[AZ-Observing] NGC 6866
- From: BillFerris@xxxxxxx
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 02:05:56 EDT
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
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