous twilight) to clear the neighbour’s tree, I’d been outside for over three hours, so I called it a night.

The Tao of Tau Canis Majoris

28 January 2020, 21:30 – 23:30

A cold, breezy night. My feet felt frozen by the end of the session despite two layers of socks. Some hazy bands of cloud moving slowly from the south-west from about 23:15 onwards. But no condensation for a change.

Seeing: Average
Transparency: Good to Average

I started with a tour of some old favourites using the Panoptic 24mm (50x), before switching to higher magnification once the scope had cooled to ambient temperature and my eyes had dark-adjusted.

M42, The Orion Nebula
Viewed at 50x and 133x, both with and without the OIII filter. Not much I can add to previous descriptions; with the filter in place the nebulosity almost overwhelmed the Trapezium, particularly at the lower magnification. The OIII also imparted a strong green colour, more so than any other object I’ve used it on.

NGC 2392, Eskimo Nebula, Gemini
Showed up nicely at 92x (13mm Ethos). Bright shell and central star seen with direct vision; double shell with averted vision. Pale blue colour.

NGC 2420, open cluster, Gemini
At 92x appeared as a condensed fuzz of stars, about a dozen resolved with direct vision – more with averted vision. Lines of stars appear to curl out to four “corner” stars, giving the cluster a shape resembling a Mermaid’s Purse.

NGC 2355, open cluster, Gemini
92x. Another condensed group of faint stars. Brightest member on southern edge. Curving chain of stars leading north to brighter star. Pretty cluster!

NGC 2395, open cluster, Gemini
92x. Kite-shaped cluster of stars. Sparse, loose; not as good as 2355.

M50, open cluster, Monoceros
92x. As noted previously: rich, large. Prominent red star on southern edge of cluster.

NGC 2335, open cluster, Monoceros
92x. Small, sparse cluster, but there seemed to be an underlying haze of unresolved stars.

NGC 2343, open cluster, Monoceros
92x. Small and sparse again, but brighter stars than 2335. Roughly triangular in shape.

W Canis Majoris, carbon star, Canis Major
92x. Scarlet-hued star; distinctive, but not as vivid as Hind’s Crimson Star.

NGC 2353, open cluster, Monoceros
92x. Rich, if sprawling cluster, gathered around a bright 6th magnitude star (apparently a foreground star rather than a cluster member).

NGC 2362, Tau Canis Majoris cluster (Caldwell 64), Canis Major
92x. In a word: wow! I’ve never seen a cluster quite like this before. A stunning sight in the Ethos despite its very low altitude (declination -25 degrees). A brilliant 4-5 magnitude star (Tau) surrounded by a rich swarm of bright stars. Tau (which apparently is a member and not a foreground star) has a faint companion a few arcseconds east. The cluster has a roughly triangular shape, with another bright star further to the east. It almost looks too good to be true, like it was designed by a VFX artist for a sci-fi film. The highlight of the night.

NGC 2354, open cluster, Canis Major
92x. Loose, filmy mass of stars somewhat washed out by light pollution. Would no doubt be more impressive if it were higher in the sky (and not so near to NGC 2362).

NGC 2360, open cluster, Canis Major
(Caldwell 58) 92x. As previous description. Rich, straggly cluster of moderately bright stars.

NGC 2359, “Thor’s Helmet”, emission nebula, Canis Major
Ethos 13mm + OIII filter. I remember seeing a colour photo of this nebula in an astronomy book when I was a kid, and I was struck by how dramatic it looked: like a spectral demon charging headlong through the heavens. It’s an image that has stayed with me (particularly when I read the epigraph of JG Ballard’s story The Illuminated Man), but I never imagined I would get to see this nebula with my own eyes. For some reason I thought it was only visible from the southern hemisphere (curiously, O’Meara, in his book The Secret Deep, was under the same impression), but while planning my exploration of this part of the sky I realised that not only was its declination just -13 degrees, but also – crucially – it might be bright enough to see in the XT10.

