August Delights

After a week of bright Moon and hazy skies, tonight looked to be a lot better for observing. There was still some haze in the air, but I could still make out the Milky Way going across most of the sky.

I took my star charts with me to the telescope, and had planned on exploring a lot of Sagittarius, but my battery died in my red flashlight so I was going to have to rely on my memory for where things were. So instead, I just decided to view some of my favorites.

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: Iola, KS (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Discovery DHQ 8" dobsonian
Eyepieces: 1.25 Plössls - 25mm (49X), 15mm (81X), 10mm (122X), Orion Expanse 6mm (203X), 4mm (305X)
Time: 10:00pm - 11:00pm CDT (3:00pm - 4:00pm UT)
Transparency: Clear (10/10)
Seeing: Decent (7/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the low 80s. There was no breeze.

OBSERVING SUMMARY:
M8 (Lagoon Nebula)
M11 (Wild Duck Cluster)
M13 (Great Hercules Cluster)
M15
M92
NGC 6530

M8	Sagittarius	Nebula	10:00pm CDT
Lagoon Nebula	RA: 18h03.8m	Dec: -24°23'	Mag: 6.0

The Lagoon appeared as a bright patch of irregular nebulosity with some darker streaks running through it. Low-power views showed the best contrast. The open cluster NGC-6530 was right next to it, but didn't appear within the nebulosity itself.

NGC 6530	Sagittarius	Open Cluster	10:00pm CDT
	RA: 18h04.8m	Dec: -24°20'	Mag: 4.6

This is a large open cluster, looking nice at low power. None of the nebulosity of M8 was visible within the cluster itself, although about 20-30 stars were visible.

M11	Scutum	Open Cluster	10:06pm CDT
Wild Duck	RA: 18h51.1m	Dec: -06°16'	Mag: 6.3

At 203X, this cluster looks fantastic, filling the entire field of view. There are several bright stars making a spiral rosette pattern, interspersed with a multitude of dimmer stars. Over 100 stars are visible.

M15	Pegasus	Globular Cluster	10:30pm CDT
	RA: 21h30.0m	Dec: +12°10'	Mag: 6.2

This is a small, compact globular cluster. It takes magnification well. At 49X, it has a bright, fuzzy core with mottled nebulosity surrounding it. At 203X it is nicely resolved into dozens of stars.

M13	Hercules	Globular Cluster	10:40pm CDT
Great Hercules Cluster	RA: 16h41.7m	Dec: +36°28'	Mag: 5.8

This is a big, beautiful globular. At 203X, it looks magnificent, taking up about half the field of view. The core is highly resolved into hundreds of stars. Streamers of brighter stars arc away in spiral patterns, looking a bit like a rosette.

M92	Hercules	Globular Cluster	10:48pm CDT
	RA: 17h17.1m	Dec: +43°08'	Mag: 6.4

This cluster is smaller than M13, but still very bright. At 81X, it begins to resolve nicely into dozens of tightly packed stars.

Nova in Delphinus!

Called Nova Dephinus 2013, a new nova (Latin for "new") was discovered Wednesday (Aug. 14) by amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan, at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) in the constellation Delphinus. It has been brightening even more this week, and I had my first chance to observe it tonight. I observed from my backyard, using a pair of 10x50 binoculars. Because of the nearby waxing gibbous Moon, many of the naked eye stars were lost in the bright lunar glare, or I'm sure I would have been able to easiliy see it with my unaided eye.

The star was bright and easy to find: the arrow of Sagitta points almost directly to it! Through my binoculars, the brightness of the nova appeared to be somewhere between Eta (mag. 5.09) and Gamma Sagitta (mag. 3.5), so I estimated it to be around magnitude 4.5. It also appeared a bit yellowish-orange to me, although others have reported it as being bright white.

If you get a chance, take a peek at the "new" star before it fades away again, and let me know how it looks to you.