Observation session with Jan V on Dec 29, 2008

The 4th observation night but not alone this time, as Jan V. joined me to observe during a few hours. It’s again one of those cold nights, the ServoCat of Jan was indicated -6° at midnight.

Location: Boutersem (Charly)
Equipment: Obsession18”
Eyepieces: 24mm; 16mm, Powermate 2,5x
Nelm: 5,2
Seeing: moderate
Time 22:30Hr UT to 0Hr30 UT

Before the real observing work started I had the visit of Charly and Sebastien. Charly, the oncle of Caroline, is the owner of the piece of ground were we are currently observing. They had the opportunity to see a couple of deepsky objects through the 18” Obsession. We started of course with easy objects and went to a bit more difficult targets. They’ve seen M42, M37, M35, M81 and M82 (dark lane seen), M76 (they noticed the peanut shaped) and ended with M34. 7 Messiers in half an hour. Not bad I would say.

Around 23:30 UT I could start observing the Herschel II list. I still have one object to do in Cepheus. But the major part of the evening will be open clusters and nebula’s in Monoceros.

NGC 7139 – planetary nebula in Cepheus
Bad planning, as I had already seen this one in the Provence. Anyway, here at a Nelm 5.2 sky it’s a difficult object. At 211x I can see a very faint disc of 1’, with a faint star at the NE edge. An UHC enhances the visibility. The southern edge seems to be brighter, which is confirmed on the DSS picture.

NGC 1663 – open cluster in Orion
This is a very loose cluster in Orion. Also this one is badly planned, as I had seen it with my 20cm scope earlier this year. I absolutely need to update my HII list! At 124x I see 4 bright stars in an arc. It’s not even sure if these stars are part of the cluster. North of this arc there are 7 faint stars in an area smaller than 10’. No more stars at 211x.

NGC 2170 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
A little round nebula around a bright star, visible at 84x and 211x, without any filter. No glare.

NGC 2182 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
This is not glare, but a nebula around bright star. Visible at 211x.

NGC 2236 – Open cluster in Monoceros
A small open cluster of less than 10’. At 211x 15 faint stars are distributed in a triangular shape. A bright star is at the western edge. An ars of 4 bright stars is located 5’ east of the cluster.

NGC 2245; NGC 2247 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
Close to the Xmas cluster we find a beautiful little nebula. It has a triangular shape. A bright star is located at one of the Northern corner of the triangle. The southern edge is more diffuse than the 2 other edges. Also the brightness is increasing in the direction of the star. Observation at 211x. This nebula reminds me of Hubbles variable nebula. NGC 2247 is located 20’ north of NGC 2245. This one is more difficult. With averted vision a faint nebula of 2’ is visible around a bright star. This is no glare because the view is different when compared to another similar bright stars.

NGC 2252 – open cluster in Monoceros
This is a large open cluster of 20’. With a lot of fantasy, I can see it like a fish with a big tail. There are 20 bright stars and only a few faint ones (211x). This cluster is located just north east of the Rosette nebula.

NGC 2254 – open cluster in Monoceros
A small open cluster with 6 moderately bright stars distributed on an arc. 5’ large. There is a glow of unresolved stars (211x)

NGC 2259 – open cluster in Monoceros
Another small open cluster in Monoceros. In an area of 5’ I can find with averted vision 15 very faint stars (211x). A fun object!

NGC 2302 – open cluster in Monoceros
A loose open cluster with 8 bright stars in an area of 5’. Observation at 211x.

NGC 2309 – open cluster in Monoceros
This is again a loose opne cluster. At 211 I can see 20 stars in an area of 10’. 7 of them are quite bright, the rest are faint.

NGC 2316 – reflection nebula in Monoceros
A cute little nebula. At 316x it’s a small but bright nebula. Il looks like it’s made out of 2 more or less round parts. The centre looks brighter but it could also be a star. Becomes less visible with UHC filter.

Ended this very cold night (-6°C and I’m starting to get real cold) with Eskimo, M81, M82, M107.

146 Herschel II objects.