[sac-forum] Re: Last Call
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 20:39:57 -0700
AJ;
After our conversation, here is my Auriga file. If you need to use some of
it, then please do so. If you get some observations from other folks, then
use theirs, I understand.
Steve
Author "Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist"
Saguaro Astronomy Club website
www.saguaroastro.org
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: AURIGA.TXT
AURIGA
by Steve Coe 13" f/5.6 unless noted
NGC 1664 Pretty bright, pretty large, not rich, not compressed. Seen
in 11X80 finder. 30 Stars counted in 13" at 135X. There is an 8th
mag star on the south side of cluster, with a nice chain of fainter
stars leading to it.
NGC 1778 Pretty bright, pretty large, not rich, not compressed. Not
much at 135X, 18 stars in straggling clumps.
NGC 1798 is a class 7 "nonexistent" cluster in the RNGC and is not
plotted on any star chart I own. However, it is pretty bright, pretty
large and not compressed at 100X. Raising the power to 165X resolves
20 stars with a dark lane in the center. Add this lost cluster to
your observing list.
IC 405 Pretty bright, pretty small, round nebulosity surrounding
AE AUR. Can be seen without UHC, but filter helps contrast.
KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6 T=7 with no filter there is no nebulosity.
Adding the UHC the nebula is seen with direct vision. It is pretty
faint, large, it is about 1/4 of the field of view with the
22mm Panoptic eyepiece. Sentinel 10" 22mm Pan--Faint, large,
AE Aur involved. Neby is just seen without filter, much better
contrast with UHC in place.
NGC 1857 Bright and Rich. Very nice at 165X, an 8th mag yellow star
with several nice star chains radiating out from it. 45 members
counted in about 12 minutes of cluster size.
Granite Wash Mt. S=7 T=8 13" 100X--easily seen as cluster.
150X--pretty bright, pretty large, pretty rich, somewhat compressed,
38 stars counted, including an 8th mag. yellow star near center of cluster.
There are many faint members that are easier at high power, including
several beautiful chains of stars.
Berk 18 Faint, large, rich, not compressed at 100X. King 22 and Berk
18 overlap and I have no idea where one starts and the other begins.
The entire area has lots of faint stars and a grainy background glow.
NGC 1883 pretty faint, small, irregularly round, pretty compressed.
Averted vision shows a very grainy background with 12 stars resolved at
165X.
Sharpless 224 extremely faint, pretty large. Two parts to the
nebulosity with 5 stars involved at 100X with the UHC filter. Both
pieces are quite elongated. At the limit of the 13" with the filter.
NGC 1893 Bright, pretty large, not compressed. I counted 61 stars in
cluster, several nice chains. Just seen in 11X80 finder.
Do 16 13 * counted at 150X, pretty faint, not rich, not compressed.
Do 18 11 * counted at 150X, pretty faint, not rich, not compressed,
a few very faint members and several 11th mag stars.
IC 410 Without UHC filter it is faint, large and irregular. Using
the UHC it is pretty bright and obvious at 100X. In either case it
surrounds the cluster NGC 1893 and is more easily spotted on the south
and west sides.
KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6, T=7 22mm Panoptic and no filter--cluster, bright,
pretty large, somewhat compressed and somewhat rich. Stars mags
11..., averted vision brings out more stars with a fuzzy background.
Adding the UHC brings out a nice nebulosity in 2 parts. The brighter
section is on the NW edge of the cluster and the fainter part is to
the southeast.
NGC 1907 pretty bright, pretty small, much compressed and resolved at
165X. Just seen in 11X80 finder, I counted 22 stars in 13". This
cluster has a dark lane down the middle. It is near M 38 and reminds
me of M35 and NGC 2158 somewhat. Sentinel 13"--visible in 11X80,
220X--Bright, pretty large, pretty rich, pretty compressed, 22 stars
counted.
NGC 1912 (M 38) Bright, large, not compressed, seen in finder. The
stars are arranged in the Greek letter "Pi". 58 stars counted at
100X. Sentinel 8/10--13" very bright, very large, very rich,
somewhat compressed, very well detached. Easy in 11X80, 10 stars
resolved against fuzzy background. 150X--105 stars counted,
several pairs and triples, going to 220X (8.8mm) shows off approx.
40 mores very faint stars, mag 14 or so, a great view.
