Tweedledee Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I've been frantically chasing Catalina across the sky with iTelescope for over a week now, like Benny Hill after his angels (that dates me). Either I wrongly programmed her position, or the file has come back several times saying "Observatory roof closed" due to weather. It is so easy to get it wrong when you are working with a moving target in a different time zone from the other side of the world, New Mexico is 7 hours behind us. I have been trying to capture Catalina with both a widefield imager (4" Tak about a 3 degree FOV) and a detailed imager (20" Ritchey Chretian with half a degree FOV). The telescopes have been very busy recently, but I have been managing to squeeze into 5 minutes gaps between other users sessions. Still determined to catch Catalina, I have just scheduled some more iTelescope slots for tonight and tomorrow night so fingers crossed. In the meantime I (reasonably) successfully captured some oddball targets on 240 second jpegs which I am quite pleased with... Obscure double cluster NGC2384 left and 2383 in Canis Major about 6000 light years away. The pair were once thought to be a binary cluster, but subsequent studies show that they have large age differences and compositions suggesting they were born in different molecular clouds and show proper motions indicating they are probably not gravitationally connected... The Stargate asterism aka Harrington 20 and Struve1659 in Corvus. You will see the larger triangle in binoculars with a single star at the centre, but a small scope will resolve the centre star into three... This Klingon Battlecruiser de-cloaked in Orion but posed no threat at a range of 1400 light years. This is NGC1662 or Collinder 55 which is quite nice in any small scope. The coloured image isn't mine... NGC2112 is an elusive open cluster a couple of degrees east of M78 in Orion. To see it visually needs a dark sky, otherwise it just dissolves into any light pollution. It is old as clusters go at 2 billion years and is 2000 light years away... NGC2409 or Bochum 4 in Puppis has a tiny arc of stars just 2 arcminutes across. This young cluster is about two hundred million years old and is usually noted as being a cluster with associated nebulosity. Recent studies have shown that the very faint nebula, van den Burgh 97 (not bright enough to show), is twice the 6000 light year distance of the cluster. If you look closely, the field also contains several other intriguing strings of stars. The Southern Pleiades IC2602 in Carina. This is large and bright like its northern namesake, pity it is below our horizon... The Jewel Box NGC4755 in Crux is a small bright condensed southern cluster... CO Camelopardalis asterism, failed attempt at Catalina which was a gnats whisker off the right of the image at that time!... This is Orions belt with the Flame nebula which I like despite all the moon glow... NGC1708 is a controversial cluster in Camelopardalis, next to its border with Auriga. The Revised NGC log it as non-existent, but many respected observers are adamant that it most definitely exists. There is very little info available on this one, but here is a quote from a guy who wrote THE most comprehensive book on clusters... NGC 1708 is a large cluster of stars of magnitudes 10 to 14, about 20 arcmin by 12 arcmin in size, and elongated north to south. It is centered about 7 arcmin southeast of JH's position, but nevertheless is unmistakeable. This is one of RNGC's "nonexistent" clusters. Personally, I don't see how they could have missed it. Of course I had to have a closer look, and I too reckon it is there just as John Herschel found it, but just don't expect it to jump out of an eyepiece at you... Hope the above is not too boring but I had to do something during all this rain Smithysteve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Never done this but I bet it's pretty addictive. Nice set of images Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 2 minutes ago, Doc said: Never done this but I bet it's pretty addictive. Nice set of images Pete. Oh no!! You've just made me realise - I think I'm addicted to iTelescope Cheers Mick. It is great fun, and so convenient just to sit down in the warm house and program a scope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Good diversion when the weather stops us going outside with a scope. Great set of images Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Nice pictures Pete! And an interesting report! ? Only a matter of time before you tap into the Hubble Space Telescope! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 (edited) Thanks everyone, they're not brilliant images but serve a purpose especially during cloud and rain Several 4 minute oddbods from last night. The "Horn of Monoceros" asterism Harrington 5, left of centre. Made up of six 9th magnitude stars, the horn is about 8 arcminutes tall. This and the next asterism actually stand out much better visually than they do in the pictures, fewer fainter stars to distract the eye... The "Sailboat" asterism Harrington 6 in Leo Minor - use your imagination . This just fits nicely in a one degree FOV. Binoculars show it upside down but a telescope shows it the right way up as below... I counted about 30 galaxies in this field of view in and around Markarian's Chain... The bright star is 3rd mag Mebsuta in Gemini. At the top of the picture is the very old cluster NGC2266, it is mag 9.5 and 5 arcminutes across at a distance of 10,000 light years. Immediately above Mebsuta is an oval ring of stars called Leiter 11 which was once thought to be a proper cluster, the stars are now known to be an accidental line of sight arrangement so it was demoted to asterism status. Edited February 8, 2016 by Tweedledee Smithysteve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Lovely photo's Pete. I counted 34 galaxies so my eyes must be a tad better then yours . I've seen the Horn of Monoceros before through bins but unsure about the others. Tweedledee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Cheers Mick. When I counted them I didn't use averted vision and hadn't fully got my dark adaptation The unicorns horn is in the south part of Monoceros, a bit north of Sirius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 That Markarian chain if one of my favourites - fascinating array of galaxies. Nice shots Pete - you're getting addicted to this lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Markarians chain is easy to recognise in the scope visually but there are a lot of other bright galaxies around it that I have more difficulty identifying. More addiction to follow I quite like this 3 for 1 image from last night. M104 the Sombrero Galaxy with "Jaws" asterism Harrington 21 to its right and "Stargate" asterism Harrington 20 further right and a bit lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I like the Markarian's Chain as well, there's just bags going off in there. Very enjoyable stuff Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Some more 240 second iTelescope jpegs from the other night. Cluster-asterism-cluster? - to be or not to be! Stephenson 1 is the Delta Lyrae Cluster. This cluster is easy to find and visible in binoculars. A lot of star maps do not identify it as a cluster, possibly because it was first declared a cluster by Stephenson in 1959, then it was claimed by others to be an asterism in 1963, then subsequent observations at Palomar and Mount Wilson reinstated it as a 'proper' cluster. Some studies list it as having 33 members and others as many as 77 members... Upgren 1 asterism in Canes Venatici. This bright binocular grouping was studied in 1965 by Upgren and Rubin whose measurements suggested that the group of 10 stars was physically associated and rather unusual due to its proximity to the north galactic pole. Its status as a 'proper' star cluster remained until 1988 after which it was shown to be a chance alignment of several unconnected groups of stars including a long period binary and an unusual triple system... Alessi J20053+4732 in Cygnus was catalogued along with a list of another 40 possible star clusters compiled by Brazilian astronomer Bruno Alessi from Digitized Sky Survey images between 1997 and 98. After further studies, its stars were proved to be an accidental line of sight grouping. This interesting 12 arcminute wide clump of two dozen 9th to 11th magnitude stars stands out in binoculars from the rich milky way background. It is easy to spot about 1.5 degrees west and a slightly north of Omicrons 1 and 2 Cygni. In a scope this asterism jumps out even better than some star clusters and is a little gem to behold. The whole region around this asterism is a joy to pan around in on a pristine night... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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