open clusters revisited.

[rory]

06.02.13

a rare (very rare) clear sky gave me a chance to get the scope out. with no real plan as such, there were a few messiers i wanted to get sketched. although seen at least once before,some were with my old 90mm scope so a revisit was in order.

m44 the beehive cluster in cancer the crab. 3.1 mag. shame i dont posess a lower power than x50 at the moment as this is a large cluster and sketching it at this magnification really does not do justice . but a nice easy target to shake of the rust.

a short shift south and onto a favourite o/c of mine m67. 6.9 mag. sketched at x60.

with those two done i took a swing over to puppis for a look at the o/c's id seen back in feb last year with the old scope.

m46.is a magnitude 6.1 cluster with a planetary nebula within. the p/n (ngc2438) could be made out as a faint but actually fairly large patch at x 150 . its actually a foreground object around half the distance of the cluster . after viewing at higher power i dropped down to x50 to sketch.

a nudge 2 o clock from m46 brought me onto the brighter 4.4 mag open cluster m47. quite a nice cluster with the centre few stars resembling a shape of the number 5 on a dice. as i write i recall wanting to see if ngc2440 was achievable ,but totally forgot !

so the last target of the night was m48 . a mag 5.8 o/c. large bright cluster and at x 50 could see several dozen stars.

so okay , nothing new, apart from the planetary,but was enjoyable just to get out in the cold for a couple of hours.

i noticed the lion rising up andwas tempted to stay out and get some more objects viewed , but the cold and work in the morning stopped that.

clear skies all...

[Double Kick Drum]

Good to hear you managed to get out. It was clear down this way too but only for a short time and not enough to get the scope out.

Look forward to the sketch. M67 is one of my favourite open clusters.

Given its elevation, NGC 2438 is not easy. It is still on my to do list!

Clear skies!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one Rory. I got the PN in M46 last year (actually, it is well in front of M46), and it is indeed pretty extended. Nice sight isn't it

[m_j_lyons]

Taking advantage of good skies is always a good thing. It won't be long before everyone is diving into Leo without having to stay up into the wee hours of the night.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[cotterless45]

Neat , really tough targets from my garden due to an oak tree some gardens away. Did spot them from an open and starry Turf Hill site.Lovely to get a clear sky with no Moon,

Nick.

[Mike73]

Nice work Rory.

I'm not a big open cluster fan to be honest but the PN 'in' M46 was a nice little suprise the other night. I only viewed it with the cluster at x76 but will have to return for a proper inspection soon.

Look forward to seeing your sketches.

[rory]

Look forward to seeing your sketches.

why , do you need a good laugh ? (lol)