Exploring Eridanus

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Hi fellow observers! I had a wonderful night exploring the large constellation of Eridanus with my 10 inch dobsonian. This constellation holds many delights and a few rare sights! Moon at waxing gibbous but sky very transparent.

Before my foray into Eridanus began I had a few targets that I wanted to observe first. I started with finding the "Little Ladle" asterism in Pisces, brought to my attention on another forum. This charming asterism is found approx 2° from Iota Piscium, close to the Pegasus border. It gleamed in the moonlight and does look like a round spoon ( ladle). Next target was Saturn. Spectacular as usual, with one of its moons, Dione, positioned directly below Saturn and very close to it. A lovely sight! Mighty Jupiter was next, its moons strung out to one side of the planet. I saw very fine details in its cloud bands, one of my best ever views of the gas giant. After Jupiter I payed a visit to Mira (Omicron Ceti) the famous variable star in Cetus. I estimated it's current magnitude to be around 8th magnitude.

After enjoying those targets it was on to the main event of the evening, Eridanus:

Acamar ( Theta Eridani): Lovely double with identical white components spaced at 8"

NGC 1535: "Cleopatra's Eye". Wonderful planetary nebula. Blue/green coloration. I noticed it's 12th magnitude central star for the first time. Some internal structure visible at 343x.

Kied ( Omicron Eridani): This is an amazing multiple star, it's two companions being a white dwarf and a red dwarf! Very rare indeed.

39 Eridani: Another amazing multiple star, at 70x it's first companion was visible, then to my amazement the third companion became visible once I upped the magnification to 240x. This was my first time observing this object. I just love surprises!

NGC 1332: Elliptical galaxy. This was visible as a fuzzy smudge despite the moonlight. Another first discovery for me.

NGC 1537: Another elliptical galaxy. Eridanus abounds with galaxies!

I finished the night by observing the waxing gibbous moon. I got fantastic views of the Straight Wall, Apennines Mts and crater Clavius among others. I viewed crater Plato using my 2.3mm Cielo eyepiece ( my lowest focal length eyepiece) giving me 522x. The seeing was good as I got a rock steady and clear image, enabling me to see the Plato craterlets for the first time.A nice ending to an enjoyable session. Wishing you all clear skies

Joe

[Tinderboxsky (Steve)]

Great report, Joe. I enjoyed the read. Some of these targets were new to me and I’ll enjoy chasing them.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Tinderboxsky

Great report, Joe. I enjoyed the read. Some of these targets were new to me and I’ll enjoy chasing them.

Thanks Steve, I'm glad you enjoyed my report. Several targets were new to me too. Eridanus has a lot to offer Happy hunting!

[Dave882 (David)]

Fantastic report thanks for sharing! Looks like you have a wonderful night and a few nice surprises!

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Dave882

Fantastic report thanks for sharing! Looks like you have a wonderful night and a few nice surprises!

Thanks David, yes it was one of those observing sessions were everything looked great despite the moonlight and light pollution, with a few surprises thrown in! It never ceases to amaze me what we can see through our scopes in our backyards

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Great report. There's one or two targets that you've mentioned that I'll be chasing up myself, I think.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Crater101

Great report. There's one or two targets that you've mentioned that I'll be chasing up myself, I think.

Thank you Warren. There is lots to see, enjoy!

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by EpickCrom

Hi fellow observers! I had a wonderful night exploring the large constellation of Eridanus with my 10 inch dobsonian. This constellation holds many delights and a few rare sights! Moon at waxing gibbous but sky very transparent.

Before my foray into Eridanus began I had a few targets that I wanted to observe first. I started with finding the "Little Ladle" asterism in Pisces, brought to my attention on another forum. This charming asterism is found approx 2° from Iota Piscium, close to the Pegasus border. It gleamed in the moonlight and does look like a round spoon ( ladle). Next target was Saturn. Spectacular as usual, with one of its moons, Dione, positioned directly below Saturn and very close to it. A lovely sight! Mighty Jupiter was next, its moons strung out to one side of the planet. I saw very fine details in its cloud bands, one of my best ever views of the gas giant. After Jupiter I payed a visit to Mira (Omicron Ceti) the famous variable star in Cetus. I estimated it's current magnitude to be around 8th magnitude.

After enjoying those targets it was on to the main event of the evening, Eridanus:

Acamar ( Theta Eridani): Lovely double with identical white components spaced at 8"

NGC 1535: "Cleopatra's Eye". Wonderful planetary nebula. Blue/green coloration. I noticed it's 12th magnitude central star for the first time. Some internal structure visible at 343x.

Kied ( Omicron Eridani): This is an amazing multiple star, it's two companions being a white dwarf and a red dwarf! Very rare indeed.

