Observing Report - December 28, 2003: Horsehead and Much More

While the seeing conditions were poor last night, it looked like a
perfect "10" to me after such a long space between observing sessions
this year. I've decided to finish off my Messier list after getting
side-tracked with globulasr clusters, dark nebulae and faint fuzzies
this past 12 months. Despite the seeing, it was a great 4.5 hours
spent on the back deck. There was no breeze to speak of, the
temperature was -2ºC, and very little frost. Observations were made
using the 13.1" f4.5 Dob. atr my home near Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada.

9:40 PM Dec 28 to 2:00 AM Dec 30 2003

M42/M43. M42 Pan 27mm 13.1” dob. Trapezium easily seen, the dark lane
that separates it from M43 makes it appear that it’s at the head of a
bay or inlet. In the eyepiece at the 1:00 and 1:30 position two bright
stars of similar magnitude, plus one further off almost in a row.
First one brighter, very close to second, third one further off dimmer
still. 2 Small dim, faint stars at the 6:00 and 5;30 position just
below the Trapezium. Separating M42 and M43 is the clearly defined
dark lane. Tear-drop shape of M43 plainly evident, with greater
visibility with slightly averted vison. No filters used on either.
Curved “wings” of M42 extend out and up and almost fill the whole
field of the 27mm EP at 56x.

M79 in Lepus GC. Easily found with 56x. Diffuse glow low in the sky.
Very bright toward middle, spreading rapidly to a diffuse haze., stars
just on the threshold of resolving At about 6:35 position, star
visible in the EP, better seen with averted vision. Another star
further out; another bright star at the 12:30 position, another
further out at 2:00. At 145x, clearly a GC, much obscured by poor
seeing and by being low on the horizon. Stars mentioned earlier are
more easily resolved; not quite stellar core; In moments of better
seeing, stars flash into resolvability around the periphery of the
cluster. At 217x, many more stars resolved. Pair of faint stars just
off the haze at the 10:00 position. Fine-focus adapter helped to
sharpen the image and resolve more stars, primarily along the
periphery.

M1 easily found just off the bright star 123? in Taurus. At 56x, it’s
an undifferentiated haze. Both almost fit in the same FOV of the
Panoptic 27mm. In the view, it has its long axis between 12:00 and
6:00; bright star at the top of the nebulae, and a fainter one below.
Both the UHC and OIII filters make the object stand out, but no detail
seen at 56x. Using the SW7-8mm eyepiece at 8mm, no detail seen. With
OIII filter in place the object is faint, but there is some mottling
and a brighter patch on the left-hand side with its axis aimed along
the 7:00-1:30 position. Averted vision makes this feature more
apparent.

NGC 2024, just left of Alnitak in Orion’s Belt. Plain in 27mm EP;
appears pinched - narrower near the star and broadening; dark
markings interlaced with light. Best seen with the star just out of
the field of view. No filter used. Looks like a faint cloud. Three
faint stars form a triangle inside the nebulosity.

NGC 2023 Reflection Nebula. Faint haze surrounding mag 8 or 8.5 star.
Seen with averted vision.

B33 DN Horsehead nebula. Viewed at 127x with 1000 Oaks H-Beta filter.
There are three stars of almost equal magnitude in the field forming a
curved line. The Horsehead is a dark notch cut into the nebulosity
below the center star. The nebulosity is a faint haze in the left hand
side of the view. The dark patch is faintly there when viewed
directly, and stands out more with averted vision or by lightly
shaking the view. Holding it steadily in the view for over 20 minutes
makes the dark nebulosity stand out more against the slightly brighter
field. Visually, this is an unspectacular object, but part of the
interest is in knowing what is being seen, and knowing that it is
somewhat of a challenge object.

M35, NGC 2158, IC 2157 Oc’s in Gemini. M35-Bright cluster. Beside it
is a much more interesting open cluster, NGC 2158. At 56x it looks
like a faint globular cluster, a tight haze that’s resolved into many
tiny points of light. M35 has 2 dominant chains to my eye, one that
curves from the center to 2:30 and angles down to 4:00. The curved
line is anchored by two bright stars on either end. The other chain
has three primary bright stars arrayed in a line with the other stars
in the chain peppered around them. The two chains form an open “V”
with a curved bottom portion. If you follow the curve off the bottom
chain, it points down towards a group of stars - at least two pairs of
faint stars, at the 10:00 position that curve up to and meets the
other line of stars. The cluster has perhaps more of a curved “L” or
“C” shape to it. The open end of the lettered asterism- a mouth? has a
circle of stars in it suggesting the cluster is about to chomp down on
a stellar apple. Beyond NGC 2158 is a looser open cluster, IC 2157.
NGC 2158 under higher magnification at 190x is resolved across the
core with the brightest star visible at the 1:00 position. Several
stars 1-2 magnitudes fainter, at least 12 of them, really stand out.
The rest are very faint, like a glowing mist. Cluster appears to have
longer axis pointing towards the 10:30 position. Nearby stars of
similar magnitude could be field stars, but I suspect that they are
part of the cluster. These stars enhance the elongated appearance.
Bumping the magnification up to 232x shows more stars resolving.
Again, the fine focus adapter helped to sharpen the focus, allowing
more stars to resolve.

M41 OC. Sparse, question marked asterism in the middle, the long part
of it pointing down towards 4:30-5:00. Very noticeably yellow star
dead- centre in the cluster; another yellow star further above it at
the 11:00 position. Pair of stars just of a star a fainter yellow in
clor at 7:00. Small chain of 4 faint stars at 12;00 in a straight
line; chain of 6 faint stars further out at the 9:00 position.
Visually, it’s an unremarkable cluster.

M93 OC. 56x More elongated, less round, 2 dozen bright stars; 6 bright
stars clustered near centre. M93 appears to be a collection of clumps,
rather than one coherent grouping. Visually, there is more clumping on
the left-hand side in the view. I’d call it 5 clumps in a group. Wedge
shaped grouping with the point facing the 2:00 position, 17 stars make
up this feature; 2 bright stars above that of similar magnitude
aligned with 11:00 and 4:00. Unremarkable cluster; hard to tell where
cluster stars end and field stars begin.

M46 Oc; NGC 2438 PN. Bright cluster, with planetary nebula NGC 2438
embedded in it. At 56x, the PN was very visible with direct vision,
its round and bright extent standing out clearly in the cluster.
Cluster is loose, number of bright stars across the field angled
towards 10:30, with several bright stars forming a line along that
axis; several small chins visible around cluster; very bright very
yellow star at 11:00. No central concentration.

M47, NGC 2423 closely beside M46. Many bright stars, looser than M46.
3 chains of 3 faint stars; one very bright star, chain of three faint
stars above it, with a nearly identical chain of three stars above
them, except brighter. Dead centre in the space between the two chains
is the brightest star in the cluster. Two the right in the view is a
grouping of 5 bright stars, with one of them just above the apex of a
stellar triangle is a close double of almost equal magnitude.

Below that is open cluster NGC 2423. similar to M47, very loose, one
star noticeably brighter than the others; just a slightly tighter
concentration of stars against the stellar background. Not as bright
as M47. Beside it is a circle of 5 stars to the lower right-hand in
the eyepiece, and two triangles above that, one an equilateral and the
other a right-triangle. No other distinguishing features other than a
suggestion of star chains.

I also spent a few minutes on Saturn, but the seeing precluded using
higher magnifications.

Cheers,

- Craig