I couldn’t see any nebulosity when I scanned the region unfiltered, but when I added the OIII it was immediately obvious, appearing as a bowl-shaped hemisphere of light with a short bright extension angling away from the southern end (one of the “horns” of the helmet). After staring at it (and to the side of it) for a little while I was able to see the other “horn” as a longer, fainter extension angling from the northern end, pointing west, as well as a bright spot on the northern edge of the bowl. Comparatively, NGC 2359 reminded me of a ghostlier version of the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888 in Cygnus), another object which responds similarly well to filters, and is itself also powered by a Wolf-Rayet star.

It has to be said that telescopically NGC 2359 looked less like a spectral demon and more like a spectral cauliflower, but as nebulae go it was still very impressive. If NGC 2362 was the night’s highlight, this was a close second.

NGC 2438, planetary nebula, Puppis
With the OIII filter still in place I moved the scope across to NGC 2438, which would arguably be one of the winter’s best planetary nebulae even if it didn't share a telescopic field with M46. The OIII filter dimmed the surrounding starlight, thus making 2438 much more distinct, although it’s nowhere near as bright as the Eskimo Nebula in Gemini. On this occasion it looked a little like M57, appearing as a ring with a darker centre – although the dark core was smaller in size compared to the ring, giving the nebula a more donut-like appearance. Also the nebula seemed larger than it did on 17 January, though this was probably an illusory effect caused by the filter subduing M46.

NGC 2440, planetary nebula, Puppis
Small disc of light a few degrees south of 2438. A field star to the east helps confirm its status; otherwise I think it would be easy to overlook, particularly at low magnification. A close double star to the southeast can also distract the unwary observer. Very bright in the OIII filter; direct vision suggested a bright core and averted vision suggested a faint outer halo, but my eyes were getting very tired by this stage so it was hard to be sure. One to revisit at higher magnification.

Nature note
One frog in the pond (the usual long-stayer), plus lots of wriggling insect larvae.

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.

Star Clusters in Cassiopeia

22 October 2019, 20:00 – 21:45 BST

Cool evening, getting colder as the night progressed. No wind.
Transparency: poor to average (improved slightly towards the end of the session)
Seeing: started out good, but suddenly deteriorated from about 21:15 onwards (opposite direction to the transparency)

NGC 7789, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Stumbled upon it while sweeping. Very pretty in the Ethos (if a little subdued by the poor transparency). Looked like a spiral galaxy without a core.

NGC 381, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Faint, boxy little spray of stars with bright tail of stars to north.

NGC 637, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Small, condensed haze – resolves with averted vision. Four bright stars at corners (double on eastern corner). Brighter field stars to west.

NGC 225, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Loose, sparse group comprised of equally bright stars. Online images show a reflection nebula (vdB 4) associated with this cluster (not sure if it's bright enough to see visually - even on a good night). NGC 225 is also nicknamed the “sailboat cluster”; I think I’d have to look at it again to see that, but I did get a sense of some kind of shape: the stars were arranged in angled lines, like a folded piece of cardboard seen from the side. I guess the “cardboard cluster” doesn’t have quite the same ring about it, but the sailboat shape didn’t jump out at me, certainly not as much as it does in NGC 1502.

Stock 24, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Spotted while sweeping area around NGC 225. Tight little fuzz with double star at eastern apex.

NGC 129, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Narrow “v” formation of stars pointing at bright star to south. Rich cluster.

NGC 136, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Small starfish or whirligig-shaped fuzz of stars. Resolved with averted vision.

Comet C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)
Small, very faint patch of light close to prominent asterism in Andromeda. Would be easy to overlook if I didn’t have the finder chart. Prolonged averted vision showed a condensed core and the suggestion of an extended coma.

At this point heavy condensation was setting in – even affecting the Ethos eyepiece – so I switched to the Nagler 9mm (133x) for the remainder of the session. I also noticed a featureless band of cloud rising slowly from the southeast.

NGC 1245, open cluster, Perseus
Rich spray of faint stars.