39 Eridani: Another amazing multiple star, at 70x it's first companion was visible, then to my amazement the third companion became visible once I upped the magnification to 240x. This was my first time observing this object. I just love surprises!

NGC 1332: Elliptical galaxy. This was visible as a fuzzy smudge despite the moonlight. Another first discovery for me.

NGC 1537: Another elliptical galaxy. Eridanus abounds with galaxies!

I finished the night by observing the waxing gibbous moon. I got fantastic views of the Straight Wall, Apennines Mts and crater Clavius among others. I viewed crater Plato using my 2.3mm Cielo eyepiece ( my lowest focal length eyepiece) giving me 522x. The seeing was good as I got a rock steady and clear image, enabling me to see the Plato craterlets for the first time.A nice ending to an enjoyable session. Wishing you all clear skies

Joe

Hi Joe,

Nice report and session. Here are the targets in Eridanus that I included in my 600 target Southern Skies observing list.

53 NGC 1232 Gal ERI 9.8 13.9 7.4 6.5 108 SBc 3 9 45.3 - 20 34 45 Dec
56 NGC 1291 D487 Gal ERI 8.5 13.4 11.0 9.5 72 SB0-a 3 17 18.3 - 41 6 26 Dec
58 NGC 1300 Gal ERI 10.5 13.9 6.2 4.1 106 SBb I 3 19 40.9 - 19 24 40 Dec
65 NGC 1395 Gal ERI 9.8 13.3 5.0 4.5 120 E2 3 38 29.6 - 23 1 38 Dec
68 NGC 1404 Gal ERI 10.2 12.6 3.3 3.0 E1 3 38 51.9 - 35 35 35 Dec
69 NGC 1407 Gal ERI 10.1 13.3 4.6 4.3 35 E-S0 3 40 11.8 - 18 34 48 Dec
78 NGC 1532 Gal ERI 10.6 14.5 11.1 3.2 33 Sc II-III 4 12 4.2 - 32 52 30 Dec
80 NGC 1535 Cleopatra's Eye PN ERI 9.6 0.9 PN 4 14 15.8 - 12 44 20 Dec


You've only done Cleopatra's Eye and Acamar so far. The others are all within reach of a 10" telescope under dark skies, if you wanted to follow those up. Acamar is one of my all time favourite doubles, along with X Velorum.

Cheers
John B

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

[QUOTE=ausastronomer;1576824]Hi Joe,

Nice report and session. Here are the targets in Eridanus that I included in my 600 target Southern Skies observing list.

53 NGC 1232 Gal ERI 9.8 13.9 7.4 6.5 108 SBc 3 9 45.3 - 20 34 45 Dec
56 NGC 1291 D487 Gal ERI 8.5 13.4 11.0 9.5 72 SB0-a 3 17 18.3 - 41 6 26 Dec
58 NGC 1300 Gal ERI 10.5 13.9 6.2 4.1 106 SBb I 3 19 40.9 - 19 24 40 Dec
65 NGC 1395 Gal ERI 9.8 13.3 5.0 4.5 120 E2 3 38 29.6 - 23 1 38 Dec
68 NGC 1404 Gal ERI 10.2 12.6 3.3 3.0 E1 3 38 51.9 - 35 35 35 Dec
69 NGC 1407 Gal ERI 10.1 13.3 4.6 4.3 35 E-S0 3 40 11.8 - 18 34 48 Dec
78 NGC 1532 Gal ERI 10.6 14.5 11.1 3.2 33 Sc II-III 4 12 4.2 - 32 52 30 Dec
80 NGC 1535 Cleopatra's Eye PN ERI 9.6 0.9 PN 4 14 15.8 - 12 44 20 Dec


You've only done Cleopatra's Eye and Acamar so far. The others are all within reach of a 10" telescope under dark skies, if you wanted to follow those up. Acamar is one of my all time favourite doubles, along with X Velorum.

Cheers
John B[/QUOTE John

Hi John

Thank you for your list! I will follow them up next new moon cycle. My backyard is bortle 7/6 so I may need to travel to darker skies to see some of them. I love your 600 Southern Skies list (Bam 600)

Agreed on Acamar, I have not yet seen X Velorum, I'm adding it to my list of objects to observe. Thanks and wishing you clear skies!

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by EpickCrom

I have not yet seen X Velorum, I'm adding it to my list of objects to observe.

Hi Joe,

Here's the details from a write up I did on X Velorum 17 years ago for the IIS monthly observing challenge in May 2005.

Because it's bright with wide separation it's aesthetically much nicer in scopes from 8" to 10", than larger scopes. A 10" scope has enough aperture to reveal the true colours of the A & B components, but not too much power that it separates them too much. In my 18" scope it isn't a great target because with my lowest power eyepiece (31mm Nagler) I am still running at 68X and it pushes them too far apart. They don't even look like a double.

