[sac-forum] Feeling Guilty

Why do I feel guilty you ask?  Because I have to make the Call for Observations for the month of August, knowing full well what the weather has done to our observing habits.  Unfortunately the call has to be made and this is it.  You will recall the constellation was Scorpius - the logo for our club.  If you have observations for the following objects, regardless of their age, please send them in.  For a reminder here is a snippet, from the newsletter, of the objects and how to start hop to them.

Let’s see what Scorpius has to offer.  Naturally we will start with, and do all of the Messier entries, beginning with M80 located 1.5° northwest from omicron Scorpii.  If you star hop this one, take a gander at the Milky Way you traverse between the two.  Next is easily located M4, in the same finder view of Antares and 1.3° to the west.  Both of these globular clusters are easily seen in modest size finders.  Next is a planetary nebula, NGC6153, and is quite a hop from our last object.  So get ready for some fun here, it is 6.3° east of southeast from 3rd magnitude eta Lupi and is not visible in moderate sized finders.  Now, going back to clusters find the magnificent NGC6231!  It is a naked eye galactic cluster located about ½ degree north of zeta Scorpii.  Can you detect the cluster without any optical aid?  If you have binoculars available, or can borrow a pair please do, give this area a nice once over, you will be most happy to have done so.  Moving on, towards the tail, find M6, about 5° north of northeast from Shaula, or lambda Scorpii.  Finally, there’s M7, a scant 3.8° southeast from M6.  Both of these clusters are so large and bright you should be able to see them without any optical aid.  Can you see them this way?

Clear skies - and the sooner the better,
aj

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