It's difficult to photograph a star party in full swing because star parties happen in the dark, and flash photography isn't welcome. Occasionally, however, a photo is taken that gives a flavor for the event.
Photo by Ron Pearson
|
August
Skies
2008
by
Dennis Cochran
he
coming-full moon
will be blasting
thru the Scorpius-Sagittarius
region about the 2nd
week of the month,
so beware. While you
are being kept from
all those nebulae in
the steam of the
Teapot, look at the
moon itself. S&T p
57 tells us that on
Friday the 8th its
libration wobble
reveals seldom-seen
craters Byrd and
Perry, named after
the polar explorers,
appropriately
located near the
moon's north pole. A
few days later we
get the Perseid
Meteor Shower
peaking before dawn
on Tuesday the 12th.
Look a day early or
late if it's going
to be cloudy. For
the meteor watch
make use of a
libation rather than
a libration.
Jupiter dominates
the night but is
still a bit low to
see in the popular 9
o'clock time slot.
Mars, Saturn,
Regulus and Venus
form a western
lineup in the early
evening along with a
crescent moon on the
2nd-4th, and Venus
passes south of
Saturn on the 13th.
Sagittarius is also
known as teapot.
Globs abound around
its homely shape.
The best-known and
brightest of this
swarm of M-objects
is M22, to the left
of the top lid star
Lambda Sag. Little
M28 is much closer
and upper right of
Lambda, while three
others are closer to
the fire along the
bottom of the
teapot: M70 in the
middle, M54 to the
left and M69 to the
right. And as all
amateur astronomers
learn, follow the
steam straight up
from the spout to
find M8 the Lagoon
Nebula and M20 the
Triffid. Just
upper-left of the
latter is open
cluster M21, while
farther up the
M8-M20 line is
often-missed M23, a
bright cluster
standing out against
a dark nebula. When
you're through with
M23 go left to find
M17, 18, 24 & 25, a
regular zoo of Milky
Way denizens. (If
you missed M23, we
are now in the area
one teapot-height
above and slightly
left of the top of
the teapot.) M24 is
the Small
Sagittarius Star
Cloud and includes
cluster NGC6603. To
its left and down is
cluster M25. Back to
the star cloud:
above it is cluster
M18 and above that
M17 the Omega or
Swan Nebula. Above
that is M16, a
'nebulous cluster'
according to Menzel
& Pasachoff.
And finally, some
deep-space
exploration. From
the M16-17 area
drift zenith-ward
along the side of
Ophiuchus to find
IC4665, the cluster
mentioned last month
as just left of Beta
Oph. This is the
star down and a bit
left of the Alpha
Star at the top of
the bell-shaped
constellation. From
there we head like
the Enterprise into
the unknown regions
east (left) of the
cluster to follow a
line of stars about
7 degrees (width of
the teacup lid) to
seek NGC6572, an
interesting
planetary per M&P.
Good luck - the
Enterprise needed it
and you will too
unless you're using
GoTo and can dial it
up. Can't find
it? Do something
else: go east to
Altair, thence north
to Sagitta to find
rich globular
cluster M71 in the
front half of the
little arrow. Now
drop back down to
Altair and note that
distance, then drop
straight south a bit
more than twice that
far to the region
west of the corner
of Capricornus where
you might find
NGC6822, Barnard's
Dwarf Galaxy, one of
several mentioned in
Astronomy pp64-66.
Use low power to
make it out.
Open House Saturday
the 9th.
—Dennis Cochran
