Stargazing on a Windy Winter Night

27 February 2020, 19:30 – 22:30

Conditions: A very cold night with frequent strong gusts of wind – scuppering my original plan to view some planetary nebulae at the highest magnification the seeing would allow. (I stayed at 133x with the Nagler 9mm for most of the session.) No condensation.

Seeing: Good
Transparency: Poor to Average

The stormy winter continues; this was the first properly clear night for an entire month. I was hoping the storms might drag some clear air behind them, but the transparency didn’t really improve until the last half-hour of the session – by which point the cold was already becoming too much for me.

As usual, I began with a look at M42 (at 133x), before moving to Rigel. The companion star was easily visible, although partially obstructed by an extra diffraction spike. (I think this must have been something to do with the scope cooling down; the spike wasn’t present when I looked at Regulus later in the session with the same eyepiece.)

Betelgeuse is gradually starting to brighten again, according to recent reports. To the naked eye it seemed at least as bright as neighbouring Bellatrix, maybe fractionally brighter. Through the eyepiece it had a lovely orange/tangerine hue, strikingly different from the blue-white of Rigel. The colour was so vivid it prompted me to revisit another colourful star…

Hind’s Crimson Star, aka R Leporis, carbon star in Lepus
Seemed fainter than when I last looked at it, though the conditions (and/or the neighbours’ lights) might have had something to do with this. At 133x the blood-red hue contrasted nicely with the deep orange of Betelgeuse.

NGC 2170, reflection nebula, Monoceros
I drew a blank on NGC 2149, but 2170 was just visible as a very faint misty patch surrounding a star. Needed averted vision to be sure of seeing it.

M48, open cluster, Hydra
As noted previously, rich cluster of bright stars. Less impressive at 133x than at 92x in the Ethos, although the higher magnification does reveal some fainter stars near the middle. Distinctive two-arm flattened “spiral” of stars winding out from the centre along a N-S axis.

NGC 2506 (Caldwell 54), open cluster, Monoceros
Rich, small, condensed cluster. Several stars resolved with direct vision, with an underlying haze of unresolved stars. I think this cluster would look quite good on a better night. Seemed to be a dark “rift” protruding into the cluster from the south, giving it a bi-lobed appearance, like a sycamore seed.

NGC 2539, open cluster, Puppis
Rich, heart-shaped cluster, immediately west of 5th magnitude 19 Puppis. Brighter, larger and looser than 2506.

M67, open cluster, Cancer
Very rich cluster, perfectly framed at 133x. Stars arranged in tight clumps.

NGC 2362, Tau Canis Majoris cluster (Caldwell 64), Canis Major
Couldn’t resist another look at this spectacular cluster. I think the Ethos gives an aesthetically superior view, but the higher magnification does make it easier to resolve some of the close doubles lying within. Definitely one of the prettiest clusters I’ve seen – like fireflies gathering around a brilliant light.

NGC 2903, galaxy, Leo
Somewhat faint tonight compared to previous observations, but it still surprises me that this galaxy didn’t even make the Caldwell list. Condensed core, extended outer haze. With prolonged observation it seemed to take on a mottled appearance, with dark patches either side of the core. No spiral structure visible tonight.

I also looked for the dwarf galaxy Leo 1 near Regulus, but couldn’t see it on this occasion. Maybe an occulting bar would help…

I then pushed the scope towards Canes Venatici and Ursa Major to look at some old favourites (M108, M97 and M51). Nothing to add to previous notes (M51 wasn’t yet high enough to show much structure), but at approximately 21:25 I noticed an unusually slow-moving satellite or other object of about 9th or 10th magnitude pass just south of M51 (in the 9mm Nagler field of view), travelling in a roughly south-east direction. I checked Stellarium the following day, but it didn’t show anything in the vicinity at that time. Space-junk? One of SpaceX’s mega-constellation satellites? I have a feeling I’m going to be seeing a lot more of this stuff.

NGC 3631, galaxy, Ursa Major
Faint, round galaxy, brighter towards centre. Vaguely mottled with averted vision.

NGC 3756, galaxy, Ursa Major
Small, faint, featureless galaxy near field star. (I assume it was this I saw and not the nearby NGC 3738.)

M109, galaxy, Ursa Major
Large, faint galaxy extended along SW-NE axis; brighter towards centre. Bright star off south-western edge; fainter one off opposite edge.

NGC 3953, galaxy, Ursa Major
Moderately bright galaxy, rivalling nearby M109. Somewhat brighter towards centre. Misty/ghostly outer envelope – swells with averted vision.

I finished off the session by taking a quick tour of some spring favourites with the Ethos 13mm (92x):

M51 was high enough now to show some structure in the form of dark “crescents” between the spiral arms, although the spiral arms themselves remained elusive.

