#133: Day Trips and Night Trips, and Messier 15

At The Eyepiece, by Mike Ethier

Many of us enjoy day trips, being easy-to-arrange travel getting us there and back in the same day. Nearby Ontario places like Point Pelee, the city of London, Sarnia, and smaller centers and parks in between, offer good options for a quick and easy mini-vacation. When the US border is open, Detroit offers a virtual Milky Way of day trip options, from concerts, sporting events, and art galleries, to shopping, dining, and whatever else one might wish to do in a large city. Ann Arbor, Toledo, and many interesting suburbs offer the day visitor many more options. Windsor and Essex County citizens are fortunate to have so much on offer so near to home.

Now imagine if our local environment changed gradually over the year. Slowly, Chicago emerges across the river instead of Detroit, and next season it’s New York. Point Pelee then changes to a mountainous national park for totally different experiences for the hiker, photographer, and nature lover. The following year Detroit is back, and so the cycle of seasons go. Imagine all that there would be to do for the day tripper if such things really happened.

Well, it sort of does happen, only at night, and in the sky. As the seasons change, so does our view looking outwards from Earth. A day trip becomes a night trip, and while some sights can be viewed well from city and suburban yards, to get the full spectrum of what is on offer, it is best to take a little drive into the country, where skies are darker and more welcoming to the amateur astronomer. While we might think nothing of driving two hours to a daytime destination for a pleasure outing once in a while, why not consider doing the same for astronomy’s sake? I would love to find a usable dark sky sites beyond Essex County, but not too far away. A once per month small group outing for a long observing session might be just the ticket to refresh ourselves. While Point Pelee is a valid option, it has to happen on a certain night, and if that night is cloudy, all bets are off for another month. A bit more flexibility is needed, with the weather conditions we have to live with here. Hallam has improved a lot with the gradual dimming of greenhouse lights, but the south sky is still a mess, and of course the northwest and west is worse.

Here are some celestial places where I have spent fun times so far in 2021. In late winter I observed in Canis Major and Orion. In the early spring I spent time visiting and observing objects in Sextans and Coma Berenices, as well as Serpens Caput. Later in the spring and into early summer I visited Ophiuchus, Sagitta, and Hercules. In late summer and early autumn (so far) I have been to Cassiopeia and Aquarius. While I haven’t travelled much on day trips during the pandemic, I have managed quite a few excursions into the night sky. There is so much to see, and so little time.

Messier of the Month: M 15 in Pegasus

I first made the acquaintance of this fine globular star cluster in mid-August, 1977. I was using my Tasco 4.5” reflector, and this marked my 51^st Messier object at that time. At 72x I was able to resolve 4 or 5 stars on the outer limits of the central mass. I mentioned at the time the beauty of the bright white center against a perfectly black sky background. That observation was made at the family camp on Lake Penage, west of Sudbury.

Jump ahead to November 8^th, 1991, and to my backyard in old Anderdon Township. This was my first view of it using the Edmund 8” reflector. My view was hampered that night by a brilliant display of aurora. Many members will remember that night, as red aurora flooded Essex County skies. Check back into your observing notes. In Sudbury, aurora were frequent and mostly annoying, but have proved to be quite rare in Essex County. This was a major display.

The following night I was able to resume normal observations. Stars were resolving nicely at 112x, which was not possible the previous night. 169x gave the best view, with stars resolving all across the cluster. Higher powers were applied, but focussing became quite tricky.

Now jump to October 25^th, 2014. From Hallam Observatory I was able to view M 15 with my newly acquired 12” reflector. Here are some quotes from my notes from that night: “A 12” scope is a most useful tool when it comes to resolving globular star clusters. [M 15] was observed tonight at all magnifications, from 43x through 250x. Each step up is an adventure, and one worth repeating... It begins to resolve at 60x, and at 100x stars are resolving to near the core... At 187x a notable clump is north preceding the bright core. 250X breaks up the core, with dark areas just south. The center blazes and is still very dense...”

M15 is easily viewed in October skies, seen well ahead of the Great Square.

M 78

Messier 15, or gc 7078: 18’; visual mag. 6.3; Brightest stars mag. 12.6. It was discovered in 1746, and lies about 34,00 light years away. There are about 100,000 stars in this densely packed group. In small telescopes (my 2” Space Eye refractor, for example), it could easily be mistaken for a comet.

