Home of the Seagull

IC 2177

IC 2177, Home of the Seagull
By Rony De Laet

IC 2177 is listed in the ‘Deep Sky Travel Guide (Ronald Stoyan, Oculum)’ as : very large, very faint. This description was a challenge to me. Would I be able to see it? From the 5th of February, we were blessed with exceptional clear skies for a whole week. Every night, I scanned the sky between Sirius and M50, in search of IC2177. It took me four nights to track down the location of IC2177. Four nights of trial and error. Each time I eliminated the suspected location from the drawings I made. In my mind, I builded myself a path through the vast and complex milkyway section South of M50. The trick is to find NGC 2353. From there, starhop to NGC 2343 and put it at the 10 o’clock position in a low power eyepiece (binocular orientation!). Now the scope is amed at IC 2177. It sounds easy, but it isn’t, at least not in my sky with my little refractor. The journey is joyfull and the destination is very rewarding. The question still is : did I see it? I noted a dark rift running through the fov from the 11 o’clock to the 5 o’clock position. East of the rift, the sky seems to brighten a bit more than West of the rift. Or is it unresolved starlight? I look forward to reports from other observers. Here is the sketch. (The little triangular cloud at the 10 o’clock position near the border of the fov is NGC 2343.)

Date : February 11, 2008
Time : around 22.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Eyepiece : Meade SP 26 mm
Power : x19
FOV: 150′
Filter : UHC
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 2,5/5
Nelm : 4,7
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Tail of the Great Dog

NGC 2362

NGC 2362, The Tau Canis Majoris Cluster
By Rony De Laet

A few months ago, Mark (Novbabies) suggested me to put NGC 2362 on my observing list. The object was unknown to me. The fact that it concerned a rather small open cluster which culminated only a poor 13° above my southern horizon, didn’t excite me at that time. But how wrong was my assumption! The Tau Canis Majoris Cluster turned out to one of the most enjoyable vistas in the sky. The cluster puts the observer to the test. The bright Tau outshines the fainter cluster members nearby. It’s hard to maintain night vision with Tau in the picture. NGC 2362 is a scintillating mix of brighter and fainter stars that swirls around Tau. With averted vision, more spots of unresolved starlight lit up around the cluster. And that’s only my impression with the cluster near horizon. I can only imagine how magnificant the cluster must shine when higher in the sky. Reproducing the cluster on a sketch is another challenge. I’ve made several attemps to try to bring justice to the cluster, but I fell short. I tried to mimic the contrast between the bright Tau Canis Majoris and the swirling group of faint stars around it. I promised myself not to use too much glare on the sketch, but it’s hard to find the right balance. There’s nothing that beats the real thing! So if the sketch pleases you, do try to go out to see the cluster for yourself. You won’t be dissapointed. And thanks Mark for the suggestion in the first place.

Date : February 6, 2008
Time : around 21.30UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Eyepiece : Hyperion Zoom at 8 mm
Power : x63
FOV: 65′
Filter : none
Seeing : 3/5
Transp. : 2,5/5
Nelm : 4,8
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Attracting an Extragalactic Visitor

M79

Messier M79 in Lepus
By Rony De Laet

Here is an observation of M79. From my location, the object rises only 15° above the horizon. 15° sounds like a solid number, but it is not when tried out in the field. I was surprised to find M79 easy at low power. The sketch is made at 63x. The core appears almost stellar. One faint star was visible with averted vision N of the globular.

Date : February 5, 2008
Time : around 20.30UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Eyepiece : Hyperion Zoom at 8mm
Power : x63
FOV: 65′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2,5/5
Transp. : 2,5/5
Nelm : 4,8
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

A Mighty Globular in a Small Scope

M3 globular cluster

Messier 3 Globular Cluster
By Rony De Laet

Hello folks,

Summer is approaching, the nights have become grey. But I do not stop observing. Here is an impression of M3. I had fun teasing out as much detail as possible. Globulars are difficult to render. The mind might see patterns that aren’t there. I tried to remain objective. Lots of faint stars were present in the outer region of the halo. I noticed some dark lanes in the halo, and the core looked elongated too. I hope you like the view.

Date : June 5, 2007
Time : 22.30UT
Scope : ETX 105/1470
Meade 25mm and 15mm SP
Power : x66 to x100
FOV: 35′
Filter : none
Seeing : 2.5/5
Transp. : 2/5
Nelm : 4.9
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.
 

M22 from Anderson Mesa

M22

Messier 22 from Anderson Mesa on July 12, 2007
By Jeremy Perez

I was feeling pretty worn out when I made the trip to Anderson Mesa and wasn’t sure that I wanted to tackle a monster observation like M22. But I’m glad now that I did. It really called for a lot more detail than my previous observation and sketch gave it. This globular cluster really is huge. At 120X, it occupies a large portion of the view, and I would estimate its visible dimensions at roughly 11 arcminutes in diameter. It is resolved all the way across its surface. Clumpy structure can be seen in its brighter core, and ribbons of light and dark can be seen running across its grainy outer halo–most prominently on its southwest side. A bright orange star marked the northeast edge of the field. The sketch took about an hour and twenty minutes to complete at the eyepiece, and another twenty minutes refining the stippling indoors later.

Object Information:

At 10,400 light years distant, M22 is one of the nearer globular clusters. Its angular diameter is slightly larger than the full moon and works out to 97 light years in diameter. It is receding from us at about 149 km/sec. Recent Hubble Space Telescope investigations have led to the discovery of a number of planet-sized objects that appear to float through the cluster. They have masses of only 80 times that of Earth and were discovered from the gravitational lensing of light from the numerous background stars they pass in front of. M22 was most likely first discovered by Johann Abraham Ihle in 1665, and later cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764.