M101 was easy to find in the Ethos, but less easy to see any kind of structure beyond the core. The longer I looked, the brighter it got, with the suggestion of an isolated misty patch east of the nucleus (NGC 5462?) – but that was right on the limit of visibility. If I spent several hours on this galaxy over multiple nights, I think I could probably tease out more detail, but do I really want to devote all that precious time to one object when there are so many other galaxies to look at? (The deep-sky observer's dilemma...)

M106 was bright and obvious, but less detailed at this magnification.

NGC 4449 was small and bright with the now-familiar bright diagonal bar quite obvious across the face of the galaxy.

NGC 4565: a distinctive needle of light; dark lane visible with averted vision.

M65/M66/NGC 3628 (the Leo Triplet): M65 and M66 are well framed in the Ethos. NGC 3628 was significantly fainter, but not too difficult as galaxies go. The dark dust lane was visible with averted vision and was noticeably broader than the one running through 4565.

M3 was easy to find for once (thanks to the 9x50 finder). In the Ethos it appeared as a finely resolved ball of stars, with a very distinctive aquamarine tinge – backing up an observation I made last year with the 9mm Nagler. I think it’s easier to study this globular at the higher magnification, but the superfine detail in the Ethos was a sight to behold (it’s certainly something you’ll never see in a photograph). There seemed to be a dark lane on the eastern side of the cluster, giving it a vaguely squared-off appearance.

NGC 3115, the Spindle Galaxy (Caldwell 53), Sextans
This showed up as a bright little streak of light (one of the brightest galaxies I looked at tonight), well deserving of its nickname. Very bright towards the centre. For some reason I was sure I’d seen this galaxy before, but I can’t find any mention of it in my records (With hindsight I think I might have been confusing it with the similarly shaped NGC 2683 in Lynx). Definitely worth revisiting at a higher magnification.

Nature note:
After a couple of weeks of frenetic splashing, the frog breeding season seems to have been suspended, leaving a large clump of frogspawn at one end of the pond. But there may be more to come: torchlight revealed several large frogs lurking deeper in the water.

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.

Auriga to Orion in 90 minutes

21 January 2020, 18:45 – 20:15

Very cold, slight mist coming in off the sea (condensation started appearing on the scope within minutes of my carrying it outside).

Seeing: poor to average
Transparency: average to poor

Started with a tour of the Auriga Messier clusters at 50x (24mm Panoptic) followed by a look at the Pleiades in Taurus, comparing it with the image I took with the TV60 the previous Saturday night. The nebulosity around Merope and Maia was just about visible, but I think it would need one of those rare nights of exceptional transparency to see any structure to it.

I gave the Ethos a rest tonight (because of the condensation), so all subsequent observations at 133x (Nagler 9mm).

NGC 2281, open cluster, Auriga
Sparse collection of bright stars, four of them making a parallelogram at the western end of the cluster (the trailing two members of this shape are doubles). 133x is probably too high a magnification for this object; hard to tell where the cluster ended and the surrounding star-field began.

NGC 1931, “The Fly”, emission nebula / reflection nebula, Auriga
Little smear of light with 2 or 3 stars at centre. As noted before, quite bright for a non-Messier nebula. If the conditions were better I would have gone up to 240x. I also looked for neighbouring IC 417 (“The Spider”) and saw what appeared to be an extended patchy halo around a bright star, but difficult to say I saw it with any certainty.

NGC 1893, open cluster, Auriga
Sparse group of moderately bright stars. The area in and around the cluster seemed hazy, but not sure if that was because of unresolved stars or the surrounding nebulosity (IC 410). Might make an interesting imaging target if I get an appropriate filter.

Sigma Orionis, multiple star system
Impressive sight at 133x. Brightest component resolves into a wavy line of 4 stars. A pair of fainter doubles roughly northwest, and 2 even fainter stars between the two groups.

NGC 2261, Hubble’s Variable Nebula, Monoceros
Seemed more ghostly tonight (probably because of the transparency rather than the higher magnification). Averted vision showed a star-like point at the apex of the nebula. The “fan” of the nebula seemed brighter and fuller on the western side.

NGC 1535, planetary nebula, Eridanus
As per previous observation. The higher magnification showed a strong brightening towards the centre, but couldn’t isolate the central star with any confidence. Hint of brightness asymmetry with averted vision, but it came and went depending on which side of the nebula I was looking, so probably not a real feature. Colour less pronounced tonight – more grey than blue-grey.

NGC 1999, reflection nebula, Orion
As per previous observations. Relatively bright given the deteriorating transparency. Size increased with averted vision; star or star-like point at centre. Dark patch visible with averted vision, adjacent to the “star”.

From 20:15 onward the sky clouded over rather quickly, but the severe condensation had pretty much ended the session by that point anyway.

Nature note
Two frogs in the pond.

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.