24 march 2026 deepsky nv from home

Transparent sky but poorer seeing, so I decided to use the 20-inch with night vision for this session.  Logged a lot of objects, mainly from the DeepMap 600 and TAC Eye Candy list, which is actually a very good list of showpiece objects.  I was pleased with the scope's pointing accuracy even with long slews, I did something right when cleaning and reinstalling the servocat controller!

NGC 2392, stunning bipolar planetary nebula located approximately 2,870 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Seen at small scale, it looked like a fried egg with a brighter and slightly elongated mottled center oval, and a fainter ragged loose mane.  Dual band filter showed it best.

NGC 2419 Intergalactic Wanderer, globular cluster in Lynx, 300,000 light years distant, was a puff of unresolved stars in an irregular cloud at the end of an arc of three foreground stars, with some variation in greyscale tone. 

M 67 glorious large open cluster in Cancer, with bright and faint stars scattered 

UGC 4299 08h 15m 59.0s +23°11'58" mag. 14.0b 1.8 x 0.2' Flat galaxy, very small, in the middle of two stars forming an arc, small bright core and elongated halo.  IC 2248 is nearby, round halo with a bright round core.

NGC 2353 Loose open cluster, highlighted by two oval loops of stars overlapping along their edges.

NGC 2355 Pretty, loose cluster, wedge shaped with brighter and fainter stars in middle.  Per Wikipedia it is approximately a billion years old and is located about 5,400 light years (ly) from the Solar System and 1,100 ly above the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. At that distance, the angular size of the cluster halo corresponds to a radius of about 23 ly. The core radius is 2.3 ly, and the central component radius is 11 ly.

NGC 2420 Large loose, its brighter stars look like a Hercules asterism, with a body of faint stars in the middle.  The cluster is about two billion years old, and it is located 10,000 light years away.

NGC 2683 Stunning near edge-on spiral with bright compact core and swirling arms, prominent dark lanes in the near edge.

NGC 2775 Large bright oval core and what seems a 3:1 halo.  Did not resolve the fine dark lanes and arms, through the halo was subtly mottled.

NGC 2841 Bright glowing core with very large, very extended mottled halo.  30 mly, This is the prototype for the flocculent spiral galaxy,[5] a type of spiral galaxy whose arms are patchy and discontinuous.[8] The morphological class is SAa, indicating a spiral galaxy with no central bar and very tightly-wound arms. 

NGC 2903 Bright, compact core with large halo inclined and obvious spiral arms, the one side of which has an extension which flows down and away.  Two knots on each tip outer end of the arms.  A large diffuse haze surrounds the halo.

NGC 3003 Small bright galaxy, near edge-on, the core is off-center, and with the elongated tips the galaxy appears to be curved.  

NGC 3079 Amazing long flat galaxy with halo which seems to be curved in a gentle parenthesis, as if galaxy is falling with the bright compact core being slightly heavier and the halo extended wings.  The core itself seems to be submerging into the galaxy -- perhaps due to the "bubble" with may be due to star formation triggered by particles streaming from the supermassive black hole in the center.  Did not remember to look for the twin quasar nearby.

NGC 3184 Bright, small core and very faint diffuse irregularly oval mottled halo.  Did not pick out spiral arms.

NGC 3344 bright small core, round mottled halo, an arc of three stars runs through the halo.

NGC 3384  Three galaxy group, two nearly identical with small bright core and elongated halos, and a third fainter looser spiral with faint core

NGC 3607 Two bright large ellipticals with bright cores, two smaller galaxies in the field too.

NGC 3628 Amazing long flat galaxy with a dark lane twisting through the center from end to end.  The halo is hazy and almost rectangular, making the galaxy look like a coin spun on the table.  The long diffuse tidal tail was easy direct vision.  I remember how hard Akarsh worked for this with his 18-inch at a dark site...

NGC 3675 bright core large extended near edge on mottled halo.  Did not pick out spiral arms

NGC 3877 Bright elongated galaxy, near bright star 

NGC 3941 small galaxy with a large bright core and hazy oval halo, elongated 3:1 N-S 

NGC 3115 Spindle Galaxy Sextans.  Very compact bright round core like a ball on a large, elongated halo which looks like a coin spun coming to rest with two rods protruding from each thin side 

23 march 2026

A long drought of observations due to poor weather and a busy life.  Used the 20-inch but seeing worsened through the night so I masked down to 7-inches for some doubles and stars on the red star list.  I spent a lot of time at the start of the night on Procyon and felt like I detected it with the 20-inch at 280x, but it was fleeting and more of a brightening than a hard star.  I need to get up a mountainside and out from under the marine haze.  

