Re: SAA OBSERVING: NGC 6231, M7, and M4(?) before dawn

Very enjoyable post, Margo!
Your mentioning NGC 6231 got me paging through my very informal,
"stream of consciousness" log for any references to it. It took awhile,
but I found a "fountain pen" entry from May 29, 1992, where I'd gone
down to a little used, minimum maintenance road that had been given an
obscene name by the local high school students many years ago with 11x80
binoculars. It was 1:30 am. I remarked that the transparency was poor,
and that I "could hardly trace the southern part of Scorpius," but that
6231 was still pretty conspicuous. I then wrote, "Same goes for 6281,"
so that might give you another target to try for, although Luginbuhl and
Skiff list it as mag 5.4 as compared to 6231's mag 2.6. I then scooted
up into Serpens Cauda and remarked that open cluster14756 was
"beautiful," and "looked like an arrow head pointing toward Aquila's
wing tip!" and I "discovered" the open cluster 14665 mag 4.2 over in
Ophiuchus. I mention these because since I'd mentioned the poor
transparency, they may possibly be observable in your window universe.
I then went on rambling about "a remarkable thin, very straight
line of dim unresolved stars 4.5 degrees SWW, toward the "hook" of stars
toward Ophiuchus. It seems like someone would mention it!" No, I don't
know what the hell I was talking about... I'll have to retrace my steps
here sometime and see what turns up. :) But it'll have to wait awhile,
'cause I don't voluntarily get up for much at such ungodly hours in the
morning as I'd have to now. :)
Marty

.

Quantcast