16 july 2022

Observed with the six-inch, chasing after Struves.  A decent enough night, ok seeing with some marine in the sky as usual.  

STF1335 AB: 152; 125x: Faint, 2 Dm, wide.  WDS says not physical, and indeed there is -55% parallax overlap, it is not binary.
09h 28m 21.19s +77° 07' 05.9" P.A. 52.00 sep 24.5 mag 9.49,11.24 Sp K0

STF1362 AB near equal wide.  WDS grade 9 (indeterminate) orbit, only 7.9 years.  Remarkably, there is 15% parallax overlap, 339 AU weighted separation, 1.6+1.5 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.1 is less than the escape velocity 4.0 -- so it would be amazing if this is a true binary with such a short period, for certain it needs to be reobserved.
09h 37m 56.18s +73° 04' 49.5" P.A. 125.00 sep 4.9 mag 7.03,7.20 Sp F1V+F2V dist. 71.02 pc (231.67 l.y.)

STF2486 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely near equal white stars well split.  WDS grade 4 orbit, 3100 year period.  There is 84% parallax overlap, 189 AU weighted separation, 1.1+1.1 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.2 is less than the escape velocity 4.5, so it may well be binary.
19h 12m 05.03s +49° 51' 20.7" P.A. 203.40 sep 7.1 mag 6.54,6.67 Sp G2V+G3V dist. 24.45 pc (79.76 l.y.)

STF2496 AB: 152; 300x: Tough, with seeing, a tiny fleck outside bright white A' diffraction.  WDS uncertain, but there is -78% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

19h 15m 19.18s +50° 04' 16.0" P.A. 81.00 sep 2.1 mag 6.46,10.00 Sp G8III dist. 134.59 pc (439.03 l.y.)

STF2506 AB: 152; 125x: Fine pair, wide, 1 Dm, yellow-white A.  WDS uncertain, but there is -60% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.
19h 21m 45.89s +14° 21' 50.2" P.A. 349.00 sep 17.7 mag 9.56,10.46 Sp F2

STF2507 AB: 152; 125x: 2 Dm, wide white stars.  WDS says proper motion indicates non-physical, but more damning there is -98% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.
19h 19m 43.44s +44° 22' 29.2" P.A. 158.00 sep 25.1 mag 8.72,10.88 Sp F8

STF2511 AB: 152; 125x: Light orange A, very faint B just emerges with direct vision, well separated.  WDS uncertain, but there is -95% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.
19h 20m 31.45s +50° 20' 24.5" P.A. 53.00 sep 7.2 mag 7.51,11.10 Sp K5 dist. 293.26 pc (956.61 l.y.)

STF2522 AB: 152; 125x: Very pretty 1 Dm, fairly close but nice split pair, in a rich field.  WDS says not physical, but there is 53% overlap of the parallax ranges, 1,465 AU weighted separation, 2.9+2.2 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 1.2 is less than the escape velocity 2.5, so it is possible this is binary.
19h 25m 48.01s +28° 45' 34.0" P.A. 338.00 sep 4.6 mag 7.74,8.79 Sp A0 dist. 348.43 pc (1136.58 l.y.)

STF2528 AB: 152; 125x: Well split, 2 Dm, in a rich field seems near a star clouster.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 61% parallax range overlap, 2,984 AU weighted separation, 1.9+1.3 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 1.5 is slightly more than the escape velocity -- so this might or might not be binary.
19h 26m 39.59s +32° 20' 44.6" P.A. 244.00 sep 14.7 mag 8.80,10.44 Sp F2 dist. 3448.28 pc (11248.29 l.y.)

STF2534 AB: 152; 125x: Near equal, brilliant white stars, well split.  WDS says physical, but there is no (-36%) parallax range overlap, it is not binary.
19h 27m 40.63s +36° 31' 44.4" P.A. 63.00 sep 7.0 mag 8.21,8.39 Sp B9III dist. 900.9 pc (2938.74 l.y.)

STF2538 CD: 152; 125x: Pretty near equal, fairly closely split, white, likely plus one wide pair similar mag (AC).  5 stars in the system, WDS says not physical, but they are probably wrong: there is 41% overlap of the parallax ranges, onlu 602 AU weighted separation, 1.3+1.2 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.3 is less than the escape velocity 2.7, so it is possibly binary.

19h 31m 22.19s +36° 42' 17.5" P.A. 50.00 sep 6.0 mag 8.92,9.24 Sp G0 dist. 94.7 pc (308.91 l.y.)

STF2542 AB: 152; 125x: Wide, 1 Dm stars.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 15% parallax range overlap, a pretty wide 4,069 AU weighted separation, 2.4+1.9 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.8 is less than the escape velocity 1.4, so it is likely binary. 

19h 31m 57.62s +52° 59' 06.8" P.A. 254.00 sep 11.6 mag 8.86,9.61 Sp A1:+A3: dist. 247.52 pc (807.41 l.y.)

STF2539 AC: 152; 125x: Well split, nearly 2 Dm.  WDS uncertain, but there is -89% overlap of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.
19h 32m 05.91s +28° 16' 00.3" P.A. 3.00 sep 5.4 mag 7.67,9.78 Sp A0 dist. 161.03 pc (525.28 l.y.)

STF2555 AB: 152; 200x: Very close pair, slight magnitude difference, needed higher magnification.  WDS uncertain, but there is no overlap, -16%, of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.
19h 36m 11.77s +53° 22' 28.5" P.A. 283.00 sep 1.8 mag 9.42,9.90 Sp F5

STF2557 AB: 152; 200x: Bright white star, the brightest in field, with 2 Dm B well separated, rich field.   WDS says proper motion indicates non-physical, and even more there is no parallax range overlap, -92%, so it is not binary.
19h 39m 35.20s +29° 44' 55.5" P.A. 103.00 sep 11.0 mag 7.49,10.23 Sp B8Vn dist. 315.46 pc (1029.03 l.y.)

STF2559 AB: 152; 125x: Brighter white A and faint, well split B, more than 1".  Not listed in WDS.

STF2576 FG: 152; 125x: Beatutiful close near equal pair, very rich filed.  WDS gives it a grade 2 orbit 232-year period, but there is no parallax range overlap -31%, in spite of the mere 58 AU weighted separation and 0.7+0.7 Msol.  It might not be binary after all.
19h 45m 33.53s +33° 36' 07.1" P.A. 154.50 sep 3.1 mag 8.47,8.58 Sp K3V dist. 21.12 pc (68.89 l.y.)

STF2578 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely bright 1 Dm pair.  WDS says proper motion indicates non-physical, and there is no parallax range overlap -4%, with 5,408 AU weighted seaparation, it like likely not physical.
19h 45m 39.65s +36° 05' 27.6" P.A. 125.00 sep 14.9 mag 6.37,7.04 Sp B9.5V dist. 300.3 pc (979.58 l.y.)

STF2579 AB; 152; 200: Nice, very bright A with tiny faint B closely split.  Appears as a bump at 125x, cleanly split at 200x. WDS gives a grade 4 orbit with a 657-year period, and we'll have to take their word for it as I can't find the secondary's data in Gaia.
19h 44m 58.44s +45° 07' 50.5" P.A. 214.40 sep 2.8 mag 2.89,6.27 Sp B9.5IV dist. 50.58 pc (164.99 l.y.)

STF2580 AB: 152; 125x: Bright yellow A star, very wide fainter B.  WDS gives a grade 5 orbit 7904-year period, and there is 22% parallax range overlap, 547 AU weighted separation, 1.4+0.7 Msol, but the radial velocity delta 2.9 is slightly more than the escape velocity 2.6, so it might not remain binary -- or we just need more refined data.
19h 46m 25.60s +33° 43' 39.3" P.A. 68.20 sep 26.1 mag 5.06,9.25 Sp F5V dist. 21.23 pc (69.25 l.y.)

