October 12, 2012: One Messier, two Trumplers, one Stock, and a pair of NGCs

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Last Friday, after dancing lessons, the skies were unexpectedly clear, but with some cloud and rain forecast, I did not want to set up the scope. Instead, I picked up the 15x70 bins and had a look at a few clusters.

The Pleiades were first up, always a great sight, even though they were still quite low in the east, where there is most light pollution as seen from my garden.

The Double Cluster was better, being a lot closer to zenith. From there had a brief look at Trumpler 2 (also known as Collinder 29), just to the north of the Double Cluster. It is a large, circular patch of stars, quite well separated, and usually overlooked due to the proximity of the double cluster. Moving east from the Double Cluster, I spotted Stock 23 (Pazmino's Cluster) which I picked up a few nights ago with the C8. In bins a tight group of 5-6 stars is visible. From there, a short star hop northwards got me to Trumpler 3 (or Collinder 36 if you like), the only new object of the session. This is a very easy binocular target, well worth a visit. It shows up as a fuzzy patch filled with stars. At mag 7, it is surprising it did not make the Messier or other famous lists.

After this, I went inside, as clouds were getting closer.

[Double Kick Drum]

A nice heads up for a few non-NGC items. I'll have a look at one or two of those, the next time the bins are out.

Clear skies!

[David Smith]

Thanks Michael, will keep these in mind next time I am out with the bins.

[rory]

mmm, got to get me some bins for those short spur of the moment sessions. thanks for some pointers.