Breath on a Mirror - Astronomy blog by Jaakko Saloranta

The Hidden Deep by Stephen O'Meara Review

2012-01-27T12:27:00.000+02:00

Deep-Sky Companions: The Secret Deep by Stephen O'Meara
Cambridge University Press (August, 2011)
498 pages
http://www.cambridge.org/us/knowledge/isbn/item5979249/Deep-Sky-Companions:-The-Secret-Deep/?site_locale=en_US

So I finally got around to writing a short, simple and silly review of this book. I really don't get the name "The Secret Deep" but then again I'm not the brightest of the bunch am I. Without further insults, let's get it on shall we?

+ O'Meara's writing is something you either love or hate. Most - like me - do like it but after four nearly identical books it is getting a bit old. Most will probably say "don't change anything; keep at it!" but for me it might be a good time for a different/new approach.

+ The objects selected for the book are good ones (apart from NGC 5195). The point is: anything that steers the novice observers / photographers away from the regular Messier/bright NGC fodder is always good. Are ALL of the object choices good? It is, of course, impossible to argue with that since it is one man's list and if YOU don't like it... you can always make your own one! As a note, there's nothing "new" in the selection of objects. Most veteran observers have already observed these objects many times over.

+ The science behind the objects is top notch as good, up-to-date information on the objects always comes handy. The research and digging around AXirv.com in this scale is always honorable.

+ Generally the images of objects are quite good.

+ And how can you really hate something where you're quoted...

- In a book like this, all of the images should be of good quality. O'Meara drops the photography stuff to this some guy - Mario Motta - and after 4 pages we know all about him: world renowned cardiologist, member in this and that astronomy club and his "dreamscope". Don't get me wrong, this guy probably is twice the man (boy) I am but seriously, surprisingly many of the photographs by Motta are sub par. The main problem is that they're poorly tracked and it shows.

- I never though the day would come when I'd have to say something negative about the sketches but that day has come. Despite O'Meara's best efforts to and I quote "hold the detail for reproduction" and "to enhance the beauty of the subtle view" something has done terribly wrong here. The drawings don't look good anymore. In fact, the sketches now look more like a computer generated image and miss that "smooth" look that is so apparent at the eyepiece and should be so on paper as well. Some drawings show far too much contrast and some far too little. The individual stars also look they were made in Photoshop. We sketchers know that making, scanning and prepping sketches in a bitch but this isn't the way to go Stephen!

- This (like everything else I write) can be argued but why the upgrade to a bigger scope? For me, that additional inch of aperture makes the telescope that of medium aperture; no longer a small aperture one. And the telescope cost 7000$? Wow, that's about the same amount of money I've made in the last 3 years. Of course, O'Meara got the scope more or less for free - all the advertisement and all.

All and all, the book is still a good read but the new "improvements" have actually made the book worse. As with most sequels the idea and the general concept of the book is starting to get old. It might be time for O'Meara to look in to something else in the writing field. Messiers and Caldwells are now done. With the "Hidden Treasures" and "The Secret Deep" out there let's hope the next book won't be named "The Hidden Pirate Deep".

8/10 for O'Meara fans
7/10 for a regular geezer.

California and Arizona - Summa Summarum

2011-09-08T21:30:00.001+03:00

Sketching wise the 2.5 half week trip was quite productive. Mistakes were made but also some intentional ones: I deliberately left many, many objects east of Sagittarius to finish on a later date. This can be observed from a more southerly location in the end of November if the weather cooperates. In total, I managed to sketch 135 objects in 11 nights (~12 sketches / night) and in my defence many of these were quite simple open clusters.

Only a couple of asterisms were noted during the sweeps:

HD 152521-group
A group of 40* between magnitudes 6-11 within 25'.

HD 174919-group
A scattered grouping of stars just north of NGC 6716. 40* between magnitudes 7-11. Size 30'.

HD 173837-group
A small concentration of 20 stars between mags 9-12. Elongated in N-S direction.

HD 172948-group
A small concentration of 30* within 20'. Center without stars.

HD 159764-group (ASCC 90)
Concentration of stars NE from NGC 6396. 20* within 30'. Several stars brighter than 11th magnitude. Rediscovery of ASCC 90.

HD 162016
Barely NW from Messier 7. A handful of bright stars within 10'.

TYC 7378-1461-1
S of NGC 6480. V-shaped asterism of 30* within 15' between magnitudes 10-12.

All and all a great trip with beautiful scenery, a lot of driving and exhaustingly long flights. Hopefully I'll get to return to the US sometime in the future for some more star gazing. Regarding the sketches, please be patient. It will take several weeks if not months to finish them all in midst of work, my studies and general laziness. As with the previous La Palma trip, I've added a page showing all sketches made during the trip and will update them as soon as I get the drawings finished and scanned up.

28.8 - 1.9.2011 - Sedona and the light pollution ordinance (Part 2)

2011-09-08T18:10:00.001+03:00

Date: 31.8/1.9.2011
Observing location: Sedona, Arizona, USA (1368 meters / 4488 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 7.0m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.00 (zenith)
Background sky: 7 (good)
Seeing: 7 (good)
Transparency: 7 (good)
Weather: +26.0 - 21.0°C, humidity 28%, clear.

I had a mix of some interesting objects for the almost last night of the trip. I had forgotten all about IC 4628 in Scorpius so I started it that and the nebula wasn't difficult to spot as an E-W elongated puff in a rich field of stars. I also humbled to sketch the large cluster Collinder 316, pretty much sketching everything I could see with the 40mm eyepiece (98' fov). Looking at the area after the fact, it seems like a big mess. Uranometria shows Cr 316 as a superimposed cluster surrounding Trumpler 24 with smaller clusters vdB-Ha 205 and Ruprecht 122 inside it. My SkyMap (updated cluster data of Dias et al.) shows vdB-Ha 205 with somewhat curious name of BH 205 and Ruprecht 122 as BH 202. It also includes three(!) additional clusters inside Collinder 316: ESO 332-08 (which I noted as a concentration of Cr 316), ESO 332-11 and ESO 332-13! Quick clean up is in order so vdB-Ha 202 = Ruprecht 122 (1975 vs 1967 discoveries respectively) and the ESO clusters are probable cluster candidates. And Uranometria was right, no surprise there.

NGC 6506 field

After all that, I was finally able to see the three open clusters that had eluded me on previous two attempts. The reason was obvious: I was looking for something far more brighter and obvious. These clusters, located just SW of Messier 8, are marked in Uranometria (Volume 2 / Chart 146) as Ruprecht 138, 138 and 169. However Ruprecht 138 = NGC 6506! There is a 4th grouping of stars in this area but it is merely an asterism (noted by Phillip Teutsch). SkyMap's cluster data shows Ruprecht 137 near by - just south of HD 164147 but there is no cluster here. It is located more to the south roughly at 18 00 17 -25 14 00. Luckily, MegaStar correctly lists the whole bunch.

Next in line was supposedly one tough trio: two Terzan globular clusters and a Palomar. I began with Terzan 10 as it was close enough to the previous clusters. I routinely sketched the field and with averted vision could a few times saw a very faint, tiny nebulous patch just NW from a roughly 12th magnitude star and I marked this as Terzan 10. Wait, back up! Is this the same globular cluster Barbara Wilson has failed to see with a 20 inch telescope? Yes, the very same. Then, is there even a remote possibility that I actually saw it from a location such as Sedona and with an 4 inch aperture? I'm not going to say I saw it just based on this single observation but I'm going to give you a few things to chew on:

1.) I sketched the cluster perfectly to the correct position @ 304x
2.) There apparently a very faint pair (~15th magnitude) of stars just in front of Terzan 10.
3.) Terzan 10 is placed way off in SkyMap (surprised, anyone?).

Terzan 5 field

With Terzan 10 in the (iffy) bag I moved to Terzan 5 which I can honestly say I saw. With such small aperture the field was dangerous none the less: I picked up 2 additional glows in the field when using low power. The most obvious is an asterism (Asterism 1 - I'm calling it the "Fake Terzan 5 group") of 8 stars between magnitudes 11.3 - 13.9 and it looked too good to be true and higher power showed it just as a group of stars. The other one was a group of 4 stars including a magnitude 11.7 and 11.9 double (Asterism 2). This too looked nebulous at lower power. Terzan 5 actually forms a triangle with these two and was seen as a very faint, very small glow just W of a 11th magnitude star.

And then came Palomar 6 (by the way, this globular cluster includes the planetary nebula JaFu 1 in case you didn't remember). Despite its apparent faintness (if you can call it that) it was easier to see than Terzan 5 and appeared as a faint, round smudge in a rich star field with dark nebulae. After a success with Palomar 6 I went on to sketch Palomar 11 - again. Then I got back to even more familiar territory with open cluster NGC 6604 which I saw more of a large cluster with two concentrations than the tiny 5' cluster listed as NGC 6604. I really took a liking with this field which includes the emission nebula Sh2-54 in the background. NGC 6818 showed a definitive ring structure and Messier 75 two "bars" extending from the bright core.

29.8.2011 - Two Trees with bats and bunnies

2011-09-08T17:01:00.000+03:00

Date: 29./30.8.2011
Observing location: Two Trees, Cottonwood, Arizona, USA (1194 meters / 3917 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 7.5m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.55 (zenith)
Background sky: 8 (excellent)
Seeing: 8 (excellent)
Transparency: 8 (excellent)
Weather: +27.9 - 24.4°C, humidity 28%, thunderstorm in the north.

Light domes of Prescott and Cottonwood

This was a beautiful place to spend the night. Not only had it dark skies but the amount of wildlife was staggering (plenty of bats and bunnies and an owl were some of the things seen) to a point I actually felt almost like observing back in Finland. Two Trees is the dark sky observing site of Astronomers of Verde Valley and it lies between Sedona and Cottonwood - only a 15 minute drive away from the hotel. A big thank you goes to JD Maddy, who was kind enough to direct me to this site as well as several others in the area. What might be lost at being at a slightly lower altitude is surely gained back in darker skies and lack of stray lights. From the site, light domes of Prescott, Cottonwood, Flagstaff and Sedona were visible but not very high or in crucial positions. When I arrived at the site a thunderstorm (4th of the trip) putting up a beautiful display in the northern sky and lasted for hours.

Observing here was wild to a point when I not only heard gunshots in the distance but got bitten on my left ankle by some... thing (and it still is missing a small piece). The gunshots were that of a hunting party, apparently hunting deer (saw a dead one with a bunch of guys standing next to it with rifles) and it got me thinking what chance do I have against these gunmen? Tired, long beard and dressed all in black, could I actually be mistaken as a deer in complete darkness? Luckily, I didn't have to find out as I never saw these guys again. And the thing that "bit me" might have just been a shrub or something with spikes. At least I'm not dead yet. Sadly, I failed to see any real spiders or scorpions on my trip.

So, great skies and what do I do? I sketch the open cluster NGC 6231, an object that of course could not be sketched from say Palm Springs or anything with suburban skies? Apparently not. Taking my time rendering the cluster properly, I moved up a bit to emission nebula NGC 6334 which - with UHC filter - showed 5 separate patches of nebulosity with different sizes. Another great one, although faint, was NGC 6357 (which I nicknames "The bird and the dragonfly" back in 2003) a bit more to the north. This one appeared quite similar to NGC 6334 but a lot smaller and fainter with an O-III filter. The small open cluster Pismis 24 was just south of the brightest, E-W small elongated patch of nebulosity that is the brightest part of the whole complex. Still moving back up north, I had set my sights on Sh2-13. See, NGC 6231 is forgiven after a couple of "hardcore" objects that I had specifically saved for dark skies. I noted some patchiness here too with the UHC filter but it remained uncertain if it was simply glow of the background star cloud.

The session took a darker path when Barnard 87 drifted to the eyepiece. Having the nickname of "Parrot's Head Nebula" I have to admit it looked a bit like it. Next heading close to the horizon I picked up NGC 6723. This is a great region for photographers and visual observers alike. In the same field of view you can see a reflection nebula, emission nebula, globular cluster and a dark nebula. So if in this region of sky - do not miss this posse! If you're sketcher like me... you better avoid this region like the plague. There's just so much to see and draw... After one tough nebulous cookie, I routinely logged Terzan 7 and despite the low altitude, I had only little trouble logging this 12th magnitude globular cluster. The final object of the night was NGC 6717 displaying small grouping of bright foreground stars with a fairly bright background glow.

28.8 - 1.9.2011 - Sedona and the light pollution ordinance (Part 1)

2011-09-07T16:07:00.003+03:00

Date: 28./29.8.2011
Observing location: Sedona, Arizona, USA (1368 meters / 4488 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 6.9m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.10 (zenith)
Background sky: 7 (good)
Seeing: 7 (good)
Transparency: 7 (good)
Weather: +28.5 - 25.6°C, humidity 36%, 4/8 scattered cloud early on.

Honestly impressed...

After an off-night in Las Vegas, our travelling party arrived to Sedona, Arizona. That night I had planned on doing some simple bright object work from the hotel premises. I was aware of the Northern Arizona lighting codes but boy was it different than I though. Anyone who has participated in forcing this law down the public's throat should be given a medal or no, the Nobel price (despite being Swedish...). Based on the effects it had in downtown Sedona, this kind of law should be made mandatory in every corner of the civilized world. Then again, I understand the fear of the dark by the city dwellers who haven't even seen a dark sky or darkness in their lifetime. While observing in Sedona for 5 nights, I can honestly say I heard at least a dozen hotel guests whining about the darkness and saying they're going to go to the receptionist and complain about the hotel being so badly lit at night. Honestly, if you even can't enjoy a piece of the ever fading beauty of a dark night sky... you better not leave your apartment in Manhattan. Here, you might even see a bird, falcon or even more frighteningly a spider! Being a typical Finnish keep-your-mouth-shut-at-all-times-type there were quite a few times I almost yelled at these people from the balcony. I also managed to eavesdrop (not by purpose) on a mother telling her daughter about the stars in the sky and especially regarding the Big Dipper. She told her daughter that no matter where you travel, the Big Dipper always looks the same.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when after sitting in a car for the whole day, exhausted and miserable, I walked to our hotel room's balcony for a quick gaze of the sky and could easily see the Milky Way stretching across the entire sky. I went directly back in and fetched my SQM-L meter - safe to say I was impressed. It wasn't long before I was observing in "full force". The sky was dark enough and all the goodies in life (fridge and bed) were so close by that I decided to do most of the observing from the hotel's balcony shielded by several, large bath towels.

Cederblad 211 around R Aquarii

I continued where I had left off in Death Valley: Sagittarius-Scutum region of the sky. I observed a couple of planetary nebulae including NGC 6751, IC 4846, IC 4732, NGC 6565 and NGC 6629. Globular clusters ESO 456-38 and NGC 6540 (displaying a W-E elongated bar of stars in the middle) were both easily picked up by the 4.5 XT. Especially beautiful was the dark nebula Barnard 90 and a curious (possible) addition to my list of objects observed later on in the early morning was Cederblad 211 in Aquarius. I felt that the nebula didn't quite rise high enough for a proper gaze. I tried different magnifications, filters but at least for me the best view came unfiltered at high magnification (304x). I saw a very faint envelope around the star with some possible extensions (or diffraction spikes?) towards the N and S but it remained uncertain if this was just a general glow of the star or something else. In any case, the possible features in this object are very tiny - just some arc seconds.

Date: 30./31.8.2011
Observing location: Sedona, Arizona, USA (1368 meters / 4488 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 6.7m (south)
SQM-L: 20.84 (south)
Background sky: 7 (good)
Seeing: 7 (good)
Transparency: 7 (good)
Weather: +23.0°C, humidity 32-45%, clear.

Having spent the previous night (29-30.8.2011) at a darker location - Two Trees - I still wasn't done with observing, not by a long shot. It is not too difficult to guess where I started observing: Scorpius. Low from the sky, I could just observe globular clusters NGC 6380 (magnitude 11.5) and Tonantzintla 2 (magnitude 12.2). Despite the faintness, it wasn't surprising I saw this pair - I've managed to squint down both some years ago even with the small 3 inch refractor! Good objects during the night included two detailed planetary nebulae: NGC 6563 and NGC 6445. Of a handful of globular clusters most memorable were Palomar 8 (quite easily visible with averted vision) and NGC 288 which showed three "star spikes" and was fairly well resolved.

No complaints about the scenery either...

