What to hunt for in area of Bootis?

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

Hi all,

Can you pleases give some pointers in to what to look for after viewing Saturn & the Moon other than constellations?

I have tried some star hopping with the bins using Spica of Virgo first as it's quite bright and near Saturn, then head towards Bootis locating Arcturus and from there have gone on to Vega in the constellation Lyra. Only using a planisphere and a day (white led light) & night (red led light)vision torch!

At the minute Lyra is one of my favourite summer constellations!

With in that area for now what could I try to view other than the amazing stars of the constellations? Please try to be realistic as I am only starting out this year with my 130eq Astromaster and bins. The EP's i have to date can range from 20x up to over 160x if this helps.

Am I right in thinking the summer sky Is not as vibrant as the winter sky?

TIA,

Regards,

Mr Gaza.

[Rockrae78]

Hi,

Firstly, let me say that the summer sky has plenty of things for you to find! The only problem with it is that it doesn't stay dark as long as the winter sky! This means that you may have to wait until well after midnight to achieve a dark enough sky to look for deep sky objects (DSOs) - not ideal!

However, you seem to have managed to start finding your way around using the constellations visible to you (Leo and Virgo aren't very good for me since they are both too low on the horizon by the time the sky is dark enough!). For more star hopping, get a copy of the book 'Turn Left at Orion'. It has great star hopping guides for each of the seasons, not to mention an excellent section on the moon and its various phases. It also has brilliant pictures of what you can realistically see in a 5" scope. Very handy when you aren't sure if you've actually managed to find a certain DSO.

You should also download/ copy the Messier catalogue or Caldwell list (you can find both in Wikipedia). They are lists of 110 and 109, respectively, interesting things to find in the sky. The lists are usually separated into constellations, so you can work out what you can see during each season. The lists include clusters. galaxies, planetary nebula and double stars. You should be able to find objects of each type in your scope (I too started out with a 5" scope and I managed to bag quite a few off both lists), however, to truly make the most of your aperture, I would recommend a dark sky site (I only managed to see Messier 1 - the Crab Nebula - in a very dark sky site (wasn't visible from my back garden.

I also did upgrade my eyepieces to something with a wider FOV in order to make the most out of the scope, but this isn't necessary. With a little practice and a lot of patience, you should get on fine!

Good luck and clear skies!

[Steve Ward]

There are some really nice Clusters in that part of the sky , notably M3 , M5 , M11 , M12 , M13 , M14 , M53 , M56 and M92.

Here's a screenshot from Stellarium as a starting guide .

[dick_dangerous]

During April - June, a lot of the view of the sky is up out of the plane of the galaxy so we're staring into intergalactic space. That means that most of what we can see is faint galaxies. Virgo is absolutely chock full of them and some should be within the grasp of your scope, although as has been pointed out, it's easier to see these things from a dark site. The extended twilight around the solstice will make things even harder, especially as you're in Scotland - here in London it doesn't get dark until gone 11.30, so up there you're looking at it not getting too dark at all. Come August the nights will be getting longer and constellations such as Cygnus and Lyra will be coming overhead and they're full of brighter clusters and nebulae - the Milky Way goes through that region of the sky.

DD

[ronin]

Looking at where your are, East Renfrewshire, I would guess that at this time of the year that some clusters may be reasonably visible but even those will not stand out much. You will get almost no period of darkness. We may get an hour or so but you will be getting even less.

How about locating double stars?

There are many pairs that are of different colours and I would suggest these.

Delaware

200List

DSList

Delaware list is a nice short one, the list of 200 is more extensive as you would expect and the final one I have included as it has a lot in it - it is arranged by constellation and the star colours, where there is a difference, are indicated by the font colour. Makes it a bit odd to read but it is a list.

Think that until we get into August you will be stuck with light night skies so a lot of things will just be lost in the background.

[AndyWB]

If you're looking at Lyra check out M57 - the ring nebula. My 130p shows it even under poor light pollution!

But yeah, I find Turn Left at Orion very useful for highlighting what to look for.

[acey]

We're very near the solstice so it's all-night twilight in the whole of Scotland at the moment. Darkest time is 1a.m. Bootes is pretty poor in bright DSO targets at the best of times but the stretch along the Milky Way through Cygnus and towards the horizon is very rich. From late July the sky will be dark enough for the Milky Way to be easily visible at a dark site, and then there's plenty to see. Meanwhile stick to Moon, planets, double stars etc. Ring nebula should be visible even in a twilit sky but save it for a dark one.

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

Looking at where your are, East Renfrewshire, I would guess that at this time of the year that some clusters may be reasonably visible but even those will not stand out much. You will get almost no period of darkness. We may get an hour or so but you will be getting even less.

How about locating double stars?

There are many pairs that are of different colours and I would suggest these.

Delaware

200List

DSList

Delaware list is a nice short one, the list of 200 is more extensive as you would expect and the final one I have included as it has a lot in it - it is arranged by constellation and the star colours, where there is a difference, are indicated by the font colour. Makes it a bit odd to read but it is a list.

Think that until we get into August you will be stuck with light night skies so a lot of things will just be lost in the background.

This is the info I'm after.

Are Coloured filters good for Double Stars? I think the next Hunting is going to be to finding my first Double Star.

Is it quite obvious when you do find them? As it will be a new area for me not sure what I'll find . Thats the thrill of the chase though when you find what you're hunting down! What EP would be best for this 32mm first to find obviously then Barlow down to 16 or use the 9mm?

[nytecam]

June skies are ok for DSOs from down south but perhaps not for Scotland. The globulars on the Stellarum chart are less effected by twilight skies so give them a go and good luck;-)

[acey]

If it's double stars you're looking for, and your area of interest is Bootes, then try Izar (Epsilon Bootis). Don't use a colour filter on stars - the idea is to try and see their natural colours, and with double stars there are often interesting contrasts. Albireo (Beta Cygni) is a striking example.

As with all astronomical targets, you start at low power to find it then just work up from there until there's no more to be gained.