M44Sketch and Commentary by Rony De Laet M44 in Cancer is a typical binocular object. With a total magnitude of 3.1 the Beehive Cluster or Praesepe was known since antiquity. And indeed, at a distance of 520 lightyears, the cluster is faintly visible as a large nebulous patch to the naked eye. With a simple … Continue reading Binocular Beehive – M44
Hello, This object was brought to my attention by Sue French (Celestial Sampler). While Cassiopeia dominated the zenithal region of the sky, I tried my luck. The nebula was visible at x15 as a small patch around the star Burnham 1. How nice! The nebula showed even more details at x36. It was a pleasing … Continue reading Gardens of The Ethiopean Queen
NGC 7023 or Caldwell 4 By Rony De Laet Here is an observation of an interesting nebula (aka Caldwell 4) in Cepheus. A nebula filter is of no help at all (and I tried ) because it’s a reflection nebula. I once was quite happy with the Baader Contrast Booster on this object, but this … Continue reading A Fine Reflection
Thor’s Helmet, NGC 2359 By Rony De Laet The plan for the evening was to observe and sketch Messier 50. I was trying to starhop from Sirius to M50. Gamma Canis Majoris would be an easy reference in between. From there, M50 could be found a mere five degrees North. Instead of using the finder, … Continue reading Thor’s Helmet
IC 2177, Home of the Seagull By Rony De Laet IC 2177 is listed in the ‘Deep Sky Travel Guide (Ronald Stoyan, Oculum)’ as : very large, very faint. This description was a challenge to me. Would I be able to see it? From the 5th of February, we were blessed with exceptional clear skies … Continue reading Home of the Seagull
NGC 2362, The Tau Canis Majoris Cluster By Rony De Laet A few months ago, Mark (Novbabies) suggested me to put NGC 2362 on my observing list. The object was unknown to me. The fact that it concerned a rather small open cluster which culminated only a poor 13° above my southern horizon, didn’t excite … Continue reading Tail of the Great Dog
Messier M79 in Lepus By Rony De Laet Here is an observation of M79. From my location, the object rises only 15° above the horizon. 15° sounds like a solid number, but it is not when tried out in the field. I was surprised to find M79 easy at low power. The sketch is made … Continue reading Attracting an Extragalactic Visitor
NGC 2024, The Ghost of Alnitak By Rony De Laet Hello, We’ve had a full week of clear nights! So every night, after work and family, I tried to capture some DSO targets. This one is a little bit of a special object because I drove to a darker site some 130km from home to … Continue reading The Ghost of Alnitak
The Milky Way in Cassiopeia By Rony De Laet This is a lawn chair observation of the Milky Way passing through Cassiopeia. The view was so beautiful that I wanted to capture it in a sketch. I studied the region for about 20 minutes before sketching. North is right in the sketch. The two patches … Continue reading Milky Way in Cassiopeia
Messier 3 Globular Cluster By Rony De Laet Hello folks, Summer is approaching, the nights have become grey. But I do not stop observing. Here is an impression of M3. I had fun teasing out as much detail as possible. Globulars are difficult to render. The mind might see patterns that aren’t there. I tried … Continue reading A Mighty Globular in a Small Scope
