NGC 6025

NGC 6025

I have had the idea of visually observing a target and then doing a sketch while my AP setup grabs some photons of the night's target.

So NGC 6025 will represent the first in the series. For now I aim to stick with open clusters then move on to Globular clusters and much later nebula.
This will be a nice way to hone most of my astronomy skills in one outing. Mostly it will help to improve on my current sketching technique which lacks practice and more practice and a whole bunch of refinement.

The drawback is that you need to decent night with a few hours to only observe one target initially, once that part of the session is done then I can hopefully also log a few more objects and enjoy the night skies.

When I first viewed NGC 6025 I was struck by what looked to my minds eye like a twisted piece of DNA strand. In my defense Messier saw a flock of wild geese which I still cannot fathom.
So I decided to take on this cluster as my first challenge in the series.

This was undertaken on the night of April 30th 2018 from approximately 22H00 onward.
there was a slight breeze(very light), seeing and transparency were good and improved as my target rose higher up and out of the worst of the light pollution. The light pollution always seems less toward zenith as opposed to the orange glow closer to the horizon and over the city.

I also need to be more aware of the camera angle when shooting so as to sketch in the same orientation. As you will see from the images below I have that wrong and I have had to "tilt" one image to get them in the same orientation.
there will probably be many more little lessons as I go and hopefully I will one day have a polished routine that will not take more than a few hours, fun filled hours!

So here are my visual observation notes on NGC 6025.

NGC 6025, Open cluster in  Triangulum Australe, Mag +5.09

In my minds eye I see a twisted strand of DNA with two brighter stars toward the top left of view at magnitudes 7.1 and 8.1, these form the "head" with the other stars forming the twisted strand below and toward the right of them with a sprinkling of random stars around them.
I see at least 20 stars ranging in magnitude from 7.1 down to 11.4.
They are well detached and easily identifiable as a cluster with a not too strenuous star hop from Beta Trianguli Australis.


And now onto the sketch.

Initially I employed only the white pastel pencil, kept ultra sharp for plotting the stars onto the sketch pad(black sketch paper).
Once I had marked the stars positions with a light pin prick I then begin to "develop" the stars by making some bigger to show brightness and size.
Once this was done I tried something new. I used some colour by rubbing the white pencil tip gently onto a colour pastel block.

Then slowly and delicately I colour the stars to match my eyepiece views. I also added a few diffraction spikes(Thanks Alex!) to try add some life to the sketch.
Sadly when taking images of my sketch with a DSLR it loses some of the vibrancy and colour that stands out well when viewing the sketch itself, so the colour is not so evident in the images below.

NGC 6025 Sketch.

Now for the image.

This was taken through the Skywatcher 130PDS with a Canon 1200D(no mods).
These are 15 second exposures that have been given a very gentle stretch in processing so as to only highlight the stars from the cluster.
By stretching it further it brings out many more stars that the camera captures and the cluster becomes less apparent in a busy star field. Even in the image below there are hundreds more stars than I see visually!
I wanted to keep everything almost as you would expect to see in the eyepiece from light polluted skies like mine.

Now I have taken the above image and tilted my sketch image a bit to have a similar orientation for side by side evaluation.

  

And here is a image courtesy of Sky Safari 5 plus showing where in my night skies NGC 6025 is.

And that concludes my first Visual, sketch and image in the series.

Thanks for taking a look and reading.

Feel free to leave any comments, good or bad.

Skywatcher Explorer 130 PDS.

After much waiting I was finally able to purchase a Newtonian OTA to try imaging with.

I purchased the Skywatcher Explorer 130 PDS from first light optics in the UK as this falls within my restricted budget.
FLO and DHL were outstanding and from me making the online purchase on a Monday morning at 10AM, I had it in my hands at work on Friday morning!
That was super quick from the UK then through customs and delivered to me, outstanding service and I will happily deal with FLO again.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130p-ds-ota.html

This is a great little scope and I was impressed with the first light both visually and with astrophotography.
The scope comes bundled with a 2" 28mm eyepiece along with a few other accessories for the 1.25 adapter and that screws apart and screws straight onto the T-ring adapter on the camera, makes attaching the camera a breeze and is one of the reasons I like the Skywatcher range, my 102 does the same.

