Observing the Summer Triangle.

[cotterless45]

A long period of permacloud has once again helped to review my old observing notes. I hope that some of these findings will provide you with some pleasant views.

 

Cygnus.
Riding the mainstream Milky Way,Cygnus is rich in clusters and nebulae. A visit to a dark site will show dark areas to Deneb up to Cepheus and a tear of dark nebulosity to it's winding length.
A sweep with binoculars will show the very best concentration of clusters in glittering star fields. Quite a few of these can be seen from the edge of town,

Open clusters.
NGC 6819 (7.3), NGC 6910 (6 , the "rocking Horse"),NGC 71278 (9.7),NGC 6871,NGC 6811 ( half Moon size),NGC 7039 (7),NGC 7031, NGC 7086 (8.4),NGC 7062 (8.3),NGC 7063 (7), NGC 7082 (7.2),NGC 6997 (10),NGC 7044,NGC 7092 (4.6),NGC 6834 (7.8),NGC 6883 (8),IC 1369 (6, four stars),the vast M39, M29 ( "the power station) and a superb NGC 6866 (7.6).
All of these sit in the great background swathe of Milky Way.

Planetary nebulae.
NGC 7008 (fetus nebula), NGC 7026 (12), the bright NGC 7027(9), NGC 6905 ("the blue flash", it does.),NGC 6837, NGC 7048 (11), NGC 6884 (12),NGC 6894 and the "blinking planetary" NGC 6826.if you need to share the eyeball magic of planetaries, this is the area !

Double stars.
Albireo (beta) a lovely orange / blue,
17 Cygni ( lovely group),(SAO 68827)
delta Cygni(2.5" seperation , at x266 a white and silver green),(SAO 48796)
STTF 390 ( lovely triple in star field at x140), at 19h50.6m  +38 43'
Psi Cygni (2.9" seperation at x133 lovely yellow and blue), (SAO 32114)
STF 2624 (1.9" close and difficult at x 260), at 20h03.5m  +36 01'
SHJ314 ( lovely group at x40), at 20h06.0m  +35 47'
S738 ( at x140 a lovely triple group), at 20h10.6m  +33 38'
52 Cygni ( in the foreground of NGC 6860 a 6.4" at x200, hard due to the fainter secondary),
STF 2741 (2.0" at x160 ), (SAO 33034)
59 Cygni (at x200 a delicate triple),(SAO 50335)
61 Cygni ( the twin exciting "Piazzi's flying double), a fast real motion pair.(SAO 70919)
two pairs of double doubles, S786 at 21h19.7m. +53 03') and STTF 447, at 21h39.5m  +41 44'
STF 2832 ( near equals at x48) at 21h49.2m  +50 31'.
and a particular challenge (SAO 70505) at .9", lambda Cygni.

The Nebulae.
Ideally on a clear Moonless night you should be able to spot some nebulosity,
NGC 6888 (" crescent"),NGC 7000 ("North American") this can be seen by eye from darker sites,NGC 6914 ( next to IC 1318),IC 5067, IC 5070 ("pelican"),NGC 6992/5 and 6960-62 (" the eastern veil"), IC 5146 (C19, "the cocoon nebula").
My most easily found here is NGC 6995 with a UHC filter at low magnification. Darker skies will give you enough nebulosity to trace out in this area. The elusive Western Veil (Bridal Veil or Witch's broom ) centred on 52 Cygni looks a fantastic sight from darker skies. It's possible and thrilling to sweep around at low magnification to catch the whole circle of nebulosity.

Lyra.
Lyra always astounds with it's treasures.Vega is the 5th brightest star in the sky and the 2nd brightest , after Arcturus.  In the northern hemisphere. Star hopping is quite easy here. All the major stars apart from gamma are binaries. Vega sits in a triangle, the high point is the "double double" and the lower point is the wider "other double double". Both wonderful sights. Half way between the two stars below Vega is the "Ring nebula ", M57.
Bright Vega is only 25 light years away and spinning so fast , it's shape is distorted. There is a wide companion at 78.2".
Sheliak (β) is a multiple , with companions A-F visible. It is a close binary, fast spinning and egg shaped with escaping gas.
Sulafat (γ) is a blue white giant.

Binaries.
Σ 2397 (SAO 67378) gives orange and blue at 3.9" at x200.
Epsilon Lyrae (SAO 67310,09,15) is the finest quadruple stars, the "double double". Open and clean at x200, we have split this quad as low as x50. The pairs are at near right angles unlike the wider,
Σ2470 (SAO 67870 ) at 13.9" and Σ2473 at 15.9". Two parallel pairs at x50, the "other double double".
V1 Lyrae (SAO 67446) at 18.5" , a quadruple group.
Σ2431 at 18h58.8m. +40 41', giving lovely delicate contrast at x40.
17 Lyrae at 19h07.4m. +32 30' at 3.7"   A yellow and delicate light blue at x200 in 4".
Σ2483 at 19h12.4m. +30 21' , a 9.9" split at x200 in 4". Aladfar (η) (SAO 68010) gives superb contrast at x25 with this 28.1" split.
ΟΣ 367 at 19h14.5m. +34 34' gives a delicate 33.6' in a full field at x50.
ΟΣΣ 181 at 19h20.1m. +26 39', it's a wide 61.2" ,at x40, there's a lot of colour here in a full field.
δ1 and δ2 (SAO 67537) are unrelated.