NGC 1023, galaxy, Perseus
Bright (relatively speaking) little galaxy, aligned east-west. Condensed core. Faint extension to east?

M76, planetary nebula, Perseus
Faintly visible unfiltered, but the poor transparency meant that I needed the OIII filter to do it any kind of justice. The familiar bi-lobed structure was apparent, with the south-western lobe clearly brighter – particularly with averted vision. On this viewing it was vaguely reminiscent of the famous Hubble image of the Homunculus (Eta Carinae).

Other notes
One tadpole in the pond (!); other frogs nowhere to be seen.
Also, the characteristic “tseep” of a migrating redwing.

Cepheus and Beyond

2 October 2019, 21:30 – 00:15 BST

Cold, breezy; patchy cloud moving from west.

NGC 7510, open cluster, Cepheus
Viewed at 92x (Ethos 13mm) – rich, condensed little cluster. Brightest stars form outline of fang or dagger, with fainter spray of stars alongside. This cluster resides in a particularly rich part of the Milky Way. While sweeping the area I stumbled across a small, crescent-shaped cluster roughly southeast of 7510, later confirmed as Markarian 50. It stood out despite the richness of the surrounding star-fields, so I’m surprised it didn’t make the NGC catalogue.

NGC 7762, open cluster, Cepheus
Faint, misty patch of stars north of bright star, shaped like an hourglass or bow tie.

Delta Cephei
Beautiful wide double. White primary, blue secondary to south. The prototype Cepheid variable.

NGC 7380, open cluster, Cepheus
Triangular cluster of stars, no obvious nebulosity.

Trumpler 37, open cluster, Cepheus
Cluster surrounded by IC 1396 emission nebula (not visible). Large sprawling star field; prominent triple star near centre, double star nearby (roughly between triple star and Mu Cephei).

NGC 752, open cluster, Andromeda
Large, rich cluster with lots of bright stars. Fills field of view of Ethos.

M33, Triangulum Galaxy
Well framed in the Ethos, and quite a good view despite average transparency. Could almost describe it as “bright”, particularly the core region. NGC 604 was obvious even at 92x. Spiral arms seemed mottled with averted vision. Suggestion of dark patches immediately S and SE of nucleus.

NGC 1528, open cluster, Perseus
Very rich cluster, about 0.5 degree across. Stars arranged in loose arms spiralling out from centre.

NGC 1513, open cluster, Perseus 
Smaller, fainter cluster with winding line of stars in reverse s-shape or shape of number “2”.

I then crossed over into Camelopardalis to look for galaxy IC 342, but I couldn’t see it even though I was pretty sure I was looking in the right place. This didn’t come as a complete surprise. I think with higher elevation and better transparency I should at least be able to spot it. Failing that, it’s in a good place for imaging.

NGC 7331, spiral galaxy, Pegasus
I probably wasted too much time trying to find IC 342, so by the time I got to this galaxy it had already slipped past the meridian. At 240x the core region showed up well, with a sharp cut-off corresponding to the dust lane. Even with the close-up finder chart I couldn’t be sure of seeing the neighbouring galaxies (the “fleas”).

Stephan’s Quintet, galaxy grouping in Pegasus
Using the finder chart I carefully navigated SW from 7331 to the correct area (still at 240x). With averted vision I could just about see 2 small galaxies right on the threshold of visibility, apparently corresponding to NGC 7318 A/B and NGC 7320. Very difficult – I need to try this again on a better night to be sure of what I was seeing.

Uranus 
Tough to find without any naked-eye stars nearby, but eventually tracked it down in the Ethos. Presented as a bright little green-grey disc, clearly non-stellar. Well resolved at 240x and 333x, and when the seeing occasionally “snapped” into place it looked quite eerie: a tiny little globe suspended in the depths of space. No additional detail seen other than perhaps some limb-darkening.

M45, Pleiades, Taurus
Attractive sight at 92x, but obviously still too large for the field of view. The reflection nebula is especially prominent at this magnification – it almost looks like condensation has fogged up the optics. Nebulosity brightest around Merope, but couldn’t see any structure to it.