STF2588 A-BC: 152; 125x: Near equal white stars, wide.  BC is A718, 8.2/8.7 0.1".  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, but there is no Gaia parallax data for the secondary.
19h 49m 00.90s +44° 22' 45.1" P.A. 159.00 sep 9.6 mag 7.74,8.12 Sp B8III dist. 854.7 pc (2788.03 l.y.)

STF2598 AB: 152; 125x: Light orange A star, B is faint and wide on edge of direct vision.  WDS says it is not physical, and there is -44% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.
19h 50m 07.53s +54° 39' 06.5" P.A. 150.00 sep 11.8 mag 8.17,10.58 Sp K5 dist. 317.46 pc (1035.55 l.y.)

STF2606 AB 152; 380x: Very instantaneous split when the elongated haze develops bright disks, still hazy at edges but distinct, like two yolks of eggs, very tough.  WDS gives a grade 4 orbit, 455-year period, 0.63" now.  Unfortunately there is no Gaia parallax data for either star.
19h 58m 32.66s +33° 16' 38.8" P.A. 147.70 sep 0.6 mag 7.74,8.43 Sp F5IV dist. 78.43 pc (255.84 l.y.)

STF2607 AB-C: 152; 125x: Very pretty white A and 2 Dm B.  WDS uncertain, and there is -10% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

19h 57m 56.12s +42° 15' 38.9" P.A. 289.00 sep 3.0 mag 6.56,9.09 Sp A3V dist. 325.73 pc (1062.53 l.y.)

23 july 2022, lake sonoma

I spent the prior few days pouring over weather and smoke forecasts to see where the best place to go out would be.  The southern sites were going to be under poor transparency from Arizona monsoon moisture in the upper atmopshere.  Shot Rock was a possibility but Saturday morning a fire near Yosemite flared up putting a lot of smoke over that area.  That left Lake Sonoma, and fortunately there was another group going.  Steve, Bob, Dennis, Jim, two Dans, and a few others arrived after I did to set-up.  The night was clear but there were still transparency issues, and the best SQML reading I heard of was 21.3.  After around 1am it started to dew up a little, and SQML was 21.1.  I observed until 4:30am (far longer than I planned) and slept for an hour in my car before packing up in the dawn.

I continued looking for Sharpless objects and Steve gave me a four objects to go after.  Apparently he had attempted observations in the past but they were marginal or unsuccessful.  The first couple were in the southern sky, so I observed those first otherwise they'd be in the Santa Rosa light dome.  I made most of my observations to the north, in Cygnus and Cepheus, where the sky is somewhat darker, and late at night in the west, where it overlooks the Pacific and is the darkest.  

Sh2-46: 18 06 10.6 -14 09 31, 25' diameter, 4-inch and Ha.  The nebula is round and is divided into four pie slices with two wide dark lanes crossing it, the darker lane running NE-SW, with a bright 7th magnitude star in the SW portion of the dark lane.  The nebula is brightest from the lines of division and fades to diffuse edges to the sides, but there is a brighter elongated section along the eastern side.  Very faint streamers extending beyond the main nebula to the NW and SE.  Vogel notes it is 2000pc distant, 14.5pc in size, and "This nebula is located well above the galactic plane. The potential runaway O-star HD 165319 [the bright star mentioned in my observation ] lies within or behind this nebula, which is nearest to the OB association Sagittarius OB6. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected in this HII region."

Sh2-64: 18 31 35.0 -01 54 47, 25' diameter, 8-inch Ha.  Very faint, patchy nebula with a bright ragged patch near a small cluster of stars.  Vogel notes 200pc distant, 2.9pc in size, and "This is the W40 star formation region, also called LBN 90, and is ionised by the three B1V stars W 40 OS 1a, W 40 OS 2a and W 40 OS 3a.  It is obscured by the dust clouds called the Rift, which are located between W40 and our solar system."

Sh2-88: 19 45 58.4 +25 20 38, 25' diameter, 4- and 8-inch Ha.  Fairly large bean shaped nebula with two brighter knots in the northern end with fainter wisps trailing south.  B1 and B2 are easily seen as smudges of nebulosity around their respective stars.  With the 4-inch I noticed a faint stream of nebulosity trailing from Sh2-88 in a curved arc (outer bend pointed west) south to the large and bright oval NGC 6820 (with open cluster NGC 6823 at its eastern edge, and the large, loose & poor open cluster Ro 2 in the nebulous stream.  Vogel lists Sh2-88 at 2000pc, around the same distance as NGC 6820/23 -- and stars in both are part of the Vul OB1 association, so it's reasonable to think the two nebula are connected by this stream.  This Aladin screen shop (with the blue lines to show the faint nebula stream) hopefully shows it:

DWB 111/118 (Propeller Nebula) & IC1318A: Dramatic, bright and easy in both 4- and 8-inch, DWB 118 is the northern curve and 111 is the lower, separated by a dark lane, these are two bright and bulky streams in a field full of streaks and wisps of nebula, including one along side DWB 111, and another bright streak below the propeller, which leads the eye to a stream of faint nebulosity with seems to connect it to IC1318A.  There is so much nebula in the area, and the distances to them are indeterminate, so it might just be a trick of they eye to believe they are connected.  Photo Ron Brecher.

I poked around in the Cygnus area for quite a while, sharing views with others -- really dramatic area.  I switched to 1x using the mirror mount too, and was struck by all the nebula in Cepheus, which has plenty of nebula to keep one busy.  So starting from the earliest Sharpless object, I continued: 

Sh2-128: = Abell 77.  21 32 08.4 +55 51 34, 1' diameter.  8-inch and Ha.  Small bright knot around a star, split by a faint dark lane nearly E-W.  Distance: 9400 pc, Size: 2.7 pc.  Vogel notes "This region is actually located at a distance of 9.4 kpc, is about one million years old and is ionised by an O7 star."  

Sh2-129 & Outters 4: 21 11 44.4 +59 57 40, 140' diameter.  400pc distant, 16.3pc in size, the Sh nebula is best in the 4-inch and Ha, with a bright, very mottled C-curve pointed NW, and many long faint streamers trailing away from it.  The middle portion is filled with faint nebulosity.  Outters 4 is a recently discovered nebula which has a bipolar outflow, a very curious and beautiful shape.  Outters has a website to describe his discovery.  I made a very (very) marginal observation a couple years ago at CalStar using a 10-inch f3.7 and OIII, but really all I saw was a suspected nebulous streak among the bright stars at the center of the lobes.  This time, with 8-inch and a dual-band Ha and OIII filter (5nm), I spent a good long while on the region and believe I detected the lobe to the south, and part of the glow to the north.  It was a extremely faint elongated glow with brighter edges.  My field sketch lines up with the field stars and the lobe correctly points to a bright wall of Sh2-129.  I definitely want a better night to go after this one again.

Sh2-130: 20 42 59.6 +63 13 43, 3' diameter.  Very faint, difficult in both the Ha and dual band.  Weak diffuse flow offset to the southwest from a bright star, small.  Vogel: Distance: 600 pc, Size: 0.5 pc, "Faint nebulosity surrounds the B5 star HD 197911, the A0 star HD 197809 and the G5 star SAO 18999. HD 197911 is a runaway star blasted from the heart of the Cep OB2 association by a supernova explosion 2-3 million years ago."