The field of view is pretty good and it easily fits IC 26029(Southern Pleiades) in the FOV with a 25mm EP inserted.
The supplied 2" 28mm does not perform well in the fast scope but does heaps better in the bigger 8" dob.
The finder is a standard 6 X 30 and gets the job done for alignment purposes.

I now have a rather large learning curve ahead of me when it comes to using a newt for imaging.
I have taken a few test images to see what the scope can do.
First thing I noticed is that once the light frames are stacked it is a much darker final image that I can stretch WAY further than similar images from the refractor before noise shows up.
The stars do distort around the edges, but nothing too serious. the focus is off and it seems the collimation could use a tweak judging by the spikes and diffraction patterns around the brightest stars.
The Southern Pleiades image below illustrates this well.

So without much more ado here are some images.

Both scopes outside, the big dob on the left and "Mini me" on the right sitting atop my skywatcher alt/az goto mount.

Then a few images from the scope with my Canon 1200D DSLR.

First up is NGC 104.

Then we have NGC 5139

These are the Southern Pleiades.

And since all these images were captured under a near full moon here she is too.

Thanks for reading and clear skies friends!

Observing report 23 February 2018.

Clear skies presented late on Friday night 23rd February 2018.

All my targets from tonight are from the Crux constellation with one re-observation of a cluster in Musca without moonlight interfering.

I set out the toys just before 10PM and putzed around for a while as the scope cooled and my eyes got a chance to dark adapt. Some of the targets have been seen before under the moon's baleful glare so I was keen to have another look once the moon had gone down.
After 11PM the moon had all but disappeared and I managed a few hours of observing before the clouds took back control by 2AM.

So here is my journey in and around Crux.

Orion XT8.
9/15/25mm EP's used.
Had a very windy day which died down in the evening leaving the seeing somewhat poor and yet the transparency fared better. NGC 5139 presented as a pin prick of light naked eye while most stars in the lower regions had a nice twinkle.


NGC 4755(Jewel box cluster), Open cluster in Crux, Mag +4.19

Might as well start with the famous jewel box cluster.
Keep in mind my descriptions are as seen in the eyepiece, so that will be flipped and upside down.
There are six prominent stars at mag 5(+-) that form a V shape with a bright red star DU Crucis in the center of the V. There is a nice grouping of stars to the left of this V that start to blend in with the V shape. A very bright and large cluster of stars of all colours and hue's creating that "jewel box" look.

NGC 4349, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +7.40

This was one cluster that benifits from a moonless sky.
Even then I had to ramp up the magnification and found six very dim stars in the 9mm EP, averted vision helped improve the view.
A tough find.

HARVARD 5, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +7.09

This looks to my eye to be a upside down T which is tilted over to the left.
I count seven stars here and it takes magnification well revealing a few dimmer members.

I found this interesting info on the Harvard catalog of stars.
The Catalog contain 21 entries compiled by American astronomer Harlow Shapley(1885-1972) in 1930.
Roughly half the objects already carry a NGC or Trumpler designation and the remainder were not listed in any prior catalogs.
NGC 4439, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +8.39

I see 6 stars forming a semi circle that is open at the bottom with one star in the center of the would be circle.
This is another very dim object that may not be seen under a moonlit sky, to dig this one out I used the 9mm EP.

Hogg 14, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +9.50

This was a tough one to crack, took me a while to nail down the three stars I could see, two with direct vision and the third swimming into view with averted vision using the 9mm Ep again.
I would not recommend finding this guy with the moon holding sway over the skies!

Trumpler 20, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +10.0
I see three groups of scalene triangles, these guys are ultra dim at mag 10 and takes some doing to find them.
Not much to see but worth the hunt and getting it logged.
Not one that I would have noticed as a cluster to be honest.

NGC 4337, Open cluster in Crux. Mag +8.89

How this qualified as a cluster I will never know!
I see two ultra dim stars. fortunately this was a easy star hop from Gacrux so no waste of effort there, anyhow it's logged and best forgotten.

NGC 4463, Open cluster in Musca, Mag +7.19

I see a nice triangle of stars here with the addition two bright stars, one on the inside of the triangle and the other on the outside.
Not an unpleasant view.

NGC 4609, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +6.90

Here we see one bright star with a more compact collection of 6 six stars that remind me of a bow tie shape.
Nice and compact cluster that easily sticks out from it's surroundings and is recognizable as a "classic" cluster.