Ultimate Star Party, McDonald Obs. S=6, T=8, 36" f/5--
Abell 9 is near M38 using chart from Megastar; just barely there, held with
averted about 20 percent of the time. Very faint little planetary, just a
gray dot with the 32mm. About 3 times the size of the seeing disk.
KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6 T=7 bright, large, rich, compressed, stars mags
10..., 52 stars counted with 22mm Panoptic. The "pi" shape is easy.
6" f/6 Mak-Newt Hovatter S=6 T=7
22mm bright, large, pretty rich, pretty compressed, a prominent
dark lane to the east of the cluster is easy at this low power.
8.8mm 43 stars resolved in the classic "Pi" shape, which is
obvious. The stars are of mags 9...13 in that uniques shape.
M 38 Flatiron Nexstar 11 S=5, T=6 22mm Pan Bright, large, rich, somewhat
compressed, this cluster takes up about 75% of the field of view with this
eyepiece. I counted 62 stars resolved with 20 stars forming a long chain that
runs through the cluster. There are 5 delicate star pairs within the cluster,
all are white and matched 11th and 12th magnitude double stars.
NGC 1931 Bright, pretty large and somewhat elongated. Looks like a
small comet at very low powers. There is a triple star in the center,
it is resolved at 200X. Sentinel 13" 7/10--100X pretty bright,
pretty large, irregularly round, brighter middle. 220X--going to
higher power really helps, 5 stars involved, elongated 1.5 X 1 in
PA 45. Nice nebula, double star 5 arcmin to the west, with some
nebulosity around it. UHC filter does not help the contrast,
averted vision makes it grow somewhat.
NGC 1960 (M 36) Bright, large, rich and round. Easy in finder,
several double stars are involved, they are all split at 135X.
Sentinel 13" 8/10--bright, large, rich, somewhat compressed,
very well detached. Easy in 11X80, with 6 stars resolved against
a fuzzy background. 150X--51 stars counted, many lovely pairs
and triples.
6" f/6 Mak-Newt Hovatter S=6 T=7
22mm bright, large, pretty compressed, pretty rich, 30 stars
of mags 9 and fainter, 3 nice pairs. The "running man" shape
is easy.
8.8mm a nice view, a matched pair of 10-10 mag stars is about
dead center, with about 10 very faint members.
M 36 Flatiron Nexstar 11 S=5, T=6 22mm bright, pretty large, pretty rich,
little compresssed. I counted 37 stars of magnitudes 10 and fainter. There is
a prominent double star in the center of the cluster that really stands out, a
10th magnitude matched pair. This is a nice cluster, but it has great
neighbors.
NGC 1985 Pretty faint, small, round, somewhat brighter in the
middle, it is in a rich field at 100X.
NGC 2099 (M 37) Very Bright, large, very rich. Naked eye at my best
sites in the mountains of Arizona, it is obvious in the finder. This
cluster has always seemed a winter version of M 11 to me for several
reasons: it is triangular in shape, there is a bright, yellow-orange
star involved and both clusters are cut into sections by dark lanes. M
37 is in a very rich section of winter Milky Way and at 135X in the
13" I have estimated 200 members by counting 50 in one quadrant. This
is one of my favorite clusters in the sky. Sentinel 13" 7/10--11X80,
easy, bright, large, elongated 2X1 in PA 0, 150X--obvious cluster,
very bright, large, very rich, pretty compressed. 146 stars counted,
many beautiful chains of stars and dark lanes through the cluster,
dark orange star of about 10th mag on north side, in a dark area.
220X--many faint stars now resolved, lots of pairs and chains, all
broken up by dark lanes.
Ultimate Star Party, McDonald Obs. S=6, T=8, 36" f/5--
M37 32mm; 60 percent of view; 61 stars in NW quadrant, obvious orange star
in center has faint companion above it is light blue; many lovely dark
lanes, WOW.
KOFA 10" f/5.1 S+T=6 67 stars counted, bright, large, rich, compressed,
stands out exceptionally well from the Milky Way. The dark lanes are
easy and prominent with the 22mm Panoptic. Going to 8.8mm UWA I
count 78 stars of mags 10...., many are very faint in 10 inches.
The dark lanes are very prominent at this power, the orange star
is not nearly as prominent.
6" f/6 Mak-Newt Hovatter S=6 T=7
22mm Wow!! very bright, large, very rich, much compressed, the
light orange star dead center is very prominent. This cluster is
the definition of "well detached".
8.8mm 28 stars in NW quadrant, prominent dark lanes cut this cluster
into unequal thirds. The stars are mags 8,9...12. This is a
terrific view of one of the most magnificent clusters in the sky.