Sh2-131: 21 39 00.2 +57 29 10, 170' diameter Best in 4-inch for overall view, 8-inch provided detail of dark nebula, the elephant trunk, etc.  Showpiece.  Vogel: "Distance: 860 pc, Size: 42.5 pc.  "Sh 2-131 surrounds the star cluster IC 1396 and lies at the heart of the Cepheus bubble, the giant expanding shell of gas and dust around the Cep OB2 association."

Sh2-132: 22 18 47.0 +56 08 05, 90' diameter. Bright, large, and heavily mottled & streaked with dark nebula, overall curved shaped, runs through string of stars, with long tail of diffuse nebulosity extending to the south.  Best with 8-inch and dual band filter.  Vogel: Distance: 3180 pc, Size: 83.3 pc, "This giant HII region in the Cepheus OB1 association is ionised by two WR stars and several OB stars. HD 211853 (WR 153) and an O 8.5 star lie near the middle of the radio shell associated with this nebula."

Sh2-133: 21 28 59.8 +64 18 19, 80' diameter.  Very faint region of nebulosity, appears as a sheet of rain-falling cloud within a triangle of equal magnitude stars, with a brighter wide streak trailing to the SW, and a fainter extension sweeping up from it to the north.  4-inch and Ha.  Vogel: Distance: 800 pc, Size: 18.6 pc, "Sh 2-133 is probably a part of a chain of ionized arcs surrounding the older group of the Cep OB2 association and is located at a distance of about 800 pc."

Sh2-134: 22 11 29.1 +59 24 37, 160': Unorganized region of bright knotty nebulosity in the star field, all with diffuse edges, one faint cloud near a bright star has with sharp curving cut-off, likely from a dark nebula.  8-inch & dual band.  Vogel: Distance: 900 pc, Size: 41.9 pc, "This HII region is associated with an expanding bubble in Cep OB2. Also involved with this bubble are the HII regions IC 1396 (also called Sh 2-131), S129, S133, and S140. Lam Cep (HD 210839) is the exciting star for this HII region.

Sh2-135: 22 22 11.0 +58 44 18, 15' diameter.  Fairly easy, bright arc above star which is involved in the nebula, with a sharp cut-off to the north; other faint diffuse nebula to the south.  8-inch Ha.  Vogel: "Distance: 1400 pc, Size: 6.1 pc.  This is probably a blister on a dark dust cloud in front of the bright nebula. The nebula is ionised by an O9.5V class star and located at a distance of 1900 parsecs."

Sh2-137: 21 57 06.6 +64 41 37, 90'  Wall of diffuse nebula with a rather distinct cut-off to the SW.  Vogel: Distance: 600 pc, Size: 15.7 pc.  This HII region lies at a similar direction and distance as the Cepheus Bubble, a huge expanding shell of gas and dust surrounding the Cepheus OB2 association. Avedisova places Sh 2-137 at a distance of 700 +/- 300 parsecs and identifies 5 ionising stars. The hottest of these is the O9.5 II giant and double star HD 207198."

Sh2-138 (22 32 39.0 +58 28 55, 1' diameter) & Sh2-139 (22 32 39.0 +58 28 55, 1'): In the same field, large triangle of stars.  Sh2-138 is very small and really just a smudge of nebulosity around one of two close stars, centered in the below image. Sh2-139 is the larger mist of diffuse nebulosity near the southern star of the triangle.   4- and 8-inch, Ha.  Of Sh2-138 Vogel says: Distance: 4000 pc, Size: 1.2 pc.  "Embedded in this compact HII region is a large star cluster resembling the Orion Trapezium cluster: it is centrally peaked around several massive stars, and is dense - more than 550 stars at its centre."  Sh2-139, on the other hand, only Distance: 3300 pc, Size: 24.0 pc

Sh2-140: 22 19 07.0 +63 17 07, 30' diameter.  Bright small arc of nebulosity with a sharp cut-off to the NE, and to the west there is a cluster of bright stars and diffuse nebula expanding faintly to the west.  8-inch Ha.  Vogel: Distance: 900 pc, Size: 7.9 pc, "Sh 2-140 is created by the B0.5 V star HD 211880 exciting the southwest side of the L1204 molecular cloud."

Sh2-141: 22 28 30.4 +61 38 41, 5' diameter.  A small circular puff of nebula, irregularly bright with diffuse edges, in the middle of an elongated triangle of similar magnitude stars.  8-inch Ha.  Vogel: Distance: 6700 pc, Size: 9.7 pc.  "The faint circular HII region Sh 2-141 lies far away at a distance of 8340 ± 600 parsecs according to Russeil. Pineault and Joncas give a distance estimate of about 7000 parsecs and suggest that Sh 2-141 may be ionised by a single O8 class star."

Sh2-142: 22 47 35.1 +58 03 39, 30'.  Quite amazing and dramatic.  Bend of rippled dark nebula with penninsulas (not quite pillars) jutting into bright diffuse glow, very like the Eagle Nebula.  The more one looks the more detail seen, subtlties in the shapes of the dark nebula.  Contains NGC7380, a young open cluster of stars in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cepheus, discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787.  Vogel: Distance: 3537 pc, Size: 7.2 pc, "This HII region, entwined with the star cluster NGC 7380, contains 4000 solar masses of gas and is ionised by the eclipsing binary star DH Cephei (O6+O6). It is associated with a molecular cloud containing an additional 6-15 thousand solar masses of gas, and the star cluster NGC 7382, which are all part of the Cepheus OB1 association."

Sh2-143: 22 50 14.8 +57 42 47 4' diameter. The is a very small, very faint puff of nebulosity off the southeastern coast of Sh2-142 and should probably be considered part of that structure (it has a similar distance).  8-inch Ha. Vogel: Distance: 3700 pc, Size: 4.3 pc.  "According to Avedisova, Sh 2-143 is ionised by the O9.5V star LS III +57 93. Sh2-142 is NW of it."

Sh2-144: Fairly bright small puff of irregularly bright nebula with diffuse edges.  8-inch Ha.  Not much to look at, but per Vogel: Distance: 800 pc, Size: 0.9 pc.  "Both Sh 2-144 and Sh 2-146 appear in the direction of the 377 thousand solar mass molecular cloud [UUT2000] Cloud B. Sh 2-144 appears to lie well in front of this cloud, however, and is associated with the local Cepheus clouds. No ionising star for Sh 2-144 has been identified in the scientific literature. Avedisova associates this nebula with the pulsating variable carbon star MV Cep."

Sh2-145: 22 25 33.0 +64 18 31. 90' diameter.  Large diffuse & tattered expanse of nebula, with a sharp cut-off between it and Sh2-131 which is SW in the same 4-inch field.  Vogel: Distance: 900 pc, Size: 23.6 pc.  "Avedisova identifies 4 ionising stars for Sh 2-145, including two O-stars: the O7 V star BD +62 2078 and the O9 V multiple star HD 213023. Sh 2-145 appears to be part of the Cepheus bubble, the expanding ring of gas and dust surrounding the star cluster NGC 7160 and the Cep OB2 association. The much brighter nebula Sh 2-131 is part of the same structure."

Sh2-146: 22 49 25.5 +59 55 45, 2' diameter.  Small, round, bright divided in two by a curving dark lane E-W,  in a wide triangle of stars with curved dark nebula, 8-inch Ha.  Vogel: Distance: 5483 pc, Size: 5.9 pc.  "This HII region is split in half by a dust cloud and is excited by a highly obscured O7 star."