I also took a great deal of time to make sure I sketch at least some Messier objects with "care and respect". Having basically dropped all brighter globular clusters from my sketching list for "practical reasons" I probably should have done the same with a number of objects such as M16, M17 and M8. It literally took hours on several different nights for me to complete these "simple" 3 sketches. Without a doubt, M8 is the best nebula out in the sky - nothing even comes close. Then again, I haven't yet seen NGC 3372 but at least compared to M42... the "Nebula of the Black Lagoon" wins - hands down. It actually took me 3 separate nights (in Death Valley, Sedona and Two Trees) to finish up a simple sketch of M8.

Early in the morning I did some work with galaxies (see Iiro, I DO observe galaxies from time to time) with NGC 7606, NGC 7600 and NGC 7585. I could also pick up IC 1613 and the Sculptor Dwarf (ESO 351-30) while near their culmination points. NGC 253 was beautiful as was NGC 247 but I'm hoping I'll get to sketch these again from a more southern location (namely Tenerife) in few months.

Pleiades / M45

Probably the most memorable view of the night was that of the Pleiades. As it was racing high in the sky I pointed my telescope at it. NGC 1435 (Merope nebula) was a distinct direct eye object as well as visible in the 6x30 finder. NGC 1432 (Maya nebula) was plainly visible but in this case required some averted vision. The easy way to tell the difference between real nebulae and reflections is of course the fact that none of the nebulae observed looked symmetrical (or round) but irregular and had even spots of uneven brightness! Also, with higher magnification, several "spikes" were seen following the nebulosities surrounding Maia, Merope and Elektra. Atlas and Pleione seemed to be clear of nebulosity. I can't remember the last time I had such a clear view of the Pleiades - a big thank you to Arizona's low humidity.

26.8.2011 - Stargazing in Death Valley

2011-09-06T15:48:00.000+03:00

Date: 26./27.8.2011
Observing location: Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley, California, USA (285 meters / 935 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 7.7m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.72 (zenith)
Background sky: 9 (excellent)
Seeing: 8 (excellent)
Transparency: 8 (excellent)
Weather: +39.1 - 32.2°C, humidity <10%, a breath of wind from the north, thunderstorm in the SE.

Sagittarius above Death Valley, CA

Being a hardened veteran of Anza-Borrego as well as Palm Springs I knew what was ahead when the sun set behind the mountains. Earlier in the evening, the temperature had reached +48°C (118°F) down in Badwater. For our hotel that promotes astronomy by "renting binoculars for stargazing" they sure had a funny way of showing the love. About a mile to every direction of Stovepipe Wells, the glaring lights of the "town" will blind any starting star watcher (or more experienced) for sure. There was little more to do than escape this mini Las Vegas for a darker place near by; Mosaic Canyon.

Two brightest parts of NGC 6559 complex

It would be a shame to say when observing from a site with no visible light pollution I would start by sketching open clusters and I was well aware of this fact. So, I started with NGC 6559, M20 and NGC 6526 from the Uranometria's (Volume 2) A17-page. All of these nebulae displayed complex structure and required a lot of time to figure out. I especially liked NGC 6559 (smaller one on the left) which displayed 4 separate parts of nebulae at the eyepiece. Other two, not visible in this higher magnification sketch were IC 1274 and IC 1275. Both of these were quite difficult to discern but the dark nebula next to it - B91 - was actually quite obvious as a dark round patch in the middle of rich starfield and nebulae.

NGC 6526 turned out to be a little bit troublesome. Uranometria clearly shows this as an irregular shaped nebulosity between M8 and M20 but NGC/IC project disagrees; they list the object simply as the "SE part of M8" along with NGCs 6533, 6530 and 6523. This seems typical of William Herschel; cataloguing separate parts of one nebula with their own numbers. But there is a nebula in Uranometria's position for "NGC 6526" - if it is not it what should it be called? Well, I'm going to call it just that. Visually, I notice some variations in background brightness in this area when using UHC filter. Had I known that this a very faint object and in the middle of a star cloud, I surely would have spent more time with it. So it remains uncertain if I actually logged any nebulosity or simply the patchiness of the background sky caused by hundreds of faint stars. The sketch was doomed from the start as I knew the scanner would not be able to pick up my faint renderings without much background noise. For practical reasons, the sketch is only marginally cleaned up.

After three extensive (and exhaustive) nebula "studies", I had nothing else to sketch than open clusters so the couple worth mentioning would be NGC 6568 and NGC 6645. Then, continued by M17, M16 and a set of dark nebulae so I had my hands full for several hours. Later on some scattered clouds arrived but luckily it didn't interfere with my observing. This was a beautiful place to observe and a higher altitude would have probably made it a whole lot better. I especially enjoyed the naked eye views of the summer Milky Way so I continued to stargaze without equipment logging Messiers and several NGC objects with the naked eye. I had already noticed that during the past 4 years my eyesight has deteriorated to a point where I probably loose 0.3 - 0.5 magnitude with current set of eyeglasses. No matter, I still could enjoy the beautiful views.

24.8.2011 - Goat Mountain Astronomical Research Station (GMARS)

2011-09-06T13:24:00.003+03:00

Date: 24./25.8.2011
Observing location: GMARS, Landers, California, USA (897 meters / 2942 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 7.5m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.54 (zenith)
Background sky: 7-8 (excellent)
Seeing: 8 (excellent)
Transparency: 7 (excellent)
Weather: +29.4 - 24.2°C, humidity 25-34%, gusts of NW wind.

The night after Anza-Borrego I had set up a visit to a near by (77 kilometres / 48 miles away) observing site of the Riverside Astronomical Society (RAS). Located in the small town of Landers, the spot combines higher altitude (897 meters / 2942 feet), dark skies and a great place to host secret parties at a bachelor pad should you be in need of one. I was kindly offered to hitch a ride from Palm Springs with site director Stan Broberg to meet up at the site with Gary Nelson and Alex McConahay. So in my trip to the US, I might actually have to speak English.

The site hosts several private observatories, observing pads with electricity and probably in the future observing pads without electricity for visual observers; which is probably good too. You know how those astrophotographers can be with their bright lights and equipment. Visitors not only have the possibility to camp at the site grounds but also sleep indoors at one of the many beds located in two separate main buildings. Add in bathroom, showers, fridge, full kitchen with all goodies, a TV (nearly twice as big as mine), DVDs (for the rare cloudy nights), huge library of astronomy books and magazines and it is safe to say you've come to a Mecca of astronomy. The entire clubhouse has a full night vision-mode (only red lights) to used at night which to me seemed quite clever and now suprising that I haven't seen such set up at any of our observatories. And boy, isn't this place something to envy. Above all else, it is obvious that this place is built with a lot of love and skill and maintained by a core group of great people.

As the sun set between Joshua Trees I set up my gear on a table and started to wait for darkness. Stan offered me to borrow me a Orion observing chair (not that my back was killing me after 4 nights of sitting in the ground in various positions) which came in quite handy especially when sketching. Few minutes after, Alex came and asked if I'd be interested if I wanted use the 22" Capella for the night. Saying yes wasn't difficult and I got to use the scope for the entire night with a suitcase full of Nagler eyepieces!

NGC 7009 sketched with the 22" Capella

With the 22 inch Capella, I decided to sketch an object from at least every object type. After having a quick gaze at M8, I was ready to drop a diffuse nebula from the list. After few minutes of thinking I selected the following objects:

NGC 6281 (open cluster)
NGC 6302 (planetary nebula)
IC 1295 (planetary nebula)
NGC 7479 (galaxy)
NGC 7009 (planetary nebula)

If nothing else, these should at least be interesting to view with such large aperture - detail-wise. It would also be interesting to first view the objects with the XT4.5 then move to a larger aperture to see more. But that wasn't all. To add in a few more challenging objects out of my head to log, I came up with:

IC 1296 (galaxy near Ring Nebula)
2MASX J22290968-2047179 (tiny galaxy inside Helix Nebula)
Tonantzintla 2 (globular cluster)

I used the big boy Capella to sketch 3 objects from Scorpius before the wind forced me down the ladder. For a start, I have to say NGC 6302 yielded some great detail at high power but the sketch came up ugly and confusing as can be expected of me. NGC 6281 looked pretty much the same as it did with the 4.5" scope but with more stars obviously. Tonantzintla 2 appeared resolved from the edges although these are without a doubt just foreground stars. So, with the winds still quite strong, I returned my little scope to continue to uncover the secrets from the Scorpius-Sagittarius-Scutum region.

NGC 7479 with the 22" Capella

This, of course meant observing more "trivial" open clusters as well as some of the good, old friends: NGC 6124, NGC 6603, NGC 6822, IC 1296 (sketched with both the 4.5" and the 22" Capella) and NGC 246. I also did some more Sky Atlas-work by observing and sketching galaxies NGC 6941, NGC 6962, NGC 6814 and NGC 6903 from page 16 and took a break from the small scope by viewing the M57 / Ring Nebula with the 22" Capella and more interestingly the small galaxy IC 1296 just NW of it. After a little break before midnight, I returned to the monster Capella for a breathtaking views of NGC 7009, NGC 7479 and NGC 7293. The tiny galaxy next to the Helix nebula was visible as a small, elongated spot at high magnification. Unfortunately for all parties, I'm not any good or a big fan of sketching with large apertures. There is often simply too much subtle, complex detail to sketch properly. But at least I tried, no matter the results.

A Joshua Tree, observatories and no pizza place

Early in the AM the winds had calmed down and my SQM-L meter showed measurements in the 21.50-category. With the naked eye, I could just squint a few 7.4 magnitude stars close to zenith. Apart from the few stray lights of the local residents and the minor light domes of LA and Twentynine Palms(?) the GMARS site was more than adequate for some serious deep sky observing. Also, after Anza-Borrego, the temperatures were quite a lot more enjoyable and I could stargaze the whole night in shorts and T-shirt.

I encourage people from all walks of life, interested in astronomy and observing in general to give this site a go. You won't regret it. I'd like to thank Alex, Gary and Stan for the great hospitality and time I had at the GMARS site. And Stan, next time lunch's on me. I hope I'll get the chance to visit Landers again some time in the future.

23.8.2011 - In a hot, hot desert...

2011-09-05T22:53:00.001+03:00

Date: 23./24.8.2011
Observing site: Anza-Borrego Desert, California, USA (240 meters / 787 feet)
NE Lim.mag: 7.3m (zenith)
SQM-L: 21.39 (zenith)
Background sky: 7 (excellent)
Seeing: 6 (good)
Transparency: 4-5 (good)
Weather: +37.5 - 35.2°C, humidity <10%, strong gusts of wind from north.

The cold and cuddly Anza-Borrego

My first touch with dark skies in California was in a primitive camping site in the Anza-Borrego desert. Temperature-wise, I thought I had it bad in Palm Springs. As I set up the telescope in a searing heat of +45°C / 112°F, I took comfort in the thought that it would soon get colder and I could enjoy a typical, beautiful night under the night sky. Two hours later, I knew it was going to be an observing session worthy of telling the grand kids about. As sweat was literally dripping from every gap, hole and chasm in my body I looked at my portable weather station: +37.5°C / 100°F. It was going to be a long night. As the sun set, a breeze from the north followed. You might consider this a relief but think again: Go to a sauna, bring a friend. When the sauna is warm enough, ask your friend to take a deep breath and blow some air, say to your arm. There you have the "soothing breeze" of the Anza Borrego desert. Other than the temperatures, the place was good enough for some basic observing. Being midway between Salton City and Borrego Springs, light pollution was visible from both of these locations as well as lights from the LA/Palm Desert area. In any case, SQM-L meter showed numbers in the 21.30s in many parts of the sky so as a warm-up session, this would do just fine. Another thing surely worth mentioning was the humidity: below 10%!

XT 4.5 ready to go in Anza-Borrego

The first object to go after was surprisingly Pluto. I had a time window of 3-4 days to spot the dwarf planet before it would "disappear" in to the rich star fields of the Milky Way. It is not a big surprise that the 4.5" SkyQuest had little trouble showing Pluto even in the deepening twilight. SQM-L showed only 19.90 in the region when I first spotted the defunct planet. Identifying it would have been impossible without a printed DSS image of the region.

Real observing started in Scorpius from where I first observed the globular cluster NGC 6453, M8, several open clusters and the beautiful dark nebula B286 (appears as a heart-shaped dark patch). I took a lot of time to log many dark nebulae in the Sco-Sag-Oph region I had not observed before. Keep in mind that when observing for darks, you should only log them as seen when you see a definite difference between the dark nebula and the background sky. Simply logging areas without stars won't do the trick - at least for me.

The failed M11...

I struggled with M8 as it is so massively infused with detail. NGC 6437 and NGC 6415 were surprisingly good objects despite the fact that they're both simple star clouds. Both displayed a rich splash of stars in midst of dark nebulae. Open cluster ESO 456-09 wasn't much to look at and it turned out to be a waste of time. Messier 11 was everything but that. I had spent two nights with it in Palm Springs sketching the brighter, easily visible stars trying to keep the shape and form together the best I could. Here I finished this "monumental" work by adding the fainter stars and also managed to mess up the southern segment of the cluster. The damage was already done so there was no fixing it nor was I interested in doing it for that matter. The amount of stars sketched wasn't too bad but the shapes, dark lanes and star lanes made it very difficult to get them all well placed thus I nicknamed it the "The Cramping Hand Cluster". Also the several star strings made it appear as a large number of waves (apparently this was also noted by Stephen O'Meara in his Messier objects book) were moving towards the west and there you have another silly nickname: "The Omaha Beach Cluster". A wave after wave of soldiers storming to gain a foothold in the beach of Normandy. Don't ask where I do come up with this stuff; late at night I just do.

After finishing up, I concluded that this place was quite good and it is no surprise many societies in CA have their star parties held in such places. Add in a bit more altitude to remove that "murkiness" and you got yourself a great observing spot. At least in the winter...

31.7.2011 - Start of the season

2011-08-02T12:05:00.013+03:00

Telescope: 8" Orion DSE
Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 31.7/7.8.2011
NE Lim.mag: ~4.6 (zenith)
SQM-L reading: 17.65 (zenith)
Background sky: 1
Seeing: 5
Transparency: 4
Weather: Nautical twilight. +13°C, humidity 91%, 1019 HPa, faint gusts of wind, moist and NCLs in the northern sky. No mosquitoes!

The new season's here my little porch monkies (don't worry, I'm taking it back)! I have to admit, the difference between last season's last observing session and the new season's first session was quite big. I ended my season on the 25th of April under the fairly dark skies of urban Finland (SQM-L 21.35 - 21.10 and NELM 7.0 - 6.8). On the 1st of August under suburban conditions and twilight skies (sun -11) my SQM-L showed only 17.65 with a NELM of around 4.6! I couldn't even spot the Andromeda galaxy or Double Cluster with the naked eye - the background sky was simply too bright. Still, I'm accustomed to starting the season during the final week of July no matter what. And this time, there were no mosquitoes!

Surprisingly, my key interest was in spotting C/2009 P1 Garradd which I did not manage to see before midnight (sun never below -10) using my 8 inch Orion. Slightly past midnight I look up to the north and saw a bright display of noctilucent clouds. I paused the observing for an hour or so to go to the local field for few photographs, here's an example:

When I got back, I started looking for Garradd again and this time found it without much difficulty @ 80x. Next I wanted to try the new 8-24mm Hyperion Zoom (Mark III) I bought a few months back. It performed quite well and I decided to sketch something while at it so I selected the bright open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta. I always see the sort of a lizard-shape in the cluster with the 9th magnitude stars TYC 3605-2563-1 and TYC 3605-2193-1 as the "eyes". The shape is also fairly similar to that of NGC 457 if you will. The next morning, I looked up my previous sketches of NGC 7209 and noticed I had sketched the very same object nearly exactly a year ago! What a great mess-up and waste of time and sketching paper!

NGC 7209 with 8" Orion @ 72x

I did sketch NGC 7243 as well as it was in the region but didn't really like the outcome. I started to sketch the cluster at too high magnification; I noticed it early on but decided to finish the drawing anyway. I've heard many people dislike the cluster but for some reason I've always liked it. It shows several concentrations of stars and is large and bright. Fine, it isn't a real show-piece at high magnification or larger telescopes but what a fine target under twilight skies it is! I also pulled up a study saying NGC 7243 actually is an open cluster and in fact it has 211 members down to 15.5 (v) magnitude with the brightest star being 8.43 (v) mag (Memberships and CM Diagrams of the Open Cluster NGC 7243 - 2008). Here's the sketch and be sure to check out the quick illustration of the concentrations in the cluster here.

