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!