Salt and Pepper in Cassiopeia

M52

M52 (NGC 7654) Cassiopeia Open Cluster
By Kiminori Ikebe

Difficulty level 1
Date of observation: 2002/01/05 20:30
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/2/3
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with XL21 at 70x
Width of field: 0.9 degree
This cluster is situated west of Cassiopeia’s letter W. It is fairly bright. Although it is a mid-size cluster, stars are well concentrated and individual member stars are bright and beautiful. At 90x it is almost fully resolved. A 7.9-magnitude star in the west stands out. There are many bright stars in the northwest. In the east there is a small condensation from where lines of stars extend outward. Also, a line of stars running from the center to the southeast attracts an observer’s attention. There is a triangular-shaped clump in the southeast somewhat detached from the cluster. There are many faint stars sprinkled in the outlying areas.

Mr. Ikebe’s sketch gallery can be found here: Visual Observation of Deep Sky Objects

A Stellar Swarm in Pegasus

M15

M15
By Barry Chase

Perhaps the most dense of the Milky Way’s globular clusters, M15 lies about 33,600 light years away and is about 175 light years in diameter. It has undergone a core collapse and half the mass of the cluster resides within a 10 light year radius of its center. It is not clear whether this dense concentration is due to the gravitational interactions of the clusters stars, or if it is due to the influence of a supermassive object–a black hole–at its core. M15 is also the first globular cluster in which a planetary nebula was found. (This planetary nebula, Pease 1, is a considered a challenging target for amateur astronomers with large telescopes, dark steady skies, and lots of patience.)

Source: SEDS

Eta Carinae from Haleakala

Eta Carinae Complex and NGC 3293
By Jeremy Perez

Move mouse over image to see labels. Click for larger image.

The observing highlight of an evening atop the summit of Haleakala in Maui was gazing through my binoculars at the rich starscape in the vicinity of Eta Carinae. I had not done any homework on the area beforehand, so I approached it with unexpecting eyes. The mottled depths of the surrounding Milky Way, the smattering of intensely bright foreground stars, the abundance of open clusters of all shapes, sizes and intensities, and the stunning patches of glowing nebulosity made the whole region a delicious feast for the eyes. One incredible open cluster to the northeast, nearly took my breath away, but I did not have time to even attempt a sketch of it. Instead, I chose to render the region bracketed by the Eta Carinae complex and a much more manageable cluster, NGC 3293.

Eta Carinae was a brilliant orange star that surrounded itself in a plush comfort of nebulosity. This misty region ended abruptly to the south and then emerged again to surround a trio of bright stars. The observation and sketch were done more hastily than I would have liked and I know there was more detail to be extracted from this bright nebula, but I took what I could get. The northwest side of the view was punctuated by the small, bright open cluster, NGC 3293. Four bright stars announced themselves within its glowing boundary of unresolved starlight.

This section of the sky is still beckoning me, and I know I will have to return to it again with more time to spare. Even if I only have binoculars again the next time, it will still offer more than I can possibly absorb.

The sketch was created on Strathmore sketch paper with 2H and HB pencils. Nebulosity was shaded with a blending stump loaded with graphite. Color was added to Eta Carina in Photoshop.

Object Information

Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars in the universe and is likely greater than 100 solar masses. It is about 4 million times more luminous than the sun, but radiates 99% of this energy in the infrared. Due to its extreme mass, it is expected to go supernova within the next few hundred thousand years. In the meantime, as it rapidly sheds matter, it goes through sporadic, violent outbursts. The most recent outburst peaked in 1843 when Eta Carinae became a magnitude -1 star, second only to Sirius. This eruption generated a rapidly expanding plume of gas that now forms a fascinating dumbell shape.

A Calculating Cluster

NGC 2169 - 37 Cluster

NGC 2169 – The 37 Cluster

By Wade V. Corbei

NGC 2169 is an open cluster located near the apex of Orion’s raised eastern arm. It has become known for an asterism of stars within it that appear form an angular representation of the number 37. NGC 2169 lies 3600 light years away and is receding at about 16 km/sec.*

*Source: SEDS

A Cluster on the Doorstep of the Trifid

M21


M21
By Wade Corbei

This is an Open Cluster found in Sagittarius that contains a lot of stars of varying magnitudes, and lies close to M20 (Trifid Nebula). According to my notes, this OC was completed over the course of two evenings due in part to its location in the sky. It slipped behind some trees to my south on the first night, so I had to finish the sketch the following evening. Total sketching time at the EP was, I believe, approximately 1.5 hours.

A nice OC that fills up the entire FOV in a low-power EP.

A Promenade Through a Royale Garden

IC 1396 

IC1396, a promenade through the Royale Garden.

One of the known highlights of Cepheus is Mu Cephei, a deep orange star. This night Mu Cephei served as the guiding light to IC1396. This region is a beautiful field of stars. There was something peaceful about this place. I felt like strolling through an exotic garden covered with haze. The place seemed majesticaly silent with Mu Cephei as a guard of honour at the border of the eyepiece. I don’t know if I saw IC1396 at all. I just noted all the light I could absorb in this field. A strange fact is that Mu Cephei kept his orange color through the UHC filter.

Date : October 13, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : Lumicon UHC
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.3
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium

Oddly Fascinating

M56 

Now here is a Globular that struck me as fascinating and odd at the same time. Although the stars resolved quite well, it also appeared very dim for as well as it resolved…strange.

The digital sketch based on my original pencil drawing took a little time to depict accurately. I was either getting it too bright or too dim, and getting to the point of making the digital sketch appear as it looked to me through the EP was a task. I believe I had 5 or 6 dufferent layers with differing opacities and Guassian Blurs applied before I got it to resemble the actual EP view.

This Globular is framed nicely by background stars of varying brightness, and set off this Globular quite nicely. Here is how it appeared to me through the EP, I hope you enjoy it.

Wade V. Corbei

ET Phone Home

NGC 457

Here is my impression of NGC 457, a little funny guy that seems to swing through space with his arms stretched to get hold on some stars. The night was not very dark. The milkyway was only visible in the cygnus region. While centering the cluster, there appeared a small glowing patch to the north west. I did not know what it was, probably an anonimous grouping of stars. It turned out that the patch was NGC436, at about 40′ ! It came as a nice surprise.

Date : October 16, 2007
Time : 21.00UT
Scope : Skywatcher 102/500
Meade SP 26mm
Power : x20
FOV: 150′
Filter : none
Seeing : 3.5/5
Transp. : 3/5
Nelm : 5.1
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.

Rony De Laet
Belgium

http://www.geocities.com/rodelaet

One Hundred Thousand Strong

M5

I find Messier 5 to be one of the most beautiful globular clusters in the catalog.
Individual stars resolved nicely around a bright core at medium magnification.
This sketch was rendered on standard copy paper with a .5mm mechanical pencil. Post
processing was done with MGI Photosuite III.

Jason Aldridge
North Port, FL