by Jamie Dillon
Just pulled in after a third consecutive session doing literal backyard astronomy. Got a new tripod for the binocs to replace the one that finally gave up the ghost last time at Coe (been a while). Taller, wider stance, solider, altogether a quantum leap up.
This'll be fairly brief, with a hot shower calling, but there were two major points of excitement to share, putting three nights together.
I actually told Jo tonight I had a date with a vain queen. Been reading too much of Jane Houston's stuff.
a) As assiduous readers of this List will know, I've been studying the Milky Way between delta and epsilon Cas since Coe (11 Sept). Finally got the clusters figured this morning at breakfast, going over last night's play session and going back over Susan French's guide in December's S & T.
Where I'd been thrown off was mistaking NGC 663 for M103. This might just be a good caveat for others who're just learning this part of the sky. 663 is the one that looks like a Messier object, a good 30' or so wide, splashy. So I'd had it logged as 103, thinking 654 was 663, and so forth. Phhhh.
All the while, there's this lovely isosceles triangle just about a degree SE of delta Cas, that I thought really deserved a name. It has one, M103. Once I got that thru my head all these ducks fell into line. Susan French has fine descriptions of 654 and 659. Turns out 659 is that lovely subtle bunch I'd described on TAC on 10 Nov as a "curdling of the flow of the Milky Way," and named it as 659, fortuitously.
Now Trumpler 1 didn't get into French's story. It's just half a degree E of M103, on a line toward 663. I 'discovered' it, then found it on the charts. A little tight wedge, with four sharp stars (ca 9th mag) in a close row along one side. Knowing we're looking at the Perseus arm here, it's easy to imagine that these are beacons on the order of the Belt stars, only some 7000 ly out. The spacing was captivating at 125x and 170x.
This was my first 'discovered' object that's not in the New General Catalogue. I gotta tell you, fellas and fellerettes, I was pumped when this hit home.
b) Went hunting around south of zeta Ori, Alnitak, and stumbled onto sigma Ori. Now that's one gorgeous star field. Sigma is a quadruple, as I'm sure you know (new to me), and right next to it (SE) is a pretty double. Burnham's tells me that sigma Ori is a quintuple, that SW Burnham himself (the other Burnham, no relation, right?) first split the closest pair, at 0.25". Right. I'll choose to believe it.
Conditions have varied this week, as y'all have noted elsewhere. Wed and Thurs nights here were wet, esp last night. After an hour last night I was without finder and Telrad, with dew. Both Wed and Thurs had transparency 3.5 - almost 4, here in town.
Tonight was clearer, say 4.5, but the seeing was just this side of fair. Not a night for Giant Planets. Gamma Andromeda was boiling nicely. The 2x Barlow was rendered useless. Colder tonight, ca 33 F.
| Gear | Celestron 11" f/4.5 Dobs, FL 1260mm. |
|---|---|
| EP's | 26mm SMA, Plossls - 7.5, 10, 17 |
The only one of these eyepieces, my starter set, that means to stand the test of time is the Celestron 17mm Plossl. Clear, contrasty. For the nth time I'm glad we went for a medium aperture, looking at Tr 1 esp.
You can tell I'm overcompensating, typing at 2:30 am. Be missing you all tomorrow night, please have fun around, esp at Coe. I do wanna see Nilesh's new scope in action.