Cassiopeia star clusters

[spike95609]

I popped the scope out last night because it seemed too good an opportunity to miss - astro dark is back, the skies were clear, it's practically a new moon, the next day was a Sunday, and the weather for the week ahead is looking decidedly overcast. If I've learned anything from astronomy it's that when conditions coincide like this, then whatever other plans you had for the evening they're going to have to change.

I started off looking for Comet Lovejoy, having tried repeatedly in recent weeks but it keeps escaping me. Sadly it did the same again even though I'm quite sure I was looking in the right place, I guess it's just no longer bright enough for the 10" to see it under my skies. Which is a pity because I've been wanting to find the slightly fainter Comet Jacques (not last year's Jacques but the new one which is currently in Lyra). I swung my scope over in that direction, though primarily to tick off my list the last couple of DSOs in Lyra. At this point I had a problem as I seemed to be getting quite a lot of atmospheric interference and couldn't focus easily - even at 38x.... then I figured out that it was a cold night and the scope next to and aligned directly above my open garage door and the neighbour's roof. I assume I was looking through rising heat.

Rather than do the sensible thing and relocate I decided Lyra could wait for another night, and went looking for star clusters in Cassiopeia instead. I really enjoy hunting these as it's a type of DSO that you're sure to have success with under light polluted skies. Galaxies and Nebulae are hit and miss, mostly miss for me, but stars in our own galaxy are always do-able. Not the best time of year to be looking at Cassiopeia where I am it has to be said, and in terms of light pollution I wasn't so much looking across the plane of the Milky Way but the plane of Wolverhampton North-East. Yet a quick glance over at the Double Cluster revealed it to be about as brilliant as I have seen it at any time of year, so off I went star hopping. I found NGC 436 and 457 easily enough - I remember looking for them before but couldn't find them, which confuses me because 457 stands out so well I can't think how I missed it. I went on to find 225 and 129, but couldn't be sure I'd picked out 136 in between them so I've left that off my list. I then hopped from Caph to find 7790 and M52 which for some reason I'd never looked at before. All very nice and I was happily flicking between 38x and 80x magnification, and even 200x on a couple which looked like they could benefit from a massive amount of contrast. My best find of the night though was undoubtedly NGC 7789, which is a very dense star cluster, quite faint but you can see an absolute mass of small points of light within it. If you've not seen it and have a modest amount of aperture, I can definitely recommend a look. So I ticked that off in my book, and even put an asterix next to it to remind me that it's a crowd pleaser should I find myself observing with an audience.

More clear nights please!

[Scooot]

Nice write up. I made sure I went out for the same reasons, too good to miss!

[MarsG76]

Nice report... And I completely agree with your 1st paragraph statement " If I've learned anything from astronomy it's that when conditions coincide like this, then whatever other plans you had for the evening they're going to have to change." - almost like...

Rule 1. - If I've learned anything from astronomy it's that when conditions coincide like this, then whatever other plans you had for the evening they're going to have to change.

Rule 2. - If I've learned anything from astronomy it's that when conditions coincide like this, then whatever other plans you had for the evening they're going to have to change.

and for a astronomers it's only at rule 3. - you do not talk about fight club...

[xtreemchaos]

great report mate, a lovely read. thanks for posting. charl.

[Special K]

Nice report. You gotta strike when you can! Not sure why, but I've never seen NGC7789 very well and still feel I'm missing out.

[Tim99]

... and when the weather finally clears and it looks like a good night for a look-see, I find a nice afternoon nap to be part of the equation also.

[orion25]

Amen, brother. Great report! 

Clear skies,

Reggie