As it turned out, conditions were a little flakey at the beginning. I had the moon present in the sky above the tree line to the southwest, plus transparency was weak. The dew heaters were going as I figured dewing would be significant as well as a likelihood of fog later. I was not disappointed on either account as everything around me became drenched in moisture and the fog made several appearances only to fall back each time – thankfully.
Anyway, with the moon brightening the sky I moved to Cygnus to begin the evening with some open clusters. As always I had both the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas (IDSA) and Uranometria All-Sky Edition atlases on the table at the ready to guide me. So let’s delve into my drippy evening and see what treasures were plucked from the constantly changing sky conditions.
(Equipment used)
17.5 inch
Ethos 21mm (94x, 1.1° TFOV, 4.7mm exit pupil)
Ethos 13mm (152x, 0.7° TFOV, 2.9mm exit pupil)
XW 10mm (199x, 0.4° TFOV, 2.2mm exit pupil)
XW 7mm (283x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.6mm exit pupil)
XW 5mm (397x, 0.2° TFOV, 1.1mm exit pupil)
With the 13mm in the focuser (152x) I turned the IDSA to chart 30-left and aimed the scope at the beautiful double, Albireo. Pausing a moment to enjoy the colorful duo, I then moved on eastward to pick up this small and unassuming cluster sitting at the Cygnus-Vulpecula border. Viewing it also at 199x, it was a loose scatter of 30+ stars dominated by a two lines of stars roughly parallel crossing its field in an ENE to WSW flow. A multitude of dim members dotted the field randomly. I found it somewhat detached, and though not a strongly obvious cluster, it still had a certain visual charm. (New)
Slowly making my way NNE from the field of
Alessi-Teutsch 11 (Cygnus, open cluster, mag=unk, size=24.0’, class=unk):
Now turning to chart 18-left in the IDSA, I noticed this cluster, also catalogued as ASCC 112. Centering Sigma Cygni (mag 4.2) in the
On chart 9-left I noticed this cluster straddling the Cygnus-Draco border. Some sources list the cluster in Cygnus, some in Draco. Additionally, the RNGC lists it as a non-existent object based on review of imagery, and thus an
Basel 14 (Cygnus, open cluster, mag=unk, size=12.0’, class=II3p):
Moving to chart 17-left to the east of the North American Nebula, which was weakly present due to weak transparency, I located this small but noticeable grouping 1° NNE of the mag 5.0 star 68 Cygni. Using 152x it appeared as a small but easily seen grouping. It was dominated by two lines of stars, one containing five stars in the southern part of the field and the other a trio in the northern section. The interior was sparsely and randomly dotted with only a few other stars. The dominant stars ranged from 8th to 12th mag, but otherwise the cluster was not well defined visually. (New)
Listed as an
Almost 2° WNW of the previous object, I picked up this nice little cluster, sitting south of a gentle arch of five field stars. At 152x I found it a pretty and somewhat compressed cluster of almost 30 stars in a well detached circular grouping that stood out well in the field. (New)
Listed as non-existent, and thus an
Platais 1 (Cygnus, open cluster, mag=unk, size=10.0’, class=unk):
Just NNW of M29 I easily scooped up this small oval shaped grouping using 152x. The variable V1726 Cyg was in the western part of its field, with a dimmer more oval pattern of about 20 stars to its east. Overall it was just slightly detached, but not a strong visual group. (New)
Shifting to the SSW of 68 Cygni, I located this small and dim cluster about 40’ west of an obvious line of three 6th magnitude field stars. With 152x it was nothing more than a small round unresolved diffuse glow. Using 199x 2, perhaps 3 stars were resolved within this glow. Then with 283x I was picking up 5 or 6 stars winking in and out of view with the persistent backdrop of unresolved star light. I did try at 397x and while the backdrop of unresolved haze remained, I was now pulling out as many as 10 little suns drifting in and out of view as seeing shifted. This was a challenging little cluster that gave up some of its contents grudgingly. (New)
Leiter 9 (Cygnus,
South of the North American Nebula, positioned between the tip of Florida and the tip of Mexico, this little
Roslund 7 (Cygnus, open cluster, mag=unk, size=20.0’, class=IV2p):
About 5.5° south of the “Little Orion”
By this time, the fog had formed at ground level, then fallen back perhaps two or three times. But, even that being the case, general transparency had improved as the Milky Way plane overhead was looking more robust than it did earlier. I was halfway expecting the fog to rise and keep rising until it obliterated the sky, but each time it backed off so that I could continue. Now that things were slightly improved in the transparency quality, I decided I’d had enough open cluster hunting, as I was itching to get back to my bread and butter – galaxy hunting! So moving to the left side of chart 17, I moved into western Lacerta to see if I could indeed pin down some of these little fuzzy star islands.