Sh2-147/148/149/152/153:  22 55 29.2 +58 28 01, 2-5' diameter.  All together in the same field of view, small puffs and wisps of nebula in a fairly rich field.  153 is comparitively large, swirling circle of nebula with wisps coming off the east and west edges.  152 is very compact and bright, as is 148.  147 is very faint and wispy, and 149 is the most difficult of all (needed 8-inch), a very small smudge around its star.  Per Vogel, these are "all parts of the same giant molecular cloud located at a distance of about 4500 pc."

M57 & central star: This was the last object I tried for the night.  With the crescent moon risen ~15-degrees in the east, it produced a glow similar to the light dome Santa Rosa cast.  So I tried for targets in the west which was still fairly dark.  I had read M57 was a good target for night vision, and it was.  in the 8-inch, unfiltered, and despite the small image scale (with a 22mm Nagler the magnification is only 55x), I saw a surprising amount of detail: the annulus or ears on either end, bright knots scattered around the ring, with very thin gaps along the edges of the ring to make it look like two shells, and especially the center of the ring filled with thin, streaky gause.  I tried pretty hard for the central star.  I could see the 15.0 and 14.7 magnitude stars just outside the NE edge of the ring (shown in this image--which also shows the knotty detail, especially along the SW edge of the ring, I described).  The central star revealed itself several times over a few minutes period, and only when I would look away from the nebula then look back: the central star would be a slightly hazy point which would hold for a couple seconds then fade.  Not quite a slam dunk, but pretty amazing for only 8-inches aperture. 

28 june 2022

Another good night with the 6-inch observing Struves.  

STF1455 A-BC: 152; 125x: Wide 1 Dm faint pair.  Did not see BC, 2.0" 11.33/11.27.  WDS says not physical, and there is no, -56%, parallax range overlap.  And for that matter BC is not binary either, -41% parallax range overlap.

10h 57m 51.68s +85° 44' 21.9" P.A. 249.00 sep 34.2 mag 10.24,11.37 Sp G8

STF1479 AB: 152; 125x: Very close split at low power, around 4", 2 Dm, light orange stars.  WDS says it's physical, and there is 41% overlap of parallax ranges, only 614 AU weighted separation, 1.5+1.2 Msol, so it is likely binary.

11h 02m 22.92s +83° 13' 19.1" P.A. 25.00 sep 4.5 mag 8.93,9.96 Sp F8 dist. 131.75 pc (429.77 l.y.)

STF1480 AB: 152; 125x: Wide 2 Dm, B appears with averted vision at first, then can hold direct, light orange stars.  WDS says not physical, and there is -96% overlap of the parallax ranges.

11h 01m 44.86s +82° 10' 32.0" P.A. 331.00 sep 23.3 mag 9.52,11.17 Sp F0

STF1499 AB: 152; 125x: Well split, 2 Dm white stars.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, but there is -51% parallax range overlap, it is not likely binary.

11h 09m 28.18s +83° 05' 45.4" P.A. 319.00 sep 6.7 mag 10.24,10.47 Sp K2 dist. 55.59 pc (181.33 l.y.)

STF1539 AB: 152; 125x: Wide, 1 Dm, white.  WDS says it's physical, but there is -91% parallax range overlap, it is not possible to be binary.

11h 30m 18.10s +81° 02' 14.3" P.A. 313.00 sep 19.4 mag 8.49,9.85 Sp F8 dist. 78.19 pc (255.06 l.y.)

STF1606 AB: 152; 300x: Notched elongation, near equal, PA to southeast.  WDS grade 4 orbit, 1431-year period.  Unfortunately, there is no Gaia data for the secondary.

12h 10m 47.34s +39° 53' 29.5" P.A. 139.10 sep 0.6 mag 7.44,7.93 Sp A8III dist. 120.19 pc (392.06 l.y.)

STF1607 AB: 152; 125x: Easy wide pair, 1 Dm.  WDS says not physical, and there is -97% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 11m 33.63s +36° 05' 21.7" P.A. 29.00 sep 27.0 mag 8.89,9.83 Sp A3 dist. 188.68 pc (615.47 l.y.)

STF1609 AB: 152; 125x: White A and 2 Dm wide B.  WDS says it is physical, but there is no parallax data for the secondary, so it is not certain.

12h 11m 41.76s +50° 50' 15.8" P.A. 205.00 sep 11.1 mag 7.98,9.55 Sp F2 dist. 184.84 pc (602.95 l.y.)

STF1610 AB: 152; 125x: 2 Dm and quite wide.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 91% overlap of the parallax ranges, 3,543 AU weighted separation, 1.5+0.9 Msol.  But the radial velocity delta 2.1 exceeds the escape velocity, it is not likely binary.

12h 11m 53.03s +38° 46' 03.8" P.A. 331.00 sep 29.5 mag 8.56,10.62 Sp G4V dist. 139.28 pc (454.33 l.y.)

STF1613 AB: 152; 200x: Near equal, hairline split with seeing.  WDS uncertain, but there is 10% overlap of the parallax ranges, only 252 AU weighted separation, 1.7+1.7 Msol, so it is probably binary.

12h 12m 34.01s +35° 45' 45.6" P.A. 7.00 sep 1.2 mag 9.29,9.36 Sp F5 dist. 200 pc (652.4 l.y.)

STF1622 AB: 152; 125x: Pretty colors, yellow A and blue B, 2 Dm, wide.  WDS says parallax indicates non-physical, and there is -2% parallax range overlap, 2,609 AU weighted separation, 4.6+2.0 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 4.5 exceeds the escape velocity 2.1, it is not physical.

12h 16m 07.55s +40° 39' 36.6" P.A. 260.00 sep 11.6 mag 5.86,8.71 Sp M1III+F7V dist. 236.41 pc (771.17 l.y.)

STF1624 AB: 152; 125x: Excellent pair, pure white A and blue B, 2 Dm, pleasingly close split.  WDS uncertain, but there is 13% parallax range overlap, only 591 AU weighted separation, 1.8+0.9 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 2.5 is slightly less than the escape velocity 2.9, so it is possibly binary.

12h 16m 42.19s +39° 35' 34.5" P.A. 153.00 sep 5.9 mag 7.28,10.17 Sp A2.5V dist. 108.81 pc (354.94 l.y.)

STF1625 AB: 152; 125x; Bright pair, 1 Dm, wide, light yellow stars.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 19% overlap of the parallax ranges, 1,232 AU weighted separation, 1.7+1.5 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.5 is less than the escape velocity 2.2, so it is probably binary.

12h 16m 11.66s +80° 07' 30.3" P.A. 217.00 sep 14.5 mag 7.24,7.78 Sp F1V+F3V dist. 497.51 pc (1622.88 l.y.)

STF1632 AB: 152; 125x: Light yellow A and blue B, well split, 2 Dm, a fine pair.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, and there is 11% overlap of the parallax ranges, 1,601 AU weighted separation, 2.7+1.2 Msol, but the radial velocity delta 3.9 exceeds the escape velocity 2.1, it might not be binary.

12h 20m 13.50s +37° 54' 07.7" P.A. 192.00 sep 10.1 mag 6.83,9.98 Sp K0III+F9V dist. 165.29 pc (539.18 l.y.)

STF1638 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, near equal, wide.  WDS says this is not physical, and there is -30% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 24m 13.24s +43° 03' 37.1" P.A. 282.00 sep 8.3 mag 10.29,10.70 Sp F5

STF1641 AB: 152; 125x: Faint, near equal, pretty wide.  WDS says not physical, and there is -97% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 24m 33.48s +37° 43' 31.1" P.A. 22.00 sep 16.6 mag 10.90,11.08 Sp G

 

STF1642 AB: 152; 200x: Excellent close pair, light orange stars about 2" and nearly 2 Dm.  WDS uncertain, but there is -33% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 25m 45.00s +44° 44' 04.4" P.A. 180.00 sep 2.5 mag 8.80,9.40 Sp F5 dist. 244.5 pc (797.56 l.y.)