Mapman Mike

 

#132: Messier 24 Star Cloud

 

This month I am combining my two articles, At The Eyepiece, and Messier of The Month into one. Also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, M 24 has a somewhat confusing history due to a wrong R.A. assigned to it by Barnard. It wasn’t until 2001 that the mistake became well known, and Messier’s original discovery could be acknowledged (see the longer explanation at cseligman.com, under the IC 4715). There is only one other Messier object with an IC designation, that being M 25/IC 4725. Easily seen with the naked eye, M 24 is very large, extremely star-rich, and beautiful in binoculars and a joy in a rich field telescope, such as the Edmund Astroscan. While much of Sagittarius provides rich sweeping at low power, there is no denying the intensity of M 24.

While it appears stunning with any sort of visual aid, I spent over an hour here one September night in 2014 with a 12” Dob, exploring every nook and cranny of this colourful, star-filled area. Within the cloud are three other small open clusters, as well as a planetary nebula. So if you have some time to spend one fine summer or early autumn evening, M 24 is a recommended stop. The cloud’s size is given as 120’ of arc, so I began exploring with my lowest possible magnification, which is 43x. Oc 6603 is conspicuous right away. Immediately south of the cluster are 6 bright stars, arrow shaped. These stars appear to be involved with the richest and most splendid area, and seem to be at the heart of the cloud. The sweeping continues to be exceptional if moving south preceding to variable star V4387 (see map). A bright yellow star, V4387 leads south to another beautiful area of thousands of stars. Moving back to the original arrowhead, the star just south of oc 6603 is a deep orange. South following is a bright double star, yellow and blue, one of many doubles within the cloud. There is so much more to discover about the cloud itself, but I will move on to some of the other named points of interest.

 Oc 6603 (Size 4’; Visual Mag. 11; brightest star mag. 14; 100 stars) is hazy, bright, and not too small at 43x. It looks so much like a comet that no wonder some people still mistake this cluster for M 24 itself. Even at 43x it begins to resolve. We were also able to resolve some of it in Deb’s 6” reflector at 125x. At 60x and 12” the cluster is still bright, and still in the beginning stages of resolving. At 100x there is some resolution all across the cluster, similar to that of a globular cluster. A bright line of unresolved haze runs through the middle, NE to SW. 125X gives decent resolution, with the central hazy bar narrowing. The cluster is finally fully resolved at 250x, including the bar, now seen as a line of tiny stars. There are dark patches on either side of the line, as well as many tiny stars. This object is a real beauty in a 12” scope!

Collinder 469 is a compact cluster ( Size 2.6’; Visual mag. 9.1; 15 stars) preceding oc 6603 by 2’ of R.A., and just a tiny bit north. I located it at 60x, noting several bright stars in a tight V-shape, with background haze. At 100x it is very compact, with few faint stars resolving. At 200x 15 stars can be counted, several being very faint.

Oc Mrk 38 (2’) shows three bright stars at 60x, one of them being yellow and quite bright. At 200x 10 stars are seen very close to the bright three, with a few others close by.

Planetary nebula 6567 lies just south preceding Mrk 38. At a minuscule size of only 12” of arc, the object appears virtually stellar at 250x. A tiny bit of fuzz can be discerned around it, being a grayish-blue colour. It is bright, at mag. 11, and I have seen it with an 8”. The central star is mag. 14.3, though it is washed out by the brightness of the haze.

While sometimes passed over for the wondrous nebulae and clusters in Sagittarius, M 24 is worth spending time exploring.   I haven’t visited yet with Space Eye, my 2” refractor, but it’s on the list for summer.  Clear skies.

Mapman Mike

#131: The Box in Coma, and M 99

 At The Eyepiece, March 2021

As I finish up work on Orion, which has taken me several winter seasons to do, I am readying my charts for spring work. For astronomers, spring is a season that zooms past at breakneck speed. These galaxy heavy constellations are visible for far less time than their summer and autumn counterparts. This is because the amount of daylight is increasing rapidly at this time of year, and the constellations appear to move across the sky much faster.

My early spring work is in the constellation of Sextans, and I will have more to say about this area in a future article. For seven years my main spring constellation was Leo, and I still return each year to view favourite objects in that area. But a few years ago I moved on to another constellation that promises to keep me occupied for many more spring observing sessions. Coma Berenices is quite a playground for observers who love galaxies. And the galaxies come in all sizes, shapes, levels of brightness, and groupings. While preparing my pre-observing notes and stats for Coma, I was intrigued to find “The Box” labelled on my Uranometria charts (#54 and #72 of the all-sky edition), and couldn’t wait to see what that was all about.