NGC 7243 with 8" Orion @ 80x

The next night was clear but I decided concentrate on photography for now as I hiked to a little landfill area few kilometers from our house. From this slightly darker location around 1 am the Milky Way was *just* starting to show in central Cygnus. With some NCLs showing up in the sky again, I posed in front of the camera and took a shot of the view:

On both nights, temperatures were between 14-10°C (57-50°F) with a typical high humidity of around 90% so in a way we're definitely going towards the winter again. The moon will make sure that I won't get a proper start for the season until the end of August and by then I won't have to (hopefully) worry about the Finnish climate for a few weeks. That is if the monsoon season in Arizona decides to give a me a fighting chance...

Finnish Deep Sky Section's Deep Sky 600-list

2011-07-27T10:28:00.016+03:00

Although I completed the "Deep Sky 600"-list back in May (version 1.004) I haven't had much to say about it. What I had in mind was a list of objects for observers to start after completing the Messier catalogue. Some criteria for the list were that all of the objects have to be:

visible from Europe (at least from Canary Islands, 18 declination north)

logged by me at least as "beautiful" or "interesting" over the years.

visible with a 4 inch telescope and look good in it.

I made a list of 500 objects back in 2010 but decided to drop the declination for another 10 degrees and add 100 more objects. The only problem was that the name and the list "Deep Sky 600" might be associated with "Orion's Deep Map 600" or "DM600". So don't do that. "Deep Sky 600" has no Messier objects in it for a start and most certainly no double/multiple/variable stars.

So in short, the list contains the best of the best (at least in my opinion) down to -50 declination. I'm sure there are many objects in the list that YOU disagree upon but it is simply a list made by guy who found these specific objects worth looking at. Down the line, I might add in more objects down to -90 declination and call it "Deep Sky 1000" if I ever get to see the deep southern sky in my lifetime.

The list can be found here, ordered by constellation: Finnish Deep Sky Section's Deep Sky 600

The beginning of season 2011-2012

2011-07-27T10:01:00.003+03:00

A few more days and the new season - and my 15th observing season - is going to kick off here in Southern Finland. But the season will start only barely: the sun won't dip much more below the horizon than -10° so any serious observing will have have to wait for a few more weeks. Still, with all the new purchases made this summer, my fingers and eyes are almost itching to get it on with the night sky. I have been working for the entire summer so I haven't had the time or energy even to do any photography of NCLs, thunderstorms or halos, unfortunately.

The "night sky" June 10th @ midnight. Image copyrighted by Jaakko Saloranta.

Complaining aside, the most expensive purchase this year has been the Baader Zoom eyepiece. Compared to Baader 21mm Hyperion (382 grams) the Baader 8-24mm Mark III Hyperion (342 grams) is quite not as heavy and is slightly smaller in size which is something I like. Using the Baader 21mm eyepiece is quite a trouble especially with the smaller telescopes (namely the already retired 3 inch Konus) as it can easily tip the telescope(s) over with the weight.

I purchased Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas mainly as a book for quickly logging (and checking) naked eye limiting magnitude from specific fields of the sky. I suppose I can use it for binocular observing as well although I hardly do it any more. I also got the "All three Volumes of Uranometria 2000.0" and now can use the older version of the North-volume outside without too much stress of it getting completely destroyed. It has, over the years, suffered some moisture damage and has some squashed dead bugs inside some pages but other than that it is in good condition.

I upgraded my old headlamp for a new one: Petzl Tikka Plus 2. The lamp should arrive this week and hopefully I get to test (and dim ) it properly before leaving to the USA.

Petzl Tikka Plus 2

I'm also currently without a proper pad for sketching as the old one has endured some bites and tears over the last 4 years. I'll have to visit town and see if I can come up with something good and small.

Upcoming observing trips for 2011

2011-03-24T14:02:00.026+02:00

Skies are getting clearer, the snow is melting away and sky conditions are improving. This all is also reminder of the inevitable end of the season with only roughly a month left to do some kind of observing. There are some good news in the astronomy front none the less. After a 3 year hiatus, I've planned not one but two observing trips for this season. The years 2011 and 2012 will probably remain as the last possible chance of doing observing trips in the northern hemisphere before moving to Australia for a year in 2013. This will also provide a good chance to strike down some of the (mostly) unmapped northern constellations still left in my observing lists.

The first trip will take place in August-September (19.8 - 5.9.2011) with a 2 and a half week vacation to California and Arizona. This will include several observing chances under the darkest skies in the entire US as well as trips to Lowell, Lick and Palomar observatories. My own equipment will be probably be limited to simple naked eye observing but can probably have access to my friend Steve Waldee's large range of telescopes: from 80mm refractor up to an 11 inch SCT. Main focus will be on observing and sketching objects in the Sky Atlas project.

Palomar observatory. Image copyrighted by California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

The destination of the second trip will be a little close: Tenerife, Spain. This will be my 3rd observing trip to Tenerife and 7th to the Canary Islands. Not one of the most interesting places to visit but familiar and probably cloud free as well. The trip will be for a week in November. Observing will done from sites above altitude of 2000 meters (6500 feet). Main focus will be again on the Sky Atlas project but also trying to update minimum apertures for some neglected constellations such as Pisces, Phoenix, Cetus and Eridanus.

Pico Viejo and El Pico del Teide. Image copyrighted by Jaakko Saloranta.

Compared to the previous trips, I'll now be travelling with an Unihedron SQM-L meter and a weather station for "accurate" humidity, air pressure and temperature measurements. Observing equipment include a whole new set of high quality Baader Hyperion eyepieces. Let's hope for clear skies.

The mighty few - the two missing NGC clusters

2011-02-25T13:25:00.028+02:00

In 1863, G. P. Bond (director of the observatory at that time) published a list of 33 new deep sky objects discovered by astronomers who worked in the Harvard college observatory. These observers include George Phillips Bond himself (1825-1865), Phillip Sidney Coolidge (1830-1863), Horace Parnell Tuttle (1837-1923), and Truman Henry Safford (1836-1901).

As a side note, I'd like to note that in the 2010 book "Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters" by Wolfgang Steinicke there seems to be a typo regarding the age Coolidge when he died. It says in the book that Coolidge "was born on 22 August 1830 and died in the civil war on 19 September 1863 being only 29 years old". Unless there are something wrong with the birth/death date, I'd say Sidney Coolidge died at the age of 33.

Bond's paper was published in the Astronomische Nachricten (No. 1453) but the paper had some quirks. First, the discovery of the two of our objects in questions NGC 2189 and NGC 2198 are credited as having been discovered by J. H. Safford. This is at least corrected (by whom?) in the copied version of the publication (J crossed and T added to the right side margin). The second one is, as everyone who's had a look at this particular dilemma, the position of the two missing NGC clusters in Orion. There are no coordinates for any of the clusters, only 1863 coordinates for the near by position stars! What a bummer. We know that the clusters were pretty certainly found with a magnification of 141 and field of view of 11'. Either there is something I'm not seeing here or there is something profoundly wrong with the original coordinates.

Object 7(a) & 7(b) - NGC 2189

"Two clusters, seen 1863 March 19 near two stars of the 10.11th magnitude, by J. H. Safford, with the Great Refractor [15 inch Merz refractor]. In Harvard Zones [IV]. Position of stars:

06h 04m 44.9s +01° 08' 37" (1863) = possibly GSC 131:1117
06h 05m 47.2s +01° 10' 02" (1863) = possibly GSC 131:1065

Not only are these two stars nearly 15' apart, there is no sign of any clusters in the area. It is also important to notice that Safford specifically mentions TWO clusters not a single one like the single NGC designation suggests. Safford's description "near two stars mag 10-11" is also fairly vague. Visual inspection of the region comes up pretty empty as well. 1908 paper by Pickering gives us coordinates of 06 12 22 +01 07 34 which is pretty much at the current non-ex position of NGC 2189. The asterisms discovered previously with the 15 inch refractor (1852-1853 for example) are pretty vague and are often very difficult to to discern from the background sky at all so in that aspect these clusters are a good match.

Object 8 - NGC 2198

"A cluster, see 1869 March 19, by J. H. Safford, between two stars in the following position. With the Great Refractor. In Harvard Zones [IV].

Star of 10.11 mag. 06h 06m 27.8s +01° 01' 10" (1863) = possibly GSC 131:870
Star of 9.10 mag. 06h 07m 12.7s +01° 00' 27" (1863) = possibly GSC 131:1266

What is between these two stars? A load of black space that's what! These two stars are separated by a mere 6'. Pickering's 1908 do not differ much from the current non-ex position of NGC 2198 just like with NGC 2189.

Simply from a visual observer's point of view, there is one possibility hanging in the air. A fairly good looking asterism can be seen more to the north, nearly in the middle of NGC 2189 and NGC 2198. The asterism is flanked by 9th magnitude HD 288493 and 10th magnitude HD 288534.

The position is however quite far away from the given positions of NGC 2189 and NGC 2198 and there is just one object - not three.

Unless someone takes a look at Safford's original observing logs like Dr. Harold G. Corwin suggest... I'm willing to go with the fact that these are nothing more than two very poor, uninteresting groups of few stars as suggested in the NGC/IC project home page. Sadly.

Ancient observations - M41 and The Orion Nebula

2011-02-03T13:55:00.018+02:00

The Great Orion Nebula - Messier 42

At least for me, it is not too difficult to believe that the skilled Mayan astronomers and other Native Americans had seen Orion Nebula far before the 16th century European invaders. Apparently the first European observation of the Great Nebula (the nebula - Galileo saw a bunch of stars in 1609) is from 1611 by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peirsc or Johann Baptist Cysatus (independent discovery). At least for me, it is quite hazardous to state that "The Great Orion Nebula, was not known to pre-telescopic observers" as stated in the 2006 book Atlas of the Messier Objects. [1] Not only is the Great Nebula an obvious naked eye object but for observers such as Al'Sufi to completely miss an object of this magnitude but discover Andromeda galaxy is simply puzzling. Granted, Andromeda galaxy is a lot larger in size and the region of Orion Nebula is peppered with faint stars. The questions remains.

The ancient Mayans saw Orion s a turtle with three stones on her back. Three stars (Rigel-Saiph-Alnitak) form a triangle known as Oxib X'kub' (three stones of the hearth). Directly in the center of this fireplace lies the Orion Nebula, possibly seen as smoke rising from the hearth, at least so by the the K'iche' people. [2]

Then there's the case of the Aboriginals. It has been suggested that the Aboriginals were the first astronomers on earth going back whooping 50 000 years. [3] With this in mind, it is easy to believe that several of the southern sky's key features were spotted long before Nicholas Louis de Lacaille and other European observers. According to Ray Norris, the Yolngu people in Australia saw Orion Nebula as a fish (Kingfish) caught by three brothers as told in an old lore tale. [4] Sadly, the aboriginals mostly have only verbal stories and legends of the night sky and not in the form of writing. This shouldn't however make the old stories any less trustworthy. Some drawings and paintings remain but the colonization of the English did a pretty good job in wiping away thousands of years of memories and stories.

Messier 41

Since the 1902 paper "Messier's Nebulae" by John Ellard Gore, Messier's number 41 usually gets credited as having been discovered by Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) sometime around 325 BC. J.E. Gore mentions in his 2nd part of his article that: "It [M41] is referred to by Aristotle in his "Meteorologies" as a star "with a tail". This much is true, at least in the modern translation of the "Meteorologica" as it says: "For a star in the thigh of the Dog had a tail, though a faint one." But, as with all of Aristotle's papers, the biggest problem is that his works have been edited, translated and edited again numerous times during the past 2300 years. This makes it impossible to know for sure, what was actually written by Aristotle and what not. When in the 12th century, the western scholars got their hands on Aristotle's papers, it is important to remember that the Arabs had translated his papers to Arabic. When the primitive Westerners came in and conquered then Arabic lands of Sicily and Toledo, the scholars translated Aristotle's works from Arabic to Latin. It is not difficult to guess that unavoidable paraphrasing must have happened more than once. In any case, the modern version of Aristotle's translated description is:

"And for this we need not rely only on the evidence of the Egyptians who say they have observed it; we have observed it also ourselves. For one of the stars in the thigh of the Dog had a tail, though a dim one: if you looked hard at it the light used to become dim, but to less intent glance it was brighter." So first if all, Aristotle mentions that the Egyptians saw the object and so have we. So even in the best case, M41 was not discovered by Aristotle but by the Egyptians long before him!

Then we come to the constellations. There are very few depictions left of the constellations in classical art or in any art for that matter. [5] This makes it very difficult to try to see the constellation Canis Major through Aristotle's eyes. Where exactly is the "thigh" of the Dog? Ptolemy's Almagest mentions Sirius as "the dog", "the star in the mouth" [6] and "Dog-star which crowns the head" [7]. This would make one assume that the thigh and thus M41 is no where as near to Sirius as M41 is. In the 1776 "Atlas Celeste" by John Flamsteed, the (hind leg) thigh is located west of the star Epsilon Canis Majoris. Then again "the thigh", if you can ever call it that, of the front legs sits quite well with M41's position as does the description of a star that had a tail.

Another candidate for Aristotle's object is, according to A.A. Barrett, "a train of stars near Delta Canis Majoris". This undoubtedly is, what I'd actually call "a trail of five stars", near Omega Canis Majoris running south-west. It consist of 5 stars between magnitudes 5.5 - 6.9. If you consider Sirius as a "star in the mouth" and the lower parts of the constellation as the legs, there is no reason why Aristotle's description of an object should be associated with M41! Barrett's version of events is a lot better than that of Gore, based on sky charts. Visual observations of the region is required before the final call on this topic but based on simply looking at sky charts and constellation figures currently at hand, it is quite difficult to think M41 was seen by ancient astronomers in Egypt or Greece. Still, M41's appearance in Canis Major is quite striking and it is easily seen with the naked eye once you know where to look. Unless constellation figures by Aristotle come to my attention the case of M41 is impossible to close.

References:

[1] Stoyan et al. 2006, "Atlas of the Messier Objects", page 173.
[2] http://www.authenticmaya.com/maya_astronomy.htm
[3] Norris, R.P., 2007, "Searching for the Astronomy of Aboriginal Australians" in Astronomy & Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage.
[4] http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/AboriginalAstronomy/Examples/djulpan.htm
[5] http://www.theoi.com/Cat_Astraioi.html
[6] http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/canismajor.htm
[7] http://www.theoi.com/Cat_Astraioi.html

Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters - Review

2010-09-28T10:32:00.070+03:00

Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters by Wolfgang Steinicke
Cambridge University Press (19 August, 2010)
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521192675

I know what you think: 107€ for a book? I too tried not to think about it when I pressed the order-button in the net store. If you can get this for anything less than or borrow it the local library - I urge you to do so. This book is not a novel and can be quite exhausting to read in certain times. The first question in my mind is (and probably always will be) the price. The book has 648 numbered pages. Yes, if you add in the blank pages and the covers you might just get to the 660 pages as promised by the Cambridge website. Then again, by removing the impressive 65 pages of references and different indexes nets you with 583 "true" pages. That comes up with nearly 20 cents per page. Now that's impressive and/or expensive! This means you probably don't want to read the book in the bathroom or look stuff up in the rain. I barely dare to open the book up myself!

As stated above, unless you're a huge astronomy history buff, the book cannot be read in a way like a regular book but only a few pages or chapters at a time. It is an excellent book as a reference and especially for those who are interested in the history of visual observing, discovery of deep sky objects and the NGC and all the observers who made it. This book must have required a huge amount of work from several different people just as the original NGC and IC catalogs did. Kudos to Wolfgang for his immense work in this topic as well as all the other people involved in making of this book.

The old pictures and several sketches of deep sky objects are very good and add in some good flavor to the book. Without a good illustration, the book would have simply failed under too many pages of plain text. Steinicke's detailed sections on NGC 1555 and NGC 1435 are excellent and a very good read. The book is well written and I could not find any grammar typos with a quick look.

Some "typos" were found though - as can be suspected in a book as big as this. Wolfgang Steinicke mentions on page 475 that the first sketch of a star cluster was done by Gottfried Kirch in 1682. However, several sketches made by Giovanni Hodierna (1597-1660) arguably show drawings of clusters (Double Cluster, M34 and Alpha Persei group) made over 30 years prior to Kirch. Later on, in the NGC 1555 chapter Steinicke states, often I might add, his doubts that it is unlikely that Wilhelm Tempel managed to see a magnitude 15 star with an 11 inch telescope. Poor quality coatings will surely play a large part here but seeing a magnitude 15 star even in a modern day 4 to 6 inch telescope is far from impossible or even surprising. I'm sure these issues will be addressed in the 2nd edition.