This cluster is also catalogued as ESO 523-SC004, GCL 99, h 2015, h 3753, GC 4424.

Subject M22 / NGC 6656
Classification Globular Cluster (7)
Position Sagittarius [RA: 18:36:24.1 / Dec: -23:54:12]*
Size* 24′
Brightness* 5.2 vMag
Date/Time July 11, 2007 – 10:00 PM MST (July 12, 2007 – 05:00 UT)
Observing Loc. Anderson Mesa, AZ
Instrument Orion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag. 10 mm Sirius Plössl(120X)
Conditions Mostly clear, calm
Seeing 5/10 Pickering
Transparency ~ Mag 6.8 NELM
* Based on published data.

In Search of IC 1318

IC 1318

The Gamma Cygni Starfield
By Rony De Laet

The Gamma Cygni Starfield, in search of IC 1318

Here is a sketch of a crowded milky way starfield. I waited for Gamma Cyngi to reach zenith, in an attempt to glimpse IC1318. I did not know what to expect and centered on Gamma Cygni. I was worried about the amount of stars that would be visible within the field of view. The UHC filter helped in reducing the number of faint stars to be drawn. I spent almost two hours behind the eyepiece. So here is my impression. I don’t know if I succeeded in observing IC 1318, I just represented the luminosity observed with the UHC filter.

Date : October 14, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
TV Plössl 32mm
Power : x16
FOV: 192′
Filter : Lumicon UHC
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.2
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

One Wild and Distant Duck

Wild Duck Cluster

The Wild Duck Cluster, M11
By Jeremy Perez

M11 holds a special place for me. It was the first deep space object I viewed through the new telescope–besides M45 & M31 which I had seen before. It was very exciting to see something with my own eyes that prior to that night I never even knew existed. It was a symbol for me of what else lies in the sky that I don’t yet know about. Beautiful. A striking collection of stars. I revisited it this night under less than perfect conditions. It was diving into some of the worst light pollution from my home vantage point. Oh, and the moon was starting to rise. It demonstrated dense and mottled granularity, with numerous resolvable stars winking in and out across the surface. (Did I mention seeing was really bad too? 3/10. Right.) Anyway, one bright star dominates the center of the cluster, and 2 others close stars reside just outside to the SSE. (It should be noted that these bright stars are actually foreground stars, and aren’t part of the cluster.) The overall shape of the cluster is circular with a central cloud surrounded by a gap, and then a rough ring of stars. OK. I know I’ve said this before, but once more for emphasis: to me, the “Wild Duck” name doesn’t just look like a V-shaped ‘flock of ducks’, but actually looks like a duck raising it’s wings to take to flight, with the head at the SW side of the central concentration of stars, and the wings curling around on the NW and SE sides. The dimension of the main body of the cluster appeared to be 7′ across.

Factoids:
M11 is one of the richest and most compact of the open clusters. It is 6,000 light years away, and contains around 2,900 stars. If our planet were in the midst of this cluster, we would see several hundred brilliant first magnitude stars scattered across the night sky. Amateur astronomy would probably be pretty tough in a sky so brightly lit at all times. M11 was discovered in 1681 by Gottfried Kirch, first resolved into stars in 1733 by William Derham, and then included in Charles Messiers catalog in 1764. Its age is currently estimated to be 250 million years, and it is receding from us at 22 km/sec.

A Brooch in the Horns of the Bull

NGC 1647

NGC 1647
By Jeremy Perez

Observation Notes:
I first noticed NGC 1647 between the horns of Taurus in a wide-field astro photo I shot of the area in November 2005. I had been meaning to observe and sketch it since then. At 37.5X magnification, the cluster appeared large, bright and sparse. Two colorful yellow and yellow-orange stars rested at the south side of the cluster. I noted several doubles within. The diameter of the main body of the cluster appeared to be about 30 arc minutes. Several bright Orionids graced the sky and caught my attention during the observation and sketch.

Object Information
NGC 654 was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1784. According to Catalogue of open cluster parameters from UBV-data. (Loktin+, 1994), the cluster is about 509 parsecs distant (1,660 light years). Star Clusters and Associations, Selected Data (Alter+ 1970) lists a distance of 550 parsecs (1,790 ly). The cluster is also catalogued as Cr 54, Mel 26, OCL 457, Lund 139, H VIII-8, GC 896.

Jewels at the Feet of Gemini

M35

M35 (NGC 2168)
By Wade V. Corbei

Visible to the naked eye under good sky conditions, M35 resolves into a nearly circular mass sparkling with stars, even with small aperture instruments. The cluster consists of 400-500 stars with 120 brighter than magnitude 13. It is 2700 to 2800 light years distant with a diameter of about 24 light years. It is estimated to be about 100 million years old and contains several yellow and orange giants. The cluster is approaching us at 5 km/sec. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745-46, independently rediscovered by John Bevis before 1750, and finally cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764.

Source: SEDS

The Moon Over Georgia

Moon and Landscape

The Moon Over Georgia
By Carlos E. Hernandez

I was treated to a beautiful sight of the Waning Gibbous Moon (14.1 days old) rising over the northeast horizon of my son’s home in Georgia (Grantville, southwest of Atlanta) on November 24, 2007 (01:30 U.T.). The clear and dark skies accented the Moon above Taurus (Aldebaran) and Auriga (Capella) below it. I was inspired to render what I saw.

A digital image produced in Corel Painter X.

Carlos