Telescope Reviews: NGC's in Cepheus and Pegasus, and more

NGC's in Cepheus and Pegasus, a quick stop in Andromeda and some Planets - Observing Report

NELM 5.5+
Sky Conditions: Clear
Seeing: Pickering 6-7
Transparency: moderate
Equipment: 15" F5 StarSplitter (Swayze), Paracorr, 30mm BW (73x), 22 Pano (100x),
13mm Nagler t6(168x), 9mm Nagler (243x), 7.5mm ortho(292x), and 3-6 nagler zoom (730x-365x), DSC's (Sky
Commander)

July 28, 2003

Observers: Tom Trusock, Keith Rutkowski

Target List:

Cepheus: NGC6939 (OC), NGC6946 (Gx), NGC7129(C+NEB), NGC7133 (Neb), NGC7142 (OC), NGC7023 (C+Neb), NGC7150 (OC), NGC40 (PN), NGC2276/NGC2300 (Gx Pair)

Pegasus: NGC3331 (Gx), Stephen's Quintet (Gx Group), NGC7332/NGC7339 (Gx Pair, NGC7479 (Gx), M15 (Gb)

Andromeda: NGC7640 (Gx)

Planets: Uranus, Neptune, Mars

The previous evening, I had been out for an hour or so showing my wife some of the more impressive objects (M22, M13, M57, M27, M17) she was most impressed with the globulars. Her reaction when viewing M13 was all one could hope for.
She stepped to the eyepiece, gave an involuntary gasp and exclaimed "I see why you do this now!", and followed with the comment: "It never looked like that in any of your smaller scopes...." Hmmm this, of course, presented a perfect opening to
make a pitch for that 25", but prudently I decided to let it go by.

As I arrived home yesterday, I could see that UPS had dropped off a package from Sky Engineering - opening it, I discovered my encoders and mount kit for the 15". Mounting the hardware was a semi-trivial experience, requiring around 45 minutes and
then Keith and I sat around waiting for it to get dark enough to do an alignment and check our handiwork.

Finally, the sky darkened and we powered up the computer. Picking Deneb and Altair, we hopped to about 8-10 messiers in 5-10 minutes.

Pointing accuracy was sufficient to place everything in a low power eyepiece, but after my experience with the structure Rob Teeter moved lurch into, I was a little disappointed. Picking Deneb and Polaris was not a great choice - I have a feeling they
were too close together. Keith suggested Polaris and Arcturus, and sure enough, after that alignment we were placing everything in the FOV of the 13mm nagler at 168x.

I've been utilizing the Night Sky Observers Guide by Kepple and Sanner (NSOG) at the telescope a fair amount lately, and we had decided to pick an constellation and go through it semi-methodically. This evening, we started with Cepheus, moved on to
Pegasus, made a short stop in Andromeda and finished with the planets to the south.

Cepheus

NGC6939 was a nice open cluster at 100x and 168x, multiple 12 and 13th mag star scattered throughout space. It reminded me of the medusa of Greek myth. Very nice sight.

NGC6946 Galaxy, large and dim with a somewhat granular appearance at higher powers. The mag is rated at 8.8 visual in NSOG, but the surface brightness is much lower. Best views at 100x and 168x.

NGC7129 Cluster + Neb. This is a nice grouping of bright to faint stars that stands out fairly well in the 15". Some faint nebulosity is visible throughout the cluster.

NGC7133 Nebula. Quite obvious in the 15" at moderate powers. Not extremely impressive.

NGC7142 Open Cluster: The center of the cluster seemed nearly hollow, and streamers were radiating from the horseshoe shape that formed the body of the cluster. Very Nice!!

NGC7023 Cluster + Neb: I dub this the "Dew on the Eyepiece Nebula". One bright (mag 7 ish), one medium and one faint stars are surrounded by nebula, with a handful of fainter stars peppering the FOV. Nice, but not extremely impressive. We thought the eyepiece had dewed up till we examined stars outside the cluster.

NGC 7510 Open Cluster Wonderful sight at nearly any magnification. A bright arrowhead of stars with the point on the SW and a bright yellow star on the N tip. 168x shows about two dozen stars in a fairly small area! Excellent!