STF1645 AB: a52; 125x: Bright near equal white stars, wide.  WDS grade 5 orbit, 3477-year period.  In fact there is -1% overlap of the parallax ranges, though a small 433 AU weighted separation, 1.2+1.1 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.5 is less than the escape velocity 3.0.  I think it's too soon to tell if this is binary

12h 28m 04.45s +44° 47' 39.5" P.A. 156.40 sep 9.7 mag 7.49,8.08 Sp F9V+KV dist. 43.61 pc (142.26 l.y.)

STF1646 AB: 152: 300x: Difficult for this aperture, B seen with averted vision and can then only barely hold it direct, 2 Dm from a very faint primary, closely split.  WDS uncertain, but there is -61% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 28m 09.12s +36° 41' 02.1" P.A. 260.00 sep 5.6 mag 10.30,12.90 Sp F5

STF1656 AB: 152: 125x: Near equal, wide, faint.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, but there is -30% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 33m 36.29s +38° 37' 14.0" P.A. 205.00 sep 26.7 mag 9.67,9.70 Sp G8III

STF1675 AB: 152; 125x: Wide, faint, slight magnitude difference.  WDS uncertain, but there is no -98% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

12h 44m 28.14s +34° 24' 58.5" P.A. 3.00 sep 29.8 mag 9.62,10.22 Sp G8III

STF1694 AB: 152; 125x: Very bright near equal, light orange stars, wide.  WDS says physical, but there is no overlap of the parallax ranges, -6%, it is not binary.

12h 49m 13.80s +83° 24' 46.3" P.A. 324.00 sep 21.8 mag 5.29,5.74 Sp A1IIIsh dist. 178.89 pc (583.54 l.y.)

STF1720 AB: 152; 300x: Just split, significant delta mag, with seeing.  WDS uncertain, but there is 6% parallax range overlap, only 590 AU weighted separation, 2.3+2.2 Msol, so it is likely binary.

12h 59m 12.92s +82° 56' 05.4" P.A. 329.00 sep 1.7 mag 8.91,9.18 Sp A0

STF1745 AB: 152; 125x: White A and wide companion seen with averted vision only, 2 Dm.  WDS says not physical, and there is -94% parallax range overlap, it is not binary

13h 20m 17.23s +79° 26' 13.1" P.A. 182.00 sep 19.3 mag 8.92,11.60 Sp G5

STF1787 AB: 152; 200x: Very tough in poor seeing, since the primary is hazed most of the time. With averted vision I can sense a thickening in the haze which in better stretches resolves very faintly and close.  WDS uncertain, but there is -12% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

13h 40m 38.33s +81° 10' 51.0" P.A. 335.00 sep 2.0 mag 9.59,11.00 Sp F8 dist. 448.43 pc (1462.78 l.y.)

STF1851 AB: 152: 125x: Faint B seen with averted vision at first then can hold direct, closely split, 2 Dm.  WDS says not physical, and there is -46% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

14h 17m 11.18s +79° 51' 38.0" P.A. 329.00 sep 10.5 mag 9.78,12.30 Sp F8

27 june 2022

Had a relatively short session, since it's summer, from around 9:45pm to 11:15pm, but still plenty of pairs observed with the 6-inch.  I'm pretty efficient now with the Nexus to bring up targets in order of RA and using the laptop with ST just to type in the observation.  Very good transparency, good seeing (airy disks at 200x).

STF1662 AB: 152; 125x: Pretty light orange A, 2 Dm deeper orange B, wide.  WDS says not physical, and there is no -38% overlap of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.

12h 35m 48.64s +56° 34' 42.4" P.A. 243.00 sep 19.3 mag 7.83,9.75 Sp K0III dist. 167.22 pc (545.47 l.y.)

STF1691 AB: 152;125x: White and nearly 2 Dm B, very wide.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, and there is 99% overlap of the parallax ranges, 2,660 AU weighted separation, 1.6+1.2 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 1.1 is less than the escape velocity 1.4, so it is likely binary.

12h 54m 59.60s +58° 09' 37.6" P.A. 276.00 sep 18.7 mag 8.58,9.80 Sp F0IV dist. 68.17 pc (222.37 l.y.)

STF1695 AB: 152; 150x: White A and light-yellow B, nearly 2 Dm, closely separated.  Split at 125x but higher power showed nice airy disks and a clearer image.  WDS says it's physical, and there is 77% overlap of the parallax ranges, only 324 AU weighted separation, 2.2+1.5 Msol, so it is likely binary.

12h 56m 17.64s +54° 05' 58.1" P.A. 280.00 sep 3.7 mag 6.04,7.75 Sp A5m dist. 86.66 pc (282.68 l.y.)

STF1732 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, very wide, about 1 Dm.  WDS says physical, but notes "parallax indicates physical, Proper motion indicates non-physical."  There is 2% parallax range overlap, 1,936 AU weighted separation, 1.2+0.5 Msol, but the radial velocity delta 3.3 exceeds the escape velocity 1.2, and this explains why it is not binary.

13h 12m 37.57s +58° 26' 56.6" P.A. 127.00 sep 25.9 mag 8.68,10.42 Sp F7V dist. 82.51 pc (269.15 l.y.)

STF1752 AB: 152; 250x: Difficult, with seeing and high power, 1 Dm but seems fainter due to its closeness to A, around 1" separation.  WDS grade 5 orbit, 500-year period.  Unfortunately, Gaia shows there is no overlap of the parallax ranges, -26%, and in spite of the 73 AU weighted separation and 8.0+1.3 Msol, it is not likely binary.

13h 28m 49.82s +59° 55' 41.7" P.A. 103.60 sep 0.9 mag 8.19,9.90 Sp F8 dist. 73.42 pc (239.5 l.y.)

STF1754 AB: 152; 125x: Faint, very wide B on the edge of detectably, it appears as a fine point, brightens with averted vision.  WDS says not physical, and there is no -92% overlap of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.

13h 29m 58.81s +60° 21' 12.5" P.A. 14.00 sep 24.3 mag 8.18,10.61 Sp G5 dist. 387.6 pc (1264.35 l.y.)

STF1770 AB: 152; 175x: Beautiful close pair, light orange stars, 2 Dm.  Split with lower magnifications but best seen 175x.  WDS says it is physical, but there is no -60% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

13h 37m 42.92s +50° 42' 53.5" P.A. 123.00 sep 1.7 mag 6.93,8.18 Sp K3III: dist. 434.78 pc (1418.25 l.y.)

STF1774 AB: 152, 125x: Light yellow-white A and 2 Dm wide B.  WDS uncertain, but there is no -30% overlap of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.

13h 40m 23.35s +50° 31' 09.4" P.A. 135.00 sep 17.3 mag 6.34,10.51 Sp F7.7V dist. 25.33 pc (82.63 l.y.)

STF1784 AB: 152: 125x: White A and much fainter B, >2Dm, well split.  WDS says it's physical, but there is no overlap (-86%) of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.

13h 44m 25.25s +69° 13' 11.8" P.A. 204.00 sep 9.1 mag 8.12,10.82 Sp F5 dist. 124.53 pc (406.22 l.y.)

STF1795 AB: 152; 125x: White A and 3 Dm well separated B.  WDS uncertain, but there is 21% parallax range overlap, 1,288 AU weighted separation, 2.5+1.2 Msol, so it is likely binary.

