The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
SOUTHERN ASTRONOMER THE
MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF WORTHING ASTRONOMERS & WORTHING SKYWATCHERS
The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
WORTHING ASTRONOMERS No fees, no Committee; just enjoying the night sky together.
F
ormed in 2008 by a group of regular and practical observers, Worthing Astronomers is a free to join society now with a membership of over 450 persons, who have a common interest in Astronomy and its associated subjects – no internal politics, no fees, no committees, just astronomy!
The Southern Astronomer This Issue Astronomy This Month, The Planets in March The Moon and The Big Cheese Messier Marathon 2017 School Outreach, April Workshop, Meteors and Comets, Aurora Anniversary Sea Front Observing,Observing the Moon The Night Sky
Our aim is simple – to bring astronomy to the public in general and to help and assist our membership in observing the night sky. With the aid of this newsletter, website, social media, regular star parties, workshops and public observing events we hope to encourage and share our interests in observing the sky with the public, our colleagues in our own group and with those of neighbouring astronomical societies.
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Cover Pictures & Comment
We try and meet at least once a month (when weather conditions allow) to do some observing but at the moment we do hold, every two months, a Workshop evening when we get a chance to meet up, exchange ideas and tips and help each other to make the most of observing the sky above us. Occasionally a guest speaker will talk about an aspect of practical, hands on astronomical observing.
Our cover picture by Andy Li’s shows our regular observing location at Kithurst Hill which might be the focus point for any group Messier Marathon events that might be tried – we will keep you posted and advised. It depends on weather, of course. As you are all aware we had to cancel the February Workshop meeting at pretty short notice but we hope to get the April meeting set up for April 7. We hope to have the April meeting as the Telescope and Equipment Clinic which was held over from February.
These Workshop evenings are held on the first Friday of every other month (February, April, June, August, October and, December) at Goring Methodist Church Hall, Bury Drive (off of Aldsworth Avenue), Worthing, BN12 4XB. The small admission charge of £3 helps pay for the room and free refreshments and goes towards supporting our membership. Doors open at 7.00 pm BST with the meeting starting at 7.30.
When the last newsletter went out I had asked for feed back from the membership regarding the Workshops and it was disappointing that only 6 members actually responded – all positive, admittedly. That is is 6 out of 456 members! There was a slightly larger – and again positive - response at the Skywatchers Facebook page.
We can be found at: worthingastronomers.org.uk
On the subject of meetings, we advised that the August meeting due on August 4 was deferred to August 11 due to the church requiring use of the hall. We have just recently learned that the church also require use of the hall on the 11th as well!
There are several astronomical groups in the coastal area of Sussex - several WA members are also members of the Adur Astronomical Society, who meet every first Monday of the month for a lecture regarding an astronomical subject. Details for the AAS can be found at Adur Astronomical Society.
The subject for that meeting may be bought forward to the June Workshop and instead of a Workshop in August, and as it is the eve of the Perseid shower (albeit with a Moon likely to interfere with some of the fainter meteors) we may opt for a group meeting under darker skies, somewhere; we’ll keep you posted and advised both here, the website and on social media.
CONTRIBUTIONS AND UNSUBSCRIBING Contributions – written articles (word processed in .txt, .doc or .odt format), photographs, letters, advertising copy to the editor for the April issue should be in by March 15 and sent to the editor at the contact address: editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk
Contact addresses: Acting joint coordinators - info@worthingastronomers.org.uk – general society details, Janet Halls or Brian Halls
If you no longer wish to subscribe to the group and cancel newsletters and other information, please send an email to: info@worthingastronomers.org.uk with 'Unsubscribe' in the subject line; we do not want our stuff to end up like spam littering your inbox.
treasurer@worthingastronomers.org.uk – donations contact Janet Halls acting-treasurer.
Volunteers are always welcome: if you want to find out more, call 01903 521205 or drop us a line at the e-mail address above.
outreach@worthingastronomers.org.uk – events contact Steve Bassett, Mike Williams
If you like the newsletter or its content please feel free to distribute it to anyone you know who might be interested. Content is subject to copyright to the group and/or the individuals whose images or articles are used.
website@worthingastronomers.org.uk – contact for website Perry Wilkins editor@worthingastronomers.org.uk – newsletter content detail Brian Halls
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The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
ASTRONOMY
OBSERVING THE PLANETS
THIS MONTH
IN MARCH
March 2017
B
oth the inner planets disappear from view in March. Mercury is at superior conjunction on March 7 – which means the planet will be opposite Earth in its orbit (in other words, exactly behind the Sun.) It will return to our evening skies later in the month. Venus in the meantime which has been a pleasing crescent in the afternoon and early evening skies is at inferior conjunction on the 25th which means the planet will lay in the general direction of the Sun and is not safely visible to observers.
All times expressed as Universal Time (UTC – Co-ordinated Universal Time) unless otherwise stated which can be considered the same as GMT (Winter Time) i.e Summer Time, minus 1 hour. Information given, unless otherwise stated is for the 15th of the month at 21.30UT. Lunar and other phenomena in the Quick View Diary are shown to the nearest hour. The weather forecasters have the first of March as the start of spring. For more normal human beings it is on the 20th at the spring equinox that spring begins. The evenings become lighter as GMT gives way to British Summer Time at the end of the month.
Both planets will return to the morning skies in due course – Mercury in late March and April when it will best be seen for us northern hemisphere observers (more in the April issue). Venus will start showing its phases clear of the Sun, early next month.