The Box is a group of four galaxies, roughly in rectangular shape, and can be found in the far north preceding area of Coma, close to the border with Ursa Major. While groups of four galaxies are anything but rare in Coma, photographs certainly do show an interesting group. All of the galaxies are pretty faint, though in good skies a 25cm scope should show three. Here is a list of galaxies and their specs, and a photo from cseligman.com:

eg 4169: 1’.8’ x 0’.9: Visual magnitude 12.2; surface brightness 12.6.

eg 4173: 5’ x 0’.7: Vis. 13; SB 14.2.

eg 4174: 0’.6 x 0’.3: Vis. 13.4; SB 11.4.

eg 4175: 1’.8 x 0’.4: Vis. 13.3; SB 12.8

 The Box, a group of four galaxies, in Coma Berenices.  North is at the top.

Image from cseligman.com 

I had my chance to view these galaxies on May 5^th, 2019, using my 30cm Orion Dob. It is a push-to scope, and the group was found easily enough using the little computer. Though all four galaxies can be seen at 136x, 4173 is very faint. Thus it seems more like a triplet. The brightest part of this very faint member lies just north of 4169. And 4169 is the first galaxy one sees, and it remains bright and very oval up to 250x. At 187x a few decent glimpses of the very long and thin 4173 are enjoyed, using averted vision. 4174-75 are easily viewed at 136x, both objects appearing pretty bright, pretty small, with notable stellar cores. At 200x and 250x 4175 becomes quite a bit larger now, and very elongated. In this range 4174 appears a bit brighter that 4175, becoming oval in shape but quite small. I hope you get a chance to view this minor but fun little group someday. The club’s 35 cm scope would be an ideal instrument.

Messier of the Month: Messier 99

Staying within the boundaries of Coma Berenices, but moving about 14 degrees south and a few minutes following The Box, Messier 99 pops into the eyepiece, a bright and nearly round galaxy easily viewed with small telescopes. It was discovered in mid March 1781 by Pierre Mechain, and seen a month later by Charles Messier. My first look came considerably after that, in mid May of 1980. I was at Lake Penage west of Sudbury, and it was a humdinger of a night! It was 3 C and spectacularly clear. I was able to see the galaxy with my 8” scope stopped down to 4”, at 36x. Full aperture showed it relatively large and round. At 56x the galaxy is surrounded by tiny stars, one just within the outer haze of the arms. 72X offered the best view. While the centre remains bright at higher powers, the envelope itself starts to fade.

 

Messier 99.

Jump to May 26^th, 2020. On May 26^th the temps were hovering around 20 C, and conditions were excellent at my Kent County viewing site. I began by using my 20 cm (8”) aperture stop, locating the galaxy at 60x. It had been just over 40 years since I had last seen this object! At full aperture (30 cm) and 100x the core is stellar and very bright. The galaxy is large, showing a very bright centre around the brilliant core, surrounded itself by a large, fainter envelope of haze. Viewing M 99 is like seeing an unresolved globular cluster. 187X and 272x show the envelope to be unevenly lit, no doubt hinting at the spiral arms. A bright area of haze seems to precede the very bright central area, followed by a darker area, and then a brighter area again. It is such views that often give us aperture fever, and makes me wish I had a 1 metre scope (in high Earth orbit)! Longer views are rewarding at high power, so stay with Messier 99, and use as much magnification as conditions allow. Messier 99 is about 50 million light years away, something to think about when viewing it.

Messier 99 (eg 4254): 5’.4 x 4’.7: Visual mag. 9.9; Surface Brightness mag. 13.2.

Mapman Mike

#130: For All Mankind, and M 42.

This is my article for our club newsletter in Windsor, Ontario, Canada for January.  Past newsletter and information about the club can be found on our website, RASC Windsor.

It was way back in 1968 when I first got interested in astronomy.  I began with binocular observations of the moon in early November.  In December, Apollo 8 and 3 astronauts successfully orbited the moon and returned safely.  The next craft to go that way would be Apollo 11 half a year later, followed by #12-17.  Those of us lucky to be alive during those heady days all have our own special memories, and we continue to treasure them.  Sometime in the late 1980s I got interested in Brian Eno's ambient music, including one of my favourite albums, called Apollo.  The music is all instrumental, quiet and gentle for the most part, and was used as background for a film of the same name.  The original film, which I was never able to track down, had no speaking, just images and music.