13h 58m 55.41s +53° 06' 23.2" P.A. 2.00 sep 8.0 mag 6.91,9.83 Sp A3IV-V dist. 156.49 pc (510.47 l.y.)

STF1820 AB: 152; 125x: Excellent close pair, <1 Dm, very light orange stars.  WDS showing two orbital solutions, but both are impossibly close and cannot refer to AB.  There is no overlap of the parallax ranges, -92%, so it is not binary.  

14h 13m 00.76s +55° 19' 31.1" P.A. 123.00 sep 2.8 mag 9.06,9.42 Sp K2 dist. 38.26 pc (124.8 l.y.)

STF1827 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, near equal, wide, white.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 68% overlap of the parallax ranges, 2,294 AU weighted separation, 1.6+1.5 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.3 is less than the escape velocity 1.5, so it is very likely binary.  

14h 14m 11.87s +59° 14' 34.2" P.A. 209.00 sep 11.3 mag 9.62,9.91 Sp G5

STF1845 AB: 152: 125x: Wide and very much fainter B, seen with averted vision and can then hold it direct.  WDS says it is not physical, and there is -99% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

14h 23m 43.36s +61° 56' 13.5" P.A. 311.00 sep 44.1 mag 8.34,12.04 Sp F8 dist. 77.88 pc (254.04 l.y.)

STF1892 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, very closely split, near equal.   WDS uncertain, and there is 2% parallax range overlap, only 399 AU weighted separation, 1.2+1.1 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.6 is less than the escape velocity 3.2, so it is likely binary.

14h 52m 37.33s +59° 03' 03.8" P.A. 236.00 sep 3.1 mag 9.68,10.48 Sp G5

STF1898 AB 152; 175x: Very beautiful close pair, nearly 2Dm, best seen with moderate power.  WDS uncertain, but there is 34% overlap of the parallax ranges, only 306 AU weighted separation, 1.5+1.0 Msol, so it is possibly binary.

14h 56m 29.60s +59° 22' 47.6" P.A. 217.00 sep 2.9 mag 8.26,10.32 Sp F8 dist. 102.04 pc (332.85 l.y.)

STF1918 AB: 152; 125x: PX Dra, the primary has a range of 6.82-6.95 V.  Bright white A and faint wide B, about 3 Dm.  WDS says not physical, and there is -37% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

15h 07m 50.16s +63° 07' 01.6" P.A. 20.00 sep 17.8 mag 6.89,10.29 Sp F5IV-V dist. 95.42 pc (311.26 l.y.)

STF1927 AB: 152; 125x: White stars, near equal, wide.  BV Dra, 7.88 - 8.48 V over 8.4 hours!  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 19% overlap of the parallax ranges, 988 AU weighted separation, 1.2+1.0 Msol, so it is likely binary.

15h 11m 50.36s +61° 51' 25.3" P.A. 354.00 sep 16.0 mag 8.12,8.81 Sp F9V+B0 dist. 70.52 pc (230.04 l.y.)

STF1948 AB: 152; 125x: Ice-blue A and orangish B, 1 Dm, well separated.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, but there is -55% overlap of the parallax ranges, it is not binary.

15h 26m 34.86s +54° 53' 56.5" P.A. 48.00 sep 12.9 mag 8.71,9.65 Sp A5 dist. 127.71 pc (416.59 l.y.)

STF1975 AB: 152; 125x: Very faint B seen with averted vision only, white A, wide.  WDS says it is not physical, and there is -87% parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

15h 42m 41.93s +67° 03' 59.8" P.A. 43.00 sep 18.9 mag 8.09,11.80 Sp K5 dist. 1030.93 pc (3362.89 l.y.)

STF1976 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, near equal, wide.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical.  There is just 1% of parallax range overlap, 6,163 AU weighted separation, 1.9+1.8 msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.2 is less than the escape velocity 1.0.  This might be binary, but the near lack of parallax overlap is not in its favor.

15h 44m 54.96s +59° 25' 42.9" P.A. 72.00 sep 19.3 mag 9.66,9.92 Sp A8V

STF1996 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, wide, <1 Dm.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, and there is 96% overlap of the parallax ranges, 4,362 AU weighted separation, 1.4+1.3 Msol, and the radial velocity delta 0.4 is less than the escape velocity 1.0, so this is likely binary, though the weighted separation is a bit far.

15h 56m 31.13s +57° 16' 57.7" P.A. 108.00 sep 19.4 mag 10.22,10.65 Sp F8+K

STF2006 AC 152; 125x: Wide pair one delta.  Did not see AB 8.48/9.96 1.5".  AC has no parallax range overlap, -95%, so it is not binary.  Nor does AB, -79%.

16h 00m 18.28s +58° 56' 03.0" P.A. 211.00 sep 48.0 mag 8.48,9.74 Sp A3 dist. 206.19 pc (672.59 l.y.)

STF2009 AB: 152; 125x: 1 Dm, wide stars.  WDS says parallax indicates physical, but the parallax ranges do not overlap, -1%.  2,971 AU weighted separation, 1.5+1.1 Msol, and the radial velocity delta equals the escape velocity, 1.2.  Some question whether this is binary, as opposed to co-moving.

16h 01m 59.06s +60° 28' 57.3" P.A. 301.00 sep 17.0 mag 9.42,10.71 Sp F8

STF2045 AB: 152; 125x: Exceptionally fine close pair, >1 Dm, cream-white A and blue B.  WDS says this is not physical, but there is 31% parallax range overlap, only 302 AU weighted separation, 1.5+1.1 Msol, so it is possible it is binary.

16h 20m 18.35s +61° 29' 46.0" P.A. 186.00 sep 2.2 mag 8.80,10.18 Sp F8

STF2046 AB: 152; 125x: Faint pair, 1 Dm, well split.  WDS says this is physical, but there is no overlap of the parallax ranges, -34%, it is not binary.

16h 20m 53.83s +64° 21' 45.7" P.A. 221.00 sep 8.0 mag 9.73,10.30 Sp F8

STF2060 AB: 152; 125x: Faint near equal pair, closely split.  WDS says this is not physical, but there is 85% parallax range overlap, 1,131 AU weighted separation, 1.7+1.6 Msol, so it very likely is binary.

16h 28m 32.06s +56° 44' 07.9" P.A. 247.00 sep 3.8 mag 10.19,10.26 Sp G5 dist. 307.69 pc (1003.68 l.y.)

STF2092 AB: 152; 125x: Pretty white and 2 Dm, well split B.  WDS says proper motion indicates physical, and there is 6% parallax range overlap, 1,271 AU weighted separation, 1.7+1.3 Msol, so it is possible to be binary.

16h 39m 03.98s +60° 41' 58.8" P.A. 5.00 sep 8.2 mag 8.69,9.64 Sp G1IV dist. 118.34 pc (386.03 l.y.)

STF2099 AB: 152; 125x: Quite faint B seen with averted vision at first then can just hold direct, well separated from white A.  WDS says this is physical, but there is no -53% parallax overlap, it is not binary.

16h 38m 21.31s +70° 20' 18.4" P.A. 216.00 sep 9.8 mag 9.45,10.90 Sp K0

STF2108 AB: 152; 125x: 2 Dm wide pair.  WDS says proper motion indicates it is physical.  There is 87% parallax range overlap, 1,757 AU weighted separation, 1.0+0.7 Msol, but the radial velocity delta 1.7 is more than the escape velocity 1.3 -- is it probable this is a co-moving pair.

16h 48m 36.08s +55° 07' 45.7" P.A. 350.00 sep 26.6 mag 8.97,11.24 Sp G5 dist. 64.31 pc (209.78 l.y.)

