A feast of clusters (and a few of the other usual suspects)

[Nik271]

I want to share the nice observing session I had last night.

I was out from 8pm to 10pm.  After the showers the sky cleared and the transparency became almost unreal. I went out after dinner and was very excited to be able to spot the Beehive and the Double cluster with naked eyes from my SQM 20 location. It was still windy so not a night for high mags. I decided to focus on open clusters and DSO and mounted my 6 Inch Newt (The £100 C6N which was a real bargain from @FLO while it was available).  I am using EQ5 in manual mode with a tiny 6x30 finder so a big part of the enjoyment is the 'thrill of the chase' and star hopping. For EP I was using a 20mm Svbony  giving x37.5 magnification , 4mm exit pupil and almost 2degrees FoV, ideal for DSO hunting.

First target M42 of course. It was getting lower in the south west but magnificent. The nebulosity filled my view from edge to edge, I could see the two 'wings' extending even beyond. Even the running man region was showing some faint glow which was a first for me. The night was going to be good! 

Then a quick swing at Cassiopeia while it was still high enough. The double cluster filled my view with breathtaking clarity. There are so many stars there, so beautiful.

Then another of my favourites in the area: the ET cluster (NGC 457), it was positively winking at me with this bright orange star

Then I swung back to the south, to catch the open cluster M47 while it was as high as possible. It didn't look very impressive, anything below 25 degrees in azimuth gets washed in light polluted air

Looking up at the Beehive cluster was a different experience, I can just about fit it in the FoV, felt like lost in space with all these stars.

I followed Gamma Cancri up to reach Iota Cancri - one of the best doubles in the sky for me (well... after Albireo and maybe tied up with Almach). The red/blue contrast is lovely.

Then a quick check of the three open clusters in Auriga M36,M37, M38. They are all rather different from each other. M38 reminds me of an arrowhead, while M37 in my 6 inch scope is a cloud of tiny stars.

I swing towards Zeta Tauri nearby and the Crab nebula. Wow! The oval grey shape was obvious in my view, never seen it so well. A shell of a supernova from recorded history how about that!

It was time to swing east. First stop M51 the whirlpool galaxy. I was rewarded with a glimpse of the twin cores. Awe inspiring, two colliding galaxies millions of light years away!

I tried for the Pinwheel M101 but failed. Never seen that one from my back yard just occasional ghost glimpses, but tonight, not even that.

But I got the globular M3 and two other galaxies M94 and M63 in the east, they seem resistant to light pollution.

For finish: the Leo triplet, well... almost. Saw the two brighter members M65 and M66 but the third one regularly eludes me.  Light pollution

It was 10pm and I was getting very cold in the wind. Packed up and went to sleep with a big smile on my face

 Clear skies!

Nik

[Kon]

Very nice report Nik with loads of targets within your 2 hrs. The Crab nebula is a great sight and i bet it looked great under the moonless night.

[Jiggy 67]

Great report. The Beehive is one of the best!!

[Spile]

Wow that is a lot more targets than I go for per viewing session. Last night I just tackled NGC 2244 and Epsilon Mon, a nice YW+BG 4* binary.

[domstar]

Great report and some great targets on your list. There's a nice double right near the Crab Nebula. I can get them both in the field at 45x. The Hamburger  galaxy gave me no end of problems. Hope you get it this season.

[Jiggy 67]

45 minutes ago, domstar said:

Great report and some great targets on your list. There's a nice double right near the Crab Nebula. I can get them both in the field at 45x. The Hamburger  galaxy gave me no end of problems. Hope you get it this season.

Would that be HD 37013?? I got that a couple of weeks ago, nice white/orange primary and a pale blue companion, lovely double. I also got a hint of the Crab which surprised me on a mooney night

[domstar]

@Jiggy 67 Yes, indeed. That with the Crab together is one of my most satisfying views of the last few sessions. I'm very pleased to have split S Mon in the Christmas tree cluster. A lovely sight with three tiny doubles around it. I've done a lot of double stars recently but I'm looking forward to some galaxies soon.

[Jiggy 67]

1 hour ago, domstar said:

@Jiggy 67 Yes, indeed. That with the Crab together is one of my most satisfying views of the last few sessions. I'm very pleased to have split S Mon in the Christmas tree cluster. A lovely sight with three tiny doubles around it. I've done a lot of double stars recently but I'm looking forward to some galaxies soon.

