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Fun with clusters

Littleguy80

By Littleguy80
in Observing - Reports

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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I'd hope to get out early with the scope last night to beat the rise of the moon. The scope was out cooling at 4pm but my plan was not destined to be and it was 11pm before I found myself at the eyepiece. I started with the Beehive, M44. Despite the late start, I was in relaxed mood and took my time with my observations. With extended viewing, I started to pick out the colours of the stars. Lots of lovely yellow and blue stars to be found. More colours to be found with my next target, Iota Cancri. This is one the double stars given the title of the Winter Albireo. A large white primary with smaller blue secondary. The 6mm BGO giving great sharp views. The blue secondary particularly impressing.

NGC 2264, the Christmas Tree cluster, had wowed me the previous night so I was keen to revisit it. The shape is so distinct and really made me chuckle. This is definitely a target I want to show the kids before Father Christmas arrives! There was no sign of the Cone nebula around the cluster but I wasn't really looking for or expecting to see it on this occasion. NGC 2301 was a new target for me. A string of brighter stars make up the main part of the cluster but it has the glow about it telling you that it's much richer than the stars you immediately see. A really pretty cluster.

I now went in search of the Intergalactic Wander, NGC 2264. Try as I might, I just couldn't find it. The moon was much higher now so I suspect moon glow was against me. This is high up on my list of targets to see though. I will return! M48 is one of the Messiers that I haven't see yet. I did find it but it was a bit disappointing if I'm honest. A rather dim open cluster. More evidence that the moon was starting to spoil some of the viewing. 

The cold was starting to bite now so I decided to go back to another target that had impressed the previous night, NGC 2169. I particularly like the 37 cluster because that's my age! It's another sight that makes me laugh with delight. The numbers are upside down in my newt but that doesn't spoil this in the slightest.

To finish the night, I moved onto some eyepiece testing on the moon. Based on a conversation on another thread, I was testing my 24mm ES68 against my 5mm BGO to see how well the ES68 handled light scatter. The moon looked absolutely stunning through both. It really made me realise how much I've neglected the Moon. I do have a Moon atlas on my Christmas wish list so I hope to remedy this soon. The ES68 did an extremely good job in my opinion. The picture below is taken on my phone through the ES68 and hasn't been processed in any way. A lovely relaxed couple of hours under the winter skies.

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Cjg

Cjg

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NGC2301, Hagrid's Dragon, yet to see it this year, but a great sight. One to show with the Owl on the Public Nights.

I don't think anyone set up last night Neil, combination of a great talk, a rising moon and the wind was icy cold. Hopefully a week of cold weather in the run up to the weekend. 

Chris

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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12 minutes ago, Cjg said:

NGC2301, Hagrid's Dragon, yet to see it this year, but a great sight. One to show with the Owl on the Public Nights.

I don't think anyone set up last night Neil, combination of a great talk, a rising moon and the wind was icy cold. Hopefully a week of cold weather in the run up to the weekend. 

Chris

Aaah I didn’t know it was known as that. Will have to revisit to see if I can spot the dragon shape! 

It sounded a great talk. I was disappointed that I couldn’t make it. Fingers crossed for the weekend. Hopefully we’ll get a night as good as the ones we had in November!

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Littleguy80

Littleguy80

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1 hour ago, Hayduke27 said:

Great report Neil!  I am hoping to make it out tonight, and I have added the 37 and Christmas Tree clusters to my list.  I haven't yet seen either.  Thanks for the write up!

Thank you! Hope you have a great night and enjoy the clusters. Will be looking out for your report. :) 

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cloudsweeper

cloudsweeper

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8 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Haha too true. My eldest starts high school next September. The time goes too fast! 

Sure does.  Then you think about the dwarf planet Sedna which takes over 10,000 years to orbit the Sun.  Scary stuff!  :happy11:

Doug.

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