Has Anybody Observed:

1) Stuff in Baade's Window. Last night a friend (his 9.25" SCT) and I
checked out two globs which I believe are in Baade's Window, ngc6522 and
ngc6528. "Where is M13" (btw a great program - get it if you haven't
already) shows them as being very close to the galactic core, and I figure
that they are visible because of the window. Anybody observe anything else
in Baade's Window, or know anything interesting about it?

2) Stuff in M24. My younger son is always seeing patterns/asterisms, and he
has named one of them in M24 the "Goat Head". M24 is very rich in
interesting star chains/patterns, and we enjoy noodling around in it. Also
in M24 are B93 and B92, which form the eyes of the horse's head which is
what a lot of folks see as the overall shape of this star cloud. However, I
have always been most fascinated by ngc6603, and primarily because of what I
can't see. It is framed by some dark nebulosity, and the stars in this
cluster are just at the edge of resolvability in our scopes. It is a fuzzy
patch, but with averted vision one can start to make out shapes/structure. I
looked through a lot of big scopes at Stellafane, and how I wish I had
gotten one of them to point at this object instead of the ubiquitous
Dumbbell Nebula (I was so sick of it). Anyway, I have always enjoyed
ngc6603. Anybody ever get a good/resolved look at it? Anybody observe
anything else in M24. or have anything interesting to say about it or Star
Clouds in general?

3) Finally, we tried to observe the star cloud ngc206 in M31, but failed due
to the Moon being just below the horizon. My sons and I have observed this
in our homemade 10" f/6 (pretty easy) and our 6" f/8 (harder, averted
vision). What we see is a lighter patch in the galaxy, which is easier to
see if the scope is moved a little bit. Even in the 10", I don't think I
would notice it if I didn't know where to look. I like this object because
it gives me something to look at IN M31, and not just the overall galaxy (as
nice as it is). The other thing we have done is compare the dust lanes that
we see with those in an image, and figure out which dust lanes are which,
and try and follow them. Anybody else have any observations of ngc206, or
about Star Clouds in general? How about other things to observe in/about
M31?

BTW, my younger son and I are going to give a talk at our club's next
meeting including observing this stuff, and so anything folks can contribute
will be a help to us.

Dennis

On Sep 3, 7:30 am, "Dennis Woos" wrote:

1) Stuff in Baade's Window. Last night a friend (his 9.25" SCT) and I
checked out two globs which I believe are in Baade's Window, ngc6522 and
ngc6528. "Where is M13" (btw a great program - get it if you haven't
already) shows them as being very close to the galactic core, and I figure
that they are visible because of the window. Anybody observe anything else
in Baade's Window, or know anything interesting about it?

Actually, I had not heard of "Baade's Window" before. I'll do a quick
(Internet) search after completing this post.

(Some good stuff snipped . . .)

Anybody observe anything else in M24. or have anything interesting to say about it or Star
Clouds in general?

A couple of brief observations (8x42 and 20x80 binoculars) a year ago
had me wondering exactly how much of the star cloud Messier included
in his M24. I'm not sure if his telescope/eyepiece combinations would
have the necessary FOV for the entire cloud as it's delineated today.
I've been wanting to check out M24 with firmly mounted 25x100
binoculars from my 6.5 magnitude sky -- tonight maybe? ;-)

(More good stuff snipped . . .)

Bill Greer
To sketch is to see.

Dennis Woos wrote:

2) Stuff in M24. My younger son is always seeing patterns/asterisms, and he
has named one of them in M24 the "Goat Head". M24 is very rich in
interesting star chains/patterns, and we enjoy noodling around in it. Also
in M24 are B93 and B92, which form the eyes of the horse's head which is
what a lot of folks see as the overall shape of this star cloud. However, I
have always been most fascinated by ngc6603, and primarily because of what I
can't see. It is framed by some dark nebulosity, and the stars in this
cluster are just at the edge of resolvability in our scopes. It is a fuzzy
patch, but with averted vision one can start to make out shapes/structure. I
looked through a lot of big scopes at Stellafane, and how I wish I had
gotten one of them to point at this object instead of the ubiquitous
Dumbbell Nebula (I was so sick of it). Anyway, I have always enjoyed
ngc6603. Anybody ever get a good/resolved look at it? Anybody observe
anything else in M24. or have anything interesting to say about it or Star
Clouds in general?