We think alike, I’ve also done a lot of doubles, working my way through the Cambridge Double Star Atlas but I don’t think I have had a go at S Mon (but I will be), what’s the catalogue number? Or full name. Galaxies are my nemesis in my skies but I will also be trying a few in Leo and elsewhere if the clouds clear 

[Jiggy 67]

@domstar cancel, found S Mon 👍

[Sunshine]

Enjoyable read, a target filled session is so rewarding and, I have to say that the beehive is one of my favourites, It looked beautiful a few nights ago for me as seeing was exceptional.

[SuburbanMak]

Super report thank you & I second that transparency was at times outstanding last night - I was out 9-11 in central Hampshire & chased down some faint targets (at least for me in a Mak 127)  - rewarding in their own way but it was my 10x50 sweep of open clusters at the end of my session that was breathtaking & like you I have rarely seen so many stars in the double cluster against a deep background of not-quite-resolved stars.  Inspiring writing, thank you.  
Maybe some similar conditions for a time tomorrow night, I will certainly be seeking out M1. 

[domstar]

@Jiggy 67 Excellent work. S Mon is a real toughie for me. I've only managed it once out of about 5 attempts- not sure why.

Yes, I've been working my way through CDSA too. It's really reinvigorated my observing. We have been lucky enough to have a long clear period lately and I've been observing every night from the balcony. Without CDSA I would've looked at open clusters for a couple of nights and wondered what to do next. With a fat catalogue of double stars, there's always a new challenge and so many different types. 

[Nik271]

14 hours ago, domstar said:

@Jiggy 67 Yes, indeed. That with the Crab together is one of my most satisfying views of the last few sessions. I'm very pleased to have split S Mon in the Christmas tree cluster. A lovely sight with three tiny doubles around it. I've done a lot of double stars recently but I'm looking forward to some galaxies soon.

Thank you for the suggestion! I was not aware that S Mon, (the brightest star in the Xmas tree, right?) is a close double. I will check it out at the next opportunity. Tonight I might get clear skies in early evening and I will bring out the Mak  🔭 

[domstar]

@Nik271 Yes, it says 3 arc-seconds but I find it more difficult than I expected. Maybe it's just focusing issues, as there isn't a nice bright star to focus on at 150x that is near enough that I wouldn't get lost on the way back. Anyway, the whole cluster is great with a lovely double just down from it and Hubble's Variable Nebula close by. I read that the Christmas Tree Cluster was the first cluster to be aged by looking at the brightness of the stars and whether they had left the main sequence or not (but I can't find any references to that at the moment so I hope I've remembered correctly) so that place in history gives it some added interest for me. 

Have a good nice tonight. After 8 nights of observing in March so far, I'm happy enough to see a bit of red on clearoutside .

[Epick Crom]

On 12/03/2021 at 18:01, Nik271 said:

I want to share the nice observing session I had last night.

I was out from 8pm to 10pm.  After the showers the sky cleared and the transparency became almost unreal. I went out after dinner and was very excited to be able to spot the Beehive and the Double cluster with naked eyes from my SQM 20 location. It was still windy so not a night for high mags. I decided to focus on open clusters and DSO and mounted my 6 Inch Newt (The £100 C6N which was a real bargain from @FLO while it was available).  I am using EQ5 in manual mode with a tiny 6x30 finder so a big part of the enjoyment is the 'thrill of the chase' and star hopping. For EP I was using a 20mm Svbony  giving x37.5 magnification , 4mm exit pupil and almost 2degrees FoV, ideal for DSO hunting.

First target M42 of course. It was getting lower in the south west but magnificent. The nebulosity filled my view from edge to edge, I could see the two 'wings' extending even beyond. Even the running man region was showing some faint glow which was a first for me. The night was going to be good! 

Then a quick swing at Cassiopeia while it was still high enough. The double cluster filled my view with breathtaking clarity. There are so many stars there, so beautiful.

Then another of my favourites in the area: the ET cluster (NGC 457), it was positively winking at me with this bright orange star

Then I swung back to the south, to catch the open cluster M47 while it was as high as possible. It didn't look very impressive, anything below 25 degrees in azimuth gets washed in light polluted air

Looking up at the Beehive cluster was a different experience, I can just about fit it in the FoV, felt like lost in space with all these stars.

I followed Gamma Cancri up to reach Iota Cancri - one of the best doubles in the sky for me (well... after Albireo and maybe tied up with Almach). The red/blue contrast is lovely.

