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Mini Cluster hunting

Special K

By Special K
in Observing - Deep Sky

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Special K

Special K

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Inspired by the S@N deep sky tour, I thought I'd finally have a go at that part of Cassiopeia containing the Heart IC1805 and Soul Sh2-199 Nebula. This has always looked appealing on the star charts but suspected they were going to be tough due to low surface brightness. The hopes of seeing all that glowing hydrogen didn't pan out but there's a peppering of small clusters to explore all over the area making it all worthwhile!

Moving away from the bright lights of the Double Cluster, and on to Stock 2, it's easy to travel a few degrees east to an obscure group known as Berkeley 65. From here I was immediately distracted northward to NGC1027 and Melotte 15. These make a fine pair in a widefield and are right in the Heart. I kept the mag down low in the hopes of spotting the glow. Fitting the UHC might have given a faint suggestion of the western limb of the Heart, and I was flitting between the newt and frac for comparison. (Nice to be working with the newt again, but boy is that EQ5 a huge improvement!).

Moving on to the Soul, IC1848 is a loose group, while Collinder 33 & 34 are very scattered and hard to define. However the overall area of the Soul is busy and interesting to see. Around the brightest stars there appears to be an ambient glow with the UHC. It would be great to do the same tour from a darker locale, but I can't complain about the atmosphere tonight, it was very nice clear sky with good seeing!

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Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

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I notice , with alarm that our New World cousins call NGC 7789 "Caroline's Haystack". They have missed the point of it looking like an old English rose. One of the finest open clusters, especially from dark skies,

Nick.

Yes Nick I noticed that it was called 'Caroline's Hatstack' much prefer the 'Rose Cluster'.

Nick what star map is this from?

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Special K

Special K

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Ah, Damien, that is fantastic of you to find this;  I was searching everywhere and not getting far via Google!!  Last night I worked out it was showing magnitudes down to 10ish which is interesting.  The sample chart looks nice printed on A3 color, and look forward to it becoming available. 

As an addendum, to my previous session, I noticed a tight little bundle of notable stars on the southwest limb of the Heart, and this is designated Stock 7 on the chart.  Fun! 

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Mark at Beaufort

Mark at Beaufort

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Damian

It really looks an interesting atlas. I really enjoy the work of Sue French (Sky and Telescope) and in her book 'Deep Sky Wonders' she often puts down Asterisms that she has named herself. If you look at the 2nd map - Delphinus and look to the left of NGC7006 you will see 'French Toadstool' which is 'French 1' in her book.

Agreed a possible future purchase.

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