October 16, 2011: Some DSOs, a planet, and a double star

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yesterday was probably the last clear evening for a week, so I got out the scope at 8:30 to spot SN2011fe (maybe the last time through the C8, but I have thought that before). It was still visible (averted vision best), at mag 11.85, by comparison with some reference stars at 11.75, 11.85, and 11.90 (according to Stellarium). The core of M101 flickered in and out of averted vision, but was definitely there.

After that I went over to M13. Beautiful sight as ever, with myriads of stars resolved. Best framed at 92x with the 22mm Nagler.

I spotted a galaxy in Lyra, in the Sky Atlas 2000.0, decided to go after that. When visiting Lyra, I just had to pay my respects to a very old friend: M57 (well, you have to, don't you?). It was magnificent in the 17mm, better even with UHC filter. I then star-hopped northwards from Vega, and had to search quite a while before spotting a little round fuzzy ball wedged between two mag 10 stars. Faint, but NGC 6703 was definitely there (mag 11.3 as I later found). It almost looked like a small, unresolved globular.

Remaining in the same area, I star-hopped to delta Cygni, and picked up NGC 6811. This is a nice cluster of mag 10-11 stars, almost in a square formation with rounded corners.

I had a hunt for NGC 6884, a planetary nebula near omicron Cygni, but no luck. Poor seeing and transparency, plus encroaching moonlight prevented me from seeing it. I will try again from a dark site. According to one source, this nebula is 11th magnitude, but Stellarium has it listed at 13.0. Size estimates vary from 5" to 7.5", so it is not easy. I have however spotted mag 13 galaxies before, so it should be possible with my scope, especially because it is compact.

NGC 6826, the blinking planetary was next. This was quite easy, given its high surface brightness. In the UHC filter it really stood out at 119x in the 17mm Nagler, and the blinking behaviour was very clear: when looking straight at it, it vanishes, when the eye strays away from it, it pops up clearly. This is a very good object to practice averted vision skills.

Jupiter had risen, so I had a look at it. Seeing was not good, so the amount of detail was not as good as I have seen, but to "barges" (dark areas) that I picked up before were placed in perfect symmetry in the North Equatorial Belt. They looked almost like eyes, giving Jupiter the appearance of a smiley. I tried 143x and 203x magnification, but the latter was really too much for the conditions.

Finally, I had a peek at gamma Andromedae (Almach), as suggested by SGL members. It is a really nice double. The bright, orange primary contrasts nicely with the distinctly blue secondary. Easily split at 119x in the 17mm Nagler.

At this time haze began to build up, and I decided to pack the scope in. Nice night with a couple of new objects, and quite a few old friends.

[Skylook123]

Another trip well taken, and described, Michael. A side note is that when I pop over to M13, it is so striking that I forget to look right next door, half a degree away, is NGC6207, a magnitude 11.6 galaxy. Its long axis is about 50% larger than The Ring, so it's not totally obscure, but it is kind of quirky to see it right off the edge of M13.

Thank you for your great travelogues through space (and time)!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Another trip well taken, and described, Michael. A side note is that when I pop over to M13, it is so striking that I forget to look right next door, half a degree away, is NGC6207, a magnitude 11.6 galaxy. Its long axis is about 50% larger than The Ring, so it's not totally obscure, but it is kind of quirky to see it right off the edge of M13.

Thank you for your great travelogues through space (and time)!

Thanks for that. I have picked up NGC 6207 before, and it is a very nice galaxy, quite easily overlooked next to its spectacular neighbour.