By now you should know the drill.  Here are the constellations and objects for the next 3 months.  The weather seems promising so let's take full advantage!

Call for Observations

For July let’s try Ophiuchus – again.  It has lots of nice globular clusters, so let’s look for some new stuff.  While doing the globular clusters do some comparison of size, brightness and resolvability.  First is M12, located almost 3° west of 12 Ophiuchi; about half way there you’ll pass a nice three star arrangement of 8^th mag stars.  Be sure to notice it in your finder if you use the star hop method.  Next is IC4665, a large bright naked eye open cluster a little more than one-degree north east of 3rd magnitude Cebalrai (beta Ophiuchi).  Count the stars and estimate their brightness.  We now start on a southerly tour of the constellation, beginning with M62, which is just across the border from Scorpius.  There isn’t any short hop from a bright star, so start with epsilon Scorpio and swing almost 5° north of northeast and you will easily sweep it up on your finder.  On to M19, which should be an easy slew north for about 4°.  Again, it should be visible in your finder.  Next is NGC6316, which is just across the other side of the Pipe Nebula’s end, otherwise it is 1.5° south of 36 Ophiuchi.  Can you see the Pipe Nebula naked eye?  Yes or no.  Finishing off our southerly tour is NGC6366, which is 1° west of 4.5 magnitudes SAO141665.  We now finish up with NGC6633 way out on the western side near Serpens.  This open cluster is a switch from globular clusters and we don’t have any naked eye star to hop from, so use your binoculars and locate 5.7 magnitudes SAO123516 that is within a degree of the cluster.

Here is the constellation and objects for August.  It is the desert denizen found as part of the SAC logo, Scorpius.  I’m not sure why this one has been skipped for so long, perhaps due to its southerly declination?  No more!  Let’s see what it 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 3^rd 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?

Again, because of the monsoon this time of year here is the list for an extra month in advance.  While working on a globular cluster observing program, I did a number of them one night in Sagittarius and was struck by their varied size and magnitudes.  So, I thought this would be a nice sequence for all to study and have, therefore, arranged them from the faint to very bright.  Keep track of the number of stars you can resolve in each of these gems.  The first to start with is magnitude 11.2 Palomar 8, at almost 5’ that may be found a little more than 2° east-southeast from M25.  Second is NGC6558 and is located in the spout of the teapot.  Its magnitude 9.3 and almost 4’ should make it easier to spot.  Next is NGC6652 located almost 3° northeast from Kaus Australis, also known as epsilon Sagittarii.  This globular is at magnitude 8.9 and is about 3.5’ in diameter.  Continuing on we go back near one of the earlier one, NGC6569 in the spout of the teapot, is magnitude 8.7 and almost 6’ in diameter.  While here, check out NGC6558 again, only one-degree to the west.  I missed this alignment during my observing sequence and need to go back and check them out again.  The fifth in this sequence is NGC6624, at magnitude 8.3 and 6’, is located about 50’ southeast from Kaus Meridionalis, better known as delta Sagittarii.  Now move on to NGC6723 located about 30’ north of northeast from epsilon Corona Australis.  This one is magnitude 7.3 and 11’ in diameter.  At this time, let me put a thought in your mind.  We have gone from very faint to the very large and you might wonder why this last one isn’t in the Messier Catalog?  To see why it isn’t check out the last globular cluster on this month’s list M22 tis pretty easy to find being about 2.5° northeast from Kaus borealis, or lambda Sagittarii.  This one is magnitude 7.3 and 11’ in diameter, one of the finest globular clusters.  I hope you enjoy the tour and have an appreciation of the variety of these denizens of the deep.