All in all, the book is a sturdy, hardcore package for an observer who loves the history of astronomy. I personally rate this book as one of the very best in my fairly large astronomy library and trust me when I say I'm not an easy guy to please. Recommended for history enthusiasts, worth browsing for regular observers. 8/10.

Johann Bode's three lost objects

2010-09-18T15:54:00.044+03:00

The German astronomer Johann Elert Bode (1747 - 1826) published a list of 75 deep sky objects in 1777 in the "Astronomisches Jahrbuch" for 1779. Five years later, Bode published an updated (but sadly not corrected) list of 110 objects. Simply too many errors remained to make Bode's catalogs a hit like that of Charles Messier's. Luckily, even today some objects, namely M81 & M82 and M92, are still marked as being discovered by Bode. [4]

As with nearly all the deep sky catalogs, certain entries in Bode's catalog are shrouded in mystery, deception and romance. Well, maybe not romance but at least some good old fashioned mystery. Some objects are simply considered lost. The two asterisms in Bode's list are no longer even associated with Bode himself, even though he was the probably the first person to note these at least a hundred years prior to others.

To simplify things, the three objects presented here are marked as Bode 1 – 3.

Bode 1 (published in 1777) = IC 1434?

Original coordinates: 03 23 +57 30 (Ecliptic B1780.0)
Precessed coordinates: 22 09 08 +52 54 40 (Equatorial J2000.0)

Bode's first object is most commonly associated with the faint open cluster IC 1434 found at least by reverend Thomas Espin (1858 – 1934) in 1893 and added to the first Index catalog (1895) by J.L.E. Dreyer [1]. According to SEDS.org internet site by Hartmut Frommert and Christine Kronberg the cluster was "independently found by Espin in 1793" [2]. This is obviously a typo as Espin lived in the 19th not the 18th century. Still, no matter how you put it, IC 1434 just does not fit the bill.

Bode's coordinates do match IC 1434 very well. The only problem is how can an observer look for something in this region of the sky, namely Lacerta, observe IC 1434 and completely miss two other brighter and more obvious clusters: NGC 7209 and NGC 7243. Without knowing the specifics of Bode's telescope, apart from the focal length of 7 feet, it is a big guessing game but the aperture might have been around 2.7 inches (7cm). Telescopes during that time commonly had magnifications of over 100 and very poor optics. With the high magnification in mind, one might understand why Bode might have not seen the two NGC clusters. Still, just to loose the few remaining hairs from my head, he rediscovered IC 4665 which basically is as sparse and big as a cluster can get. So anything more we know about his telescope? We can at least compare his notes to those of Messier's:

M29
Charles Messier saw "A cluster of 7 or 8 very small stars"
Johann Bode saw "A nebulous star cluster"

M37
Messier: "Cluster of small stars"
Bode: "A vivid nebulous patch, in which no stars were recognizable" but later on "Around the new nebula there appeared many small stars in the 7-foot telescope"

M38
Messier: "Cluster of small stars in Auriga"
Bode: "A star cluster"

Bode, just like Charles Messier, failed to see individual stars from any of the globular clusters. At the same time, we can see from Bode's sketches he did manage resolved M67 (stars magnitude 9.6 and fainter) and M38 (stars magnitude 8.4 and fainter) [3]. This means his telescope much have reached at least 10th magnitude stars.

So how is it even possible he saw IC 1434? He mentions it as a "star cluster" so it seems he managed to resolve the object, whatever it was he was observing. With the statistics of IC 1434 being 9.0 magnitude and the brightest stars close to 12th magnitude it is fairly easy to say he did not observe IC 1434. Did Johann Bode use a different, larger aperture telescope in his discovery of the first object? Bode was appointed to the Berlin observatory in 1772 and became the director in 1786, so he must have had access to the observatory's telescope(s) if there every was a bigger one. Still, I think it is very, very far fetched to say Bode saw IC 1434 based simply on the fact that his coordinates are close to it. Even if he might have seen it, he probably would have described it as a "a nebula" or "a nebula without stars" rather than a cluster.

So what did Bode see? The only thing in the "tail of Cygnus" is of course M39 but this is already listed in Bode's catalog as number 75 and the location is correctly listed: "West near Pi at the tail of Cyg". With a bit of a reach, one could associate Bode's object as NGC 7243. This is east of Pi Cygni but no where near the tail or even in the constellation Cygnus. It would have probably been listed as "west of Alpha Lacertae" or something similar. Then again, Bode's original coordinates actually are in Lacerta, instead of Cygnus. Bode's own maps show the borders of both constellations nearly in modern form. Best bet in this puzzling case is that Bode independently found M39, poorly marked the position and then later added Messier's M39 in his list as well. Far fetched? Yes. Then it could be that he actually saw NGC 7243 but the coordinates are well off. So this issue will remain unresolved.

Bode 2 (published in 1777) = HD 1825 group

Original coordinates: 29 37 +45 55 (Ecliptic B1780.0)
Precessed coordinates: 00 22 51 +53 57 19 (Equatorial J2000.0)

In Johann Bode's description of Charles Messier's object number 29 on the night of December 5th 1774 he also mentions an object "in Cassiopeia a similar cluster with the stars Zeta and Lambda at the head west of it in an obtuse-angled triangle."

Little north of Bode's coordinates is a bright asterism of 7 stars brighter than magnitude 11. The brightest star is 8th magnitude HD 1825. This is obviously the grouping Bode was talking about and observed. The very same group is currently logged as Alessi J0022.7+5417 in the Deep Sky Hunters database for asterisms.

Draco 102 = Bode 3 (published in 1782), Bode's cluster, Kemble 2

Original coordinates: 279 30 +72 10 (Ecliptic B1780.0 and Equatorial J2000.0 for Dec)
Precessed coordinates: 18 19 26 +72 16 47 (Equatorial J2000.0)

Directly east of Bode's coordinates is an asterism some might know as "Mini Cassiopeia" or "Kemble 2". The nickname "Kemble 2" comes from Canadian Lucian J. Kemble (1922–1999) and he is well known by some from Kemble 1 / Kemble's Cascade in Camelopardalis. It is not known to me how this little group got the nickname "Kemble 2" but to be precise, there is no reason to do so. This is an original discovery of Johann Bode circa 1782, two centuries prior to Lucian Kemble. Of course asterisms don't have official names so anyone can call it whatever they want.

References:

[1] NGC/IC observers. Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke. 2010.
[2] http://seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/i1434.html
[3] http://www.lsw.uni-heidelberg.de/foerderkreis/bode/images/atlas/tab30.jpg
[4] http://seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/bode1782.html

Glance at some old books

2010-08-26T17:45:00.016+03:00

Earlier this week I got the privilege to visit Helsinki Observatory library and notably get my hands on the only copies available in Finland of two legendary books: Catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars by Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1864) and Observations of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars Made With the Six-foot and Three-foot Reflectors at Birr Castle From the Year 1848 up to the Year 1878 by William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse) (1878). What a great experience!

Here are some low quality samples:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/JHerschel_pageb.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_1.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_20.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_38.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_95.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_123.gif
http://www.kolumbus.fi/jaakko.saloranta/Deepsky/Misc/Rosse_130.gif

19.8.2010 - Closing down Cygnus

2010-08-20T13:29:00.133+03:00

Telescopes: 8" Orion DSE
Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 19./20.8.2010
NE Lim.mag: ~5.7 (zenith)
SQM-L reading: 19.06 (zenith)
Background sky: 5
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 5
Weather: +8.0°C, humidity 80 - 90%, 1011 HPa, faint gusts of wind, clear.

The night of the 13th was one of the most uncomfortable I care to remember. With the temperature of +21.5°C (71°F), the session was far from enjoyable. Tonight the temperature was far more to my liking: +8.0°C (46°F) and now I could concentrate on observing and not sweating. Compared to the observing conditions on the 16th, the night was far from it, but now wasn't the time to be picky. With the 20 point increase in humidity, the NELM dropped 0.3 magnitude, transparency was slightly worse but seeing on the other hand was better.

First in line was NGC 6846. The cluster is mainly know for its distance as it is one of the most distant open clusters known (4450 pc = ~14 500 ly). As can be suspected, the given magnitude for the cluster is usually listed as fainter than 14th magnitude so I knew I really had to work to get this one. Using Uranometria and a printed map from MegaStar I could easily find the correct position. With the sun only -14 below the horizon and the less than ideal conditions, the task proved to be quite difficult. @ 200x I could - with optimal averted vision - see "a single, faint ~13.5 magnitude star at the correct position and a very faint haze in the background". As the view was less than admiring and too difficult for a proper sketch I decided only to a rough "check up" sketch of the cluster's possible position and leave it to that. The brightest star and a red giant in the center (magnitude 13.0) of the cluster, as well as the other two brightest stars, might be a member of the group. Looking at the cluster's CMD the stars in main sequence are magnitude 16 and fainter. If not too interested in open clusters, there is something else at the field as well. A faint, stellar planetary Kohoutek 4-41. I decided to give it a shot but clearly failed the task. Using OIII filter @ 200x I could not see anything apart from the 13th magnitude GSC 2673-1251. I suspected that the magnitude for this might be at least fainter than 15 as it was invisible. Looking at it now, not only is the planetary listed as a magnitude 15.9 (p) object but also it is in the wrong position in SkyMap Pro 10. Arrows shows the position of the planetary nebula Kohoutek 4-41.

Field around NGC 6846 with 8" Orion DSE @ 300x

Next in line was 4 Cygni nebula (Waldee 1) which was pointed to me by Californian amateur astronomer and good friend Stephen Waldee. You better believe it when I say Stephen discovered this visually using his 10" telescope but I had serious doubts how well my 8 inch telescope and suburban light pollution hell could match up to his observing site in the Santa Cruz mountains. To my amazement, I was in for a treat instantly when I turned the telescope towards 4 Cygni. Keep in mind that apart from knowing that I was looking for a nebula I had no advance knowledge of this object. Using 38x (32mm Ortho), comparing the view to both 8 Cygni and Theta (21) Lyrae, 4 Cygni had a subtle but definite "milkiness" to it so I'm fairly certain I got it and I'll surely be trying it again under darker skies. The notes are as follows: "Surrounding a 5th magnitude star 4 Cygni. Milkiness apparent even @ 38x being clearly nebulosity and not a reflection or glow of stars. Nebulosity appears as a soft, elliptical glow on the N and W side of the star. UHC filter has no effect, sketched @60x. Wonderful object". Simple comparison of the sketch compared to the POSS2/Blue image can be found here.

4 Cygni nebulosity (Waldee 1) with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

At Waldee's urging, California amateur astrophotographer Al Howard obtained this digital image of 4 Cygni in July 2010, showing evidence of the nebula, using a Tele Vue NP101 telescope and five 10-minute exposures. Stephen says that the nebula seemed even more obvious *by eye*, in repeated observations, than from the picture in normal positive mode. (It even shows up, barely, on various Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates, though affected by severe burn-in artifacts.) Here is Al Howard's picture, rendered in negative mode and with some contrast enhancement:

Steve's extensive notes of the nebulosity, discovery information and all details you ever need to know about the topic can be seen here.

While moving away from 4 Cygni towards an open cluster Skiff J1942+38.6, I stumbled upon 11 Cygni. Surrounding it was quite a lovely asterism that reminded me a bit of Messier 11 in Scutum. Another asterism that caught my eye was GSC 2698-688 group which appeared as a tent-shaped clustering near open cluster Ruprecht 174. With the few asterisms out the way, I had one "must" object in my list. Earlier during the day I noticed that I had not seen cluster NGC 6874 which was something to change immediately. The group proved to be better than I'd estimated with a slightly triangular shape just like described by William Herschel.

Of the roughly 40 objects observed during the night, the first object that turned troublesome was NGC 7011. I had little trouble locating the correct field but a cluster or an asterism was nowhere to be found. Modern sources seem to have little doubt with the identity as many of them list this possible open cluster as a V-shaped group of about a dozen stars as the object (X in the sketch). With my telescope this group was far from obvious and I didn't even make a note of it. Herschel's description of "Cl" doesn't help much either. From my perspective the V-shaped group is far too uninteresting and unobvious for Herschel. There was a little more obvious grouping of stars north of 4th magnitude 59 Cygni (arrowed) but it is unlikely this is what John Herschel noted.

Field around NGC 7011 with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

Last and least were three Basel open clusters (12-14) of which Basel 13 ended up being the most difficult. The cluster is located at 21 12 18 +46 34 00. MegaStar lists this cluster further to the east as does Messier45.com and Kahanpää. With a bit of stretch, one can see a faint cluster at 21 13 11 +46 33 23 which is exactly what I, with luck, managed to sketch. This means that WEBDA coordinates for this clusters are incorrect unless they're right and we, of course are wrong. The field is troublesome with other fairly obvious groupings of stars visible so I encourage observers to have a look at the field themselves and see what they can come up with. I do warn you though, looking for sparse, often uninteresting and lost objects isn't something you see in the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Basel 13 with 8" Orion DSE @ 100x

After this session I only had half a dozen open clusters and asterisms left to sketch from Cygnus. The total number of open clusters in the constellation is roughly 160 and with asterisms we can probably get closer to 300, so the objects won't end quite that easily.

References:

Optical photometry and basic parameters of 10 unstudied open clusters. Annapurni Subramaniam et al. 2010.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1001/1001.3001v1.pdf

27.7.2010 - In the Twilight zone

2010-07-28T09:02:00.049+03:00

Telescopes: 8" Orion DSE
Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 27./28.7.2010
NE Lim.mag: ~4.5 (south)
SQM-L reading: 17.25 (south)
Background sky: 1
Seeing: 6-7
Transparency: 2
Weather: Nautical twilight. +22.0 - 19.0°C, humidity 82 - 91%, 1016 HPa, calm, NCLs in the northern sky, 97% moon in Aquarius, heat lightnings (2.45 am ->) above the sea to the south. Mosquitoes!

Apart from the furious heat (I'm build for a cooler climate and I have a dense chest hair), twilight and a bunch angry mosquitoes the session was quite enjoyable. The few hours earlier cleaned primary mirror showed sharp images and no collimation related issues came up - never have since the primary mirror is basically stuck. The biggest problem was the heat. I had to have proper clothes to fend off the mosquitoes so naturally I was sweating like a turkey at Thanksgiving (and I feel bad for the turkey!). Noctilucent clouds were visible for the duration of the entire session between midnight and 3 am. Heat lightnings were also spotted low in the southern sky a bit before 3 am. Naked eye limiting magnitude was around 4.5 with the SQM-L meter showing readings between 15.95 and 17.30. Apart from the abysmal background sky, high humidity and really poor transparency seeing was quite good. I couldn't detect nearly any twinkling of stars at the eyepiece or with the naked eye.

So what to watch? After a few bright objects to check out the sky quality (namely M11 and IC 4665) I decided to settle in with only the brightest objects as I suspected from the beginning. If there is a single object I remember seeing as one of the very first in the season, that would be NGC 6910. The cluster didn't disappoint this season either. "Familiar Y-shape obvious even at 38x. Two 7th magnitude stars are in the NE edge. The cluster is quite enchanting but only 5' in size. 15* visible." I decided not to rotate the sketch as usual (north up, east left) so the Y-shape of the group is far more obvious.

NGC 6910 with 8" Orion DSE @ 80x

There was another bright object in Cygnus that was actually on my to sketch-list. This is NGC 6871. I found the position of the cluster quickly but could only spot two double stars reminding me of VdB 1 in Cassiopeia. I had to go back inside and get a map to be sure. Turns out my memory was right on spot but the cluster wasn't. Apart from the two doubles and a slight curve of stars following I couldn't really see anything cluster like in the area. With some imagination and probably luck too I sketched the field and the cluster as I experienced it. It wasn't much but at least I saw and drew the right object. 27 Cygni is the bright star NE.