Other notes
1 slow meteor some time around midnight, travelling from the zenith towards the western horizon. A possible early Orionid?

Autumn Clusters

21 September 2019, 21:00 – 22:30 BST

Conditions: much the same as Thursday – very mild for time of year, bands of clouds moving slowly from the south.

Started off with a quick eyepiece comparison (viewing the Double Cluster): now I’ve looked through the Ethos a number of times, I can really see the flaws in the Orion Deepview 28mm. It has approximately the same size eye-lens, but that’s where the similarities end. The Deepview’s coatings are inferior (that’s obvious in daylight) and the sharpness falls off very quickly from the centre. I’ve also noticed before that when looking at a bright object like the moon in the Deepview, the shadow of the secondary mirror is visible. To be fair, the Deepview is a perfectly acceptable starter eyepiece (and easier to look through than ones I’ve used in the past), but I wonder if it’s really the best choice to bundle with an f/4.7 scope (especially one marketed in the "Plus" range). I doubt I’ll be using it again other than for demonstrating to others the difference between a budget and a premium eyepiece.

All subsequent observations with the Ethos 13mm.

NGC 6940, open cluster, Vulpecula
Rich, elongated cluster. On this occasion (and in this eyepiece) it looked a little like a swan in flight (which would be more apt if it were in Cygnus).

NGC 7160, open cluster, Cepheus
Attractive little cluster with five bright stars arranged in two groupings. One to revisit at 240x on a better night.

While sweeping the area around this cluster I stumbled upon Xi Cephei (Kurhah) – a really neat pairing of two bright stars. The colours were subtle, but the primary appeared to be white or very pale yellow, with a pale blue secondary roughly 10 arcseconds to the west.

NGC 7235, open cluster, Cepheus
Misty little spray of stars, 2 or 3 moderately bright members.

M34, open cluster, Perseus
Array of bright stars surrounded by a loose hexagon of stars, like a large spider sitting in a web. 2 close stars of equal brightness form the “eyes” of the spider. Looks good in the Ethos.

Nature note
Two large frogs (one of which left the pond to go roaming) and sixteen froglets.

A Bow-tie in Cepheus

27 August 2019, 22:00 – 23:00 BST

The third clear night in a row, although the transparency was rather poor. The imaging target for the evening was the globular cluster M15.

Observations of M15, M71, M57 and NGC 7662 were affected by the conditions and so not really worthy of note-taking, although the latter (7662) did show a hint of a darker core at the higher magnification of 240x. However there were a couple of other highlights:

M103, open cluster, Cassiopeia
Triangular cluster with prominent red star at centre. While sweeping the scope towards Epsilon Cas I stumbled upon a tiny little cluster of stars, the four brightest stars of which formed an almost dead straight line. Not plotted in PSA, but confirmed in Uranometria as Trumpler 1.

NGC 40, The Bow-tie Nebula, Cepheus
Medium sized planetary nebula; faint envelope surrounding central star (not unlike the Crystal Ball Nebula in Taurus). The addition of the OIII filter gave a hint of a lobed structure, at the expense of the central star (which was swamped by the nebulosity). Worth revisiting under better sky conditions.

Other notes
Saw another late Perseid streaking through Lyra towards the end of the evening.

Three Globulars and a lot of Galaxies

26 February 2019, 19:15 – 22:15

Very mild for time of year, a little hazy; some condensation, but not as bad as the last few sessions. All observations with the 9mm Nagler at 133x.

M79, globular cluster in Lepus
Grainy fuzzball – small and condensed, but quite distinctive despite the light pollution in this part of the sky. A single faint star resolved on northern edge (and it is a cluster member, not a foreground star; see the DeepSkyVideos take on M79). I was amazed I could see it so well given its declination (-24 degrees = about 15 degrees above the horizon at culmination).

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini
The “leaf” cluster, as described previously. Looked a little hazy tonight.

