Observer: | Tom Campbell |
Location: | College Station, Texas (Long: 101°56'W Lat: 33°47'N) |
Telescope: | Zhumell 12" f/5 Dobsonian |
Eyepieces: | 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (60x), 15mm (100x) 2.0" 30mm (50x) |
Lenses: | Celestron Luminos 2.5x Barlow |
Seeing: | Somewhat Stable (7/10) |
Transparency: | Mostly clear |
Temperature: | Low 60s |
Tonight was mostly clear, but the temperatures were dropping quickly and there was already dew on the ground when I set up my telescope in the driveway. I hoped I could see a few new galaxies tonight, but just in case, I had a backup plan of observing some open clusters in Cassiopeia, the Queen.
My first target for the evening was the galaxy I had failed at last night. Now that I was armed with a better star chart, I was determined to track it down.
NGC 278 | Cassiopeia | Spiral Galaxy | 8:40pm CST |
RA: 00h 52m 04s | Dec: +47° 33' | Mag: 11.5 | |
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This galaxy is faint, but it is detectable with direct vision. With averted vision, it appears a bit larger. The best view is 150x. The galaxy is not quite round, with an almost stellar core. |
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I tried locating a couple of other faint galaxies, but the local sky conditions just wouldn't allow it. So I started concentrating on open clusters instead. | |||
NGC 752 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 8:50pm CST |
Caldwell 28 | RA: 01h 57m 55s | Dec: +37° 52' | Mag: 5.7 |
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This is a large open cluster, taking up about 2/3 of the field of view at 50x. Most of the stars are a uniform brightness. There are a couple of bright ones forming a pair of eyes about halfway out from center. Off on one edge of the cluster is a really bright pair of stars. There is a spiral arc of stars starting at the center and going out to the bright outer pair. About 30-40 members are visible. |
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NGC 436 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 9:00pm CST |
RA: 01h 15m 58s | Dec: +58° 49' | Mag: 8.8 | |
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This is right off the tail of the Owl Cluster (NGC 457). At 150x, about a dozen stars are visible, with some nebulosity behind it. They form a 3-toed bird's foot pattern, with the brightest stars at the toes and the dimmer stars at the ankle. |
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NGC 637 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 9:15pm CST |
RA: 01h 43m 06s | Dec: +64° 02' | Mag: 8.2 | |
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This is a very sparse open cluster. At 150x, maybe 6-7 stars are visible, with a bit of nebulosity, forming a chevron shape. |
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NGC 663 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 9:20pm CST |
Caldwell 10 | RA: 01h 46m 00s | Dec: +61° 15' | Mag: 7.1 |
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This is a large open cluster, more impressive than M103 and twice the size. I could see 15-20 stars present. The 25mm eyepiece shows it nicely. It looks like an iron with wings on either side of it. I will call this one the Flying Iron. |
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NGC 654 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 9:30pm CST |
RA: 01h 44m 00s | Dec: +61° 53' | Mag: 6.5 | |
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This cluster is about the size of M103. It has one bright star on one edge. The other members are about half as bright, forming little knots of 2-3 stars in an irregular pattern. |
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NGC 659 | Cassiopeia | Open Cluster | 9:45pm CST |
RA: 01h 44m 04s | Dec: +60° 40' | Mag: 7.9 | |
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This open cluster is small and faint. About 8 members are visible, forming a loose pentagon. One point of the pentagon has 3 stars, pointing outwards. |
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By this point, my finder scope was completely unusable due to the dew and fog on the eyepiece. I'm going to have to come up with a solution to this. Even my telescope tube and star charts were dripping wet. Time to call it a night.