Exploring Eridanus

[Epick Crom]

Hi fellow observers! I had a wonderful night exploring the large constellation of Eridanus with my 10 inch dobsonian. This constellation holds many delights and a few rare sights! Moon at waxing gibbous but sky very transparent.

Before my foray into Eridanus began I had a few targets that I wanted to observe first. I started with finding the "Little Ladle" asterism in Pisces, brought to my attention on another forum. This charming asterism is found approx 2° from Iota Piscium, close to the Pegasus border. It gleamed in the moonlight and does look like a round spoon ( ladle). Next target was Saturn. Spectacular as usual, with one of its moons, Dione, positioned directly below Saturn and very close to it. A lovely sight! Mighty Jupiter was next, its moons strung out to one side of the planet. I saw very fine details in its cloud bands, one of my best ever views of the gas giant. After Jupiter I payed a visit to Mira (Omicron Ceti) the famous variable star in Cetus. I estimated it's current magnitude to be around 8th magnitude.

After enjoying those targets it was on to the main event of the evening, Eridanus:

Acamar ( Theta Eridani): Lovely double with identical white components spaced at 8"

NGC 1535: "Cleopatra's Eye". Wonderful planetary nebula. Blue/green coloration. I noticed it's 12th magnitude central star for the first time. Some internal structure visible at 343x.

Kied ( Omicron Eridani): This is an amazing multiple star, it's two companions being a white dwarf and a red dwarf! Very rare indeed.

39 Eridani: Another amazing multiple star, at 70x it's first companion was visible, then to my amazement the third companion became visible once I upped the magnification to 240x. This was my first time observing this object. I just love surprises!

NGC 1332: Elliptical galaxy. This was visible as a fuzzy smudge despite the moonlight. Another first discovery for me.

NGC 1537: Another elliptical galaxy. Eridanus abounds with galaxies!

I finished the night by observing the waxing gibbous moon. I got fantastic views of the Straight Wall, Apennines Mts and crater Clavius among others. I viewed crater Plato using my 2.3mm Cielo eyepiece ( my lowest focal length eyepiece) giving me 522x. The seeing was good as I got a rock steady and clear image, enabling me to see the Plato craterlets for the first time.A nice ending to an enjoyable session. Wishing you all clear skies

Joe

[josefk]

A nice mix of things there Joe and through your descriptions a nice bit of observing by proxy first thing in in the morning after yet another cloudy night here in the UK. I will make a note to check out the PNe NGC 1535. Cheers

[Kon]

Very nice report Joe. Good you are enjoying the Australian summer nights. We have been blessed with constant clouds in UK 

[Epick Crom]

6 hours ago, josefk said:

A nice mix of things there Joe and through your descriptions a nice bit of observing by proxy first thing in in the morning after yet another cloudy night here in the UK. I will make a note to check out the PNe NGC 1535. Cheers

Thanks Josefk. Be sure to check out NGC 1535, it's a stunning planetary. Wishing you clear skies!

[Epick Crom]

4 hours ago, Kon said:

Very nice report Joe. Good you are enjoying the Australian summer nights. We have been blessed with constant clouds in UK 

Sorry to hear about the clouds Kostas, I hope you get some clear nights soon 🤞

[GordonD]

Thanks for posting this. Some new targets there for me so looking forward to giving them a try.

[Epick Crom]

9 hours ago, GordonD said:

Thanks for posting this. Some new targets there for me so looking forward to giving them a try.

No worries mate, happy hunting!

[wookie1965]

That's brilliant I have never had a good look at this constellation I have only ever looked at Kied thank you for posting I am going to write some of them down. 

Paul 

[Epick Crom]

35 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

That's brilliant I have never had a good look at this constellation I have only ever looked at Kied thank you for posting I am going to write some of them down. 

Paul 

You're welcome Paul. I hope you have fun exploring Eridanus! The beauty of some of these objects took me by surprise. I too had never really taken a good look at Eridanus either until that session. I'm currently picking constellations then observing anything of  interest with them. I find this method very rewarding. Clear skies!

Joe