Hogg 15, Open cluster in Crux, Mag +10.3

All I can find is one single star just above NGC 4609, how this qualifies as a cluster goes beyond me!
Still it's logged and never to be returned to.

NGC 4103, open cluster in Crux, Mag+7.40

Here I see a elongated and back to front Z shape of stars.
The slant in the Z contains three stars, the upper arm also sports three while the bottom arm boast four stars.
A nice tight cluster.



And that folks is that.
Thank you for taking the time to read or follow along.
Wishing you all clear skies and happy hunting!

OBSERVING REPORT 17 FEBRUARY 2018.

I have decided to start posting my observing reports here too.
So here is the first.

My last report was dated the 12th January 2018 so it's been a while.

Our skies started to clear from about 20H30 or so and were good to go by 21H30 with zero cloud cover.
Seeing and transparency were a bit trashy early on and both steadily improved as the night progressed.

Below is a screenshot courtesy of SkySafari 5 plus of the area of sky I was observing in.

The only two naked eye stars for me are Alpha Centauri(Rigel Kentaurus) and Beta Centauri(Hadar), from there everything was a eyepiece hop using the 25mm EP. The other EP used tonight was the 15mm.

So let's get into it. And if you plan on reading through you best go get few refreshments, this is a longish one.
All magnitudes are taken from SS5.

HOGG 17, Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +8.30

All I can spot here is one star regardless of magnification.
SS5 also opnly shows me one single star when zoomed in.
Bit of a waste of time on this one but got the star hopping cobwebs out the way.

NGC 5167 Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +6.30

A very dim cluster that only reveals it's fainter members under magnification.
A nice tight little grouping of stars.
At least 10 stars are seen flickering in and out of view(remember that early seeing/transparency problem).

NGC 5606 Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +7.06

I see 5 stars here forming a question mark shape, hard to tell this is a cluster even though they have a tight grouping.

TRUMPLER 22 Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +7.90

Using the 15mm Ep I see at least 15 stars here. Even with so many members it does not stand out well from the background and I would have passed this over had it not been listed.

LYNGA 2 Open cluster in Centaurus. mag +6.40

Another catalog name I had to google, here is what I found with a quick search: open cluster data, as compiled by Gosta Lynga, Lund Observatory
This is just a smattering of stars that do not seem to be closely associated. Never the less 10 stars are seen with the 15mm Ep which was a better view than in the 25mm.

NGC 5662 Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +5.50

This cluster appears as elliptical in shape running from left to right across my view.
A minimum of 16 stars counted here with a few more with averted vision in places.

NGC 5316 Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +6.00

Now this is a better view with a nice grouping of stars that are unmistakably a cluster, I see 20+ members here.

V766 Centauri, Variable double star in Centaurus. Mag +6.90 and +9.89

Not sure what mag this was last night. I was simply mesmerized by this beutiful red star and it's companion.
It was not part of my observing list but was on the star hop to my next target so I logged it for this report.
Well worth a look if you can see it from your location.

After checking online I see this is a triple star system. This gets interesting, two of the stars are in contact here. Wikipedia has this to say.

HR 5171, also known as V766 Centauri, is a triple star system in the constellation Centaurus, around 12,000 light years from Earth. It is either a red supergiantor recent post-red supergiant yellow hypergiant, and one of the largest known stars. Its diameter is uncertain but likely to be around either 1300 or 1500 times that of the Sun. It is a contact binary, sharing a common envelope of material with a smaller yellow star, the two orbiting each other every 1,304 ± 6 days
The HR 5171 system contains at least three stars. The primary A is an eclipsing binary (components Aa and Ab, or A and C in the Catalog of Components of Double and Multiple Stars) with two yellow stars in contact and orbiting in 1,304 days. The companion has been detected directly by optical interferometry, and is approximately one third the size of the hypergiant primary. The two stars are in the common envelope phase where material surrounding both stars rotates synchronously with the stars themselves.
Component B, 9.4" away, is a B0 supergiant. It is a highly luminous massive star in itself but visually 3 magnitudes fainter than the yellow hypergiant. At 3.6 kpc, this is a projected separation of 35,000 AU although the actual separation could be larger.^[2]
Full Wiki entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HR_5171


NGC 5281, Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +5.90

Here I see 4 stars forming a small arc shape with a light smattering of stars around that, easily identifiable as a cluster.