NGC 6871 with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

And then again I couldn't go on without starting my Messier object logbook. There was M29 and M39 and I went after the latter. I sketched the cluster to my logbook as well as to a card. I tried to put on some effort on the description for a change and wrote to my notebook: "At 38x a triangular group with four bright 7th magnitude stars. Fairly well detached from the background and without a doubt partly due to the poor observing conditions and twilight. All of the stars appear white in poor transparency with roughly 30* visible. The brightest star in the middle of the group. No obvious double stars. At 80x the cluster has lost its beauty. No additional detail seen. The cluster fills the field of view - size ~40'.

Messier 39 with 8" Orion DSE @ 38x

I left Cygnus behind and with quite a maneuver: I moved the telescope long way nearly directly to east and directly to NGC 7209. This feat surely is something to tell the grandchildren about (at least until they comprehend the term luck). The open cluster showed a few dozen stars in a lovely U-shaped pattern leaving a little "cave" in the middle. I couldn't see the haunting drunken lizard that I've seen more times I care to admit.

NGC 7209 with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

At around 2 am, just after finishing up the NGC 7209 sketch, the noctilucent clouds had brightened up to fairly bright so I had no choice but to interrupt the session and ride the bicycle to a nearby field and take a few pictures. Sadly I couldn't escape the annoying street lights but at least the NCLs show up in the image well enough:

When I got back it was 2.45 am and had to be up in less than 6 hours but I wanted to go for one more. North of 7209 is another fine open cluster in the little Lacerta. The shape is curious and years ago in my star-drunk stupor called the cluster "The Whip of Indiana Jones". So, I might have watched one of the movies a few weeks before but still, even today, the shape is quite obvious to me. I've also seen a beer tankard in the eastern section of the cluster. Whatever you see, I've always thought of the object as quite tormented. What makes it very curious to my eye is that the cluster is divided into four different concentrations of stars. Oh, and if you've read that the cluster might be nothing more than an asterism or an open cluster with only a handful of members.... that's not exactly true. In the 2008 paper "Memberships and CM Diagrams of the Open Cluster NGC 7243" by E.G. Jilinski et al. the authors found 211 cluster members down to 15.5 magnitude.

NGC 7243 with 8" Orion DSE @ 48x

I'm not a big planet buff and I've actually watched Jupiter perhaps 20 times during my 12 years of observing. Tonight I decided to make an exception and try if I could see something with the good seeing and all. I was worth it. I'm not sure what one should see from Jupiter but I clearly saw 4 cloud bands, the Jovian moons and a faint stars just south of Jupiter's disk and it looked like a 5th moon. The star turned out to be a 8th magnitude HD 965. So with all the excitement at the eyepiece, Jupiter will earn another look in the future.

[Finnish] Syksyn kuningas IC 342

2010-07-23T17:35:00.006+03:00

Ohessa jämäartikkeli, joka soveltunee tänne, vaikka kieli onkin väärä. Enjoy!

Kirahvin (Camelopardalis) IC 342 on yksin syksyn parhaimmista galakseista ja kuuluu itselläni elokuun vakiokohteisiin. Arviot kohteiden etäisyydestä tuntuvat olevan arvailua kuin lauantain lottorivi: 6.5 – 14 miljoonaa valovuotta. Nykytutkimusten valossa on onnistuttu pääsemään 13 miljoonaan valovuoteen eli maailmankaikkeuden mittakaavassa galaksi on meitä varsin lähellä ja siihen voi olla myös syynsä. Mauri Valtosen (Tuorla Observatory) vuoden 1993 julkaisussa arvellaan IC 342 ja sen muodostaman galaksijoukon olleen alunperin Paikallisen ryhmän jäsen kunnes iso Andromeda antoi koko ryhmälle kenkää. Väitteen paikkaansa pitävyys on kyseenalaistettu, mutta ajatusleikkinä tapahtuma on ainakin varsin kiehtova. Kuten sanottu, IC 342 muodostaa oman galaksijoukon, johon kuuluu reilu tusina galakseja. Galaksijoukosta puhuttaessa käytetään useimmiten nimitystä IC 342 / Maffei 1 group ja galaksit jaetaan juuri kahteen eri ryhmään. Havaintoprojektina galaksijoukko on mitä mainioin, mutta niin haastava että on syytä epäillä onko kaikkia ryhmän jäseniä kukaan koskaan nähnytkään.

Joukon kirkkain jäsen on tietysti itse IC 342. Vuoden 2010 julkaisu (Distance to the galaxy IC 342. N. A. Tikhonov and O. A. Galazutdinova) kertoo tähtienvälisen aineen himmentävän kohdetta noin parin magnitudin verran. Ilman pölyä ja kaasua kohde olisi siis koko pohjoisen taivaan kolmanneksi kirkkain galaksi ja varmasti näkyvissä myös paljain silmin syystaivaalla. Näin ei valitettavasti kuitenkaan ole. Kohteen jonkinlaiseen epäsuosioon on kuitenkin ilmeisesti syynsä: usein laiminlyöty Kirahvin tähdistö ja kutkuttavan pieni pintakirkkaus. Toisaalta on huvittavaa puhua tähdistöistä, jotka jostain syystä on laiminlyöty. Jokainen havaitsijahan tietää, että kaikista taivaan kolkista löytyy herkkuja putken kokoon katsomatta. Jos Kirahvi on eläimenä tai tähdistönä vielä tuntematon, on hyvä päivittää tiedot ajantasalle syksyn aikana.

Sitten hieman historiaa. Kuten voidaan huomata, kaksikko Charles Messier ja Pierre Méchain pyyhkäisivät galaksin yli sitä näkemättä. Miksi? Kohde oli ehkä juuri liian himmeä parivaljakolle ja heidän kaukoputkilleen. 1700-luvun kaukoputket tarjosivat lähes aina kapean näkökentän, joten himmeä, laaja-alainen kohde tuskin näyttäytyisi tällaisilla kaukoputkilla. Galaksin kirkkaampi ydin saattoi myös olla liian pieni, jotta ranskalaiset olisivat sen onnistuneet havaitsemaan. Useimmiten nykypäivän havaitsijat kuvittelevat myös Charles Messierin tähtitaivaan kauniiksi ja todella pimeäksi, jossa Linnunrata loisti taivaalla täydenkuun voimalla. Totuus saattoi olla kuitenkin jotain aivan toista kuten Ronald Stoyan, Stefan Binnewies, Susanne Friedrich kirjassaan Atlas of the Messier Objects pohtivat. Vaikka valosaaste olikin 1700-luvulla varsin vähäistä, teollinen vallankumous oli vauhdissaan ja kaupungin ilma oli täynnä tehtaiden ja talojen lämmityksestä aiheutuvaa savua ja muuta roskaan aivan riittämiin. Charles Messierin observatorio sijaitsi lisäksi keskellä kaupunkia, joten jos jossain Ranskassa oli huono paikka havaita, se oli varmasti Pariisi. Pierre Méchainilla oli etulyöntiasema Messieriin nähden: hän havaitsi maaseudulla, kaupungin ulkopuolelta. Tämä ainakin osittain selittää miksi juuri Méchain löysi himmeät kohteet kuten M74, M97 ja M109. Kuten tiedetään, Méchain löysi ainakin Neitsyen (Virgo) alueelta useita kohteita, joita Messier itse ei nähnyt ja jotka jäivät myös Messierin listan ulkopuolelle. Méchain ei kuitenkaan työkiireiden takia päässyt enää jatkamaan sumuisten kohteiden metsästystä, joten mistä kohteista hän puhui ja löysikö hän muualtakin taivaalta lisää kohteita jää harmittavasti arvoitukseksi.

Joka tapauksessa, molempien herrojen Messier ja Méchain kaukoputket olivat optiselta laadultaan ala-arvoisia verrattuna nykypäivän instrumentteihin. Peilien heijastuskyky oli heikko ja Charles Messierin suurin 20-senttinen kaukoputki näytti tähtiä vain vaivaiseen magnitudiin 11 asti. Nykypäivänä tämä vastaa 8-senttistä kaukoputkea, jolla havaitaan keskeltä kaupunkia. Messierin ja Méchain ei kuitenkaan tarvitse tuntea häpeää etteivät he kohdetta nähneet. Jopa William ja John Herscheliltä jäi jostain syystä galaksi havaitsematta. IC 342 löytyi vasta vuonna 1895 amatööri tähtitieteilijä W. F. Denningin (1848-1931) toimesta.

Wolfgang Steinicken uusimmat luettelotiedot galaksista antavat arvot 8.4 magnitudia ja kokoa 21,4’ x 20,9’. Pintakirkkaus on niinkin himmeä kuin 14.9. Valokuvista määritettynä galaksin koko suurenee huomattavasti ja on pohjois-eteläsuunnassa selkeämmin elliptisempi. Kohteen kooksi voi arvioida ainakin 32’ x 30’, joka tekee siitä samalla yhden pohjoisen taivaan suurimmista, jota se tietysti on jo virallisillakin arvoillaan. Välineestä riippumatta, IC 342 on mitä mainoin kohde. Vaikka pintakirkkaus on alhainen, galaksin ydin on kirkas, joka mahdollistaa sen, että kohteen voi narrata taustataivaalta jo valosaasteisemmassakin paikassa. On aina yhtä kliseistä mainita Stephen O’Meara, mutta annetaan nyt olla tämän kerran. O’Meara siis mainitsee kirjassaan The Caldwell Objects galaksin olevan helposti näkyvissä 7x35 kiikareilla ja tämä on niitä harvoja kertoja, jolloin voi sanoa että on herran kanssa samaa mieltä: galaksi näkyy himmeänä, pehmeänä hehkuna 8x30 kiikareilla tosin vain vaivoin. Galaksi löytyy melkein kahden magnitudin 6 tähden välistä ja O’Mearan sanoin: sitä ei voi sekoittaa mihinkään muuhun kohteeseen tai tähtiryppääseen alueella.

Mahdollisten supernovien suhteen ei myöskään kannata turhaan hötkyillä. Galaksin ytimestä lounaaseen löytyy kuuden tähden muodostama jono ja yhteensä lähes tusinan verran etualan tähtiä on näkyvissä jo 12-senttisellä linssiputkella. 240-kertaisella suurennoksella ydin on lähes tähtimäinen ja sitä ympäröi noin 2’ kokoinen, pyöreä halo. Yksityiskohtiin tarvitaan kuitenkin pienempää suurennosta, koska galaksi häviää hyvin helposti taustataivaaseen kun olosuhteet ovat kaukana erinomaisesta. Yksityiskohtia kuitenkin on näkyvissä jo pienelläkin putkella, mutta ne ovat haastavia. Aina kun on havaitsevinaan spiraalihaaran kirkastuman, häviää se näkyvistä. Voisi kuvitella, että kohde on kuin hyvä vakooja: se syöttää tietoa kaikille kiinnostuneille, muttei vain harvoin tieto on oikeasti luotettavaa tai käyttökelpoista. Galaksi ei helpolla yksityiskohtia luovuta, mutta juuri se tekeekin galaksista niin mielenkiintoisen.

Galaksijoukon IC 342 / Maffei 1 muiden galaksien nimet ovat varsin värikästä katsottavaa, joka kertoo ainakin siitä etteivät ne ole ihan helppoa kauraa visuaalihavaitsijoille. Yrittää saa ja tietysti pitääkin.

IC 342 group

Camelopardalis A (LEDA 166082) | 04h 25m 20.0s | +72d 48m 30s | 14.8 mag
Camelopardalis B (LEDA 166084) | 04h 53m 07.1s | +67d 05m 57s | 16.1 mag
Cassiopeia I (LEDA 100169) | 02h 06m 02.8s | +68d 59m 59s | 16.4 mag
IC 342 | 03h 46m 48.5s | +68d 05m 46s | 8.4 mag
NGC 1560 | 04h 32m 49.1s | +71d 52m 59s | 12.2 mag
UGCA 86 |03h 59m 48.3s | +67d 08m 19s | 13.5 mag
UGCA 105 | 05h 14m 15.3s | +62d 34m 48s | 13.9 mag

Maffei 1 group

Dwingeloo 1 | 02h 56m 51.9s | +58d 54m 42s | 8.3 mag
Dwingeloo 2 | 02h 54m 08.5s | +59d 00m 19s | 20.5 mag
KKH 11 (ZOAG G135.74-04.53) | 02h 24m 34.2s | +56d 00m 43s | 16.2 mag
KKH 12 | 02h 27m 26.9s | +57d 29m 16s | 17.8 mag
Maffei 1 | 02h 36m 35.4s | +59d 39m 18s | 11.4 mag
Maffei 2 | 02h 41m 55.1s | +59d 36m 15s | 16.0 mag
MB 1 (LEDA 166068) | 02h 35m 36.5s | +59d 22m 43s | 20.5 mag
MB 3 (LEDA 166069) | 02h 55m 42.7s | +58d 51m 37s | 19.8 mag

Season's new changes...

2010-07-19T19:59:00.005+03:00

The summer is coming to an end and it is time to start thinking about the next observing season. This season, the primary focus of observations will be simple, good and solid descriptions of Messier and Caldwell objects as they appear (or don't) under the horrible, bright orange suburban skies of mine. Telescopes used for this will be the good old 8" Orion DSE and the 2 year old 4.7" Sky-Watcher. Secondary focus will be the bright, suburban objects of the Sky Atlas-project.

Sketching will be on hold apart from the few selected targets for the season. Dark skies will be used primarily for possible objects presented in the Tähdet & Avaruus magazine column as well as naked eye observing.

There are other upcoming changes too. The observing template will be changed and updated a bit. These updates include:

Bortle Sky Class
Removed. Useless.

NE Lim.mag and SQM-L
Both measurements will be taken from zenith unless otherwise noted. Preferably "on the spot" measurements will be used, at least with the SQM-L.

Background sky, seeing and transparency
All of these will be, from now on, estimated on 1-10 scale where 1 is the worst and 10 is the best. Transparency and background sky ratings will be based on my own scale modified from the old Finnish 1-5 scale where 1 is the best and 5 is the worst. Seeing will be estimated using the Pickering seeing scale.

Minimum aperture and visual impressiveness
Removed. These two had a "good" run for a while.

Weather
Humidity, air pressure and temperature will be recorded on the spot with the mobile weather station. The wind will be estimated by using the Beaufort scale (as it has been on done the last few years) or from the stationary weather station 5 kilometers away.

Notes at the telescope
Added. This will provide interested parties with the whole rundown of the object. How it looked like with different magnifications, original field notes and so on. Time to try this one out and see how it evolves and works.

Additional information
Added. This will talk about what else can be see, what to expect, maybe an astrophysical aspect as well. As above, I'll give this a shot and see what happens.

New scanner purchased and some changes

2010-06-28T22:51:00.018+03:00

I decided to risk it today and spend €79 on a new scanner without doing any tests beforehand. I would have wanted to test scan some of my drawings before buying a new scanner but there are not many places about where they let you do that and get away with it. So I decided to settle with the EPSON V30.

There is nothing particularly wrong with my nearly a decade old Canon scanner but quite often it fails to capture all of the detail I'm hoping it will. I did a little test run with NGC 2359 (The Duck Nebula / Thor's Helmet) and got some promising results. The new scanner shows more detail as well as a lot more smoother version of the nebulosity - like it is supposed to. Here's an example. Click the image for a larger version.

Also to another matter and that is the old IPS. This service provided me with 500 megs of disk space for my homepages but due to ISP changes at my parent's house the kolumbus.fi is closing down. If this is the case, the entire content of the homepages and of course the images, drawings and whatnot will no longer be available. As I have no interest in doing it all over again, this blog and all resources @ kolumbus.fi will close.

100 galaxies everyone should see ready

2010-06-05T21:06:00.019+03:00

I finally managed to write down all the details and missing coordinates for the latest part of the "everyone should see" catalog. The list features (like the name suggests) 100 galaxies from the northern hemisphere that everyone should see. The list is NOT simply a catalog of the most beautiful galaxies but also a list of "must" objects that every respectable deep sky amateur should take a look at. The full catalog can be located here.

The objects are included based on visual appearance - curious, lovely detail or just simply beautiful - using 8 inch and smaller telescopes as I've experienced them on the eyepiece. These objects are the base of the untitled book I'm currently working on.

Included but why?

1.) IC 10. Member of the Local Group and a lovely obscure galaxy in a rich field.
2.) NGC 4236. Very demanding galaxy but quite rewarding once you get it. More of a "status" object.
3.) NGC 6181. Lovely little galaxy and challenging for hunting the spiral arms.
4.) NGC 3753. Copeland's Septet. Definitely a group everyone should see.
5.) NGC 3172. Polarissima Borealis. Simply because it is the closest NGC to the north celestial pole. A must.

