STARLOG

UNICORNS AND BUTTERFLIES

JANUARY 26, 2017

Observer:	Tom Campbell
Location:	College Station, Texas (Long: 101°56'W Lat: 33°47'N)
Telescope:	Zhumell 12" f/5 Dobsonian
Eyepieces:	Explore Scientific 18mm (83x) Explore Scientific 11mm (136x)
Lenses:	Celestron Luminos Barlow (2.5x)
Weather:	The sky was mostly clear. Temperature was in the mid 40s (F), with a slight breeze. There was no Moon.

OBSERVING SUMMARY:
LEPUS: NGC 1832
MONOCEROS: M50, NGC 2215, NGC 2286, NGC 2346

Last night's skies were mostly clear, but the stars were brilliant. Unfortunately, it was also kinda chilly. (For Texas, at least. Mid 40s would be almost summerlike in Canada, but for folks here, it feels more like an Alaskan blizzard.)

Shortly after dark, I set up my telescope outside in the back yard, then went back inside to plan my evening. I really wanted to take another stab at NGC 1832. I was in the right field the other night, but just couldn't make it show itself. I was hoping tonight's skies would be more forthcoming.

Also, I found some gems I wanted to grab in Monoceros. The Unicorn is one of those oft-neglected constellations, no doubt due, at least in part, to the fact that it is surrounded by brighter constellations. Even tiny Canis Minor has much brighter stars. A pity, because Monoceros lies within the heart of the Orion Arm of our Milky Way galaxy and offers a treasure trove of celestial delights.

My telescope gave me some trouble tonight, and I spent almost an hour in the dark trying to get the mirrors re-aligned properly (collimated). But finally, I was ready to begin.

NGC 1832	Lepus	Galaxy	9:00pm CST
	At 208X, this galaxy shows up as a small, faint, fuzzy patch. It is right next to a star with a similar magnitude as its core. With averted vision, the galaxy's core would appear stellar as well, making it look like it had two cores.

NGC 2215	Monoceros	Open Cluster	9:35pm CST
	My best view was at 136X. This cluster contains fairly dim stars, somewhat compact. Perhaps a couple dozen were visible, taking up about 1/3 of the field. Many of the stars are the same magnitude and appear white. There were a smattering of fainter stars visible as well. The overall shape was pentagonal, like a cut gemstone. Many of the surrounding stars are brighter than the stars in the cluster.

M 50	Monoceros	Open Cluster	10:10pm CST
	This cluster has somewhat faint stars, but there are a lot of them and they are tightly packed. It is difficult to tell where the cluster ends and the background Milky Way begins, but it's very impressive in the 18mm. Near one edge is a bright yellow star. Most of the others appear white.

NGC 2286	Monoceros	Open Cluster	10:25pm CST
	This cluster is faint, with a lot of members spread out and somewhat compact. There's nothing outstanding about this cluster. It is an odd-shaped knot of stars, but difficult to really tell where it begins and ends.

NGC 2346 (Butterfly Nebula)	Monoceros	Planetary Nebula	10:25pm CST
	This is a tiny planetary. It is difficult to see without an O-III filter. Using the filter at 136X, it appeared brighter and larger. It looks rather fan-shaped, with a bright center and dimming rapidly as it fanned out. Bumping up the power didn't really help as it made it fainter and harder to track.

I had work the next day, so I decided this was a good place to end the session.