STF2116 AB: 152; 125x:  Wide, white, near equal.  WDS uncertain, but there is 11% parallax range overlap, 4,080 AU weighted separation, a little far, 1.7+1.4 Msol, so it is somewhat possible this is binary.

16h 55m 13.49s +63° 31' 41.6" P.A. 4.00 sep 19.1 mag 9.40,10.12 Sp G5 dist. 81.43 pc (265.62 l.y.)

STF3084 AB: 152; 125x: White A and wide faint B, needed foveal coaxing to hold B.  WDS says it's physical, but there is no, -78%, parallax range overlap, it is not binary.

14h 21m 54.20s +62° 15' 29.6" P.A. 15.00 sep 30.5 mag 8.62,11.08 Sp A0

new dark site

An observing acquaintence let some of us in the area know of a good observing spot only a 2-3 hour drive from the Bay Area.  I decided to give it a try Thursday night.  I had planned to go to GSSP, but the satellites were showing a lot of high level moisture, and it would be cloudy on Saturday, so I decided it wasn't worth the 6-7 hour (one way) travel.  The site is pretty good, slightly darker than Pinnacles, so it might be worth the trip when ideal conditions are called for.

I used my 4-/8-inch combo bent refractor.  I noticed a thin crescent moon about to set over a nearby cliff, so I trained the scope on it and watched one rock cover over the other, with some trees on the cliff edge silloutetted in the earthshine.  It stayed warm through most of the night, and pretty dark at 21.62 SQML.  Transparency was 4.5/5, but after 2pm I could smell wetness in the air, and the transparency started to fail, the SQML reading went to 21.2.  The setting circles still don't work on my MaxLoad, likely because of insufficient resolution, so I star hopped.  I decided to view what this scope and night vision do best, HII regions, so I pulled out the Vogel's Sharpless guide (from which many of the photos were taken) and started from the top.

IC 4628: I observed this a few years ago from Willow Springs using a 10-inch and HBeta filter.  It was much fainter then.  Now with just the 4-inch and not quite astronomical dark, I could see the bright sweeping arc, streamers falling from it toward an open cluster, and a very bright knot floating above it.  This time I could see faint clouds drifting away from these two main nebula, something only visible in photos.  

Sh2-1: With 4-inch and 3nm, a vague haze to the south of Pi Scorpii, with a pillar of nebulosity hooking up north along the west edge of the FOV.  The edges of the nebulosity are brighter and sharper along the sides near the star.  With 8-inch can more clearly see a bifircation of the nebula to the south west, and the edges away from the star have more diffuse nebula coming off the edges.  Reflection nebula ~650 ly distant.

Sh2-2: Very vague large cloud which appears as a mottling of the darkness, surrounding a triangle of similar magnitude stars.  Overall it has the appearance of a pair of lungs, with a dark lane running N-S.  Vogel notes: "This HII region is a wind blown bubble surrounding the O6.5 Ia star and prominent X-ray eclipsing binary HD 153919 and is in the same direction (but much further) as the star cluster NGC 6281."  4-inch 3nm.

NGC 6256: This globular cluster was nearby so I had a look.  With the 8-inch unfiltered, the GC had an intensely bright and concentrated center, with a dense ball of stars surrounding that, and vast streams of stars radiating from it in all directions.  What's more there were so many stars in the intensely rich 2-degree FOV.  Stunning.  Globulars will be my next project after Sharpless...

Sh2-3: Relatively small, viewed in the 8-inch.  It has an S-shaped appearance starting with a faint coil of nebulosity around a bright star, then wending to the south where there is a thicker and brighter section.  The sourthern edge is deliniated by a bright streak.  In the 4-inch with a wider field, there is a near circle of nebulosity surronding it, brightest to the southwest.  Vogel notes this object is 4.5pc in size, and "is ionised by an O6 V star, most likely CGO 439."

Sh2-4: Appears as a bright knot in a wider sweep of nebulosity, quite easy in the 4-inch.  It is said to be ionized by and physically associated with the stars of open cluster Havlen-Moffat 1, which lies ~15' to the northwest.  In this Aladin screen capture HM1 is under the reticle and the nebula is to the southwest.  In the scope, HM1 appeared as a small clump of stars, much like many others in the field, and it didn't draw much attention.  The nebula is also known as RCW 121.  The nebula is in the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, 

Sh2-5: Large, fairly bright, no discernable shape other than vague cloud forms.  In the southwest section the nebulosity seems to sweep out in a fan shape from one star.  Also ionized by HM1.  

Sh2-6: NGC 6302, The Bug Nebula.  With the 4-inch it was very small in the 4-degree field, but easily seen and already showing an S-curve eminating from a bright central region.  In the 8-inch and using a 20mm eyepiece to increase the image scale, unfiltered, the amount of detail seen was stunning.  Both wings from the bright center were bifurcated or forked, and accentuated with bright knots, and there were many fine filaments woven throughout these wings.

Sh2-7: Long mottled streak eminating to the southwest from Delta Scorpii, breaking up into spreading filaments near a group of three bright stars.  Best in the wide field.  

Sh2-8: NGC 6334, Cat's Paw.  Having never observed this area before, I was completely shocked at the amount and brightness of nebulocity here.  The amazing nebula came alive with the 8-inch and 3nm.  Everything was mottled and full of detail!  Each "toe" was a a bright puff of nebulosity and mottled in its own way.  The southern one spread in a fan shape from a bright star and seemed rippled with bow shocks.  The southwest was dense and closely mottled, and the northern was a complex of streamers and dense curds.  The northwest fragment slowly diffused, as if wind blown, to the west.  A very remarkable area.  With the wider FOV in the 4-inch there were faint trails nebulosity which seemed to connect it to other bright nearby HII regions NGC 6357 and Sh2-10. 

Sh2-10: Three degrees WNW of the Cat's Paw, it is a large mottled cloud seemingly centered on a relatively bright star in the field.  Vogel notes the nebula "is in the same direction as the Wolf-Rayet star WR 88."  Best in the 4-inch.

Sh2-11: = NGC 6357, and with the 4-inch I can get Sh2-8, -10, and -11 in the same dramatic field.  It has three main large bright mottled knots and a C-shaped curved structure with many fine filaments reaching up from it.  The center is sprinkled with many small stars (Pismis 24 open cluster).  

Sh2-12: A very large, bean shaped cloud with ragged edges and dense mottling, curved around a bright star -- which has several fainter stars densely packed around it.  This is open cluster NGC 6383.  Vogel notes that  Sh2-12 is ionised by the binary O-star (O7V + O7V) HD 159176, which is in the star cluster NGC 6383, which in turn is in Sgr OB1.  M6 the Butterfly Cluster is in the same FOV with the 4-inch.

Sh2-13: A very large cloud mottled cloud centered on a star, with the denser / brighter region forming a cap to the north.  A larger field of nebulosity is closeby to the southwest.   

Sh2-15: A mainly round nebula, darker in the middle and with streams of faint nebulosity escaping from the weak northeast wall.  8-inch shows the bright, thick south eastern arc and dark nebula intruding in the western section, a club-like clound and a very dark hole.  The center of the nebula was crennlated with dark lobes.   Vogel: "This HII region is ionised by the O8 V star HD 161853 and is part of the S15-S20 complex of HII regions. This region is also called W25 or Gum 69."

