Boxing Day Sport

[FenlandPaul]

The day had been very promising with crisp, sunny skies and the early morning gustiness had dissipated somewhat come the evening.  I took the dob out to the allotments outside the village, a site which affords a clear horizon from the north east all the way through south, west and up to the north west.  Frost was forming on the car before I headed out, and the breeze was still very noticeable, not least in my un-gloved hands.  The sky was reasonably – but not completely – transparent and seeing was moderate. 

While my eyes adjusted I started with 30 Tauri, the double star that is quite easily found between Gamma and Xi Tauri.  The primary was moderately bright and the much dimmer, slightly yellow companion sits at a PA that I estimated at about 010 degrees (although I think I may have been some way off on this – Burnham’s has it at 059 degrees!).

M77, the galaxy in Cetus, was next.  This is an interesting object as it is the prototype of the active Seyfert galaxies.  In my 7mm Nagler, I could see an almost round, hazy patch with a moderately bright star just to the north-east.  I thought I could discern a very slight elongation north-south, although interestingly O’Meara states that the “tiny but strong” bar runs east-west.  The core was bright but non-stellar, with a faint halo that was only slightly extended.

Next I tried NGC 1055, a nearly edge-on galaxy in Cetus.  Now this should be a very easy galaxy to find as it sits at the apex of an isosceles triangle formed with two brighter stars to the north.  I located the two “base” stars with ease, and then let my eyes relax to see what else I could see.  Another star began to come into view at around the same location as the apex, together with some other fainter stars that popped in and out.  The apex star confused matters, because it detracted from the search for any smudges that might betray the galaxy.  I could just about discern – but not with absolute certainty – the faintest ghost of the galaxy slightly to the south of the apex star, although I wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t just glare that I was seeing.  That said, the sketch in the Webb Society Galaxies Handbook confirms the position I suspected, so it may have been a sighting.  One to try again on a more transparent night to confirm the observation.

Over to Taurus now and the open cluster NGC 1817, which is a fairly easy hop from 11 Orionis and 15 Orionis.  In the 32mm I could see a rhombus of brighter stars with a slightly hazy backdrop.  In the 7mm Nagler, 3 of the stars from the rhombus were noticeably brighter and formed an arrow head pointing west, with 20-30 loosely scattered stars following to the east.  The cluster wasn’t especially discernible from the stellar backdrop.  Also visible when searching for this is the bright but sparse scattering of stars that makes up NGC 1807, just to the west.  The Webb Society Clusters handbook suggests the two might be part of the same group.

Before turning my attention to my main target of the evening I had a brief look at M42, with the specific aim of nailing the F-star in the Trapezium.  However while the 4 main stars were presented beautifully in the 7mm Nagler, it was too windy to even pick out the E-star.  And what a biting wind it was by now!

I’ve been looking forward to an attempt on NGC 2261 – Hubble’s Variable Nebula – ever since the BAA’s Nick Hewitt had given a talk on variable nebulae in his native Northampton earlier this year.  I often struggle to find my way around Monoceros as it seems like such a large constellation without much in the way of bright stars – at least in comparison to its mighty westerly neighbour.  But a hop from Xi Geminorum and past NGC 2264 (the Christmas Tree Cluster) landed on it fairly easily.  In the 7mm Nagler, I saw a fan shape, that spread out about 40 degrees to the NW of the “stellar” apex.  It appeared brighter on its trailing edge and the point of the fan seemed overlaid with a brighter apostrophe shape.  It’s astonishingly just how much like a comet this object appears, especially considering it never made it onto Messier’s list while objects like the Pleiades did!

By now I was getting very cold indeed as the wind had picked up, so a couple of quick clusters to finish.  First, given it was Boxing Day, I had a look at NGC 2264, the Christmas Tree Cluster, which made me yearn for mulled wine and certainly deserves the name.  Finally I had a quick peek at M37 in Auriga and noted just how orange the stars seem to appear – and how rich the cluster appears in the 7mm Nagler.

And then a quick pack up and back home for a large mug of mulled wine and a warm-up next to the fire.

Thanks for reading.

[alan potts]

Beautiful report Paul. I find the F star and the E for that matter seem to be more visible using a power around the 100-120 mark, don't ask me why it just does. I have found this fairly true of all my scopes, last time out it was just too windy to try any doubles that close, again even now, clear but really windy.

Alan

[scarp15]

Very nice report Paul, allotments can potentially make great observatories in the Winter months. Interesting selection of objects, Hubble's Variable is quirky, I first encountered this object last time I was able to observe at a dark site. We have been fortunate with some clear skies, though it has been blustery here in the North, that has now passed, so anticipating a dark sky trip mid week.

[cloudsweeper]

Paul - an enjoyable read of a good session, and a very good conclusion to it all!

Doug.