C14 Is Awesome!: dso

Showing posts with label dso. Show all posts

Messier-Caldwell (MesCal) Marathon

by stephen saber

adding the available caldwell showpieces- many within a stone's

throw of the messiers- is a rewarding way to keep the marathon dso hunt momentum going while waiting for the sky to turn.

here's a template for 40deg N, but can easily vary as to when

one wishes to jump on and off the messier track, and for latitude

dependent target additions/omissions. this route adds 62 caldwells

to the 110 messiers. some march caldwells not reaching at least

10deg altitude are not included.

M74, M77, M33, C28, C23

M31, M32, M110, C18, C17

M52, C11, C13

M103, C8, C10, C5, C14

M76, M34, C24, M45

M79, M42, M43, M78, M50, M41

C64, M93, C58, M46, M47, C54

M48, C50, C49, C46

C41, C39, M35, M1, M37, M36, M38

C31, C25, M44, M67, C48

M95, M96, M105, M65, M66

C40, C53, C59

M81, M82, C7, C3

M97, M108, M109, M40, M106

C21, C26, C32, C29

M94, M63, M51, M101, M102

M98, M99, M100, M85, M84, M86

M87, M88, M91, M90, M89

M58, M59, M60, M49, M61

C38, C36, C35, M64, M53, M3

C45, C52, M104, C60, C61

M68, M83, C66

M5, M13, M92, C6, C1

M57, M56, C15, M39, C20, M29

C27, C33, C34, C37, M27, M71

M12, M10, M14, M107, M9, M4

M80, M62, M19

M11, M26, M16, M17, M18, M24

M25, M23, M21, M20, M8, M28

M22

C75, C76, C69, M6, M7

M69, M70, M54, M55, M75

C57, C47, C42, M15, M2

M72, M73, C55

*C30, C19, C16, C22

C12, C4, C9, C2, M30

*this pre-m30 target sequence is ordered to allow cepheus

maximum altitude while moving away from the approaching

morning twilight dome.

as with the m-cubed, hardcore mescal marathon hunters wanting to preserve maximum nightvision and spend more time observing should practice memorizing and sharpshooting this list in smaller groups throughout the year.

Matt Wedel's appreciated follow-up: Concordiem Australis

*****

[c38/the needle galaxy courtesy of sdss]

Melotte 20: The Scoop On Mirfak

radec 0327+4848 psa 02, 13

specifically, i see the cradle (xistera) used in the 1982's tron grid jai-alai game, with mirfak as the shimmering ball (cesta).

or is it just an ice cream scoop?

mel20, aka the alpha persei association, has a combined mag of 1.2, spans over 3°, and consists of some 50 stars. still, this often-unsung treasure has the misfortune of competing for attention with nearby powerhouses like c14/double cluster, c41/hyades, and m45/pleiades.

generally considered best in binoculars, i equally enjoy scoping-out the many doublestars residing within the asterism.

my deepsky obsession began in perseus, so i never miss a chance to throw glass at this subtle and beautiful stellar pattern.

*raw image credit: sdss*

sharpshooting: caldwell 7

at magnitude 8.9, caldwell 7 (aka ngc 2403) is the brightest of the non-messier galaxies. in fact, most do a double-take on their first sighting, wondering how this beauty managed to evade chuck’s scrutiny. c7’s nickname ‘the island universe’ comes from its isolation among the realm of dim suns comprising the constellation camelopardalis.

but to draw an rdf bead on c7 we’ll start at the nose of the big bear asterism in ursa major. muscida (1 uma, mag 3.3) is the vertex of a slightly flattened triangle, with c7 and 23 uma (mag 3.7) forming the base. to more easily relate its position i’ve shown a july-ish, right-side up bear, but midnight culmination for c7 is actually in mid-january when our bear is almost upside-down (at which time the galaxy can also be found roughly 25° directly above polaris). the famous galactic pair m81/82 are its closest bright kin, so they’re a good jumping-off point to throw some glass and appreciation at the island universe as well.

happy hunting!

caldwell 7 forms a triangle with muscida and 23 uma

(photo credit: dss/chart credit: mobile obs)

*stephen saber/saber does the stars/2004-2019/all contents within are free use and may be reprinted with author acknowledgement*

Messier Reunions/M-Cubed

by stephen saber

an annual ‘marathon’ seems to scare some amateurs off, or just makes it sound like too much work. ‘messier reunions’ might have a more inviting and celebratory feel to it. of course, there are those who dread reunions as well; the bratty kids (virgo cluster), the weird uncle (m73), the daughter who has a hot date and can’t wait to get out of there (m74), the black sheep (m30), et al.

speaking of the bratty kids, a question arose about difficulties sharpshooting the virgo galaxies while running my m-cubed ‘naked’ (without lists, charts, redlight, etc.). there are red dot patterns i visualize between denebola and vindemiatrix that have their assigned numbers (most maps are too cluttered in this area to give pattern recognition a chance). plus there are only 3-4 galaxies in the entire area that even compete for brightness. i guess i take it for granted as the collective pattern is burned into my brain, but i’ll take a shot at showing what i ‘see’ in a dark sky (i fingerpainted this with my mobile’s pic tweak tool so cut me some artistic slack), and the same rdf bullets fired into a crowd. m84/86 are close to midway between denny and vin. note the crude backwards checkmark starting at 6 com, and even cruder coathanger to the southeast.

C20: The North America Nebula

Caldwell 20 (aka n.g.c. #7000)

Nebula in Cygnus

radec 2059+4432 psa 62

Despite the 4th mag brightness optimism, C 20 requires both very transparent and steady dark skies to reveal itself at 1x. My first naked-eye view of the fuzzy continent and gulf of mexico was one of the many 'double-take' moments that accumulate from repeated observing; like the first time seeing obvious red in M 42, or noticing your shadow being cast by venus' light alone.

*****

a.l. caldwell catalog observe program

https://www.astroleague.org/caldwell-observing-program-introduction/

hubble's caldwell catalog

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-caldwell-catalog

the caldwell catalog: a gift from an icon

http://www.tinyurl.com/giftfromanicon

also see

http://www.tinyurl.com/c14isawesome

http://www.tinyurl.com/saberdoesthestarz

http://www.youtube.com/saberzastrovidz

*raw image credit: sdss*

related searches: astronomical league, seds, nasa, hubble's caldwell catalog, messier-caldwell marathon, m-cubed, messier marathon from memory, deepsky lists/concordiem borealis, stephen saber, saber does the stars, saber's beads, c14 is awesome, saberscorpx