Bloody typical. More clear skies than I know what to do with, and what do we now have now – A full on Moon! Having decided that anything galactic or nebulous was going to be a waste of time, I set Skytools 3 the task of finding me some open clusters up near the Zenith that would be suitable for observation. As my Collinder observing programme has been quiet of late, I set the search to specifically search for these only.
Session Stats
- Date: 26/09/2015
- Time: 20:30 – 23:35 UT
- Seeing: I Perfectly Stable,
- Transparency: I Extremely Clear,
- Temp:10.0c,
- Pressure: 1014mb,
- Humidity: 85%,
- Dew Point: 7.0 ,
- Wind: 3.5mph,
- SQM: ?
- NELM: ?
NGC6910, Collinder420
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′, West is to the 10 O’Clock
The cluster contains about 17 10th mag stars to the South of two orange stars of 7.0 and 7.9 mag, which acts a pointer to the cluster.
Collinder419, Lund940, OCL177
In the TMB 80 f/6, 26mm Plossl, 18 X, 2.8°. West is to the 10 O’Clock
The first thing that strikes you is a curved V shape of stars to the SW of the cluster. It immediately reminded me of the stylised Seagulls that painters use in landscape paintings. The body of which is 11 arc/min from the cluster’s centre.
When the cluster is viewed through the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′, is quite unremarkable and just seems to consist of a 5.8 mag double , a bright couple of 8.6 and 9.7 stars and a couple of 11.6 and 12.2 stars just on the edge of visibility.
The Seagul is the highlight from the FOV of this cluster 🙂
IC4996, Collinder418
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′ West is to the 10 O’Clock.
There is a small group of 3 or 4 stars at the core of 8.0 to 11.0 mag with fainter stars further out just perceptible in the 12.0 to 13.0 mag range. . From the core there is a curved line of stars spiralling out heading North, then East ending at a 7.6mag star 6 arc/sec from the centre.
NGC6871,Collinder13
In the TMB 80 f/6, 26mm Plossl, 18 X, 2.8° West is to the 3 O’Clock.
The core of the cluster is made up of 7 brighter stars ranging of 5.0 to 7.0 mag. Within the cluster there are about 20 faint 10.0 to 11.0 mag range. The brightest star of the cluster is 5.0 mag the NNE. The cluster itself is contained within a 20 arc/sec circle. From that 5.0 mag star there is a line of 5 stars that gently curve out to the edge of the FOV.
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′ .The core is made up of about 8 stars in the 7.0 to 9.0 mag range and are slightly concentrated to the NW side of the centre. The cluster appears to occupy about 20 arc/min.
Biurakan 2, Collinder413, LUND 921, OCL 148
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′, West is the the 3 O’Clock.
There is a line of 4 stars ranging from 7.7 to 9.6 mag stars running E/W across 20 arc/min. From the centre of the cluster running South are 4 stars which end in a close double ALI 184 A and B which appear to be White and Blue.
Collinder15, Lund48, OCL328, Trumpler 1
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′ West is to the 3 O’Clock.
This cluster is very tight and consists of 5 stars of about 11.0 mag in a 4 arc/min circle.
To the North is the open cluster Czernik 4 with a bright 8.5 mag star at its ventre. The only other bright star in the FOVis to the East at 8.8 mag.
NGC103, Collinder1
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′ West is to the 11 O’Clock.
The transparency must be crap here as this smallish cluster is just buried in the murk…..Rubbish. Need to try this again when conditions are better.
NGC654, Collinder18
In the Altair 250mm f/8 RC, 14mm Delos, 145 X, 29.8′ West os to the 12 O’Clock.
The cluster is easily seen. There are two bright stars to the Southern side of the 4 arc/sec sized cluster.
ne 7.2mag to the SSE and another 9.6 mag to the SW. The cluster sits to the North of these two stars and consists of half a dozen 11th mag stars. From the core of the cluster there is a line of four 9.0 to 11th mag stars heading off to the SW. This makes the cluster look like a Right Arrow pointing to the NE.