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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 559
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Last night was a cool, clear night for me. I decided to go outside for a few minutes and do some "quick" star gazing with the 10x50 binocs.
While scanning through Lyra, I noticed something that I hadn't before - mostly because I don't tend to turn my binoculars there; normally one of my telescopes is going to that part of sky, not binocs. But as I was looking at Epsilon Lyrae, I noticed something interesting about the "harp" section. "One" of the stars in the parallelogram is actually two. I've not been an avid double star observer in the past, so this caught me by surprise. I checked my charts, and realized that Delta Lyrae is quite the colorful double star. And being about 10 arc minutes across, it was a nice pair to see in the binoculars, especially given the contrast in colors - I saw deep yellow and blue. That was a nice surprise!
But the one that was harder to figure out was what I saw next. Aiming the binoculars at an undetermined star just over my neighbor's tree, I was struck by the quantity of stars that hovered nearby. I backed up, trying to determine the constellation it was in. Figuring out it was Ophiuchus, I next checked and learned it was Beta Ophiuchi. Not being a regular observer of this constellation, I started researching what nifty little star cluster I was seeing.
My the star chart in my latest magazine did not show it. The Mag 7 star charts I put online at my website had no indication of anything. The star chart for Ophiuchus at Wikipedia showed nothing.
What the heck?
Getting frustrated, I finally did a Google search, and figured it out: IC4665!
What a cool cluster of stars! Easy to find, bright enough to see in a washed out, nearly full Moon sky, and looks great in binoculars. Given my sky conditions, I never even though to consider looking at IC catalog objects, because I figured they'd be dim and hard to see. Wow - was I wrong!
Anyway, I just thought I'd share that story, and I'm sure lots of other folks have seen the double star of Delta Lyrae in binoculars, but if you've not checked out IC4665, I highly recommend it in a wide-field, lower power telescope like and ST-80 or in binoculars. I can't wait to take a look at it under a darker sky! 
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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Thaellar
member
Reged: 10/04/07
Posts: 18
Loc: Houston, TX
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Thanks for that report Magic. I really enjoy scanning the sky until I find something interesting to focus in on. I'll be out tonight with my 10x50s to check out IC4665.
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Thaellar
Meade LX-90
Orion ST120
Celestron ST80
Leupold 10x50 on SkyWindow
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 559
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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I hope you enjoy viewing it, Thaeller. It's a nice cluster, about 1 degree or so across, and is sprinkled with a good number of 7th magnitude stars and of course some dimmer ones. Perfect for binoculars! And being that it's so close to Beta Ophiuchi, it's really easy to find.
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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Edwin Quiroga
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/31/08
Posts: 612
Loc: Miranda, Venezuela
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Quote:
(...) I really enjoy scanning the sky until I find something interesting to focus in on. (...)
Actually, one of my favorites hobbys!
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TeleVue 85 w/FeatherTouch
Televue Panoptic 35
Pentax XW (3.5, 5, 7, 10, 14, 20)
Pentax XO 2.58
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GlennLeDrew
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 1283
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Delta Lyrae is not just a double star; the two components are the brightest members of the sparse open cluster Stephenson 1. When the sky is fairly dark, look for a scattering of rather fainter stars in the immediate vicinity, mainly between delta_1 and delta_2.
IC4665 is hardly the only IC object your 10X50s can pull in! There are many. Not far from IC4665 is IC4756, located in the same bino field as NGC6633. This not-too-widely-separated pair have been dubbed the Serpens-Ophiuchus Double Cluster by Terry Dickinson (I believe). Both clusters are visible to the unaided eye as fuzzy splotches in the northern branch of the milky way. Check 'em out!
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Home-made Mk II RA bino, using interchangeable objectives and eyepieces
My Gallery
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 559
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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Glenn - thanks for those pointers, much appreciated! I will be sure to check out Delta Lyrae when the sky is darker to look for that "scattering of rather faint stars."
And I intended on being more diligent about expanding my "list" of binocular targets - primarily due to my experience last night. In fact, I was doing some research now while the kids are doing homework (that way I can help them when they need it). I'll also look for IC4765 and NGC6633. I'm not sure I'd be able to see them naked eye from my yard - I'll have to look for them that way in a darker location. But I'll surely take a look through the 10x50's!
Thanks again for the great tips.
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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NGC007
super member
Reged: 06/02/05
Posts: 113
Loc: England
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Binocular viewing has a habit of doing that, throwing up nice surprises. Something that needs further investigating afterwards. My scope is in for repair so I got the Canon 10 x 42 out and just scanned and sure enough saw a cluster rising in the north east, it was M38 making its return as we head into Autumn, a pleasant surprise. When I use the scope I don't scan. I just punch in a number and off it goes, nothing unexpected like you can get with binocs.
Clem
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CPC 1100.
Ethos 17
Earthwin Power/Filter Slide
Giant Moonlite Focuser
Canon 10 x 42L image stabilised binoculars
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 559
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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*raises glass*
Here's to binoculars remaining hand-held only! 
(How would we find all this neat stuff if they were placed on GOTO mounts?)
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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GlennLeDrew
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 1283
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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That's one of the biggest drawbacks with GOTO mounts, *especially* for beginners. They tend to restrict one's exploration of the sky to just a scattering of viewed spots centered on a selection of discrete objects. The total fraction of the sky actually seen is usually quite small, and the larger picture is missed.
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Home-made Mk II RA bino, using interchangeable objectives and eyepieces
My Gallery
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 10502
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Quote:
Delta Lyrae is not just a double star; the two components are the brightest members of the sparse open cluster Stephenson 1. When the sky is fairly dark, look for a scattering of rather fainter stars in the immediate vicinity, mainly between delta_1 and delta_2.
IC4665 is hardly the only IC object your 10X50s can pull in! There are many. Not far from IC4665 is IC4756, located in the same bino field as NGC6633. This not-too-widely-separated pair have been dubbed the Serpens-Ophiuchus Double Cluster by Terry Dickinson (I believe). Both clusters are visible to the unaided eye as fuzzy splotches in the northern branch of the milky way. Check 'em out!
I've shown Stevenson 1 to a number of people over the years. It's a sparse but colorful open cluster that's not all that well known.
The nickname for the pairing of NGC 6633 and IC 4756 that I'm familiar with is the Binocular Double Cluster.
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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magic612
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/08
Posts: 559
Loc: Somewhere south of Chicago, IL
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I pulled out my 127mm f9.4 refractor last night, and was looking at IC4665 again, and in my 32mm eyepiece (which gives about a 1.5 degree field of view), the pattern of stars looked pretty close to an upper case "H" and "I". Kind makes it a real friendly cluster, if it's always saying, "HI" to you, AND is so easy to find!
IC 4665: The Friendly Cluster. Kinda silly, but it works for me.
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- Celestron C8+, Orion 90mm f/10, Orion ST-80, 5" f/8 Dob, 127mm f/9.4 refractor, 114mm f/8 on DS GoTo, 60mm Sears 6333-A, 127mm f4.4 refractor lens (current project), 12" f/5 mirror (future project)
- Orion Vista 10x50s (5 deg), Sears #6207 7x35 (7 deg), Jason #138 Statesman 7x35 (11.5 deg)
Yes, I'm addicted to telescopes and binoculars. I am getting help. Every time I look at the heavens, it helps.
http://www.eyesonthesky.com
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Posts: 10502
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Quote:
IC 4665: The Friendly Cluster. Kinda silly, but it works for me.
It's certainly not as silly as calling NGC 7331 and its companions the Deer Lick Group.
Dave Mitsky
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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
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