STARLOG

While starhopping to NGC 2403, I came across this double star system. It is a wide double, easily separated at 83X. There is maybe a 1 magnitude difference between the two stars. The primary is white and the companion is yellow-white.

This looks like a pair of eyes staring back at me. Both stars are the same magnitude and white. At 83X, they appear close together.

This is a large, face-on galaxy, and was very faint. I could perhaps detect a slight brightening of the background in a few places, but if I didn't already know something was there, I would pass right over it.

At 208X, it shows a bright, elongated core. You can see some nebulosity surrounding it quite a ways in all directions, although you can't really see a definite shape. At 341X, It took up most of the field of view and with averted vision, parts of one of the spiral arms could just barely be seen. It feels refreshing to see a galaxy again.

At 208X, this galaxy appears long and narrow, with rough edges. Using averted vison, some dark lanes could be detected here and there along one of the long edges. The core is almost stellar, but a bit elongated. At 341X, the galaxy fills up the entire field and the dark lane is more obvious.

This is a nice open cluster, with a lot of bright stars and a lot of fainter stars as well. It's spread out in an irregular shape, but fills the view at 83X. There's one nice double near the center of the cluster that's tight and both components are the same magnitude - another pair of eyes looking back at me in the dark. All the stars appear to be white.

This cluster is a lot fainter than nearby M47, but it's more impressive. It is more compact and appears like a pinwheel. At one edge of the cluster at 83X, I could detect the faint puff of planetary nebula NGC 2438. At 136X, the cluster fills the field of view and the nebula becomes even more obvious, taking on a nearly circular appearance, with the outer edges a bit brighter than the middle.

I needed an O-III filter to detect this one. It is large, but somewhat faint at 136X. I could detect the half-circle shape of the helmet along with one "horn" coming off of one side.

The best view of this cluster is at 136X. There are several brighter stars in the shape of a hand-drawn 5-pointed star in the field. In one corner of that is a knot of much fainter stars, tightly packed. This is NGC 2374. It is somewhat oval in appearance, with perhaps 15-20 members visible.

This cluster is very loose and scattered. It has been nicknamed the Tuft in the Tail of the Dog due to its location near the tail of Canis Major. It contains several bright stars in a very elongated shape. Near the middle of it is a fainter triangle of stars, one of which is an orange carbon star. Near it is a bright, lemon yellow star.

I've seen this cluster before, but it is worth seeing again. It is a small cluster containing mostly faint stars, but has bright τ CMa right in its center, making it gorgeous. The best view was at 136X, where it revealed a couple of faint stars right next to Tau. Perhaps 30 members could be seen in all. It isn't quite round, but more triangular in shape.

This pair of stars has one orange and one blue member. The orange star is slightly brighter. They are nicely separated, making for a pleasing view. I have to give this double a look every time I'm in the neighborhood.

This cluster is rich, but somewhat faint. In my finder scope, it shows up as a faint patch of fuzz. At 83X, it pops out with dozens of stars. It's difficult to tell where the cluster ends and the Milky Way begins, but it is nevertheless impressive. A few of the stars were yellow, but most were white.

This is a small cluster, not very impressive. It is shaped like a narrow triangle, similar to a mouse pointer or a Christmas tree. At 136X, the brightest member resolves to a double, with both stars being the same magnitude. The brightest stars are along the edges, with about a dozen stars in all.