Not included but why?

1.) Messier galaxies. I'm assuming observers already have some experience in deep sky observing so they're not included. Most importantly adding 30 odd Messier galaxies to the list would make the whole list fairly uninteresting and same old same old.
2.) NGC 3384, NGC 3628, NGC 6207. All of these galaxies are next to a bright Messier object so I'm assuming observers have already seen these.

6000 sketches in the Deep Sky Archive

2010-06-04T20:41:00.008+03:00

Earlier today yet another magical barrier was broken in our FDSS's (Finnish Deep Sky Section) Deep Sky Archive - 6000 sketches! Being an ass, I decided to be cocky enough to brake the barrier myself by uploading 13 loathly sketches. In my defense, I broke the 5000 sketch barrier too, so I felt that my deed was just! What makes the 6000 sketch barrier even more amazing is that the 5000 mark was broken just few months ago. The credit belongs to Toni Veikkolainen who has uploaded nearly 1000 sketches during the past few months from our old (paper) archive I hold out for many years. Yes, lazy me.

Looking at the statistics of the page it is great to see over 160 000 hits on the page. Number of registered members is still quite low: 213. Many of these are people who haven't even uploaded a single sketch! I was also (gladly) surprised to notice Iiro Sairanen has uploaded 1156 observations to the archive and this doesn't yet include his works from Australia. Surprised mainly because I thought Jere Kahanpää has more than 1000 observations in the archive but seems to have "only" 837. How about me? I'm at 529 observations but the archive has only a small percentage (~20%) of my work uploaded. Always have a good excuse ready!

Congratulations to the entire section. This is a great day. With love, the old director of the Deep Sky Section.

Extragalactic objects in Andromeda galaxy (M31)

2010-06-04T16:00:00.009+03:00

The Andromeda galaxy / Messier 31

Even thought the H II regions in the Andromeda galaxy are not as prominent as the ones in the Triangulum galaxy, this bad boy beats M33 in globulars that's for sure. When compared to the Triangulum galaxy, ten of the brightest globular clusters are between 13.7 and 14.9 magnitude (15.9 - 17.6 in M33). In total over 300 globular clusters have been identified from the galaxy. That's not all: there's a whooping 60 brighter clusters than 16th magnitude. Should you choose to pursue some of these objects, a good photograph is required. The image to the left shows only a handful of globular clusters, is very simplified and presents just a small part of the entire Andromeda Galaxy. A good place to start is the 1981 Atlas of the Andromeda Galaxy by Paul W. Hodge. Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects by Skiff and Luginbuhl has a basic map on page 17. Night Sky Observer's Guide Volume 1 has a fairly good photography map of M31 on page 16. There is an obvious error though: G78 is marked at the wrong position. If you're looking for a very complete list of objects in M31, the best one is Star Clusters by Hynes & Archinal containing literally hundreds of objects.

Even though only the brightest globular cluster is introduced, I encourage everyone to try to observe as many of them as possible. Several of the extragalactic globulars can be seen even with small apertures between 4 to 6 inches. So far I've been able to detect 7 of the brightest globular clusters using my 4.7" Sky-Watcher under typical truly dark skies of Finland.

If you live south enough be sure to log NGC 1049 (Hodge 3) located in the Fornax dwarf galaxy. This globular cluster beats Andromeda's G1 in brightness (by over a magnitude) as do the three other globulars in the same galaxy.

OB association NGC 206

NGC 206 is the most prominent object in the entire Andromeda Galaxy. What I can remember about this star cloud is that it should be "kidney-shaped" and it slightly is. Still, have we really gone so low that we're spotting kidneys at the eyepiece these days? Apparently so! In any case, NGC 206 is so bright and obvious under good conditions that I wouldn't be surprised if someone came forth and claimed it to be visible with a pair of binoculars. It is just so conspicuous and cuddly even using a simple 3 inch telescope. I'd estimate the brightest individual stars in the association to be somewhere around 16th magnitude (like in NGC 604). With little research it seems like the brightest star in the NGC 206 association is magnitude 15.5.

OB association A 54

This association is nearly as large as NGC 206 but a lot fainter. Generally listed as a magnitude 16 object it still is visible with medium apertures such as 8 to 10 inches of aperture. It appears as a NE-SW elongated, slightly mottled patch of light in the near the NE tip of the galaxy. It is even mentioned in the 1998 (2. edition) Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects as being visible in a 10" telescope.

H II region C 410

C 410 is the brightest H II region (+ and open cluster) in the Andromeda galaxy according to the book Atlas of Messier Objects. The object is located between the globular clusters G272 and G280. Not much else can be said about it as I have not seen this object myself.
Coordinates: 00 44 25.1 +41 20 42

Globular cluster G1 / Mayall II / NGC-224-G1 / SKHB 1 / GSC 2788:2139

As even the image above shows this is a big boy - especially when you keep in mind the distance of at least 2.5 million light years. As an example the remote globular cluster NGC 2419 is roughly 300 000 light years away. It is still uncertain if this object is actually a dwarf galaxy or simply a giant globular cluster. Compared to the biggest globular cluster in our Milky Way, Omega Centauri, G1 is twice as massive.[1]

G 1 forms a tight triangle with a pair of nearly 15th magnitude stars. With small apertures and small magnification this group forms a single, stellar point of light. Many observers say that in order to claim G1 as seen, one should resolve it from the two nearby stars. This can be done with small apertures such as 4 to 6 inches but requires high magnification and so good seeing as well. However, claiming G1 as seen does not require you to separate these two faint stars from the cluster. The non-stellar appearance is quite easily achieved even under suburban skies using 6 to 8 inches of aperture.

Finding G1 might require a bit of patience if you're unfamiliar with the field or star hopping in general (for some reason). Tom Trusock wrote in his 2006 Small Wonders column that: "While it's not a toughie to see - if you have sufficient aperture - it can be a real pistol to find."[2] I assume this means that G1 difficult to find but it makes me wonder why. Maybe it is aperture related? To me the globular is basically just two star hops away. I will not go into specifics but I will explain you which one I use and the one I think is the easiest. First locate the 5th magnitude star 32 Andromedae which should be visible at least with your finder. From this star simply move to the north-west until you locate the 7th magnitude star HD 2993. This star has two fainter stars to the south the last one in line is 9th magnitude PPM 65429. From here, move less than 15' to the west and here is G 1. The key is just to get the finder and/or stars orientated the right way. Once you get it, rest is easy. As I'm not a complete idiot, I've made a simple finder map showing the same star hopping pattern. Of course, idiot or not, some observers will certainly say this tip is useless and you can't find the globular cluster with it but hey, you can always use your own way.

Star AF Andromedae

The hypergiant AF And is one of the most luminous stars known with an absolute magnitude of -10.6 (our Sun is +4.5). This irregularly variable LBV is generally fainter than 17th magnitude but has had two brief eruptions in 1970-1974 and 1987-1992 when it was somewhere in the 16th magnitude. When measured between September 1992 and January 1993 (by Szeifert, T. et al.) it showed some variability from 16.91 to 17.14 magnitude.[3]
Coordinates: 00 43 33.1 +41 12 10

Star AE Andromedae

This too is a bit on the heavy side although not as massive as AF And. With an absolute magnitude of -9.4 it still ranks high (top 20) in the most luminous list. As with AF Andromeda, this is a LBV star which has irregular eruptions. The last eruption was back in 1928 when the star flared up (and was also discovered for the first time) to an impressive object brighter than 15th magnitude. Between September 1992 and January 1993 CCD photometry was taken from the the star and it showed only a little variability: 17.56 - 17.59.[3]
Coordinates: 00 43 02.5 +41 49 12

Star A1 Andromedae

This star is located in a H II region A41. Out of the three most well known LBV stars in Andromeda galaxy, A1 And is the brightest. Once again photometry obtained between September 1992 and January 1993 showed this giant star at 16.18 - 16.59 magnitude.[3]
Coordinates: 00 44 50.57 +41 30 38.0

Even though the brightest globular clusters in Andromeda are visible even to small telescopes such as my 4.7" refractor the task is no way easy. As everyone knows good finder charts are a must and I recommend using DSS images at the telescope to confirm your observations.

References:

Atlas of Messier Objects. Ronald Stoyan et al. 2008.
[1] MAYALL II = G1 IN M31: GIANT GLOBULAR CLUSTER OR CORE OF A DWARF
ELLIPTICAL GALAXY? G. Meylan et al. 2001. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0105013
[2] Tom Trusock. Small Wonders: Deep Andromeda Satellite Galaxies, Star Clouds and Globular Clusters of M31
[3] HST and groundbased observations of the `Hubble-Sandage' variables in M 31 and M 33. Szeifert, T. et al.
Images copyrighted by The Digitized Sky Survey.

Herschel 400 list nearly complete - by accident

2010-05-29T21:36:00.056+03:00

The Herschel 400 list is quite popular among amateurs who've completed the Messier list and are looking for something more challenging after it. The list was once more talked about in the Cloudy Nights deep sky forums which (in some way) piqued my curiosity. I usually have little interest in lists such as these and especially people that are aiming at some kind of a certificate (in this case the Herschel Award).

Not to show-off or anything, I decided to cross-reference all of my observations with the ones on the H400 list and see where I'm at. I managed to find 7 galaxies and a globular cluster I had not seen. 6 of the galaxies were just Messiers with silly NGC designations. There was a single galaxy (no surprise there) and a globular cluster I had not logged. These are NGC 4845 and NGC 6540. Let's take a quick look at these two remaining objects.

NGC 4845 - spiral galaxy in Virgo

Despite my best, systematic efforts and more than 12 years of work this seems to be a galaxy I, for some reason, have missed. One might think there is a good, interesting and long story behind but there isn't - I've just missed it. As I'm not a big galaxy fan and I've done only a handful of sweeps in Virgo (down to 12th magnitude - the galaxy has (b) magnitude of 12.1) it is understandable as why I have missed it. If this galaxy had been the only H400 object left for me to observe I probably would have some interest in observing it the next season. NGC 4845 is located inside Virgo's "box", over 10° north-east from the 1st magnitude star alpha Virginis (Spica). It looks like a bright, typical galaxy probably visible even from the suburban backyard with the 8". I'll try to keep in in mind for the next season.

NGC 6540 - globular cluster in Sagittarius

The case for NGC 6540 is more simple:

1. It is not listed in SkyAtlas 2000.0.
2. It is listed as a magnitude 14.6 object in both MegaStar and SkyMap Pro. My finder charts show deep sky objects to maximum of 14.5 magnitude for the 3" and 4.7" telescopes. More commonly to the 13th magnitude. My finder charts would have not shown it.
3. Not visible from Finland.

Still, the cluster itself looks quite curious and is probably somewhat difficult to see in a rich star field such as that. I'm still pretty sure it is something the feisty 4.7" could manage show. All this being said it will probably take a few years for me to log this one. I currently have very little interest (and very little money) to make a trip just for astronomy purposes.

Extragalactic objects in Triangulum galaxy (M33)

2010-05-14T12:15:00.134+03:00

The Triangulum galaxy / Messier 33

The Triangulum galaxy is the best galaxy in the northern hemisphere when it comes to extragalactic objects. The easiest targets in M33 are the numerous H II regions and stellar associations. Globular clusters are numerous, but a lot fainter than the ones in Andromeda Galaxy, with ten brightest ranging between magnitudes 15.9 and 17.6.

There is a little problem when it comes to the H II regions. Finding an appropriate designation for an object can be quite a mess. This is mostly thanks to Guillaume Bigourdan whose original coordinates are inaccurate. Feel free to blame all the modern authors as well. They can't seem to be able to make up their minds which object is which. If you look at two modern sources and try to match the designations together, you are quite often in for a treat! The identities of NGC 588, 592, 595 and 604 are pretty certain. With the IC objects it isn't quite so. Several sources seem to agree on IC 135, IC 136, IC 132 and IC 133 as well. NGC/IC-project has a pretty good base but since you can't ask directly from Bigourdan himself, their fixed are guesses and estimates at best no matter how good, convincing and true they might be. There are numerous differences and errors out there in different books, software and internet sites. Here are some just to name two:

IC 143 is labeled twice on NSOG Vol1 (page 392) obviously the region to the nucleus is IC 142.

IC 137 problem. "Atlas of the Messier Objects" show IC 137 at 01 33 11 +30 29 53. Megastar V5 shows the same object as IC 136 and a map with in article by Steve Gottlieb[2] plots the same region just as A 127 and show IC 137 far away at 01 34 14 +30 34 31. Where is IC 137?

So what to do? In my opinion the best bet is to name the few NGC and IC objects correctly, then use the association designations as listed in the 1991 paper "The stellar populations of M 33" by Sidney Van Den Bergh[1] since they're correctly listed in nearly all publications. At least for me this saves a lot of time and frustration but enough history, time to go forward with the actual objects.

H II region NGC 604

No introduction is needed when it comes down to NGC 604. The H II region is the bomb: it is nearly 1500 light years in size, estimated to come only second to the Tarantula nebula in the entire Local Group of galaxies. The Orion nebula truly pales in front of this nebula. With these characteristics, it is no wonder NGC 604 can be observed with pretty much any telescope and larger binoculars. With a modest size telescope it looks like a slightly elliptical glow with a brighter center. In my opinion, this is the easiest extragalactic object in the northern hemisphere. NGC 206 comes close but its appearance is more diffuse and surface brightness lower. The brightest individual stars in the central region of NGC 604 are roughly 16th magnitude.

Globular cluster C 39 (Mayall "C")

It might not look like much but it is something alright. Also known by its GSC number (2293:1339), C 39 has a visual magnitude of 15.9 so it is right at the edge of a good 8" telescope under pristine conditions. This will be a great challenge.

Globular cluster C 27

This second brightest globular cluster in M33 is considerably fainter than the previous one, being close to 17th magnitude visually although the commonly given v magnitude is 16.5. This will require larger aperture. Coordinates for this one are 01 34 43.7 +30 47 38

Globular cluster U 49

These two globulars appear very faint in photographs but are usually listed as brighter than C 27. U 49 is located at 01 33 44.3 +30 47 32.9 and listed at 16.2 magnitude. The B magnitude for the object is 16.3.

Globular cluster U 62

U 62 (listed as U 43 in the book Atlas of the Messier Objects, page 155) is slightly fainter and located at 01 34 10.5 +30 45 48.7. This stellar point seems to be a double object, so the combined magnitude of these two are 14.8 (v). The globular is the fainter object of this two, listed as 16.5 magnitude.

Star B 342

This is it: the brightest individual star in M33 - if you exclude the LBV stars. Star known as B 324 is an A-type supergiant and lies just 6' from the center of M33 in the star association 67 (A 67) or IC 142. The v magnitude of this star is 15.2 but is this really in M33 or just another Milky Way star? Lundmark (1921) listed the brightest star in the galaxy to be 15.7 (B) magnitude. Humphreys, Massey & Freedman proved in 1990 that B 342 is indeed part of M33 and also the brightest in single star in the entire galaxy. Considering the magnitude, this should be a fairly easy catch with telescopes 8" and larger. Coordinates: 01 33 55.9 +30 45 30.4

Star GR 290 (Romano's star)

This object is a LBV (Luminous Blue Variable) star. "It shows eruptions with amplitude of more than 1 mag and timescale of about 20 years and smaller oscillations with amplitude 0.5 mag and a period of about 320 days"[3]. The star varies between magnitude 16.5 and 17.8 so it isn't exactly for medium apertures. This star lies close to A 89. Coordinates: 01 35 09.7 +30 41 57.4

Don't forget to check out the LBV stars Var B, Var C and Var 83 (absolute magnitude of -11.1!) in the galaxy. As with Romano's star, these are truly massive stars varying between magnitudes 15 down to 16.5 and from time to time display eruptions making them even brighter. For example Var C in M33 is listed as varying between magnitudes 15.2 - 16.5 making it in range to moderate size telescopes[4]. Good luck!

References:

Atlas of Messier Objects. Ronald Stoyan et al. 2008.
[1] The stellar populations of M 33. Sidney Van Den Bergh. 1991. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991PASP..103..609V
[2] http://astronomy-mall.com/Adventures.In.Deep.Space/M33.HII-Star.Clouds.html
[3] ROMANO’S STAR IN M33 - LBV CANDIDATE OR LBV? R. Kurtev et al. 2000.
[4] HST and groundbased observations of the `Hubble-Sandage' variables in M 31 and M 33. Szeifert, T. et al.
Images copyrighted by The Digitized Sky Survey.

