Imaginary Herschel objects?

[Moonshane]

I have decided to change my observing strategy a bit, especially where I have a short session e.g. on a school night. In an attempt to kickstart my night observing again I am choosing one or two objects not seen before and making a sketch as I use to do previously.

Last night I was using my 102mm f7 ED and chose NGC 2186 in Orion, an open cluster also on the Herschel list which I am building at the moment. This seemed to be in an easy position to find and I got to the area quickly but although there was a pattern there which resembled a cluster I was unsure so scanned around a little and found a much more obvious cluster. Checking my (correctly aligned) finder though I was then in the wrong position. I went back and then found the zigzag pattern I had seen before, a little like a tiny Cassiopeia. I therefore sketched that and it seems I did get the right cluster (see sketch (flipped right left as I was using a prism/frac) and image snatched off the web).

However, what was the other more obvious cluster? I looked in my Herschel map book and it seemed to be in the exact position of a non-existent Herschel object h-385 which I think corresponds to NGC 2202. I cannot reconcile any photos of 2202 to my sketch attached (also flipped R/L).

Has anyone else sketched this cluster or know this area well enough to comment? Anyone willing to have a look and see if they see what I see? 

Cheers

Shane

 

 

 

[Moonshane]

Looking at this image I think I may have been on the right cluster but at too low power. This image is 14x14 arc minutes and I was observing at 29x with a 68 degree afov eyepiece so 2.3 degrees = 140 arc minutes. The cluster is therefore presumably one tenth of the field I sketched. I'll revisit and see if I can identify it.

 

[Size9Hex]

Hi Shane, interesting post. I've spent quite a few sessions exploring the Herschel objects along the Milky Way with the 10" over the autumn. I've only just made it into the top of Orion though and haven't yet seen the ones you mention above. I did try last night, but although the sky was seemingly clear, the transparency was lousy. Definitely not a night for DSO hunting.

More generally, exploring the open clusters on the Herschel list is something I'm really enjoying. Such a huge variety, from those that could have been highlights on the Messier list through to very small, faint, barely resolved splodges, especially on the wider 2500 list. These splodges have made me think of Messier recording some truly spectacular clusters as being (with the equipment of the time) easy to mistake for comets. This is what some of the Herschel clusters look to me, even with a 10". I've frequently and by necessity gone 200 to 250x to be confident of the target and try to extract some detail (although my 135x gets the most use on these targets - still more than I normally throw at the Messier clusters though). I take my hat off to you hitting these with a 4" scope!

Interested to hear how you get on. I'll take another look on a better night too.

[Moonshane]

cheers buddy

I agree that the Herschel list is a greatly varied list and very enjoyable. I am finding the Cambridge Herschel objects book very onerous to follow though and might actually stop using it as it seems to take ages to get around it. I really feel they should have made more use of NGC numbers.

Yes, it's certainly challenging with a 4" scope but this makes one look harder and when I can get the bigger guns on them (I have 16" and 12" dobs as well as a 120ED) I hope I can gain a new perspective

[Moonshane]

Armed with a quick glimpse of the photo above I managed to track this down with the 6"f11 @ 89x tonight. Here's my sketch before colour inversion. Very confident I observed the correct one this time!