09/01/2009 Enjoying the Celestron Sky
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by Steve Coe
Hercules
Greetings star gazers; I have been provided the honor of writing about what I have seen in my Celestron equipment over the years. In this way I will hope that you have the time to chase after some of these deep sky objects and compare what you see to my observation. It is my sincere hope that you will find at least a few of these goodies worth your time at the eyepiece.
If you do not have a telescope with electronic setting circles then you will need to star hop to these objects. To determine the position in the sky I can highly recommend the Night Sky Observer’s Guide. There are also two ways to get free information about these objects with your computer. The planetarium program HNSky contains virtually all these objects and much data about them. My astronomy club (Saguaro Astronomy Club in Phoenix, Az.) has a freeware database of these objects as well. The SAC website is www.saguaroastro.org. There are many other sources, but these will get you started.
So, let’s get out the scope and observe in Hercules, the Hero.
NGC 6058 is a planetary nebula. Using an 11 inch SCT with a 14mm eyepiece I saw it as pretty faint, pretty small, elongated 1.8X1 and showing a stellar nucleus. Averted vision makes it somewhat larger. The disk always has a grey sheen, never any color. On a night of better seeing I used an 8mm eyepiece and there was some “blinking effect”. This means that the central star was held steady when I looked directly at it and the disk was not very prominent. Then, when I looked slightly away from the planetary the disk showed much better contrast and the central star was lost in the brighter disk. So, the central star blinks on and off as you look at the nebula and then away from it.
NGC 6106 is a galaxy, using a 6 inch f/8 refractor with an 8 mm eyepiece it was faint, small, elongated 1.8X1 and a little brighter in the middle.
M 13 is one of the best globular clusters in the sky. Using the 6" f/8 refractor with a 6 mm eyepiece it is very bright, large, rich, and extremely compressed in the middle. There were 28 stars counted in the NW quadrant of the cluster, so I resolved well over 100 stars across the face of this famous globular. In an 11 inch SCT this globular is spectacular. With the increase in aperture over 200 stars are resolved and the cluster is amazingly rich in star points with an 8mm eyepiece on a sharp night. A dark feature called the “propeller” is a three-bladed set of dark lanes that do indeed appear like an aircraft propeller. It is offset from the core of M 13 and averted vision does help me to see it with more contrast.
NGC 6207 is a galaxy near M 13. Using the 11 inch SCT with an 8 mm eyepiece it is pretty large, pretty faint, elongated 2.5X1 and shows a bright middle with a stellar nucleus about equal to a 12th magnitude star.
NGC 6210 is the best planetary nebula in Hercules. Using the 11 inch SCT at 200X shows a beautiful little disk, bright, small, elongated 1.5X1 and the central star is seen about 60% of the time. The disk is a light green color that is only prominent on great nights. Raising the power to 320X makes the color fade to grey. In the 6" f/8 refractor and an 8 mm eyepiece it is pretty faint, small and little elongated. The central star is visible about 40% of the time with direct vision and 100% with averted vision.
NGC 6229 is a small globular cluster. I have observed it twice with the 11 inch SCT and never resolved it into stars. It is always pretty bright, pretty large and much brighter in the middle. The globular will show several levels of brightness but no stars resolved.
M 92 is another globular cluster in Hercules, with M 13 getting most of the “press” in this constellation; M 92 is the silent partner. Too bad, because with the 11 inch SCT and a 14mm eyepiece it is very bright, large, much brighter middle and shows over 150 stars resolved. This is a very nice globular on a pretty good night. Raising the power to 320X brings out several chains of about 5 stars curving out from the bright core to form the legs of a "silvery scarab". Don’t miss the jewelry show in Hercules.
If you are looking for a challenge, then the little planetary IC 4593 can provide one. Using the 6” f/8 refractor with an 8 mm eyepiece shows it as pretty small, pretty faint and very little elongated. The very light green dot is all there is and more power will not bring out any detail. However, it is fascinating to me to consider two things while viewing this type of object. First, how few people on Earth have ever seen it. Then spend some time realizing that tiny disk is the end of the life of a star like our Sun. We do live in an amazing Universe.
View the observing sheet (PDF).
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