Stocking up: Observations 22 Septemeber 2022

Hi everyone,

I hope this report finds you and those close to you well.

Last night Aubrey and I did some 'over the phone' observing. And while there were clouds in the sky, the Eastern sky was clear from approximately 20:30UT. For this reason, we spent time obseriving in and around Cassiopeia.

All observations were done with my f/5 250mm Newtonian Reflector on a Dobsonian base. 
I aligned my 10X50 finder scope using the lovely orange coloured star Schedar. From here, I went to the Double Cluster in Persues as it is my favourite object in the night sky. It was an esay find with my 2" 30mm eyepiece. I notiecd on the star atlas that there was another open cluster close by. Using a line of bright stars that run from NGC 869 I came to 'Stock 2'.

Stock 2 contains many 9th and 10th magnitude stars. I described to Aubrey as looking a little bit like Hercules. Little did I know that Stock 2 is affectionaly known as the 'Muscleman Cluster'.

Having observed this nice cluster of stars with the 30mm eyepiece, I decided to switch to my 2" 17mm eyepiece. This eyepiece has a 70° AFOV, so I had a 0.95° TFOV. As you can imagine the the eyepiece was filled with stars. If you haven't already viewed this pretty object I'd strongly encourage you to. Some say that the line of stars between the Strongman asterism and the NGC 869 is the rope by which the Strongman is pulling the Double Cluster, and I'd have to agree. 

Seeing that my first observation from Jurgen Stock's catalogue was so successful, I decided to go after another one. This time it was 'Stock 5', and it's just NW of Epsilon Cassiopeiae. This object contains a looser arrangement of stars and with 0.95° TFOV I counted about 45 stars. 

To give you a better idea of what these Clusters look like I intend to go back out tonight and attempt to sketch them.

As a side note, I did take in M31, and Saturn earlier in the night, but the seeing was quite bad. That being said I did see the NEB, and the shadow of the ring on the globe. I also managed to see Titan and Rhea - so not too bad I suppose!

As I was packing up at 22:19UT four bright lights flew from Aries towards Capricornus. They were low in the sky, and of equal magnitude. Were they starlinks?

That's my lot for now,. Thanks for reading and clear skies to all,

Darren.

 

 

Very interesting report, Darren!
Thank you for describing those delightful open clusters. 

Stock 2 just about makes into Cassiopeia. 
It contains 54 stars. 
I will forward to your sketch of either cluster in a future edition of Orbit. 
Stock 5 sounds great too. 
I wonder how many stars are in it. 

I'm sorry to say I was experiencing too much dew. 
I'm in the process of cleaning my eyepieces as a result. 
"Optical Wonder" is extremely reliable at cleaning all lenses. 

However I did observe 2 new doubles on Thursday night. 
Here are their details. 

BU 1096. Magnitudes: A = 8.8. C = 9.7. Sep = 35.5". PA =  241 degrees. B is not going to make itself visible with my scope. It's too close to the primary. 

STF 38. Magnitudes: A = 8.7. B = 9. Sep = 17.1". PA = 144 degrees. 
Both these doubles are easily separated at 40x and are in the same 2 degree fov.  
A bit of a double-double I reckon! 

I'm glad you spent some time at Saturn, Darren. 

Roll on Jupiter. It's at opposition right now shining at -2.9. 
I've never heard of it reaching -3.0. 

Clear skies to you all from Aubrey. 

Very many thnaks for your message Aubrey.

Another double-double - Wow - I must check that out! 

The forecast for until Saturday looks dismal - speaking of Saturday - that's International observe the Moon the night. 

I've checked their website and it's very good with lots of free resources for promoting the event and for activities for outreach. 

I'm thinking of maybe doing something for the neighbours where I live - any suggestions or pitfalls that I must watch out for if I did do something?

Clear skies,

Darren.

Hello Darren. 

The only pieces of advice I can give are below. 

1. Have Rukl with you. 
2. Use low powered eyepieces. 
3. Never leave your telescope alone with somebody. 
4. You will have to keep adjusting your scope when one person in finished looking at the Moon. 

I'm sure there are others here who can give further pieces of advice. 

I wish you clear skies for Saturday! 

Hi Aubrey,

Very many thanks for these helpful suggestions!

Clear skies,

Darren.