STARLOG

ADORNMENTS FIT FOR A QUEEN (PART 1)

OCTOBER 28, 2018


Telescope: Zhumell Z12 Dobsonian (Zoomie)
Eyepieces: 18mm 82° (84X), 11mm 82° (138X)
Lenses: Celestron 2.5X barlow

Unusual for this time of year, a few days of clear, warm weather settled in. As soon as my evening chores were done, I grabbed my dob and wheeled it out onto the driveway for a quick session under the stars.

I had hoped to take some images of Saturn and Mars tonight before they disappeared for the year. Saturn was already low and the thick, turbulent atmosphere made it difficult to even make out the Cassini Division. Disappointed, I turned the telescope to Mars.

Mars was higher in the sky and well-positioned. The sky was still turbulent, however. Details kept coming and and out of focus. Still, I tried to get a few images of the Red Planet.

After several minutes of less-than-stellar images (pun intended), I had enough of that. I removed my phone from the eyepiece and prepared for some visual observing instead.

I didn't really have any observing list planned, but I knew the Moon would be rising soon and the local light pollution from the nearby street lights and porch lights would make finding faint objects difficult, if not impossible. I decided that open clusters would be something that my sky could handle. Glancing around the sky, I settled on Cassiopeia, an area rich in open clusters and high enough to get some good views.

NGC 457 (E.T. Cluster) Cassiopeia Open Cluster 9:25pm CDT

This cluster looked really nice tonight, with a lot of crisp stars. The E.T. shape was readily apparent. The brightest two stars make the eyes, and the brightest member is a bit yellowish. There is a large cluster of fainter stars near the chest region. Using my 18mm, it spans about half of the field.
 
NGC 436 Cassiopeia Open Cluster 9:30pm CDT

This little cluster is below the feet of NGC 457. It is small and fairly compact. The stars are dimmer than those of NGC 457. The best view is with the 11mm. Perhaps a dozen stars are visible. Three of the brightest members form a straight line tangential to the rest of the cluster.
 
M 103 Cassiopeia Open Cluster 9:40pm CDT

Using the 11mm, this cluster is very nice. Its overall shape is triangular, with the two brightest members forming a couple of the vertices. About halfway between these two stars is a red giant, which appears deep orange to my eyes. Altogether, about 20 stars are visible in a tight cluster. A couple of the stars appear blue and the others appear white, which makes this cluster very colorful and enjoyable to look at.
 
NGC 663 Cassiopeia Open Cluster 9:50pm CDT

This is a nice open cluster and it fairly large. Overall, it is oval, looking to me like a flying saucer. At the top of the saucer is a sideways horseshoe grouping of stars, with the brightest two members at the ends. At the bottom of the UFO are four bright stars in a diamond and both sides consist of trapezoidal groups of stars. Many fainter stars are interspersed throughout the cluster. Within the horseshoe is a tight group of much fainter stars.
 
NGC 884/889 (Double Cluster) Perseus Open Cluster 9:55pm CDT

This looks spectacular tonight. Through my 18mm eyepiece, hundreds of stars are visible. Both cores are nicely compact. A few of the stars appear yellow or orange. Right between the two clusters is a bright orange star. NGC 889 has an orange star near the center. I don't know if I've ever seen it look this good from my driveway. The additional stars from the backdrop of the Milky Way makes it even more beautiful.
 
Stock 2 (Muscleman Cluster) Cassiopeia Open Cluster 10:00pm CDT

This cluster is very large, more than filling the field, even with my 18mm eyepiece. It does resemble a stick figure flexing his arms in a muscleman pose.The cluster contains dozens of stars.
 
15 Tri Triangulum Double Star 10:10pm CDT

Getting a bit bored of open clusters, I thought I'd work on a few double stars. I'd already completed the doubles in Cassiopeia, but nearby Triangulum still had a bright one I hadn't looked at before. Using the 18mm eyepiece, this double was wide and pretty. The primary was pale yellow-white and its companion was a nice medium blue. It reminded me a bit of Albireo, although not quite as bright. Still, it was gorgeous and one of my new favorites.
 

At this point, my smartphone gave me a low battery warning. The moon was just rising over the housetops anyway, so I decided to quit my official observing session. Before my phone battery died completely, I managed to capture a few nice images of the gibbous Moon.

Looking back over my notes when I was writing up this log, I noticed that 15 Tri was the 600th unique celestial object I have observed and recorded. It proved itself worthy of the honor.