this have been the first reasonably clear skies over the Middle Franken since September,
and I have been one of those enthusiasts, grabbing the binoculars to freeze fingers in the night.
The warm-up and dark adaptation phase of the observing session has been a sweep through:
Planetary nebulae M27 and M57,
my standard path through the Cygnus: M27,
the nebulae: the bright North America and Pelican, and the fainter Elephant Trunk,
in Cepheus the obligatory Wolf-Rayet Sh2-157.
Starting Cassiopeia with the M52, and the Caroline’s
Hoping for a good dark adaptation already achieved, I have followed the Nick’s Cascade to the Muscleman Cluster, and been incredibly curious what I can see in the Valentin’s Heart Nebula Sh2-190. Its brightest area has been the southern arc, and The Fish Head
And after the Valentin’s Soul Sh2-199, I have decided to try something new:
The Sh2-202 makes the third nebular field aligned in a row with the Valentin’s Heart and Soul. It’s brightest condensation is located south of the bright Pazmino’s Cluster St23.
It has not required much time spent with moving the binoculars around the Pazmino’s Cluster to see a condensed brightening about 50 arcseconds across, south of the cluster, and to keep it even without the averted vision. The other condensations have been still uncertain.
The rest of the observing session has been spent with the easy obejcts:
Mel 20,
the California Nebula
And then, Auriga down to the rising Gemini:
M38, M36, M37, and finally M35 in Gemini.
Before some haze rising, I have made a short visit to the
Date and time: 30th November, 2019, 20:15 – 21:30 local time
Place: Backyard in Erlanger Oberland
Binoculars: Hand held 15x85 with the Baader blue(
Observing conditions: Double Cluster and Mel 20 Alpha Persei Moving group faint with unaided eyes, M31 core seen with averted vision, Milky Way faint and without structures
Thank you for reading,
JG