33 Hya: Light yellow 

56 Leo: Light yellow 

60 Cnc: Deep yellow 

BLL  27 AB: Deep red color, faint.  It is a red carbon star, and has a wide faint companion which I did not see.

08h 56m 40.14s +19° 50' 56.8" P.A. 254.00 sep 139.0 mag 8.68,12.83 Sp C dist. 1063.83 pc (3470.21 l.y.)

BSO 8 AB: Light yellow, companion with a near equal, well separated star of the same color.  Spectral class G0IV/V (yellow).  -60% PRO, it is not binary.

12h 24m 49.45s -58° 07' 10.9" P.A. 334.00 sep 4.7 mag 7.84,7.98 Sp G0IV/V dist. 173.31 pc (565.34 l.y.)

A1588 AB: 508; 380x: With 7-inch AB is elongated and faint C (BU 590 AB,C) seen widely separated with averted vision.  With 20-inch, AB is split with seeing, 1 Dm, and C is direct vision.  No Gaia data for B.  

09h 27m 14.65s -09° 13' 25.3" P.A. 196.00 sep 0.4 mag 7.79,6.95 Sp A2V dist. 234.74 pc (765.72 l.y.)

H 6 111 Yellow 

R  Leo: Brick red 

RS Cnc Pretty light orange color

 

STF1355 AB: 178; 140x: Slightly unequal yellow white stars, closely separated. 76% PRO, 105 AU WS, 1.2+1.2 Msol, it is likely binary.  SOC grade 4 orbit 1073-year period.

09h 27m 16.69s +06° 13' 59.0" P.A. 358.00 sep 1.7 mag 7.71,7.76 Sp F7V dist. 54.32 pc (177.19 l.y.)

STF1357 AB: 178; 180x: Well split, very much fainter B seen with direct vision, dull yellow A.  -3% PRO, and RVD 3.7 > 2.2 EV, it is not binary.

09h 28m 20.52s -09° 59' 12.8" P.A. 54.00 sep 7.8 mag 6.94,9.85 Sp K0 dist. 242.72 pc (791.75 l.y.)

STF1365 AB: 178; 140x: Nice white pair, 1 Dm, well split.  5% PRO but with 4.7% error, 397 AU WS, 2.0+1.7 Msol, 0.06 PMV, it probably is not binary.

09h 31m 31.26s +01° 27' 55.1" P.A. 157.00 sep 3.4 mag 7.38,7.98 Sp F9III dist. 95.69 pc (312.14 l.y.)

STF1371 AB: 178; 140x: White and 2 Dm B well split.  -87% PRO, it is not binary.

09h 35m 25.26s +03° 54' 19.4" P.A. 275.00 sep 8.3 mag 7.86,10.19 Sp G0 dist. 47.04 pc (153.44 l.y.)

8 january 2025, Procyon B with an 80mm?

Nearly a month with no observing due to stormy weather.  Last night was clear but with mediocre transparency and choppy seeing, ever with the 6-inch.  I decided to observe with the 80mm f/15 Mizar Kaiser refractor I have mounted on the 6-inch.  It is a wonderful telescope, perfect optics, and was not as affected by the seeing.  I switched between a 25mm and 10mm Plossls for low and high powers (I should have used by turret to make the change more convenient!).  

For an observing list I used Argyle's An Anthology of Visual Double Stars.  I entered all the pairs discussed in that book into a SkyTools observing list a few weeks ago.  It is a richer experience to both observe and learn more about what I'm looking at.  Unfortunately, the log function was not working on SkyTools, so I entered my observations into a notebook.  It was cold, but fortunately not dewy.  I resolved Sirius B in the 80mm while doing the 2-star alignment with the Nexus DSC.