NGC 2266, open cluster in Gemini
Rich little cluster. Shape resembles a triangle with caved-in sides. Brightest star at southern apex.

NGC 2129, open cluster in Gemini
Two bright stars with a retinue of fainter stars in two lines arranged roughly east-west (southern line straight, the northern one wavy – like an approximation symbol).

M35, NGC 2158, open clusters in Gemini
Latter partially resolved with averted vision; M35 fills the field of view at 133x.

NGC 2419, globular cluster in Lynx
Found it at last (on the third attempt!). The so-called “intergalactic wanderer”. Faint round blur in line with two bright stars. Averted vision increases its size but little else. A few faint foreground stars sprinkled around the cluster, but obviously not associated with it.

NGC 2841, galaxy in Ursa Major
Elliptical shape, stellar nucleus embedded in what looked like a bar-shaped core region. Faint foreground star on western end. Dark lane on southern edge of galaxy?

NGC 2681, galaxy in Ursa Major
Small, round galaxy, fainter than 2841. Stellar nucleus with faint outer envelope. Two stars on western side of galaxy and a fainter one to the east.

M108, galaxy in Ursa Major
Large, extended, seems “mottled” with averted vision. Foreground star near nucleus and another one to the west.

M109, galaxy in Ursa Major
Hazy round blur. Seems kind of faint for a Messier object (albeit a belated entry), especially given all the much more obvious NGC galaxies in and around the same constellation.

NGC 3613, galaxy in Ursa Major
Faint round blur midway between two field stars. Bright, bar-like core. This area (in the bowl of Ursa Major) is one that would benefit from a 50mm finderscope alongside the EZ finder (I was actually looking for 3619).

NGC 3898, galaxy in Ursa Major
Another one inside the body of the Bear. Bright, stellar core; faint outer envelope. Overall, similar in brightness to 3613.

At this point I took a temporary break from galaxies to revisit some familiar double stars:

Mizar / Alcor, Ursa Major
Famous double star in Ursa Major: Both stars well-framed at 133x; Mizar resolves into a pair of icy blue stars.

Cor Caroli, Canes Venatici
Nice split at 20 arcseconds (similar separation to Mizar). Pale yellow secondary?

Gamma Leonis
Closely-paired double. Narrow separation and variable seeing made it tough to discern colours but the primary seemed pale orange and the secondary seemed pale yellow.

Back to the galaxies...

NGC 3607, NGC 3608, galaxies in Leo
Another Leo pair, fairly close together in the field of view. The smaller one (3608) forms a triangle with two stars. Both with stellar cores. Seemed like there were other galaxies in vicinity, but transparency and condensation (and tiredness) made it hard to be sure.

NGC 4565, Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices
Well this one snapped me out of my tiredness in a hurry. I may have been hasty in stating that M82 was the best edge-on galaxy. After star-hopping to what I hoped was the correct region, it suddenly appeared as a long stiletto of milky light sliding into the field of view. The central bulge was clearly visible with a field star just to the north. The dark dust lane was visible without too much difficulty using averted vision, offset slightly to the north. Easily the night’s highlight despite the conditions and the less than optimal placement. On this evidence, much better than NGC 891, the other well-known edge-on galaxy in Andromeda.

NGC 4631, Whale Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Large, extended. Western end brighter and fatter. Star on northern edge of central region.

NGC 4656/7, Hockey Stick Galaxy in Canes Venatici
Extended blur, smaller and fainter than its neighbour (4631). Tired eyes prevented me from seeing more detail.

I started the evening with a globular, so it seemed apt to finish with one:

M3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici
Rising into view out of the east. A dense fuzzball of stars, well resolved with averted vision despite conditions/tiredness and other factors. After all the colourless galaxies, it seemed to have a distinctly bluish tinge. Weather (and moon) permitting, I’ll be coming back to this object, so it will be interesting to see if this is a real effect (over-abundance of blue stragglers perhaps?).

As I was starting to pack up, the night was capped by a slow meteor which left a brief trail as it descended past Polaris towards the northern horizon.