Then a quick check of the three open clusters in Auriga M36,M37, M38. They are all rather different from each other. M38 reminds me of an arrowhead, while M37 in my 6 inch scope is a cloud of tiny stars.

I swing towards Zeta Tauri nearby and the Crab nebula. Wow! The oval grey shape was obvious in my view, never seen it so well. A shell of a supernova from recorded history how about that!

It was time to swing east. First stop M51 the whirlpool galaxy. I was rewarded with a glimpse of the twin cores. Awe inspiring, two colliding galaxies millions of light years away!

I tried for the Pinwheel M101 but failed. Never seen that one from my back yard just occasional ghost glimpses, but tonight, not even that.

But I got the globular M3 and two other galaxies M94 and M63 in the east, they seem resistant to light pollution.

For finish: the Leo triplet, well... almost. Saw the two brighter members M65 and M66 but the third one regularly eludes me.  Light pollution

It was 10pm and I was getting very cold in the wind. Packed up and went to sleep with a big smile on my face

 Clear skies!

Nik

You got through a lot of targets there Nik. Nothing like a nice, clear, moonless night to go deep sky hunting. I enjoyed your report!

[F15Rules]

On 12/03/2021 at 10:01, Nik271 said:

For finish: the Leo triplet, well... almost. Saw the two brighter members M65 and M66 but the third one regularly eludes me.  Light pollution

Nice report Nik, very enjoyable 👍

I too was out , and was aiming to try to split iota leonis which is a close double around 2" separation. It was very windy, too windy for higher mags, and I couldn't split iota this time, even though it's within reach of my FS128.

The sky was very transparent though, as you said, and although I'm not a big fan of faint fuzzies (A 5" scope  isn't really intended for deep sky after all), I noticed on my atlas that the Leo Triplet was nearby, and so, having never viewed it before, I decided to look for it..

..it proved to be very easy to find just scanning with a 30mm Aero so, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to find. I then popped in the Nagler T2 12mm and wow, all 3 galaxies were very obvious.. NGC 3628 was definitely the dimmest of the three, but also clearly "longer" and "thinner" than M65 and M66, both of whose central cores were brighter than I had imagined they would be. And all seen together nicely in the Nagler's 82 degree field!

So a nice surprise in my short delve into the world of faint fuzzies😊. I must try this again..

Dave

[Nik271]

Glad to hear that you got all three in the Leo triplet, @F15Rules ! I hope to be able to spot NGC3628 when Leo swings south west later in spring, my  southeast sky has the worst of the light pollution from the city centre and I rarely stay later than 11pm.

By the way 5 inch scope is nothing to be sneered at even for DSO, last spring I was using a 5 inch Mak (actually the stopped down Skywatcher version with only 119mm aperture). I managed to see quite a few of the faint fuzzies. M51, M81,M82 are among the easiest and brightest but there is also the  Virgo cluster, roughly between Vindemiatrix and Denebola. There are many galaxies in the 8-10 magnitude range, in darker skies they should be popping out in your scope. 

Good luck with Iota Leonis! It's a challenging one with the secondary much fainter and close to the primary. I used the big 7 inch Mak on it last night when the wind died down and got a clean split at x300, look for the secondary almost directly east of the primary.

[Nik271]

22 hours ago, domstar said:

@Nik271 Yes, it says 3 arc-seconds but I find it more difficult than I expected. Maybe it's just focusing issues, as there isn't a nice bright star to focus on at 150x that is near enough that I wouldn't get lost on the way back. Anyway, the whole cluster is great with a lovely double just down from it and Hubble's Variable Nebula close by. I read that the Christmas Tree Cluster was the first cluster to be aged by looking at the brightness of the stars and whether they had left the main sequence or not (but I can't find any references to that at the moment so I hope I've remembered correctly) so that place in history gives it some added interest for me. 

Have a good nice tonight. After 8 nights of observing in March so far, I'm happy enough to see a bit of red on clearoutside .

 

I got a split of S Mon yesterday at x300 magnification with the 180 Skymax Mak. I agree it's a challenging double, to me it compares to Theta Aurigae: the difficulty is that the secondary is 3 magnitudes fainter and quite close. I reckon the secondary was just about south of the primary. Nice one!

[domstar]

@Nik271 Great. It's nice to have it confirmed and reading about others trying the same targets always keeps me enthused. I'm glad I didn't give up on it even though I failed a lot.  Alas my skills at focusing and tracking are not up to magnifications over about 150x.