Since I mention it in this entry's title, I'll cover Procyon B first, though I observed it at around 11pm, half an hour before I stopped.  Many people will assume more aperture is needed for challenging pairs, but I find this is not always correct.  Larger aperture has the resolving power and light grasp, but it throws out so much more diffraction on bright stars than smaller apertures the view is spoiled.  With B at a 5" separation, and at 10.8 magnitude, would 80mm still have a chance to resolve it?  As a "rule of thumb" (as discussed by Bruce MacEvoy and others), a telescope should have a star magnitude limit of +2.5 the faint unequal companion to detect it.  An 80mm's magnitude limit is only 11.5 (and assuming better conditions than I had) whereas the rule of thumb dictates a telescope which can get down to 13.3, or >178mm.  I did resolve Sirius B with the 80mm earlier in the night, which at magnitude 8.4 is within the +2.5 (8.4+2.5=10.9, <11.5 limit of 80mm).  It's worth trying 80mm, especially one of fantastic quality, to see what would happen on Procyon.  My general sense for these challenges is that one needs to find a balance: small enough aperture so the primary's diffraction is not over-powering, but large enough to detect the companion.  

I first observed Rigel A-BC, which has a 9" separation, to get a sense of the distance 5" would be (slightly less than half).  I then observed Procyon, which presented a slightly wavering airy disk and several round concentric diffraction rings.  The transparency caused a haze to appear within and around the rings.  I saw three fainter, wider stars near to the primary.  Using 267x I had a sense of a star trying to resolve within that haze but was not certain.  I then used a 9mm orthoscopic eyepiece which has a crosshair installed, 297x.  I was able to hide the primary behind one line of the crosshair (and I impressed myself being able to do so, and the steady tracking of the mount!).  It neatly covered the primary and only the diffraction ring and haze appeared.  In better moments a small mass appeared to the north (the correct PA) and at roughly the correct separation.  It was trying very hard to resolve to a star, and I think maybe it would have if the transparency was better.  It moved with the scope and was steady in the same location no matter where I moved it in the field, so I am fairly certain it is not a reflection or an aberration.  Unfortunately, I could see no such mass in the 6-inch telescope (which is not as great optically, and the seeing threw up too much diffraction). As exciting as this was, I don't count this as a confirmed observation, it's too marginal.  I should have tried a hexagonal mask, and maybe some filters.  I long for the "no doubt about it" clean clear view, and I plan to take this and larger apertures up to one of our local mountaintops when seeing and transparency are better to make this observation again.

STF 774 AB: AC seen with 80mm at 48x, faint but solid.  AB is elongated at 80mm at 120x.  In the 6-inch at 180x, AB is split in poor seeing.  AB with a SOC grade 4 orbit, 5587-year period, and will not move much for the next couple of hundred years. Gaia parallax data is missing. 

AC: 05h 40m 45.52s -01° 56' 33.3" P.A. 10.00 sep 57.6 mag 1.88,9.55 Sp +A? dist. 225.73 pc (736.33 l.y.)

AB: 05h 40m 45.52s -01° 56' 33.3" P.A. 167.00 sep 2.5 mag 1.88,3.70 Sp +B0III dist. 225.73 pc (736.33 l.y.)

STF 900 AB: 80; 48x: Lovely wide white and 2 Dm B, which is bluish. No parallax range overlap, -26% it is not binary.  A Herschel discovery.

06h 23m 46.10s +04° 35' 34.2" P.A. 29.00 sep 12.1 mag 4.42,6.64 Sp A5IV+F5V dist. 37.5 pc (122.32 l.y.)

STF 919 BC: 80; 140x: Beta Mon. BC is elongated in the 80mm at 48x, split nicely with 140x, yellow-white stars, C fainter by a half magnitude.  It provides a nice surprise for the observer, to bump up magnification a bit and "discover" a double.  Argyle relates how Castelli discovered it by borrowing a telescope from Galileo in 1617.  And with the wider A star, which is half a magnitude brighter than B, it forms a small arc.  Herschel called it "one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens; but requires a fine evening."  There is only Gaia parallax data for A and C, but the two of those together have 77% parallax range overlap, 2,092 AU weighted separation, making a strong case they are gravitationally bound.

06h 28m 49.07s -07° 01' 59.0" P.A. 132.00 sep 7.3 mag 4.62,5.00 Sp B4V+B2V dist. 207.47 pc (676.77 l.y.)