Hi, Dennis.

As a beginning observer in light polluted urban skies (NELM around 3.5?),
I'd say mainly that M24 is beautiful. The other night it was the second
identified object I saw with a 30mm ultra-wide angle eyepiece and a
20cm f/6 Dob -- and what an impressive demonstration of how nice a
2-degree field at 40X can be! Wow!

Of course, in magnitude 3.5 skies, it's doubtless less of a view than
in dark skies where the nebulosity would show; here, it's more like
a big open cluster with various regions. I marvel to reflect that
it's about 10,000-16,000 light years away, so that the light reaching
me through most of the distance to our galactic core, and the screen
of the window in my apartment observatory to boot, maybe started
around the early neolithic on this planet, or before.

In short, from my beginner's perspective, it's bright and beautiful.
The other night I logged it (and M25) around 2033 PDT, less than an
hour after sunset, and both came through very clearly.

There are some articles about M24 that I want to read; and it would
be fun to try my Astronomik CLS broadband filter and see if it helps
with the light pollution. I guess that the nebulous areas aren't
the type where a UHC or the like might help.

By the way, this reminds me that I downloaded some articles about
M24 that I should read over the next day or so, and maybe share
anything interesting that I come up there.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter

Lat. 38.566 Long. -121.430

Dennis,

Those globulars are indeed in Baade's window: see

http://www.aao.gov.au/images/captions/aat093a.html

for some details on a David Malin image of the region.

Fred

On Sep 3, 7:30 am, "Dennis Woos" wrote:
1) Stuff inBaade'sWindow. Last night a friend (his 9.25" SCT) and I
checked out two globs which I believe are inBaade'sWindow, ngc6522 and
ngc6528. "Where is M13" (btw a great program - get it if you haven't
already) shows them as being very close to the galactic core, and I figure
that they are visible because of thewindow. Anybody observe anything else
inBaade'sWindow, or know anything interesting about it?

You shouldn't be looking in someone's window with your telescope. They could
call the cops on you! :-)

"Dennis Woos" wrote in message
...
1) Stuff in Baade's Window. Last night a friend (his 9.25" SCT) and I
checked out two globs which I believe are in Baade's Window, ngc6522 and
ngc6528. "Where is M13" (btw a great program - get it if you haven't
already) shows them as being very close to the galactic core, and I figure
that they are visible because of the window. Anybody observe anything else
in Baade's Window, or know anything interesting about it?

2) Stuff in M24. My younger son is always seeing patterns/asterisms, and
he has named one of them in M24 the "Goat Head". M24 is very rich in
interesting star chains/patterns, and we enjoy noodling around in it. Also
in M24 are B93 and B92, which form the eyes of the horse's head which is
what a lot of folks see as the overall shape of this star cloud. However,
I have always been most fascinated by ngc6603, and primarily because of
what I can't see. It is framed by some dark nebulosity, and the stars in
this cluster are just at the edge of resolvability in our scopes. It is a
fuzzy patch, but with averted vision one can start to make out
shapes/structure. I looked through a lot of big scopes at Stellafane, and
how I wish I had gotten one of them to point at this object instead of the
ubiquitous Dumbbell Nebula (I was so sick of it). Anyway, I have always
enjoyed ngc6603. Anybody ever get a good/resolved look at it? Anybody
observe anything else in M24. or have anything interesting to say about it
or Star Clouds in general?

3) Finally, we tried to observe the star cloud ngc206 in M31, but failed
due to the Moon being just below the horizon. My sons and I have observed
this in our homemade 10" f/6 (pretty easy) and our 6" f/8 (harder, averted
vision). What we see is a lighter patch in the galaxy, which is easier to
see if the scope is moved a little bit. Even in the 10", I don't think I
would notice it if I didn't know where to look. I like this object because
it gives me something to look at IN M31, and not just the overall galaxy
(as nice as it is). The other thing we have done is compare the dust lanes
that we see with those in an image, and figure out which dust lanes are
which, and try and follow them. Anybody else have any observations of
ngc206, or about Star Clouds in general? How about other things to observe
in/about M31?

BTW, my younger son and I are going to give a talk at our club's next
meeting including observing this stuff, and so anything folks can
contribute will be a help to us.

Dennis