Planetary nebulae.
NGC 6765
M57 (NGC 6720), simply easy to find . We've seen colour here and the central star. Although it's the "Ring Nebula" we are looking down a slightly offset tube or torus.

Variables.
R Lyrae at 18m55m. +43 9', varies from +3.9 to +5 every six weeks.
RR Lyrae is the prototype used for standard candle distance measurement at 19h25m  +42 8'.

Carbon star.
T Lyrae (SAO 67087).

Deep sky objects.
Galaxy , NGC 6703 at +11.4.

Open clusters .
The lovely +9.5 NGC 6791

Globular clusters.
M56 (NGC 6779)   Halfway from M57 to Albireo.

 

Aquila.
Aquila completes the observing notes on the Summer Triangle, still up in the sky in late autumn. The main stars are Altair , at 17 light years distant , a close visual star, look for nearby Tarazed (γ) an orange giant some 460 light years distant. Alshain (β) is 45 light years away.
Variable. R Aquilae, a red giant , 400 times the diameter of the sun, from +6 to +12 over nine months.

Binaries. Sissy Haas gives 42 entries here. Some of my favourites , 11 Aq. (SAO 104308) a yellow and blue at x50 with a 19.6" split. 15 Aq. ( SAO 142996) an orange giant ( appears yellow) and a turquoise companion at x50 with a 39.1" split. Σ2446 a lemon and sapphire at 19h05.8m. +06 33' at x100 with 9.4" split. h881 An orange and two blue triple at 19h18.1m. -05 25'. 23 Aq. (SAO 124487), a yellow and blue at x150 with a 3" split. 57 Aq. (SAO 143899), a yellow and violet at 35.9" split. Σ2542, Σ2545 and Σ2547 at 19h36.8m. -10 27', two pairs and a triple. π Aq. a tester (SAO 105282) at 1.4" split. Σ2613 , brilliant twins at 20h01.4m. +10 45' at x100 with a 3.7" split. Σ2644 ,an identical pair at 20h12.6m. +00 52' , x150 with a 2.6" split.

Open clusters. NGC 6709 (+6.7), NGC 6755 (+7.5), NGC 6756 (+11), NGC 6738(+8).

Planetary nebulae. NGC 6741 (+11), NGC 6751 (+13),NGC 6804(+12),NGC 6803(+11),NGC 6778(+13),NGC 6807(+14),NGC 6781(+11).

Galaxy. NGC 6814 (+11.2)

Globular cluster. NGC 6760 (+9.1).

 

 

Delphinus.
Delphinus sits on the edge of the Milky Way, many supernovae have occurred here. Several binaries and deep sky targets make this most dolphin like shape (aka "Job's coffin") worth finding.

Globular clusters.
NGC 6934 (+9) small and faint, slight resolution with 8".
NGC 7006, a very distant outlayer, some 135,000 light years from our galaxy plane. A misty blur with 8".

Planetary nebulae.
NGC 6891 (+10) blue with 4", better with 8".
NGC 6905, faint , except in large apertures.

Binaries.
γ Delphini gives a greenish companion at 10".SAO 106475.
β 363 at 20h31.0m. +20 36', a delicate +10.0 companion at 11.8".
Σ2679 gives a separation of 24.2", a faint speck of a companion to the primary at x50 . SAO 106068.
Σ2725 at x50 is in the same fov as γ. Very colourful grapefruit orange.
Σ2735 at 1.9", gives a yellow / white at x240.
Σ2738 at 20h58.5m.  +16 26', an interesting triple at x50, the AB close with a distant C.

Asterism.
The "Toadstool" or the " dolphin's diamonds" found at 21h07.3m +16 20', to the west of the galaxy NGC 7025.

 

The Summer Triangle is observable right through until late autumn. Even in winter it skirts the horizon as the evening draws in. Hoping we all get those elusive 

clear skies !

Nick.

 



[laudropb]

Very useful list of summer targets Nick. If only the sky would clear I might get a chance to look for some of them.

[John]

Great post Nick

Some of my absolute favorites there - especially the Veil Nebula

When are you going to write your observing guide book ?

[domstar]

Great. This sort of help is why I come here. Is there any way of bookmarking a particular thread. I'm still on the spring sky but I want to keep this info til later. I suppose I could always copy it longhand.

[scarp15]

Brilliant, comprehensive foretaste for late Summer observing. I am really looking forward to exploring in more depth the Cygnus Cloud region and for revisiting or seeing for the first time some of the many PN's, such as NGC 7027 is on my list. There are also features within the Great Rift which was discussed in another thread to explore. 

[wookie1965]

What a comprehensive list great for any astronomer to get there teeth into, objects there for all size of scopes for Novices up.

[rockystar]

some fab objects there, something to sink my teeth into for the next couple of months.

you mention dark skies, is it worth heading out at this time of year, with the lack of Astro darkness?