NGC40 PN Extremely nice!! Easily one of the highlights of the evening. Fairly bright planetary that looks to show multiple layers/shells, and stands magnification fairly well. The central star is very obvious at all magnifications. At 365x this somewhat
reminded me of the M51 system - the planetary is matched by a dimmer star just below it, and the "shells" of the planetary reminded me of the arms of M51. One side of the planetary looks a little brighter than the other. At 365x a very nice golden
star lay just on the edge of the FOV when the planetary was centered. Superb object!!

NGC2276/NGC2300 Gx Pair One of the other highlights of the evening, this galaxy pair makes a very nice showing at 168x. 2276 is much larger and fainter, and the extensions nearly touch a mag 8.5 star 2' away. NGC2300 is much brighter and resembles an elliptical. Note: NSOG describes the 4-5 stars near 2276 as being in a line - only if it's a slightly drunken line dance. Very nice!!

Pegasus

NGC 7331 (Gx) This galaxy and it's associated outliers are a real treat in a moderate sized scope. Very bright and well defined. We didn't spend a lot of time on this tonight as we had just looked at it a couple of nights ago. However we did use it
as a jumping off point for:

Stephen's Quintet (Gx Group) Very faint, but one or two of the brightest members is visible part of the time using direct vision. Averted brings out the rest of the group. We thought at first we had only grabbed 4 out of the 5, but then realized that we were
seeing 3118A and 3118B as one object. One of the galaxies was very close to a similar mag star, and somewhat resembled a double. Keith and I were split on what eyepiece provided the best views. Keith felt the 9mm (243x) gave more contrast, but I thought it was a little too much power. IMO, the best views were in the 13mm at 168x. Not visually overpowering, but interesting when you realize what you are actually seeing. For a good photo of the region, check out this excellent image:
http://www.astrosurf.com/astroduvel/images/ngc7317.html

NGC7332 / NGC7339 (Gx Pair) SPECTACULAR! At 168x, 7332 is very bright, and seems slightly mottled. 7339 is much fainter, lies about 6' away, and points directly at 7332. Best views at 168x. Excellent pair!!

NGC7479 This barred spiral is a nice sight at 168x. The central bar is easily visible, and the arms begin to form extensions off the edge with averted vision. Contrasted with many of the other galaxies we looked at this evening, this one seemed somewhat
tortured - like it had been pulled out of shape on a celestial equivalent of the rack. Three to 4 stars seemed superimposed on the galaxy. the most noticeable being a bright star on one side, and a slightly dimmer one opposite it. A very nice picture can be
found here: http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n7479.html

M15 Gb The only Messier on our "official" target list this evening, and it was SPECTACULAR! ESPECIALLY after looking at dim faint fuzzies most of the evening. Resolution was good throughout, and the globular presents an excellent object at 100x.
Globs are fast becoming my favorite objects in a moderate/large scope.

Andromeda

NGC7640 (Gx) This was a semi-interesting object - a galaxy surrounded by a triangle of stars, it was very faint, but caught at 73x, but it was more easily seen and the best views were at 168x. A large extended object, the magnifications given in several sources can be somewhat misleading due to it's low surface brightness.

Planets

We thought we would check on Neptune and Uranus, as Keith had never seen them, and it had been years since I last looked in on them. Luckily, (but not surprisingly) <g> they were still there, two pale blue dots floating in the vast sea of the solar system. Neither showed much (any) detail, but we could spot what we thought were a couple of moons.

Mars on the other hand was SUPURB. This was easily one of the best views I've had of mars to date, seeing was quite good and the image greatly resembled a decent picture of the red planet. We started viewing mars around 12:30-12:45 and watched it for a while. We were both awed by the images through the 15" scope. Unfortunately, both of us had to be up early for work this morning and were forced to turn in around 1:30 or so. The polar cap and various markings were easily visible, with no sign of a dust storm on the planet. Seems like August is going to be fun.

With the image of M15 and Mars competing in my head I lay in bed awake for the next hour or so. I'm tired today, but it was worth it last night. I'm going to try to catch a cat nap this afternoon, because according to the Clear Sky Clock, tonight looks excellent as well.

Clear Skies

Tom T.

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There are two theories to arguing with my wife. Neither one works.