Ophiuchus gems.

[cotterless45]

If you can get a good view South it's an ideal time to search out some hidden gems in Ophiuchus;

to the West of Rasalhague is NGC6572; the blue racquetball planetary nebula, it's a magnitude 9, but is hard to spot out of the background.

Then there are the globular clusters; M14 , M10 (bright) ,M107 and M12, with their condensed cores and halos.Between M14 and M10 is the globular cluster NGC6366 .

To the north east of these is NGC6106 a mag.12 galaxy and south of this NGC6118.

Cebalrai is a good start for some open clusters, Collinder350, IC4665 and NGC4665, aswell as Barnard's star , the closest red dwarf with the fastest relative motion. This is just north of 70 Ophiuchi a binary dwarf system best split at x200. This gives an orange yellow and a red pair.

If you can manage a tad north west of the double Sabik , there's NGC6309 the planetary "Box" nebula.

At our site anything above Antares is a good target.

Hopefully I'll be able to get through these ( last year's targets) , should it ever stop raining.

Nick.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice list. I have the Messiers bagged, but there are quite a few there that I haven't. I tried NGC 6366 a couple of times, but failed. Generally the grey background this time of year messes things up. I plan to go to France later in summer, and will definitely put these targets on my to-do list.

[JamesF]

Quite. If we decide a trip to France is on the cards this summer, I shall definitely be taking a scope with a view to getting a better view of some of the more southerly DSOs that are hard to find from the UK.

James

[cotterless45]

South coast facing the Channel, looking south is worth a trip.

The best thing about Ophiuchus are the the basal eastern stars;

Yed posterior and Yed Prior, now if I had to change my name

Yed Prior would do!

Nick.

[Matthew]

Nice list,from our dark site we have a decent southerly view so if it ever stops raining i will give some of these a go, NGC6572 sounds a challenging target

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

South coast facing the Channel, looking south is worth a trip.

The best thing about Ophiuchus are the the basal eastern stars;

Yed posterior and Yed Prior, now if I had to change my name

Yed Prior would do!

Nick.

South coast? We don't have a south coast here in the Netherlands

[swamp thing]

South coast? We don't have a south coast here in the Netherlands

How about on a hill then

[Bart]

Quite. If we decide a trip to France is on the cards this summer, I shall definitely be taking a scope with a view to getting a better view of some of the more southerly DSOs that are hard to find from the UK.

James

Thats my plan James. Except there'll be no room in the car and roof box for a scope, best I'll mange is a couple of binocs, maybe 15x70 and 20x80s. Ahhhh, hopefully we'll see the sun. Nice baguette in the morning. Moules frittes. Ahh

Bart

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

How about on a hill then

We have one of those. I think it is in a museum

[Double Kick Drum]

Nice area of the sky.

I have managed five of the brightest globs (M10, M12, M14, M107 and NGC 6366) but couldn't find the planetary NGC 6572 for the density of stars, given its size.

Not sure when i'll get another opportunity with the blanket of cloud permanently over ol' Blighty.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I find it helps to print charts from stellarium to get these compact planetaries at low to middle magnification. I then boost the magnification quite a bit (I often go to 169x with the 12mm), as they can handle it. I found a couple of near stellar planetaries with Olly's 20" Dob by upping the magnification as well. I had spent a lot of time searching for the thing, and I new it should be in the FOV, when suddenly a realized that one star seemed to be slightly extended. Upping the magnification with a 14mm resolved it.

Good to see you captured NGC 6366, that has eluded me, because I have only ever tried when it was rather low in the sky.