At this point I took a break and looked at the Milky Way with my night vision at 1x and 3x using my mirror mount.  Simply stunning.  The dark nebula were especially prominent, and in some sections seemed to be an evaporating fog off the stream of the Milky Way.  Using a 5nm filter I traced all the nebulous clouds from the southern horizon through Cygnus and into Cepheus.  What struck me was seeing a bridge of faint nebulosity which seemed to connect Sh2-119 behind the North American Nebula all the way to IC 1396 in Cepheus.  This photo I found online (by Kotz Tar) kind of shows hints of the nebulosity, in red, but for me it was a very obvious, if faint, stream that very much seemed to connect the two.  It wasn't just the star stream, it was definitely nebulous. This image also shows the Veil, including Pickering's Triangle, in the same field -- which I could see too.  Pretty amazing.

I also saw a very large round nebula of around 10-degrees diameter centered on a bright star north of Scorpio's claws.  The brighter portions are Sh2-27 & LBN 30.  I observed these with the 4-inch at Spring CalStar, but only in pieces since the field of view was too small.  Now with 1x I could see Sh2-27 and LBN30 as brightenings in a much larger round cloud of mottled nebulosity.  (Image Project Nightflight)

Sh2-16: Small box shaped nebula with ragged edges, with a fairly dense area of faint stars on the southern end (which is Collinder 347 open cluster).  

Sh2-17: Very faint, small knot of nebula in a dense star field, difficult to find as there's no brighter stars nearby.  

Sh2-18 -19: Faint nebula which sprouts from two stars in a fan shape to the north, with a faint ragged flap drifting off to the northeast.  

Sh2-20: Very faint, small, forked knot of nebulosity, also in a dense field of stars.

Sh2-21: Very faint, very small, irregular round glow, difficult.  Took a long time to find and needed the 8-inch to bring it out.  Vogel says "this HII region is located near the galactic nucleus and is associated with a giant molecular cloud and two star clusters."  8000pc distant.

Sh2-22: Large, thick parenthesis of nebula, very strongly mottled, surrounding a bright star. Vogel: "This is a ring nebula surrounding the O-star HD 162978."  (image Jim Brunell)

Sh2-25: Lagoon Nebula.  What can be said but so much detail, so much to be seen.  Dark nebula smoking, a fizz of nebula round it, with arcs and bridges.  Vogel: "The Lagoon nebula (M8 = NGC 6523-NGC 6530) is a large HII region mainly ionized by two O-class stars, 9 Sagitarii [O4V((f))] and HD 165052 (O6.5V + O7.5V). It is embedded within a molecular cloud which extends to the star cluster NGC 6530. Within M8’s core lies a distinctive bipolar nebula called the Hourglass, a blister-type HII region which has been produced by the O7.5V star Herschel 36 (Her 36). Note that RCW 146 also includes Gum 75 (Sh 2-29, Sh 2-31, and Sh 2-32), the nebula complex next to the Lagoon nebula....In 2003, an infrared cluster was reported in NGC 6559, which is part of Sh 2-29. Sh 2-29, Sh 2-31, and Sh 2-32 all appear to be part of the same nebula complex although the associated CO elocities suggest that these objects may have quite different distances."

Sh2-33: Extremely dim, ripples of nebulsity seen only when moving the scope, very large, in the 4-inch.  Vogel: "The faint red glow of the nearby molecular cloud MBM 38."

Sh2-34: Patchy nebula above the Lagoon, like a broken-up contrail.

Sh2-37: A bright, raggedly round nebula centered on a bright star.  It is separated by a dark lane from a very large curving stream of nebulosity which is Sh2-35, which is fractured and crazed with many wisps of dark nebula.  Vogel: "Sh 2-35 and Sh 2-37 are associated with a 130 thousand solar mass giant molecular cloud at a distance of 1800 pc and appear to be part of the Sagittarius OB7 association. Sh 2-37 is visible through a hole in this molecular cloud. This is a very active star formation region. Sh 2-37 is also known as IC 1283/1284 and the powerful radio source W34. Sharpless notes that this HII region is associated with the bright stars HD 167722 (B5), HD 167815 (B2) and HD 313098 (B5)."

Sh2-36: Extremely faint, looks like streamers hanging down from a cloud when it rains.  Vogel: "The faint rusty red glow of nearby giant molecular cloud MBM 39."

Sh2-38: Small, extremely faint haze, in a dipper-like asterism, 8-inch.  Vogel: "This appears to be the same as the reflection nebula VdB 114 surrounding the B8/B9Ib star HD 165811. It shows a strong (if small) image in hydrogen-alpha, however, so perhaps there is both emission and reflection in this little 

nebula. Sh 2-38, Sh 2-40, Sh-41 and Sh 2-42 all appear to be embedded in the Sagittarius OB4 association."

Sh2-39 & -41: Sh2-41 is a very large glow streaming through very dark and dramatic dark nebulae B92 & 92 (which are white in this negative image).  Sh2-39 is on the southern edge of Sh2-41and appears as a faint nebulous patch.  

Sh2-40: faint, bifurcated faint nebula.  Two close stars sprout the brighter wing of the nebula which sweeps to the south.  The norther nebula is fainter and is fan shaped, with the wider section to the west.  Vogel: "A look at this region in hydrogen-alpha shows that Sh 2-40 appears to be several bright knots of nebulosity extending north from the much larger nebula Sh 2-41. Sh 2-40 lies in the same direction as the powerful radio source W33, but the distance estimate for W33 is about 4000 pc. So there seem to be two objects here in the same field of view, one visible only at radio frequencies.  Sh 2-38, Sh 2-40, Sh-41 and Sh 2-42 all appear to be embedded in the Sagittarius OB4 association. The massive protostellar object IRAS 18089-1732 is in the same area of sky but is located at a distance of 3600 pc.

Sh2-42: I tried very hard for this one, including using 8-inch with the 20mm eyepiece and flipping through all the filters.  No luck.  It is a PNe and I probably would get it with an OIII filter.  

Transparency began to suffer at around 2am, I could smell wetness in the air, and the SQML readings were 21.2.

Sh2-43: Fairly faint, irregularly round cloud, just to the west of a bright star, seen in both 4-inch and 8-inch.  Vogel: "This faint diffuse nebula is in the same location as the suspected supernova remnant GAL 013.1-00.5 and appears to be located in an empty region bordered by the OB regions SGR OB1, SGR OB7 and SCT OB3. There is a 0.3 degree difference between the positions of RCW 156 and Sh 2-43. Sharpless gives the diameter of Sh 2-43 as 15 minutes = 0.25 degrees. RCW gives the diameter of RCW 156 as 50x50 minutes. These objects may not be part of the same nebula, but they are clearly very close in the sky."

Sh2-44: Very large, pretty bright, strongly mottled round cloud, with many stars and dark patches within.  Vogel: "This nebula is connected to the Oe star HD 167633 (which Humphreys connects to the Serpens OB1 association) and may be part of the Scutum supershell in the inner galaxy."

Sh2-45: M17, the Omega Nebula.  Wow!  Tons of detail, mottling, etc.  Too much to describe.  Vogel: This is M17, the Omega nebula, also called W38, the Swan nebula, and the Lobster nebula among other names. M17 is ionised by an O4V-O4V double star system (Kleinmann's star) at the core of the massive young cluster NGC 6618 (about one million years old), which contains over 800 stars, including 2 O5V star systems and 100 stars hotter than B9 (by comparison, Orion has 8 stars hotter than B9). The total ultraviolet flux is about 25 times higher than for Orion. A large part of the nebula is hidden by a dark dust lane the runs near the central cluster and splits the main visible nebula from two attached nebulae on the other side of the dust lane (IC 4706 and IC 4707). M17 is a blister on the side of a much larger 

giant molecular cloud and star formation region (M17SW) that contains 30 thousand solar masses of molecular hydrogen.