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Old 26-06-2011, 08:33 PM
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Paddy (Patrick)
Canis Minor

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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Strangways, Vic
Posts: 2,214
Scorpionic and Sagittarian sights 25/6/11

Finally got some clear skies and a chance to give my new copy of Uranometria Vol 2 first light. The plan was to chase down some fainter globulars using my new wonder book, but the abysmal transparency ruled this out. Still, I had very nice time. Here are my notes. My tape recorder seems to have turned up its toes, so I'm developing the skill to write them - the virtue may be that they are a tad briefer.

Telescope 410mm (16”) f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Night Sky Observer’s Guide (NSOG) Uranometria Vol 2

Data from NGC/IC Project


2050

Seeing poor, transparency poor – lots of high altitude moisture makes observing faint objects very difficult

It took me a little getting used to the scale of charts in Uranometria, but once I had, I found that the stars included are a very good representation of the view in the finderscope and this made finding the right location of objects very easy. On this night, seeing the object if they were faint was another matter altogether and seeing faint GCs was very frustrating.

NGC 6072 PN in Scorpius Class 3a
16h 12m 58.21s -36º 13' 47.6"
Vmag 11.7 Dia 70”

250X At first this appears to be a very smooth regular 1’ disc of soft glow with no central star. Closer inspection shows a brighter large central section elongated N-S within a larger soft envelope to the east and west. The inner bright part looks to be slightly spiral shaped and is accentuated by OIII filter. UHC doesn’t make much difference.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6072&r=16:13.0&d =-36:14&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6124 OC in Scorpius Class I 3 r
16h 25m 20.0s -40º 39' 13"
Vmag 5.8 Dia 40’
90X This is a 30’ diameter cluster of >100 bright stars of similar magnitude and colour. There are lots of interesting arcs and patterns. In this poor transparency the star poor area around the cluster looks like a grey smudge.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6124&r=16:25.6&d =-40:40&e=J2000&h=34.8&w=34.8&f=GIF&c =none

NGC 6139 GC in Scorpius Class 2
16h 27m 40.4s -38º 50' 56"
Vmag 9.1 Dia5.5’

175X 4’ dia round and regular GC with marked central core. No stars are resolvable and tonight the GC seems to float in a grey fog.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6139&r=16:27.7&d =-38:51&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6144 GC in Scorpius Class 11
16h 27m 14.1s -26º 01' 29"
Vmag 9 Dia 9.3’

175X A 5’ somewhat irregular glow with no central concentration and about 15 resolvable stars scattered across the halo.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6144&r=16:27.3&d =-26:02&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6475 Messier 7 OC in Scorpius. Class I3r
17h 53m 51.1s -34º 47' 34"
Vmag 3.3 Dia 80’

90X With the aid of the excellent chart of this OC in Uranometria, I decide to pick out some of the various components to this spectacular cluster. In its midst is a complex pattern of bright stars featuring a 20’ long NE-SW line of 5 bright stars. At the eastern end of this line, another star makes a right angled end to the south. A convex-north arc of stars joins the line of stars from the north at the middle star. 30’ to the south of this asterism is the dark nebula Barnard 287 which is a 20’x5’ rectangle oriented ESE-WNW and boxed in by 4 stars. 40’ to the NW of the asterism is globular cluster NGC 6453 which is a 3’ dia moderately concentrated glow with some stars resolvable. 40’ to the north of the asterism is dark nebula Barnard 283, a very long bifid nebula running E-W. The northern limb is darker and thinner than the southern and they merge at the eastern end. It is well over one 1 degree FOV long. There are many interesting asterisms dotted throughout the whole cluster.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6475!=!M7&r=17:5 3.9&d=-34:49&e=J2000&h=60&w=60&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6444 OC in Scorpius Class IV 1 p
17h 49m 35.1s -34º 49' 11"
Dia 12’

90X Just to the west of M7 this 10’x5’ spread of fainter stars runs NE-SW with a wide NW-SE S-shaped asterism at the eastern end. A ridge of stars seems to form a NE-SW spine for the cluster.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6444&r=17:49.5&d =-34:49&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6425 OC in Scorpius Class II 1 m
17h 47m 01.6s -31º 31' 46"
Vmag 7.2 Dia 15’

135X A 10’x10’ box of about 25 stars of similar magnitude and colour – the box appears to have 2 open flaps to the SW and a few scattered stars inside including a delightful little equilateral triangle.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6425&r=17:46.9&d =-31:32&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6522/6528 GCs in Sagittarius Class 6/5
18h 03m 35.1s -30º 02' 06"/18h 04m 49.6s -30º 03' 21"
Vmag 9.9 Dia 5.6’/ Vmag 9.6 Dia 3.7

175X These GCs both easily fits within one 28’ FOV, 6528 being about 20’ to the east of 6522. Both look very similar although 6522 is larger and brighter at about 5’ across. 6528 looks about 3’ diameter. Both are very round and regular with no resolvable stars, although 6522 has a foreground star inside the northern edge of its halo. A delightful pair of twins.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6522&r=18:03.6&d =-30:02&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6528&r=18:04.8&d =-30:03&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6540 OC in Sagittarius Class I 1 p n
18h 06m 08.5s -27º 45' 55"
Vmag 14.6 Dia 1.5’

175X This is a 2’x1’ lenticular glow with a convex-west arc of 5-6 stars at its western edge – quite an elegant little object.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6540&r=18:06.3&d =-27:49&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

NGC 6520 OC in Sagittarius Class I 2 r n
18h 03m 25.1s -27º 53' 28"
Vmag 7.6 Dia 6’

175X A gorgeous 5’x2’ N-S cluster of many delicate stars of varying magnitude with a graceful dome at the southern end. Dark nebula Barnard 86 to the west provides a nice contrast and separates the cluster from a bright foreground star.

http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!6520&r=18:03.4&d =-27:54&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e

Last edited by Paddy; 26-06-2011 at 08:34 PM. Reason: typo
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