Aiming the scope at HD 211073 (mag 4.5) which is part of the main body of the celestial lizard, I nudge NNW about 1.5° and using nearby field stars triangulated the galaxies location in the
Nearly 1.5° west of the previous object I settled on the mag 8.5 star HD 209558. Studying the field immediately west of this star at 94x revealed nothing conclusive. Quickly moving to 152x I picked up a small and dim elongated disk that was evenly illuminated. The view was similar at 199x, but though weak it was still fairly obvious within the view. (New)
Moving NNE for just over 4.5° to a rectangular pattern of four field stars southwest of 2 Lacertae (mag 4.6), I studied the field west of the brightest star in the grouping. Starting at 152x I picked up a small elongated homogeneous oval. Dim to the eye, it was not especially difficult. Taking a look with 199x I detected a subtle bit of central brightness around the core and obvious within the view. (New)
UGC 11920 (Lacerta, lenticular galaxy, mag=11.9, size=2.4’x1.5’, SBr=13.1):
Shifting my attention a little over 3° to the NNW, about halfway between the previously viewed open clusters
UGC 11909 (Lacerta, spiral galaxy, mag=12.3, size=3.0’x0.7’, SBr=12.9):
A little over a degree SSW of the last object, I picked up a small dim smile of four field stars (9th to 11th mag). Immediately southwest of this little curve I spotted a fairly dim, thin homogeneous glow. Small in angular extent it remained weak at 199x, and taking a peek at 283x confirmed it better as a diffuse thin glow. (New)
Moving over to chart 16-right I wanted to pick up one more in Lacerta before moving to northern Hercules, which had started to drop in the northwest. Aiming at 6 Lacertae (mag 4.5) I then turned southeast about 3.5° to 12 Lacertae (mag 5.2), which is part of a large triangular grouping with 13 Lacertae. My target was just over 1° east of 12 Lac and immediately northwest of a 9th mag field star. Picked up using 152x this barred spiral presented a pretty dim and small thin oval. Homogeneous to the eye, it remained weak at 199x, though not difficult to see. (New)
I now moved over to chart 19-left to look for a few
Less than 5’ southwest of
Nearly a degree southeast of
About 1° west of the previous object just past a group of five stars (10th and 11th mag), I pinned this object with 152x. It presented as a small, dim round dust mote. Observing with 199x, an intermittent stellar core was seen popping in and out of view in the center of its very small disk. Though not a showpiece, this galaxy turned out to be the 4000th
Sticking with Uranometria chart 34-right, my next target was found just 12.5’ south of
Nearly a degree southwest of the previous object, and just east of an “L” shaped grouping of four stars (8th and 9th mag), I scooped this pretty dim little oval using 152x. It remained homogeneous at 199x, though slightly more apparent. It also displayed an intermittent stellar core drifting in and out of view. (New)
It was approaching 0200 hours locally and the fog had continued to make its periodic surges up from the valley floor only to drop back again. Hercules was moving toward the tree line on the hillside behind the house now so I looked around the sky a bit while seated at my table. I finally looked at eastern Capricornus and turned the IDSA to chart 65-left. I noticed just over the border into Aquarius there was a grouping of four galaxies at the left side of the page that I had not marked as having been observed. I was getting a bit tired, so I would make these my final targets for the night. I aimed the scope at mag 4.7 Kappa Capricorni to begin my final journey this evening.
Sweeping ESE for over 4.5° I picked up a wide east-west pair of field stars (6th and 7th mag) at the border with Aquarius. Centering the eastern most of this pair (HD 208735), and with the 13mm in the focuser (152x) I nudged slightly to the northeast and quickly picked up this bright and somewhat large elongated oval. It was homogeneous to the eye and very obvious within the field of view. Going to 199x its major axis became a little more extended as fainter portions were picked up and the disk’s center thickened as dimmer portions of its minor axis became visible. Within the core area, a small central lens of brightness within the overall envelope became apparent. I returned to this galaxy for a final look after viewing its three dimmer neighbors to the north and it was a very nice galaxy with which to bring the session to a close. (New)
Shifting my attention north of
Only about 10’ to the northeast of the previous object I also was seeing this small oval. It was slightly larger in appearance than its neighbor to the southwest. With its lower surface brightness it was subtly dimmer to my eye than
Another 12’ northwest of
That was it for this evening. The repeated intrusions of fog were problematic, necessitating short breaks as I waited for it to either take over completely or fall back. Fortunately, each time it was the latter that occurred. That was a blessing indeed as I wanted to eclipse my personal goal for the evening, which did occur. Transparency ranged from poor to barely average at times. Seeing seemed to stay more or less at average levels, which did help. Despite the variability of the conditions, I stuck with it for about four hours and had success, even getting back into galaxy hunting for the last half of the outing. Thanks for following along and I hope you get a change to get out there soon. As for me, I am going on lunar holiday for a bit, until the moon moves out of the way later this month. See you then, conditions permitting of course.
