"Shell of the Crab " and a "mini Castor !"

[cotterless45]

A cracking cold night. The Moon sufficed with much detail on the terminator up to x300. Double stars and Jupiter followed , with some stunning "must see" sights.

Zeta Cancri, Tegmin(e)  is the "shell of the crab" in Cancer the crab. It's a really beautiful sight at low power , add a bit more and the widening binary opens out to give a bright clear stunning triple. Really easy find and a good test of seeing and your optics. John Hershel found the triple and indications of a fourth component.
Follow a triangle from M44 to Pollux, a real must see.Try p. 24 Pocket Sky Atlas.

I'd been trying the delicate λ Geminorum several sessions without luck. Must be a mental block, I put it on the list without designation and was pleased to open it up. Extra find seeing allowed a split of 1.1" in Σ1037. Propus proved impossible again !

Staying in Cancer, I really like the tight M67, it's not wide and brash as other clusters are. The Eskimo in Gemini is still putting on an amazing sight.
I caught an early faint Comet Catalina high in the star fields of Camelopardarlis. 

Monoceros was so well placed, I spent the rest of a long session on the multiple stars there, (including M46, M47, M50 and neighbouring M48. )
Very best here being the "miniature Castor" of Σ1029, a real delicate delight at 1.7". Zeta giving a lovely colourful triple. That competed page 107 of Haas ( "Double stars for small telescopes"). Some real delights there with both colour and fine contrast. High thin cloud drifted in from the lands of the north as the Moon began to sink at last. 
Take one target away , the fabulous Tegmine !
Clear skies,
Nick.

[Pondus]

A brilliant and so helpful report again. I register alot of Your observed objects  in my (Excel) list over targets Worth seeing.

If/when you got the time : Can you recommend some asterisms, the small ones,  that fit/almost fit in the fov of a telescope?

 

Rune

 

[chiltonstar]

Nice as usual Nick! Tegmine is a personal favourite as well, but I'm surprised you struggle with Propus??

Chris

[Piero]

Lovely one! Thanks for providing so many details! You trilled my curiosity about Zeta Cancri..! It seems a very interesting target. Look forward to giving a go!

Super sketches too as always!

[John]

Great report again Nick

[laudropb]

Lovely report Nick. Teaming really is a lovely sight. I must have a go at " the miniature Castor. Never seen it before.

[Size9Hex]

Great report. Coincidently, I found myself on Zeta Cancri last night, and realised it was the same Tegmine I'd read about on here. No joy on the 1.1" pair with a 10 inch Dob at 180x. Nice to have a reason to return to it another night though :-)

[Special K]

Thanks for the sketches and ζ Cancri looks good.  That Eskimo is doing well in a lot of reports recently and I've had two shots at this in the past week.

I like the idea that some clusters can be brash!

 

[mapstar]

Another treasure trove of sights to behold Nick 

Cheers 

[alan potts]

A really good report as normal, I have taken now to reading your work with a star atlas hoping some of your knowledge will rub off on me.

Alan