STF 950 AB: 80; 48x: Bright star and its 3 Dm faint wide companion sitting in the middle of a large, sparse open cluster (NGC 2264, Christmas Tree cluster).  18 different components measured over the years.  Argyle says the primary is "thought to be the source of a bubble of hot gas which influences the kinematic properties of the surrounding gas and stars."  No nebulosity seen!  -15% PRO, it is not likely binary.

06h 40m 58.66s +09° 53' 44.7" P.A. 214.00 sep 3.0 mag 4.66,7.79 Sp O7V+B1.5V dist. 281.69 pc (918.87 l.y.)

STF 948 AB: 80; 140x: At first I saw a wide 2 Dm pair at 48x, and the primary did not appear round, so I increased power to 140x and had a hairline split, slight delta magnitude.  It is a wonderful 2+1 system.  AB has -3% parallax range, so it's a toss-up if it's binary.  SOC grade 4 orbit, 733-year period.  It was a Herschel discovery.  

06h 46m 14.15s +59° 26' 30.1" P.A. 64.00 sep 1.9 mag 5.44,6.00 Sp A3V+A1IV dist. 65.83 pc (214.74 l.y.)

STF 982 AB: 80; 140x: Best view between either scope was 80mm at 140x.  Well split 2 Dm, yellow-white and yellow-orange.  No Gaia parallax for the primary, though there is a SOC grade 4 orbit 1749-year period.

06h 54m 38.63s +13° 10' 40.1" P.A. 142.00 sep 7.4 mag 4.75,7.80 Sp F0Vp dist. 25.63 pc (83.61 l.y.)

HJ 3945 AB: 80; 48x: Orange and blue, wide pair, very Albireo-esque (it's nicknamed the "Winter Albireo").  -83% PRO, it is not binary.  

07h 16m 36.84s -23° 18' 56.1" P.A. 50.00 sep 26.5 mag 5.00,5.84 Sp K3Ib+dF0 dist. 434.78 pc (1418.25 l.y.)

STF 1066 AB: 80; 140x: Wasat. Excellent pair, pale yellow-orange A and very faint B outside A's diffraction ring, a very fine point.  Discovered by Herschel the same night he discovered Uranus!  45% PRO, 108 AU WS, 1.9+0.7 Msol, but with a -0.25 proper motion vector -- I wonder because its orbit is taking it in the opposite direction?      The orbit does predict a rapid swing from west to east, which is consistent with that -- so proper motion is sometimes not a good indicator of binarity.  SOC grade 5 orbit 1418-year period.  Another Herschel discovery.

07h 20m 07.39s +21° 58' 56.4" P.A. 229.00 sep 5.5 mag 3.55,8.18 Sp F2V+K6V dist. 18.54 pc (60.48 l.y.)

STF 1110 AB: 80; 48x: Castor. Bright unequal white pair, with 2 fainter wide stars nearby.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 459-year period.  Argyle: "It was used by William Herschel in 1803 to demonstrate that pairs of stars are genuinely connected by a mutual force of gravity."  

07h 34m 35.86s +31° 53' 17.8" P.A. 51.00 sep 5.4 mag 1.93,2.97 Sp A1V+A4Vm dist. 15.6 pc (50.89 l.y.)

STF 1196 AB: 80; 140x: Zeta Cnc.  Lovely close pair, nearly 2 Dm, split at both 48x and 140x, including the C pair.  Flamsteed discovered the AB-C pair in 1680, Herschel the AB in 1781.

08h 12m 12.79s +17° 38' 51.2" P.A. 349.00 sep 1.1 mag 5.30,6.25 Sp F8V dist. 25.08 pc (81.81 l.y.)

STF 1268 AB: 80; 48x: Iota Cnc.  Gold and blue, wide, lovely.  Discovered first by Mayer in 1777, then Herschel in 1782.  Might not be binary due to parallax difference.

STF 1321 AB: 80; 48x: Faint, equal pair, wide.  7.79/7.88, 14".  Tentative orbit published, and both stars might be exoplanet hosts.

STF 1334 AB: 80; 140x: !! Very fine close split, large delta.  A Herschel discovery.  3.92/6.09 2.6"

STF 1424 AB: 80; 140x: Orange 2 Dm, good split.  Herschel discovery.  2.37/3.64 4.7".