Season 2009 - 2010 summary

2010-04-21T10:30:00.016+03:00

Once more the deep sky observing season in Finland is over. It has indeed been quite a drop from the early years with 400-500 sketches / year. Considering the fact that I spent probably less than 100 hours observing this year, it is good enough an achievement. Here are some interesting and less interesting statistics of the season 2009-2010, enjoy.

Sky conditions:

Out of 240 days (24.8 - 20.4.2010) 52 (22%) were clear(*)
Session interrupted by clouds: 12 (23%)
Session plagued by the moon: 16 (30%)
Worst NE lim.mag recorded 4.6 (SQM-L 17.13)
Best NE lim.mag recorded 7.4 (SQM-L 21.33)

* = at least an hour of clear skies

Objects sketched:

Messier objects: 15 (14,6%)
NGC objects: 52 (50,5%)
IC objects: 10 (9,7%)
Other objects: 26 (25,2%)
Total: 103

Discarded sketches: 29
Unfinished sketches: 5

Sketches by aperture:

Naked eye: 1 (1,0%)
2" Galileoscope: 1 (1,0%)
4.3" Tal-1: 6 (5,8%)
4.7" Sky-Watcher: 39 (37,9%)
8" Orion DSE: 56 (54,4%)

Objects observed:

New objects observed: 17
New sweeps completed: 2 (Corona Borealis & Lynx)
Faintest object observed: NGC 5974 (14.0 (v) mag)
Most impressive object observed: PK 164+31.1 / Jones-Emberson 1

Observing sites used:

Kasiniemi, Padasjoki, Finland - 1 time
Tottijärvi, Nokia, Finland - 2 times
Hindsby, Sipoo, Finland - 4 times
Pornainen, Finland - 4 times
Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland - 41 times

Naked eye limiting magnitudes / site:

Koivukylä - NE lim.mag: 4.8 - 6.0
Hindsby - NE Lim.mag: 6.2 - 6.6
Pornainen - NE lim.mag: 6.5 - 7.0
Tottijärvi - NE lim.mag: 6.5 - 7.0
Kasiniemi - NE lim.mag: 6.8 - 7.6

Observing conditions

Lowest temperature recorded: -24°C (-12°F)
Highest temperature recorded: +12°C (54°F)
Lowest humidity recorded: 58%
Highest humidity recorded: 99%

Have a great summer and see you next year!

Atlas of the Messier Objects - Review

2010-04-15T22:44:00.029+03:00

Atlas of the Messier Objects ($38 - €48)
by Ronald Stoyan, Stefan Binnewies, Susanne Friedrich
Cambridge University Press (October 27, 2008)
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0511421435

So there you have it, yet another Messier book. One might consider after "The Messier Objects" Stephen O'Meara writers would be depleted with the whole Messier concept. Of course, observers (and apparently authors too) are never bored with the Messiers and O'Meara's book was published nearly 10 years ago! The book is sturdy to say the least - hardcover, 370 pages and it is bigger than Uranometria 2000.0, it would probably even stop a bullet.

So does the book offer anything new, exciting and more importantly value to money? For me the book cost 48€ (Booplus.fi), delivered to the nearest post office. Here they are again: the good, the bad and the ugly:

Astrophysics on each object. This book wouldn't have worked without them and the info is simple and doesn't go too deep which I, being simple minded, like.

Photographs. Amazing quality, top notch.

Original Messier catalog. Yes, the book has the last version (1781) of the Messier catalog translated. Quite a nice thing to have.

Observations of nebulae before Messier. This small chapter introduces the many observers that came before Messier. Messier might have been the man but many of his objects were seen long before he added them into his catalog.

Large variety of instruments used for observing. It is too often these days to see descriptions of objects made with huge telescopes. That just doesn't do it for observers with medium apertures such as me.

Historical drawings. This is the best idea ever. I'm not sure how the authors got their "hands" on 150 year old sketches (by Lord Rosse, John Herschel, Wilhelm Temple just to mention a few) but kudos to the authors. This is the best part of the book.

The sketches. This is something I'd probably end up complaining about every book out there. They sketches do not look very "eyepiece realistic" to my eye. The sketches are mostly pretty average somewhere between Andreas Domenico and Ron Buta. They could have done better but also worse. Also for some reason the open and globular cluster sketches in the book are very few.

Minimum apertures. Yes, again but only a little! The author says he has seen "M81 with the naked eye" but also few hundred pages back says "M12 cannot be seen with the naked eye". So I'm supposed to believe the author saw M81 but not M12?

The high mountains. This comes up quite often in the book. Apparently according to the author(s) most of the challenging observations can be only done from "sites high in the mountains". Well sadly not all of us live near the Alps or even have mountains at all. And yes, the open clusters such as M36 are visible with the naked eye from sea level sites as well...

Typos. Not many but they're always as annoying. M38 = M38 not M39. And I'm assuming "Arto Oksamen" is Arto Oksanen.

Despite the few things I'd (which tells more about me than the actual book) change in the book, the author(s) provide us with yet another "must" book in our already full, dusty astronomy library.

Recommended - 8/10

Naked eye challenges - Part 1 (Planetary Nebulae)

2010-03-15T00:00:00.008+02:00

No planetary nebulae visible with the naked eye? Think again. Granted, dropping NGC 7293 (Helix Nebula) there are not many observations of planetary nebulae with the naked eye. There are three other objects that are brighter than 8th magnitude: M27 (7.4), NGC 3242 (7.7) and NGC 7009 (7.9). With a little stretch you can add NGC 6752 (8.1), NGC 6543 (8.1), NGC 7662 (8.3) and NGC 7027 (8.5) to the bunch.

NGC 6543 should a great naked eye challenge and its location is easy to find. Not many confusing field stars.

NGC 6752 sits barely enough away from the Milky way and it might be possible to see with the naked eye, although probably more difficult than the Cat's eye (NGC 6543).

NGC 7009 is probably the easiest of the fainter ones. Easy to find, basically only two problematic stars in the vicinity (HD 200229 mag 8.2 and HD 200342 mag 8.4) although both of these more to the north-west.

NGC 7027 is in a very difficult spot - right in the rich fields of Milky Way. Considering its magnitude of 8.5, this planetary is probably invisible.

NGC 7662 is very faint and has several 7-8 magnitudes stars in the vicinity. Probably very difficult to identify. Watch out for magnitude 8.2 HD 220822.

This leaves us with two planetary nebulae that are well brighter than 8th magnitude.

Messier 27 - Dumbbell Nebula

This object stands boldly in Vulpecula between the rich Milky Way fields of Sagitta and Cygnus. It is not in the best possible spot for a naked eye gaze but it could be worse. Imagine the planetary 30° higher, hiding somewhere close to Deneb in northern Cygnus... then you'd be in real trouble. But as we know, the planetary is in Vulpecula and even better, the star fields are slightly less obvious in the region (compared to say Sagitta) and the area is not packed with many stars brighter than 8th magnitude. The triangle of 14, 16 and 17. Vul (or 14, 13 and 12. Vul, depending on how your averted vision works best) can be used to move your eyes around the M27 and see if you can pick it out with averted vision. Also the 7.7 magnitude star (HD 189733) W from our planetary should not be confused with the actual object. There are several stars around M27 making the field quite confusing.

Is Messier 27 really a naked eye object?

How many observing reports are there in the internet? Frankly just one. David Knisely has claimed seeing M27 with the naked eye sometime in 2001 from Nebraska Star Party site (3100 ft elevation, ZLM 7.5 to 8.0) but the details are lacking. I couldn't find any detailed, trustworthy reports in the internet which of course doesn't mean there are none. It is also curious that O'Meara fails to mention this as an naked eye object in his book "The Messier Objects". I say curious since O'Meara has claimed to have been able to spot both M68 (7.3 magnitude) and M79 (7.7 magnitude) without optical aid. Both of these are close to M27's (7.4) magnitude but are also at a lower altitude making these two probably more challenging to see than the Dumbbell Nebula. So maybe O'Meara just failed to try this with the naked eye.

This or that Messier 27 should make a great challenge for those early spring mornings if you're up for it.

NGC 3242 - Ghost of Jupiter

Ghost of Jupiter is a small (slightly larger than 1') 7.7 magnitude planetary nebula in Hydra. With the bright magnitude and stellar appearance with the naked eye, this object is a fine challenge under pristine skies. Compared to the rich field surrounding M27, NGC 3242 is a piece cake. It sits quite nicely inside a square of 4 stars between magnitudes 6 and 7 and there are no real stars around here to be confused with the planetary itself. Stephen O'Meara mentions the planetary as a naked eye object in his 2002 book "The Caldwell Objects". I've observed this nebula myself, here are the details:

Observing less than a hundred meters from the NOT (Nordic Optical Telescope) in the island of La Palma at an altitude of 2390 meters (7840ft) I was able to spot the planetary nebula without optical aid on the night of 29th of March 2008. The weather was excellent despite the strong (16 m/s) winds and I recorded the evening as being one of the best (if not the best) of my entire observing career. The temperature was +3°C, humidity ~27% and seeing 0.8".

I did some observing with my 4.7" telescope while waiting for NGC 3242 to climb as high in the sky as it could. Slightly before 10 pm I located the 4th magnitude star Mu Hydrae and started to observe the area south of the star for the planetary nebula. I used a triangle of 6th magnitude stars in the region as guide stars while scouting the region. NGC 3242 is actually in the middle of this triangle. I spent about an hour in the area trying to detect as many faint stars as possible. After I was done with the sketch I took out my 8x30 binoculars and confirmed what I thought was 3242 with the pair of binoculars. I then compared all the 10 stars I had sketched with my Sky Atlas 2000.0 and surprise surprise one of these stars was indeed NGC 3242. I had marked two of the stars as the possible planetary nebula. One of these was 7.6 magnitude HD 90574 close to a 7.1 magnitude star HD 90606. I had marked this star as a possible double and it was. The other star marked was the planetary. There was a very faint, possible detection (blinked a few times during the entire session) of something in the southern end of the scouted region. This turned out to be a 8th magnitude star HD 89981. Here is the sketch made during that night. NGC 3242 is marked with an arrow.

Naked eye observation of NGC 3242 - Ghost of Jupiter

References:

http://groups.google.fi/group/sci.astro.amateur/browse_thread/thread/69b9ee07656fae7d/4422258b19ea2908?hl=fi&ie=UTF-8&q=Messier+27+naked+eye#4422258b19ea2908

Naked eye test - M44

2010-03-13T22:26:00.053+02:00

I did a little test on the visibility of Messier 44 in Cancer without optical aid. As it is impossible to make identical observations of the same object on two different nights, the results are directional at best. More data will be added later on but it would seem that in order to see the cluster with the naked eye, the limiting magnitude in the region should be close to 5.0. This is slightly less than my previous estimate of 5.2 (Deep Sky Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude 2005 / Saloranta). Next in line would obviously be the visibility of M35 (unfortunately "out of season") and M13.

Based on personal experience, in order to see M44 with the naked eye from suburban location:

Delta Cnc (mag 3.9) needs to be visible with direct vision.

Gamma Cnc (mag 4.7) should be visible at least 50% of the time with averted vision.

Theta (5.4) and Eta Cnc (mag 5.3) will probably be invisible.

Castor, Pollux, Mars and M44 barely visible in the pinkish hue of light pollution

How were the observations made?

The same observing spot was used on all occasions.
M44 at an altitude of 40 - 50°.
The weather was very similar on all occasions.
Dark adaptation (night vision) was limited to 5 minutes.
The SQM-L reading was taken directly from M44 and mean value was taken based on 5 separate measurements.
At 23.00 the city shuts down half of the streetlights on the small walking path leading to the observing spot used.

7.3.2010, 21.11 - SQM-L 17.70 (NELM ~4.85)- M44 invisible.
13.3.2010, 22.06 - SQM-L 17.98 (NELM ~4.99) - M44 fairly easily visible with averted vision.
13.3.2010, 22.36 - SQM-L 17.94 (NELM ~4.97) - M44 perhaps slightly more difficult than on the previous try.
13.3.2010, 23.06 - SQM-L 18.01 (NELM ~5.00) - M44 fairly easily visible.
13.3.2010, 23.36 - SQM-L 18.02 (NELM ~5.00) - M44 fairly easily visible.
13.3.2010, 23.56 - SQM-L 18.02 (NELM ~5.00) - M44 fairly easily visible.
14.3.2010, 21.36 - SQM-L 17.84 (NELM ~4.92) - M44 very difficult.

Naked eye limiting magnitude = (SQM reading - 8) / 2

ASCC and SAI open clusters

2009-10-11T11:02:00.046+03:00

109 new Galactic open clusters
Kharchenko, N. V.; Piskunov, A. E.; Röser, S.; Schilbach, E.; Scholz, R.-D.
(Accepted 18 April 2005) A&A.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0505/0505019v1.pdf

The paper contains 130 open clusters (109 new clusters) found in the All-Sky Compiled Catalogue of 2.5 Million Stars (ASCC-2.5) with proper motions from Hipparcos system. This means limiting magnitude of roughly 12 so most of the members should be visible even with small apertures. The problem is that the clusters are very loose, superimposed onto a rich Milky Way field and these kind of clusters are often only identified by doing proper motion studies with the field stars as explained by Bruno Alessi on Yahoo's DSH message forum. So not exactly an easy task but worth a try. I did a bit of observing on the 10th of October and here are some of the notes:

ASCC 1
I did not notice anything in the correct position but a collection of scattered Milky Way stars.

ASCC 2
Little bit easier. The brightest star in the field is 7th magnitude. HD 1536 with two 8th magnitude stars close to the SW. With a little imagination I could visualize a cluster here but only barely.

ASCC 3
There is a 10' grouping of 20* in the field shaped like the constellation Delphinus. The open cluster stands out from the background fairly well.

ASCC 4
Couldn't separate from the background @ 30x.

ASCC 5
Very difficult, asterism-like cluster of 15*. Size 12'.

ASCC 6
Rich field. S from 6th mag HD 10806. NW side slightly richer and slightly concentrated. Barely visible.

ASCC 7
Nothing visible.

ASCC 8
E from Stock 2. Looks nearly as being part of Stock 2. Few mag 8-9* with two dozen fainter ones in the background. Not obvious. Size 30'.

ASCC 9
Nothing visible.

ASCC 11
Pretty nice including KP Persei. Visual size 10' compared to the 40' given in the paper.

ASCC 12
Nothing visible.

ASCC 13
Nothing visible.

ASCC 14
Nothing visible.

ASCC 15
Nothing visible.

ASCC 18, 19 and 20 might look interesting in binoculars. They're located SW-NW from the Orion's Belt (Collinder 70).

While observing I once again noticed a quite an enchanting asterism just SE of ASCC 5 @ 01 00 30 +55 23 24 and it reminds me a bit of TPK 1 in Andromeda. Here is the processed Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) image:

Automated search for Galactic star clusters in large multiband surveys: II. Discovery and investigation of open clusters in the Galactic plane.
E. V. Glushkova, S. E. Koposov, I. Yu. Zolotukhin, Yu. V. Beletsky,
A. D. Vlasov, S. I. Leonova
(Received September 20, 2009)
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0910/0910.1330v1.pdf

Bruno Alessi pointed this paper out in the Yahoo's DSH-group. I decided to give it a shot as well as some of the ASCC clusters. The paper lists 153 new clusters of which only 49 (the number gets smaller by the minute) are actually new discoveries (84 are confirmed FSR2006 clusters and 20 DSH (Deep Sky Hunters) clusters). The paper does seem a bit dishonest to begin with and hopefully it will recieve some fixes before the final version. The previous paper (part I) listed 15 new discovered from which only 2 were actually new...

Does the paper offer any good, new targets for a visual observer? Not much I'm afraid. I browsed through some of the objects in the catalog on October 10th using my 8" Orion DSE and SkyMap Pro 10. Most of the clusters are faint and unimpressive with smaller apertures so I had a list of 10 (currently visible and in northern hemisphere) objects ready for the night.

I did manage to spot only two of the listed clusters: SAI 1 and SAI 24. Both were quite uninteresting and unimpressive with my 8". Also as there is no data that shows the brightest stars in these groups it remains uncertain if I actually saw them or not.