M 37 Flatiron Nexstar 11 S=5, T=6 22mm very bright, very large, very rich,
compressed, a winter favorite. There are 60 stars resolved in the up and right
quadrant, so the cluster shows approximately 240 members resolved. There is a
lovely orange star dead center. An amazing set of dark lane wind through this
cluster and cut it into many pieces.
King 8 pretty faint, pretty large, somewhat compressed. I counted 10
stars in a mottled background at 135X.
B 34 is an easy dark nebula at 60X in a surplus 38mm Erfle with gives
the 13" a one degree field. The dark area is about 1/2 degree in size
and is roundish with several dark lanes winding out of the field to
the west. Raising the magnification does not help the view.
IC 2120 Very faint, small, somewhat elongated. That is with the UHC
filter at 135X. It is just barely seen. The listed magnitude of 12
is not the visual magnitude, I would estimate 13.5 mag.
IC 2149 Pretty bright, small, little elongated. The central star
comes and goes with the seeing at 270X. The planetary is a greenish
dot elongated 1.5 to 1 east-west.
10" f/5.1 Sentinel 7/10 14mm seen as non-stellar. 4.7mm pretty
bright, small, little elongated 1.2X1 in PA 90, pretty bright and
stellar middle nucleus. Averted vision makes it grow. UHC makes
it 25% larger. Only vB object in IC catalog.
NGC 2126 pretty bright, pretty large, irregular shape, not
compressed. 22 stars counted in an arrowhead shape at 135X. There is
a 6th mag star on the NE edge of the cluster.
NGC 2192 Faint, pretty small, irregularly round. 14 stars in a
strung out group.
NGC 2281 Pretty bright, pretty large, not compressed, not rich at
100X. A dozen 10th and 11th mag stars with some fainter attendants.
PK 173 -5.1 pretty faint, pretty large, round and not bright in the
middle at 100X with an O III filter. Without filter at 165X I can
pick out 3 stars involved in the planetary. I believe this object is
misplotted on Uranometria. I seen it on the Northwest side of the
double star, not NE as on chart 97.
Sh2-223 KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6, T=7 22mm Panoptic + UHC extremely
faint, large, very elongated 5X1 in PA 90. A very faint streamer
that is only seen with the UHC filter. It is faint enough that
after looking at the chart with a red flashlight, it takes a
couple of minutes to re-aquire dark adaption so that I can pick
this difficult nebula out of the background. A rich Milky Way
field of view doesn't help. Not on Uranometria ( that should
have told me something).
Stock 8 6" f/6 MN Sentinel 7/10 14mm 21 stars counted mags 9...
pretty faint, pretty small, somewhat compressed, somewhat rich.
Somewhat detached with a hint of nebulosity with averted vision.
With the 14mm and the UHC filter the nebulosity is pretty easy.
Especially noticeable to the East of Stock 8 it is an elongated
glow E-W, it is elongated 1.5X1.
Stock 10 KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6, T=7 22mm pretty faint, pretty
large, 14stars of mags 11.....,not rich, not compressed and
not well detached. Does this sound like "not much".
Col 62 KOFA 10" f/5.1 S=6, T=7 22mm pretty bright, large,
scattered, not rich, not compressed, 19 stars of mags 10...12.
Double Stars
14 Aur 3 stars in a crooked line at 100X.
Struve 698 nice, wide light yellow and blue pair in a beautiful field
at 100X.
Theta Aur elongated at 100X, split at 165X, white and light blue.
41 Aur White and light yellow pair at 100X. Don't miss 46 Aur in
the same area, a nice yellow-orange variable.
Struve 644 Single star at 100X. At 200X it is constantly notched,
with a clean split in moments of good seeing. It is yellow and light
blue.
5 Aur single at 100X. 200X gives a clean split, yellow and white
with very different magnitudes.
Otto Struve 147 forms a lovely equilateral triangle with yellow star
at the apex and 2 blue stars along the base. Easy at 100X, very nice
triple.
UU Aur is a carbon star which I look at for their nice red or orange
color. This star is a very nice orange in a pretty rich field.
UV Aur is a carbon star paired with a B type giant, the ultimate
red-blue pair. It is a pretty faint pair, but well worth it. At 165X
in the 13" this pair is a gorgeous burnt orange and blue, it exhibits
some of the best color I have ever seen in a double star even though
the stars are not bright.
Other related posts:
