[sac-forum] November Call for Observatioins
- From: "acrayon" <acrayon@xxxxxxx>
- To: "SAC Forum" <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 20:49:33 -0700
Here is a reminder for the November objects. Per our production schedule I
need your observations in by the 23rd in order to meet the deadline of the next
day. I know this doesn’t give much time given that the All Arizona Star Party
is the following weekend but we make do with what we have and so far I only
have observations from Steve Coe. So if you want yours to appear in the
November issue please get them to me ASAP. Thanks.
The Summer Milky Way setting in west now to autumn constellations. Note how
the Milky Way encircles Polaris in a concave fashion. So much for the naked
eye observation now on the objects found in Sculptor, Pisces and Cassiopeia
almost all of which are bright enough to be seen in average size telescopes and
hover around RA 0 hours. Starting in the, rather far, southerly constellation
Sculptor, representing a sculptor of course, is our first entry is the barred
spiral NGC55 found to be bright, large and elongated with an interesting
nucleus. What do you see about this? Next is the fine spiral NGC300 also
bright, large and quite elongated. What is smallest aperture used to detect
spiral structure? Now for the challenge we will need a dark transparent sky to
find the Sculptor Dwarf and in case you don’t have its location nearby here it
is RA 00 59.9 Dec -33 43. It is a member of the Local Group and is large and
dim. What special observing technique did you use for the best observation?
Our last entry in this constellation is the often overlooked globular cluster
NGC288 that is describes as loose structured. Do you agree or not? Now we
move across the celestial equator toward something more inviting – the fine
spiral M74 considered by some the most difficult object in the Messier catalog,
especially if you are doing a Messier Marathon. Quickly now we move onto the
northern reaches of the night sky into the deep sky rich Cassiopeia and being
with two companion galaxies to Andromeda, which also are members of the Local
Group. We begin with NGC185 a dwarf elliptical that is bright and large but
has a low surface brightness. The second is NGC147 another dwarf elliptical
considered faint and large. We can’t do this constellation and ignore some of
its galactic clusters. So they will be the last 3 for this month. Begin with
NGC7789 a rich and bright cluster. Give us your estimate for the number of
stars and magnitude range. Next is NGC129 another large and rich cluster
containing the variable DL Cassiopeia. Finally, a cluster that doesn’t seem to
be well known is the smallish NGC436 again give us star count and magnitude
range.
AJ Crayon
Phoenix, AZ..
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