Pleiades Star Cluster

The Pleiades Star Cluster, also known as M45 was one of the first objects that I indexed for my Messier catalog project. Yet, it is worth another mention in this blog for several reasons: First, it is a great deep sky object for any amateur to locate - easily found in the Constellation Taurus, M45 is probably one of the most famous and visible open clusters in the winter sky. A bright grouping of stars in the early night sky, it is a great deep sky object to share with children and or friends that may not normally be into observational astronomy. It is comprised of approx. 7 primary stars which is where it gets the ancient nickname of the "Seven Sisters", according to Greek Mythology. It is best seen using a 45mm eye piece or even binoculars. The cluster is actually comprised of up to 500 stars which are better seen by zooming in with a 10mm eye piece. With a magnitude of 1.20 it is easily spotted with the naked eye as a dense grouping of stars in the night sky.

M45 is approximately 400 light years from Earth and it is certainly more mentionable now as the astronomy community celebrates the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. It was 4o0 years ago that Galileo took the first look up at Pleiades through what is considered the first ever telescope. The light from that view 400 years ago is just now reaching earth which makes this star cluster worth mentioning again.

Interestingly, there is blue reflection nebulosity associated with this object that can be seen only with a longer exposed image. This is a great object to sketch and then later go back and research and label the primary 7 stars. Even as I search for objects in the magnitude range of 10-13 mag., I am always drawn back to M45 as it is always a worthwhile object to gaze upon.

M81

Date: 1/22/09
Time: 8:30pm - 9:18pm CST
Weather: Partly Cloudy - Wind 5-10mph - 20 degrees temp
Location: Port Barrington, IL
Ground Conditions: solid 10" of snow as ground cover

Both M81 and M82 are very prominent Galaxies in the Winter sky and both are found within several degrees from one another in Ursa Major. At Magnitude 8.5, M81 is also known as Bode's Galaxy and is considered a Spiral in classification. Despite a bright evening with snow on the ground, one can make out its fuzzy shape. Very near by is M82 (cataloged in a earlier entry), the cigar galaxy which is seen edge on. The combination of both objects quickly gives the viewer a look at a Galaxy edge on and face on within a 40mm eyepiece. Both are best seen individually using a 10mm eyepiece.

As mentioned before, Both galaxies are separated by 150,000 light years and tens of millions of years ago they passed close enough to each other that the more massive M81 warped the smaller neighbor causing star burst formation and a more irregular shape. M81 is considered one of the brightest galaxies in the Messier Catalog

On this evening I also viewed NGC 1342 before cloud cover postponed further observation. NGC 1342 is a open cluster - nothing terribly impressive, found in the constellation Perseus. At magnitude 6.70 it was easily found.

On this night, I introduced the "polar platform", a specially sourced plastic skid which I used as a platform of sorts in the snow covered confines of my back yard. With about 10" of snow on the ground, the skid served as a level telescope platform that kept my telescope and base out of the snow. Due to house and street light pollution as well as full snow cover, the seeing conditions were poor. Never the less, it was nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air after being couped up in the house for over two weeks with snow storms and sub zero conditions.

Galileo Galilei

“The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do.”

Galileo Galilei - 1564-1642

M82

On January 5th, 2009, I observed M82. It was a clear night with calm wind and the temp was 20 degrees. M82 is also called the Cigar Galaxy - found in Ursa Major. M82 is considered a spiral galaxy and is seen edge on - tens of millions of years ago, M81 (a much larger spiral galaxy) passed by M82 and disrupted the appearance, so much so that some consider it an irregular galaxy. At magnitude 9.50 the galaxy was easily spotted despite a 68% full waxing gibbous. HIP48486 was a bright reference star near this deep space object.

It's famous neighbor, M81 (Bode's Galaxy) sits nearby. Unfortunately, I had a spring failure in my dobsonian mount and had to call it a night before I could index both objects. I will attempt another gaze at both objects very soon.

NGC 1664

It was my last 2008 observation: December 28th, from 8:15pm to approx. 8:45pm CST. The weather was clear and the wind was calm. A recent rain washed away most of the snow and the temp was a warmer 25 degrees. I have found most fall and early winter Messier objects (from my backyard perspective) except M1, M78 and M76 - all too dim due to light pollution. I can just make out the dumb bell shape of M76 but I am waiting for a darker night to officially catalog it. The others will also have to wait for a darker night as well.

I focused instead on NGC objects in and between the constellations Gemini and Auriga as well as Perseus. There is no shortage of open clusters in this region. The most notable open cluster had to be NGC 1664, a very large and robust cluster with a 6.0 magnitude. I also visited NGC 2126 in Auriga which was a poor organization of stars at a magnitude of 10. There may be stars I did not see due to light conditions so this cluster may be more robust. I also viewed NGC 2281 (mag. 5.4) an organized and easily found cluster as well as NGC 1528 and NGC 1513; Both objects were very close to each other and exhibited some moderate organization in Perseus.

Carl Sagan

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. "
- Carl Sagan