In your 10" scope use your lowest power eyepiece and you'll get a deep gold and an electric blue star side by side. There are also 2 other nice blue and gold doubles in close proximity. Pan around and you'll find them both. It's rising pretty late at the moment but will get better over the coming months.

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/index....69,198,0,0,1,0

2nd last target on the monthly list

Cheers
John B

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by ausastronomer

Hi Joe,

Here's the details from a write up I did on X Velorum 17 years ago for the IIS monthly observing challenge in May 2005.

Because it's bright with wide separation it's aesthetically much nicer in scopes from 8" to 10", than larger scopes. A 10" scope has enough aperture to reveal the true colours of the A & B components, but not too much power that it separates them too much. In my 18" scope it isn't a great target because with my lowest power eyepiece (31mm Nagler) I am still running at 68X and it pushes them too far apart. They don't even look like a double.

In your 10" scope use your lowest power eyepiece and you'll get a deep gold and an electric blue star side by side. There are also 2 other nice blue and gold doubles in close proximity. Pan around and you'll find them both. It's rising pretty late at the moment but will get better over the coming months.

https://www.iceinspace.com.au/index....69,198,0,0,1,0

2nd last target on the monthly list

Cheers
John B

A very interesting read, thank you for the link and tips John! I can't wait to view X Velorum once Vela gets in a good position. Thanks again

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Thanks Joe (and John!) - nice report. I've ever only seen Cleopatra's Eye from John's list, so I'll be hopefully targeting more objects from "Bambo's 600" in the future - I'm currently on 370. My notes on NGC 1535: "Very bright and quite large, no filter required to view. Central star was visible, plus an outer circular shell with an additional diffuse outer nebulous halo."

[Robh (Rob)]

Just so there is no confusion ...

x Velorum and X Velorum are two different stars:
x Velorum or HIP 52154 is the double star.
X Velorum or HIP 48662 is a carbon star. Capitals (here X) usually reserved for variable stars.

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Originally Posted by Robh

Just so there is no confusion ...

x Velorum and X Velorum are two different stars:
x Velorum or HIP 52154 is the double star.
X Velorum or HIP 48662 is a carbon star. Capitals (here X) usually reserved for variable stars.

It actually gets a lot more confusing than this.

The Bayer designation for x Velorum (HIP 52154) (Dunlop 95) is "Chi" Velorum. That happened in 1603, which was when Chi (x) Velorum was given it's Bayer designation, as it is a naked eye star. The Greek letter "Chi" is expressed as "x" in lower case and "X" in upper case. However, we then have HIP 48662, which is designated as "X" Velorum, which is contradictory to the original Bayer designation for HIP 52154, in upper case. Of course HIP 48662, got it's designation of X Velorum, a few hundred years after the original.

Cheers
John B

[Robh (Rob)]

As far as I know, there is no Chi Velorum. SIMBAD has no listing of it. Generally, if there is a Bayer designation it would be used.

The original Bayer designations (alpha to omega) were given to Argo Navis which was later split into Carina, Puppis and Vela. There was a Chi Puppis but that designation is now given to Chi Carinae.

None of the three constellations have complete Bayer designations for this reason. Most kept their original Greek designation with the constellation name now depending on what border they lie within. So each have about ⅓ of the Greek letters without overlap.

For example:
Alpha Carinae. There is no Alpha Puppis or Alpha Velorum.
Gamma Velorum. There is no Gamma Carinae or Gamma Puppis.
Zeta Puppis. There is no Zeta Carinae or Zeta Velorum.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

This is very interesting

I always enjoy learning more about the history of Astronomy. Thanks Robh, John and Patrick!

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by EpickCrom

This is very interesting

I always enjoy learning more about the history of Astronomy. Thanks Robh, John and Patrick!

I added nothing of worth, Joe! I am, however, composing John's "bambo's 600" list into a skysafari observing list to share / make available (with due credit to John of course). I can't see that it has been done elsewhere.if it has, I hope someone lets me know - it's a time consuming exercise.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by gaseous

I added nothing of worth, Joe! I am, however, composing John's "bambo's 600" list into a skysafari observing list to share / make available (with due credit to John of course). I can't see that it has been done elsewhere.if it has, I hope someone lets me know - it's a time consuming exercise.

Nah, you right Patrick Very good idea composing John's famous Bambo's 600 list to Sky Safari. It's THE list for us southern observers

[AdamJL]

what a great report. Thanks for sharing, Joe!

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by EpickCrom

Nah, you right Patrick Very good idea composing John's famous Bambo's 600 list to Sky Safari. It's THE list for us southern observers

Joe, I've completed the skysafari file for the Bambo 600 list, but it won't let me attach it anywhere. Maybe one of the admins/moderators might know how I could make this file available for those who want to install it into skysafari, or I can email it if that works better.