Trumpler 21, Open cluster in Centaurus, Mag +7.69

Using the 15mm I see roughly 5 stars that are spread out and not looking much like a cluster to me, just another random bunch of stars.
I am told it's a cluster and so it's logged.

Collinder 271, Open cluster in Centaurus. Mag +8.69

Another random group of 4 stars seen, no real association or standing out from the background.
Did Collinder just circle random groups of stars on a map? He listed 471 of these clusters in his catalog, some are way better than others.

NGC 5315 Planetary nebula in Circinus, Mag +9.89

I was never sure I would see one, the other logged below was a re-visit tonight. Buoyed by my success with PN's from the last outing I decided to have a go at them.
This was best seen with averted vision where it displays a fuzzy stellar look, with direct vision it looks like a dim star.



At this point I need to wait for the next few targets to clear the trees, so I popped over to Musca for a few observations and then onto a few old favourites to kill some time.
Stopped by NGC 3372, NGC 5139, Centaurus A and a few others.




Collinder 277, Open cluster in Musca, Mag +9.19

Ok, so we have 5 well spread out stars, would never call this a cluster but Mr Collinder had other ideas.
At any rate it's another Collinder logged and probably forgotten as drab and dull.

NGC 5198, Planetary nebula in Musca, Mag +9.50.

This looks like a super tiny fuzzball that is best seen with averted vision, I also had the feeling I was getting a tinge of blue from this one.
Previously logged this but worth a second look now that I know I can!

NGC 5822, Open cluster in Lupus, Mag +6.50

This is a nice big group of rather dim stars, even at a cursory glance it's a cluster with well over 25 stars in the field. Nice!



Ok last two clusters are above the tree line. I warned you this would be a long report!



NGC 6124 Open cluster in Scorpius, Mag +5.80

This is a better looking cluster with a nice large grouping with well over 30 stars filling the view.

NGC 6178, Open cluster in Scorpius, Mag +7.19

A small triangle of stars that is rather dim and unassuming.



And that folks is that!
Thanks for sticking out.

Clear skies folks!

NGC 1978 and friends.

THE LMC(A portion thereof), using short exposure astrophotography techniques.


It's hard to determine what this image should be labelled as. There are so many objects in this one image that it is hard to just choose one.

This is a rich area within the Large Magellanic Cloud(LMC).
I have included a annotated image, courtesy of Astrometry.net , and you can easily see the bountiful treasure hidden within the LMC.

One of the objects NGC 1978 has a interesting story.
Some catalogs have it down as an elliptical open cluster and others as an Globular cluster. Must say that when viewing this visually it sure looks like your typical GC, would love to revisit this one with more aperture under darker skies for a better look.

I tried a few new techniques in photoshop with very good results, the more I play with PS the more I like it. Together with Star tools they make a good pair.

This image consists of the following:

140 X 25 second exposures.
Dark and flat frames applied.
ISO 1600.
Meade series 4000 UHC nebular filter.
Canon 1200D.
Skywatcher 102 alt/az synscan goto.

This was all captured on the 13th January 2018.

NGC 5139

NGC 5139    Using short exposure astrophotography techniques.

I captured this image on the 13th January 2018.

The image consists of the following:

100 X 25 second exposures.
Darks and flats applied.
ISO 1600
Meade series 4000 UHC nebular filter.
Skywatcher 102.
Canon 1200D without any astro mods.
Raw files stacked with DSS and processed in PS and Star tools.

I did not get the object framed well and so it sits off center and I cropped the image some to compensate, NGC 5139 really deserves a nice wide field image so you can appreciate the size of this GC.

Anyhoo, here it is warts and all.

NGC 3372.

NGC 3372.

I have been hanging onto this image since first capturing it back in December of 2017.
It is so hard to find the right balance when processing this image so I spent the extra time and effort on it.
I also managed to learn a few new tricks with photoshop, so happy about that.

Skywatcher 102 on a alt/az mount, sysnscan goto.
Canon 1200D without any astro modifications.
ISO 1600
183 X 25 second exposures.
Dark and Flat frames.
Meade series 4000 UHC nebular filter.
Captured from Durban on the night of Friday 22 December 2017 under urban backyard skies.

I could probably squeeze more from this, so expect to see another re-process or two, it's the astrophotographer's Achilles heal, we cannot help but do re-process after re-process!

Here it is:

Thanks for looking, comments and criticisms welcomed.