Here are some recent observations again focused on open clusters due to poor transparency. In some ways fortuitous as I ended up observing some delightful little OCs that I may otherwise have not looked at.
All located from volume 3 of the Night Sky Observer's Guide.
Thanks Malcolm for the idea of adding links to DSS images.
Telescope 410mm (16”) f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Night Sky Observer’s Guide (NSOG)
Poor transparency restricts observing to open clusters.
2100
Seeing very good
Transparency poor and deteriorating during the session and the air smells of burning paddocks..
I start the evening with a quick visit to NGC 3114, which is a truly spectacular OC.
NGC 3255 OC in Carina
10h 26m 31.3s -60º 40' 42"
Vmag 11 Dia 2’
175X A small cluster in a very rich star field. A 10’ star poor annulus around the cluster makes it stand out nicely. The cluster is a 3’ bright ball of haze and quite a few faint resolvable stars
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!3255&r=10:26.5&d =-60:40&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e
Trumpler 13 OC in Carina tr type II 2 m
10h 23.8m –60deg 09’ Dia 5’
175X An interesting cluster 5’x3’ longer N-S, between 2 bright stars each 5’ from the OC. At the southern end there seems to be a cap of 5 stars forming a convex-south arc. The haze of the cluster narrows to the north of this, but the northern end widens again has a small clump of stars.
IC 2581 OC in Carina Tr type II 2 p n
10h 27m 24. -57º 38' 00" Dia 7’
175X A beautiful little gem with a 4.7 mag star in the middle which lights a 4’ dia. round halo of nebulosity surrounded by a ring of faint cluster stars. The bright star forms the western apex of an equilateral triangle with two other stars. To the north of the triangle is a small convex west arc of 4 stars, there are also a few curves of stars to the east of this arc and a small skinny triangle to the west of the lucida. The nebula remains quite bright with UHC filter.
RCW49/Westerlund 2 OC and nebula in Carina.
10h 23.9m –57 deg 45’ 7’x7’
175X Westerlund 2 is a small bright thin line of resolvable stars packed very closely (this may be NGC 3247) NE-SW at the western end of the large irregular nebula RCW 49 with 20 easily resolved stars. The nebula is shaped like a rectangle topped by triangle pointing S, reminiscent of a child’s drawing of a house. Looks about 5’x7’. UHC filter darkens a segment of the northern edge of the nebula, the eastern section thickens and the triangle becomes dome shaped. “Alex Rodgers, Colin Campbell, and John Whiteoak, working at Australia's Mount Stromlo observatory under the direction of Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok, published their nebula catalog in 1960. The RCW catalog is largely an expansion of Colin Gum's 1955 catalog.” From “the RCW catalogue” web site
http://galaxymap.org/cgi-bin/rcw.py?s=1
NGC 3199 Emission nebula in Carina
10h 17m 24.4s -57º 55' 20" 22’x22’
135x A very graceful curve of nebulosity, convex W. The length of the arc is about 20’ and looks about 4’ across. Looks a bit like a ghostly crescent moon drifting across the FOV. A few resolvable stars and no dark lanes apparent. The crescent looks sharper at the southern end. There is a nice little triangular asterism between the points of the crescent. Lights up well with UHC filter and dark lanes become apparent especially at the southern end. There are 2 prominent lanes, each parallel to the arc, one just inside the inner face of the crescent and one inside the outer face. Nebulosity to the west of the crescent also becomes apparent.
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!3199&r=10:17.1&d =-57:55&e=J2000&h=26.4&w=26.4&f=GIF&c =none
Van den Berg/Hagen 90 OC in Carina
10h 12.2m –58 deg 04’
135X next to a bright star, this 5’x4’ box shaped cluster consists of fainter stars (mag 10?) with a marked clump of stars on the western edge.
Trumpler 19/Collinder243 OC in Carina Tr Type IV 2 m
11h 14m –57 deg 37’ Dia 10’
135X An irregular roundish 10’ dia peppering of many stars, mostly faint (mag10). Blends somewhat with surrounding rich star field.
Collinder 240 OC complex in Carina. Tr Type III 2 m n
11h 11.7m –60 deg 19’ Dia 32’
80X East of the wonderful NGC 3532, passing the largish Feistein 1, there is a shallow convex NE arc of 3 bright stars. The westernmost of these 3 is Hogg 10, a little clutch of stars with a triangular patch of stars pointing east. NW is NGC 3572, a very pretty 10’ cluster of many stars with a number of interesting curves and zig-zags of stars. To the east of this is a small swirl of stars, Hogg 11. At low power the whole complex is a very attractive tableau against a rich star field into which it blends somewhat.
30’ to the south is a 10’x5’ figure of eight of stars, Trumpler 18. Furhter on are 2 smaller clumps of stars, Hogg12 and NGC 3590
Hogg12 OC in Carina
11h 12.3m –60 deg 46’ Dia 2’
135X This is a beautiful little arrangement of about 10 stars picking out a Y-shaped soft glow – reminiscent of a 3’ funnel pointing N.
NGC 3590 OC in Carina Tr Type I 2 p
11h 12m 59.0s -60º 47' 20" Dia 4’
135X Another very beautiful little 2’ clump of stars, rhomboid shaped and outlining a small patch of gossamer. This and Hogg 12 are like small, delicate gems in this area of sky.
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cgi?obj=NGC!3590&r=11:12.9&d =-60:47&e=J2000&h=15&w=15&f=GIF&c=non e