I did sketch SAI 1. "Faint cluster of stars mags 12-15. Estimated visual size 10'". Few minutes later I confirmed the position and size from SAI homepage and I was partly right. I wrote to my sketching paper "The true cluster is apparently only 4' in size and is now circled in the sketch. This means the cluster contains roughly 10* mags 13-15 and is quite unimpressive". SAI 1 is in Cassiopeia at 00 08 20.4 +51 43 15.

SAI 1 with 8" Orion DSE @ 80x

There are some nice discoveries in the paper too. These might not look very pleasing to the eye (for example SAI 19 is visible in IR only) but they do look quite nice photographically:
(SAI 19) (SAI 40)

The full SAI catalog is here: http://ocl.sai.msu.ru/catalog/

14.9.2009 - The best night in September

2009-09-14T00:00:00.012+03:00

Telescopes: 8" Orion DSE
Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 14./15.9.2009
Bortle class: Class 5 (suburban sky)
NE Lim.mag: 6.0 (Cas)
SQM-L reading: 19.37 (zenith)
Background sky: 3
Seeing: 2-3
Transparency: 2-3
Weather: +8.0°C, humidity ~79%, 1029 HPa, calm, quite nice

Objects: M39 (NE), NGC 657, NGC 1499, NGC 1513, NGC 1582, VdB 24, IC 351, IC 2003

NGC 6543 (finder sketch), NGC 6826 (finder sketch), NGC 7662 (finder sketch)

The primary plan was to sketch two missing objects: NGC 657 (Cassiopeia) and NGC 1513 but the night was actually so good that I stayed outside much longer than anticipated.

I started with some naked eye observing. Cygnus and Messier 39 were both nearly overhead so why not try M39 without a telescope? I moved my eyes between Rho and Pi2 Cyg and instantly spotted 5.3 magnitude star HD 204411. SE from it was a fairly faint, round glow with a brighter center. The brightest star in the group is 6.57 magnitude and from a very dark site I've been able to glimpse 3 stars from the group without optical aid.

Messier 39 with naked eye

NGC 657 was going to be a problem. In my opinion the NGC description of "Cl, pRi, st 12" and the object currently known as NGC 657 have nothing to do with each other. This unimpressive, asterism-like object of ~10 stars is not "pretty rich" and does not stand out well from the background. I scanned the area of HD 10495 and found only one group that stood out well enough from the sky to be spotted by me. This is an asterism PPM 26704-group quite far north from HD 10495. There is a small concentration of stars @ 01 42 55 +55 54 57 but this might be too faint. The search turned out pointless so I just sketched the object I started with:

NGC 657 with 8" Orion DSE @ 120x

It was time for NGC 1513. I thought the reason why I have no good sketch of this object was the fact that the cluster is too faint under suburban skies. I was wrong. I picked up the cluster easily @ 60x as a S-shaped grouping of ~20*. I used 96x for the sketch and 200x to trick the faintest stars to my eye. I described the object as: "S-shaped, fairly faint cluster of stars mags 12-14." All in all the cluster was a lot more beautiful than I remembered it would be.

NGC 1513 with 8" Orion DSE @ 96x

Viewing NGC 1582 / The Rattlesnake Cluster I almost swept right by it. @ 38x it did not look as compressed as I remembered but the shape was obvious so I had found my final object. "Not very cluster-like with low power. E-W arc of stars mags 8-14. Snake-shape fairly obvious. Fairly well detached from the background. Cluster's borders hard to determine. Size 25'." The brightest star is 8.6 magnitude and I suspect this cluster might be visible with the naked eye under good conditions. I used 25mm eye piece for the sketch.

NGC 1582 with 8" Orion DSE @ 48x

I was done but the night was still young and the weather too fine to miss. What to view from Perseus...? The California Nebula came to mind at first. Would it be visible? I've never seen it under anything than pristine conditions but nothing would be lost by trying. I switched to 40mm eye piece and UHC filter and was amazed at how easily this nebula was visible. First I noticed only the brighter parts on the N and S side of the nebula. After about 20 minutes and improved night vision I was able to see something more but it was still only marginal at best: sharper edges and a diffuse, very faint E-W elongated haze filling nearly the entire field. I made a simple sketch of the field - I wasn't trying to see detail - just to make a record of the fact that I could see the nebula from a suburban location. I'm still amazed that I could spot it. The SQM-L reading of the area was barely 19 and the altitude of the object was not much above 30°. This object surely deserves the attention of my 4.7" Sky-Watcher the next time I'm under darker skies.

NGC 1499 with 8" Orion DSE @ 48x + UHC

My previous view of the California nebula is from 22/23.9.2006. Iiro Sairanen used my 3" Konus @ 10x(!) + H-Beta filter to sketch the object. His notes are as follows: "I haven't seen this nebula before so I was pretty surprised how easy and large it is with 80 mm Konus refractor at 10x and H-beta filter. The nebula is very obvious with averted vision. A long hazy patch goes thru the field and the brightest areas stand out even with direct vision. The southern edge is a bit fainter than northern".

The one before that was on the night of 11./12.9.2002 observing from Santahamina, Helsinki (military area). Yet again I was using my 3" Konus: "20x (SkyGlow): Very large, extremely faint elliptical haze in a rich field. The shape is difficult to determine due the brightness (or more like the lack of it). There is an elliptical brightening in the NE edge of the nebulosity. The center appears slightly fainter. SkyGlow improves the contrast, but O-III kills the nebulosity".

Feeling good about my success I noticed VdB 24 on Uranometria, close to NGC 1499. I browsed through my notes and I had nothing on this object. Apparently this would be my first try on this and I was yet again cautious. This reflection nebula is surrounding a bright 10th magnitude star HD 275877 and is easy to locate. To my amazement I could see "Fairly faint, NW-SE elongated nebulosity W from a 10th magnitude star. W edge more diffuse." @ 60x without trouble and used high magnification (196x) for the sketch. Compare the sketch to the POSS2/UKSTU Blue image:

VdB 24 with 8" Orion @ 196x + Palomar Sky Survey image

There were 5 planetary nebulae left. IC 351 was first. I had to use 400x for the little one only to see "N-S elongated, even brightness disk. 14th magnitude star NW."

IC 2003 wasn't any better: "Round, even brightness disk. 13th magnitude star SW."

After this I made 3 finder chart-type sketches (cannot understand why) of NGC 6543, NGC 6826, NGC 7662 and went to bed.

Star Clusters And How To Observe Them - Review

2009-09-05T15:09:00.042+03:00

Star Clusters And How To Observe Them
by Mark Allison (Springer-Verlag 2006)

I'm going to be blunt and if it is something you don't want and need a bit of sugar coating, I suggest you move on. This is only my opinion. Feel free to read some brazing reviews from Amazon.com.

The book arrived a few days ago and I got to browse it properly today. Long story short here are the good and the bad:

Chapter one "Star cluster science"-part is OK. It is made simple and short as it should be (for us simple minded). Worth browsing.

Horrible photographs - 95% of the images in the book look like they were taken before the camera was invented. Photographs are
a) not centered on the object
b) taken with too much "magnification" (for example M48 picture shows only a handful of stars with a field of view approximately 15' when the cluster is over 30' in size)
c) are typically poorly focused, show a lot of grain and are very poorly tracked.

So for the love of the hobby if you cannot find proper photographs to illustrate a book, use DSS or sketches - they're free.

Minimum apertures - Same problem with every deep sky book out there. For example calming G1 to be extremely faint and visible in 12" to 16" telescopes is a joke.

Layout - Many of the pictures are 3-4 pages behind or before the actual object description. As a reader I find it highly annoying. The grainy, barely in focus picture of globular cluster Messier 12 is on page 152 and the description of the object is on page 157. I hate sweeping back pages like a monkey looking for tools.

For the newbies - The book offers very little (if anything) to an advanced amateur observer.

Comprehensive observing list - This basically lists "the best" and some interesting open and globular clusters in the sky. Fairly good choice in objects (you can't really argue about what other people like and don't like can you) but the descriptions of the objects are... well not shit but seems to be made in haste and in very basic way. 5 lines on M44 is hardly very detailed and the description doesn't make the object sound interesting or worth looking at in any way. Putting in some different observations made with different size telescope would have spiced up things a bit. It feels like the author has only copied observations from other obsevers and not cared to looked at the objects on his own.

All and all very amateur-like attempt to make a book, probably with a small budget, leaving the reader wanting more value for money and the brain.

Not recommended - 2/10

4.9.2009 - 20 minutes with the full moon

2009-09-04T00:00:00.003+03:00

Instruments: 8" Orion DSE
Observing place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 4./5.9.2009
Bortle class: Class 5 (suburban sky)
NE Lim.mag: 5.4 (UMi)
SQM-L reading: 18.07 (UMi)
Background sky: 5
Seeing: 3
Transparency: -
Weather: +12.0°C, humidity ~94%, air pressure 1005.1 HPa, S wind
4.0 m/s. 99% moon in Aquarius.

I had a 20-minute session on Friday and I was certain it wasn't worth trying to see something faint thanks to the full moon. I chose 3 objects to sketch, took 2 eye pieces with me and in the end a reading with my SQM-L. I was done.

First in my list was NGC 457 and the result was pretty good. I got mixed up a few times with the stars and sketched the cluster slightly too compressed in the middle.

NGC 457 with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

Next was Messier 39 high overhead. The sketch lacks visual impact but it didn't look so swell in all that moonlight. The 1° 26' field (40mm Omni) did the cluster some justice.

Messier 39 with 8" Orion DSE @ 30x

Last in line was asterism NGC 7686 in Andromeda with the typical shape visible. The brightest star in the group (6.2 magnitude) is easily visible with the naked eye under fairly dark skies - so is the asterism.

NGC 7686 with 8" Orion DSE @ 60x

21.8.2009 - Cassiopeia Clusters with 8" DSE

2009-08-22T12:31:00.022+03:00

Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 21./22.8.2009
Bortle class: Class 5 (suburban sky)
NE Lim.mag: 5.8 (E)
Background sky: 4
Seeing: 2-3
Transparency: 2-3
Weather: +10.7°C, humidity ~90%, air pressure 1024 HPa, SE wind 2.0 m/s.

Session length: 3 hours

Yet again a clear night and I just couldn't pass it. I decided to test my 8" Orion DSE since I haven't used it properly in nearly 2 years. What a better way to do so than sketch some of the missing clusters from my Cassiopeia-page. Full list of sketched objects can be found from the bottom of the post.

Based on my little mishap with the 4.7" some nights ago, NGC 133-region was going to require a bit more than just Sky Atlas to identify. On 15./16.8 I could not identify anything else from the field than NGC 133. It was the most obvious one so I assumed it was the one marked in Sky Atlas 2000.0 but it wasn't. So I was going to need my laptop with Megastar just to be sure. With it, the clusters were easily identified (including the asterism Pothier 7) and I combined the three sketches in Photoshop as seen below. With the 8" the faint stars of NGC 146 and King 14 were much easier to see than with the 4.7" obviously.
NGC 133 field with 8" Orion DSE

Frolov 1 is an open cluster in Cassiopeia. It often lacks the cluster-like appearance in the telescope but is obvious with small and medium powers. Frolov gives the coordinates of 23 54.9 | +61 21 (1950.0) in his 1980 paper to the new cluster with 6 arcmin radii centered on the cluster to investigate possible members. What Frolov fails to mention is the size of the newly discovered cluster. He does however list 26* part of the cluster between magnitudes 9.09 and 15.56. Brent A. Archinal lists the center and brightest star as magnitude 10.7 (b) LS I +61 110 which corresponds with GSC 4281:550. How about the size? With a quick visual inspection of the POSS2/Blue plate I came up with 6' so at least this matches the sketch I made on the night.
Frolov 1 with 8" Orion DSE @ 133x

The next object is nearly of the same caliber. NE from Frolov 1 hides another cluster - Harvard 21. This is not much of a cluster either and at the telescope it is more asterism-like than anything else. So what is it exactly? Harvard 21 is listed as "not found" in the 2009 version of "Catalog of Optically Visible Open Clusters and Candidates" by Dias, et al., 2002. In the given location there is only one cluster-like object and that is an asterism of 8* mags 11-13 including a small concentration of 14-15th magnitude stars in the eastern edge. The sketch shows the poor asterism in the correct coordinates.
Harvard 21 with 8" Orion DSE @ 133x

Objects observed:
NGC 133, NGC 136, NGC 146, NGC 7788, NGC 7790, Basel 10, Berkeley 58, Czenik 43, Frolov 1, Harvard 21, King 12, King 14, King 21, Stock 5

References:
Frolov V.N., "Proper Motions, UBV Photometry, Four Open Clusters", 1980.
Brent A. Archinal, Steven J. Hynes, "Star Clusters", 2003.
Dias W. S., Alessi B. S., Moitinho A. and Lépine J. R. D., 2002, A&A 389, 871

C/2006 W3 (Christensen), Neptune and 89 Julia

2009-08-21T11:51:00.007+03:00

Obs. place: Koivukylä, Vantaa, Finland
Date: 20./21.8.2009
Bortle class: Class 5 (suburban sky)
NE Lim.mag: -
Background sky: 4
Seeing: 2
Transparency: 3
Weather: +11.7°C, humidity ~75%, air pressure 1027 HPa, no wind.

Session length: 30 minutes

The girlfriend wanted to see the new comet (C/2006 W3) and the sky was clear so I set up the 4.7" telescope and the session was on. First in her list was Neptune. After a few minutes it was easily seen in the telescope as barely non-stellar dot without color. It was clearly brighter than the HD 207459 (8.6 magnitude) star in the field so I'd estimate the magnitude of Neptune to be at least under 8 magnitude.

Next in line was the comet. I had seen it 20 minutes before when I was setting up the telescope. I found it easily when just moving east from M71. No maps were required. The comet was easily seen again at 23.55 and it was located very close to a pair of 11.7 magnitude star. A brighter core was seen surrounded by a faint, roundish glow without color.

So now we had seen a comet, a planet and it was time for an asteroid. I had selected 89 Julia as a good target for the night. It was pretty high in Pisces and at magnitude 10 it would be easily visible in the telescope. I found the correct location given by Skymap but Julia was not there. There was a 10th magnitude "star" between two brighter ones that I suspected was "Julie"... but the Skymap position was way off. I've never updated the asteroid data on Skymap so that might be a problem. I sketched the 10th magnitude star I suspected was Julie and then it was time to call it quits. There was a magnitude 10.3 field star close to the asteroid so I used it to estimate the magnitude at pretty close to 10. In the morning I updated my asteroid database but the position was still wrong. There was no star in the coordinates so it must have been Julie. In the sketch "X" is the position of 89 Julie according to Skymap.

3 books ordered

2009-08-20T13:13:00.004+03:00

Like the title says, I've ordered three more books to my collection.

The first one is Celestial Sampler by Sue French - a book I've long wanted but never ordered. I've come across Sue's work a bunch of times in her Sky&Telescope column but haven't had enough time to read them properly at the various book stores. The book has had some excellent reviews from readers and is aimed at small telescopes. That's is all I know about the book. I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Second book is to aid me in my Sky Atlas 2000.0 project. The book is Sky Atlas 2000.0 Companion that is a "comprehensive guide to every star cluster, nebula, and galaxy plotted in Sky Atlas 2000.0, 2nd edition" according to Amazon.com review. Hopefully I find it useful.

Last but not least is the Star Clusters And How To Observe Them. Springer-Verlag has a series called Astronomer's Observing Guides. It includes galaxies, clusters, nebulae and so on. I'm not a big fan of series-type books as they're usually made in haste and lack serious depth in the writing department. Don Pensack's review in 2006 cried out for proofreading and he wouldn't recommend the book to anyone without major rewriting. This does not bode well. However with my English I'm sure the grammar and lack of proofreading won't jump out from the text.

SQM-L ordered

2009-08-19T00:40:00.002+03:00

I felt like I needed a new gadget to play with. What a better thing to do than buy a SQM-L (Sky quality meter with lens 20°) for my little, lonely endeavors. The only place I could order this fine little piece of equipment was German company, Telescope-Service. I have not had any dealings with them before but have only heard good about them. Sadly my Visa-Electron didn't work (as usual) on their online shop. I was however extremely happy with the speed of the service: the SQM was shipped to Finland only 12 hours later!

With it I got a "TS Optics ball pen with built-in red light" (4€). I had a brilliant red LED-flashlight some years back but managed to lose it. It is the only piece of equipment I've lost on my journeys. Apart from the two eye pieces. And the Sky-Glow filter. And the other 3-4 flashlights. I better just say it is the only piece of equipment I miss loosing.