Near and Far

Near and Far

NGC 6946 (galaxy) and NGC 6939 (open cluster) in Cepheus
Sketch and Details by Andrew Phethean

Objects: NGC 6946 (galaxy) and NGC 6939 (open cluster) in Cepheus
Location: Kielder, UK
Date: 17/10/2009

Hello, and thanks for featuring my Copernicus sketch some weeks back – I was very proud!

I was recently attending a star party in Kielder, UK. I picked NGC 6946 from an observing guide and when it came into the field of view, I was pleasantly surprised to find not one, but two objects in the FOV. I thought they were both galaxies, because they both appeared smooth and nebulous. However, on checking the observing guide again it appears one of the objects was an open cluster, and sure enough I could make out a mottled texture and resolved some stars in one of the objects, while the other was entirely smooth. I was so delighted I decided to make a sketch. I may not see this charming pair for a long time as my home observing site is not in favour of such faint galaxies. NGC 6946 has a surface brightness of mag. 13!

The scope used was a Skywatcher 120mm ED refractor, and the sketch was made in an A5 WHSmith spiral bound sketch book with graphite pencils. Sketch was then photographed. The inverted image has been adjusted to resemble the view through the telescope, and is consequently quite dim.

Cheers
Andrew Phethean, Aberdeen

2 thoughts on “Near and Far”

  1. Hi Andrew,

    What an exciting story, well told and a fine sketch to bring it to life. Congratulations.

    Dale 🙂

  2. Andrew,

    I double clicked on the image of your sketch to get the largest view. I must say that is a great capture with your refractor and all the better because your capture method is a sketch.

    Frank 🙂

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