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.

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.

Nebulae and Clusters in Gemini

23 February, 20:00 – 21:30

Sky transparency not as good as on the 10th. Heavy condensation curtailed the session after 90 minutes.


M44, Beehive Cluster in Cancer
Not surprisingly, too large for the field at 50x (24mm Panoptic), but still an attractive sight. Lots of bright stars arranged in twos and threes.

M67, open cluster in Cancer
Lovely sight at 50x; a “filmy” mass of stars which appears richer than it probably is due to the lower contrast. Bright star nearby (to north), which looks like it's trailing the rest of the cluster in its wake.

NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula), planetary nebula in Gemini
At 240x (Nagler 5mm), unfiltered, the central star was clearly visible, but with both filters it was overwhelmed by the surrounding nebulosity. Very bright in the OIII (a little more so than the Ultrablock). No structure seen other than the concentric rings (which showed up best at 133x).

NGC 2371-2, planetary nebula in Gemini
Small and faint (more so than the previous viewing). The OIII at 240x seemed to “fill in” the nebula: very faint nebulosity completing the circle. Western lobe brighter, with central knot or condensation.

NGC 2355, open cluster in Gemini
Large, fairly loose cluster – not particularly rich in stars, but still distinctive enough to be pretty. Brightest members form a leaf shape, with a stalk of fainter stars curling north to a bright field star. This cluster doesn’t appear to have a nickname so feel free to call it the “Leaf Cluster” (until O’Meara names it the “Hershey Kiss Cluster” or something similar in his next book!).

M42, Great Nebula in Orion
On the wrong side of the meridian now, but still a majestic sight. Seeing variable, but E and F stars in the Trapezium were occasionally visible at 240x. Lots of intricate dark structure even at this high magnification. The Trapezium seemed to reside in a dark “hollow” within the Huygens region, but this may well be an illusory effect caused by my eyes re-adjusting to the brightness of the stars.

Rigel was a fairly easy split at 240x despite poor seeing.

Castor split nicely at 240x. About a magnitude difference between the pair.

Subsequent observations at 133x (Nagler 9mm).

NGC 2903, galaxy in Leo
Not as good as the last time I saw it, but just a suggestion of spiral arms in an s-shape.

NGC 2683, galaxy in Lynx
Long, bright spindle. Dark lane on northern edge?

Gamma Leonis (Algieba)
Nice split (albeit tight) at 133x. Subtle colour variation (orange and yellow?); needs another look.

With the condensation building, I grabbed a quick look at the following objects (a preview of forthcoming attractions, so to speak):

M63 (Sunflower Galaxy) in Canes Venatici
Bright, finely mottled appearance.

M94, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Bright, suggestion of dark lane.

M106, galaxy in Canes Venatici
Quite large and bright – may well be bright enough to show structure on a better night. Oddly, this is the first time I’ve seen this galaxy. For some reason I always managed to overlook it with the 4-inch (even though I'm sure it would have been easily visible).

Cor Caroli
Double star, wider separation than the other doubles I looked at tonight.


Nature Note
Three frogs in the pond (two mating).

Auriga and Beyond

30 November 2018, 20:30 – 22:30 GMT

Conditions: Good transparency - dark enough that the 24mm Panoptic wasn’t hindered by sky brightness. Clear at first, some bands of cloud later on. Cold, but not especially so for the time of year. Set up the XT10 on concrete for the first time rather than the lawn (so I could have a chance of seeing M42 rising) – despite this the scope seemed to cool down relatively quickly.

M37, Open Cluster in Auriga
Lovely rich cluster, roughly triangular – instantly recognisable. Dark lanes and chains of stars give it a symmetrical shape reminiscent of a crab or beetle (very much like O’Meara’s sketch in The Messier Objects). Best view probably at 50x.

M36, Open Cluster in Auriga
Smaller cluster than M37; individual member stars brighter but less numerous. Would be more highly regarded if it wasn’t outshone by its neighbours.

M38, Open Cluster in Auriga
Large, rich cluster; somewhat “straggly” compared to M37. NGC 1907 in same field of view at 50x: small, condensed cluster – some resolution with averted vision at 50x, giving it a “sparkling” appearance. More stars pop out at 133x

Located AE Aurigae in the eyepiece, but couldn’t discern the surrounding nebula with any degree of confidence. However I had more success with…

NGC 1931 (aka “The Fly”), Emission Nebula in Auriga
An obvious streak of nebulosity at all magnifications. Ultrablock filter improved the contrast – quite bright as nebulae go. Higher magnification revealed a tight triangle of stars at the centre.

M1 (Crab Nebula), Supernova Remnant in Taurus
Appeared as a “puff” of cloudy nebulosity. 133x (Nagler 9mm) + Ultrablock improved the contrast, but no detail to speak of other than a vaguely bi-lobed shape. One of those deepsky objects that can only really be appreciated when you think about what you're looking at.

NGC 1647, Open Cluster in Taurus
Large, sprawling cluster – needs a wider field to get the best view.

M77, Seyfert Galaxy in Cetus
Not the most prominent constellation, but this galaxy is helpfully within 2 fovs of Delta Ceti (a distinctly blue star). M77 itself appears as a very bright core embedded in a disc of nebulosity – immediately obvious even in this light-polluted part of the sky. A nearby 10th magnitude star helps with focus and averted vision. The galaxy holds brightness well at 240x, but I couldn’t see the recently discovered supernova. If it brightens by 1 or 2 magnitudes I might get lucky. (Postscript: it didn’t.)

Also: Mira (Omicron Ceti) was visible to the naked eye.

M35, Open Cluster in Gemini
Rich, large cluster; very distinctive chain of similarly bright stars forming an arc. Nearby cluster NGC 2158 was visible as a condensed patch of light – started to resolve (with averted vision) at 133x, but not as easily as 1907 in Auriga.

M42, Orion Nebula (and M43)
Had to peer between branches of neighbour’s tree to see it, but it was still spectacular despite the partial obstruction. Very bright, greenish core almost overwhelming the Trapezium at 50x, detailed structure apparent with direct vision. Long “wings”, one sweeping out towards NGC 1980. Ultrablock filter significantly increased the extent of the nebula, particularly on the northern side. Could easily spend a whole evening on this object.