That film was re-imagined, reworked, and renamed For All Mankind in the late 1980s.  This time dialogue was added to the images, but only the voices of Apollo astronauts, mission control, and John F. Kennedy were used.  Al Reinert, the director, got cooperation from NASA, and Criterion bought the rights to the film.  I didn't even realize the film was showing on the Criterion Channel until I bought an updated and expanded version (2 CDs) of the album by Eno. The CD notes talked a lot about the movie, and lo and behold, I instantly put it into my queue and it has now been watched, enjoyed, and loved. There have been many documentary specials about Apollo, most of them featuring narration, talking heads, and Walter Cronkite. This one is different.

What Reinert did was assemble NASA footage from the archives (a story in itself, told in one of the extra features), much of it never seen before, and compact the lunar missions into one big mission, showing scenes from all the lunar flights, and even from an earlier Gemini flight.  It becomes one brilliant and focused film, and instead of dwelling entirely on science, it lets the astronauts, in their own words during the missions, describe their feelings and responses to what they were doing, with Houston mission control listening in.  Thus we get a totally different take on Apollo, much more human and aesthetic than the science ones we were given back in the day.  We see candid moments aboard the spacecraft never seen before, and we follow along from the Earth to the Moon on a voyage of discovery that has yet to be surpassed in human history. 

 Along with the feature comes 4 extras, filling in information that the movie could not show.  For example, the movie has no talking heads, but the extra features do contain interviews with many of the astronauts years later.  One short feature talks exclusively with the late Alan Bean, who became an amazing artist upon his return (he died in 2018).  Another short extra feature talks about the lengths to which the director went to assemble the footage he uses in the film. Yet another one interviews 15 of the Apollo astronauts. The whole collection is available for purchase on DVD, and looks like something I will purchase if it leaves Criterion Channel before I can watch it again a few more times.  If you do not subscribe to Criterion Channel this is only one reason out of about 2,000 to do so.  And if the Apollo lunar missions seemed a bit dated and unexciting to you, or you don't really know that much about them, or you would just enjoy a new perspective, then you need to watch this film. It may even be something your club might consider showing at a future meeting.

Messier of the Month: M 42

It’s finally time to tackle Messier 42! Last year I talked about its little brother or sister (I can never tell which), Messier 43. They both appear in the same field of view, but are distinct from one another. M 42 is one of those objects that consistently improves with increased aperture and magnification. But it’s always best to begin with the naked eye view, followed by binoculars. My first view was with 6 x 30 binoculars, beneath a street light in front of my home in Sudbury, back in the winter of 1969. My first telescopic view was a month or so later, with a red and blue toy 3” reflector, a plastic model of the 100” Mt. Wilson scope, with a terrible mirror and a plastic eyepiece giving about 25x. Even that view blew my teenage mind! More recent views with my vastly superior 2” refractor confirm this as a public showpiece in even the smallest instrument.

In March 1974 I observed the nebula from Sudbury with my 4.5” Tasco Lunagrosso reflector. Viewing it at 22x I wrote at the time, “The whole scene had a three-dimensional atmosphere to it, and one could imagine oneself peering into the swirling depths of the universe.” In the 12” from Hallam (January 2019) I wrote “Visually, I find the nebula much more satisfying than any photo of it I have ever seen. I would much rather view it in a telescope than look at a photo.” Parts of the nebula resemble the giant wings of a bird, wings extended. A large dark lane appears in the south. The blown out area around the quadruple star has a distinct 3D appearance, and seems long and cylindrical, like a giant wave about to crash. At 12” there is simply too much detail for the eye to perceive, and as magnification is increased (up to 250x) the nebula becomes mottled, with many variations of grey, white, and black, as well as many shades of brightness. Following along the extensions, it takes a long journey before it fades away into the background sky. The cluster involved with M 42 contains about 20 stars, with Theta 1 and 2 being the main highlights. The Trapezium (quadruple star, also Theta 1 Orionis)) is seen well at 84x and 136x, along with 2 other fainter stars north, embedded in the nebula. This object is required viewing for all amateur astronomers.

Messier 42—-oc 1976: Cluster size 47’, a sparse group.

gn 1977: 20’x10’, emission and reflection nebula, associated with the cluster.