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

Marty <movac5@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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.

Hi, Marty. This indeed lends some perspective: comparing notes, we find
that 6231 has been an important landmark for both of us.

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.

My list for fchart shows the it as mag 5.4 also; I suspect that the
four or so degrees of higher declination might help. This is also shown
as a smaller object -- about 8' rather than 14' -- so the surface
brightness might be reasonable to compete with background. It looks
like a fine object to look for, and not too far from 6231!

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.

Outdoors, these seem like great objects for star parties, maybe
comparable in brightness to M7. I feel a bit pedantic wondering
about a small typographical glitch: somehow I4756 and I4665 seem
to have come out as 14761 and 14665. The latter has especially
interested me for almost two years since I learned that it is
one of the 14 objects discovered or independently rediscovered
(here the latter) by Caroline Herschel. Of course, with their
extent, these should make great binocular objects.

At home, I suspect that the declination might be 8 or 9 degrees
too much, unless I try some very odd gymnastics with binoculars
(once I managed to see the Belt of Orion, a "stretch" -- usually
something like M42 and nearby NGC 1981, etc., in the Sword of
Orion, is about the practical limit).

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. :)

Yes, early summer might be better to see these at a more "seasonable"
hour. If the 4.5 degrees SWW is with reference to I4665, then maybe
a glance at my atlases may give a clue; this is a fascinating mystery,
a bit like one of those observations of the Herschels or the M102
question, and I'd be curious about just what you saw.

Recently I saw something in Puppis (or southern Canis Major, I'd need
to check my notes) that _looked_ like some kind of small cluster, but
evidently was just an interesting detail in a starfield. My diagram
shows a possible "nebulosity" north of the tail of the Ursa
Austrina or Southern Bear asterism connecting Cr 140 in Canis Major
with three neighboring stars in Puppis. I could look at the atlas
and give the coordinates -- but, again, it's evidently just kind
of compact asterism or the like.


Marty


With many thanks,

Margo

.