FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] NGC 6866

[BillFerris@xxxxxxx]

I observed this open star cluster early Sunday morning from a dark sky site 
near Wupatki National Monument (N35d 31' 55.0" W111d 24' 16.0"). Comparing a 
sketch made of NGC 6866 (aka Cr 412, Mel 229) with MegaStar v4.01 revealed a 
possible error in this popular desktop planetarium. MegaStar plots the 
cluster outline at RA: 20h 03m 42.0s; Dec: +44d 00' 00s. However, I saw no 
evidence of a cluster at those coordinates. I did observe 22 stars clumped 
within a 6' diameter area about 10' to the north-northeast of the MegaStar 
position. Many of these stars are actually plotted in MegaStar but are not 
identified as the cluster.

A search by identifier for NGC 6866 on SIMBAD turned up coordinates of RA: 
20h 03m 55s; Dec.: +44d 09.5m. These match the location of the object I 
observed. A DSS image centered on those coordinates shows the stars recorded 
in my sketch.

I wonder if this is just an error in MegaStar or if it's an NGC error? BTW, I 
checked the NGC/IC Project web site and it also presents the possibly 
incorrect coordinates. No image of NGC 6866 is available at NGC/IC.

Regards,

Bill Ferris
"Cosmic Voyage: The Online Resource for Amateur Astronomers"
URL: http://www.cosmic-voyage.net
--
This message is from the AZ-Observing mailing list.  See this message's
header if you want info about unsubscribing or the list's archive.

This is a discussion list.  Please send personal inquiries directly to
the message author.  In other words, do not use "reply" for personal
messages.  Thanks.