For many amateur astronomers this is the time of year to view as many deep sky objects that appear in the Messier catalogue of clusters and galactic object. These so called Messier Marathons require as much stamina as their athletic counterparts with all night observing sessions as part of their appeal for those who undertake them. See page 6.
Mars is creeping round in the evening skies, setting low in the south-west at 21.48UT. Given its position low in the in the sky and its angular diameter, about 4.4” it can be considered poorly placed for observing.
MARCH QUICK VIEW DIARY Day Hr 1 Sunrise 06.47 Sunset 17.44 2 02 Neptune at conjunction 3 08 Moon at perigee 11 Moonrise 11 MOON: First quarter 19 School Outreach Event, Sompting (see page 7) 5 22 Lunar X visible 12 15 FULL MOON 18 Moonrise 14 21 Jupiter 2.3°S of Moon 18 15 Moon at apogee 20 10 Equinox 10 Saturn 3.4°S of Moon 16 MOON: Last quarter 21 02 Moonrise 25 10 Venus inferior conjunction 26 01 British Summer Time begins (clocks go forward 1 hour) 28 02 NEW MOON 06 Moonrise 30 12 Moon at perigee 31 Sunrise 05.41 Sunset 18.34
Jupiter on the other hand, seemingly so long out of the evening skies is returning with its coming to opposition on April 7. Rising at 20.20UT it is in our night sky well into the following morning. So large is the planet even a pair of fairly good binoculars may show the equatorial bulge of the planet and perhaps even one of the small satellites. A small telescope will show the faint belts given a good magnification and seeing with which to use it. Evening transits of the Great Red Spot visible for us this month are as follows: 3rd 22:57,8th 22:04, 10th 23:42, 13th 21:11, 15th 22:49, 20th 21:56, 22nd 23:34, 25th 21:03, 27th 22:41. Visibility of the GRS is possible 50 minutes either side of the times given. Saturn rises during the very early hours of the morning and is visible in the predawn sky. Like Jupiter it has a belt system that traverse the planets globe but these are far more subtler than those of Jupiter. The glory of the planet lays in its ring system which is well displayed at the moment.
LUNAR PHASES FOR MARCH
© Sky &Telescope
Depending on telescope, magnification and the seeing conditions, some if not all of the features might be seen in the eyepiece are listed in the above image. Why not see how many of these features you can identify over the coming months as Saturn makes its way into our skies.
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The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
Solstice and Equinox for 2017
Above: The positions of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter at 21.30UT March
Planets mid month
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The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
The planets mid-month
T
THE MOON AND THE BIG CHEESE
hose great lunar explorers, Wallace and Gromit went to the Moon and found what they were looking for – cheese. When I was young I can recall hearing stories and tales where the Moon was discovered to be made of cheese. Often the term green cheese would appear. Why is there an association with the Moon and cheese, especially ‘green’ cheese? The meaning is actually quite a simple one. Cheese is produced and then stored for maturity as ‘wheels’ - large round blocks.
Top: A delicious cheese wheel
As the cheese ages (and depending on its type) the skin of the young cheese, often described as ‘green’, can take on a mottled light and dark crust – very much like the appearance of the Full Moon with its light and dark shades. Something that probably did not escape the notice of countryside dwellers in the past - the Moon and green cheese analogy appears to have originated in Europe during the early 16 th century. Hence the association of the folk lore tale of the Moon being made from green cheese. The term ‘green’ for young or inexperienced remains with us today when describing a person with little or no knowledge or skills as being ‘green’. This month, the Full Moon occurs on March 12. Generally, the human eye cannot always pick up the subtle colours which exist on the Moon. However the sensitivity of modern digital cameras can reveal some colour. These colours reveal the presence of iron and titanium oxides that can give brown, blue and greenish tinges to colour images. Connect your camera to a telescope and see what colours you can detect. Say cheese! 5
Above: The Full Moon [You’re fired...Ed]
The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
MESSIER MARATHON March/April 2017
The original article (below) appeared in The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 - alterations for observing for 2017 have been added.
L
MARATHON TIPS Preparation:
ate winter/early spring sees many deep sky amateur astronomers engaging in a sporting like pastime - The Messier Marathon.
Choose a good site with a good viewing sky. Get familiar with your equipment, the night sky, and as many Messier objects as possible in advance - this will probably increase your final score in the Marathon significantly.
During the space of a few weeks during the spring almost all the Messier objects are (theoretically) visible during a single nights observing - hence the term Marathon.
Have an additional pair of binoculars handy. This may be of value for locating some objects which may be difficult because of either a long optics of your main instrument (e.g., for M33), help to find objects faster if your finder is not exactly superb, or enable you to look from another place if just this one tree or house is in way to see this or that object.
The Messier Marathon has been popular in the USA for the past 40 years or more for the very good reason that all the Messier objects (M1 to M110) can all be seen from that continent. We UK observers are hamstrung by the fact that some of the more southerly Messier objects are just below the horizon and never rise from UK latitudes. Our colleagues in the more southerly Spain should be able to pick up all the objects through an evening. There are 11 such M-objects not visible to us in the UK for one reason or another: M6 M7 M30 M33 M54 M55 M62 M69 M70 M74 M83.
The most critical objects in the evening are M74 and M77 - you have only a short time to glimpse them, so try them as quick as possible. If you lose one of them don't try too long, as the other might also get lost, and there are others, like M33, which are also urgent.
To capture as many M-objects as possible those taking part observe from the western sky at sunset and progressively work their way eastward over the night until the first light of dawn the next morning.
You will eventually come to a point when you have observed all Messier objects which are currently observable for you, and have to wait for the morning objects to rise; it is sometimes recommended to take this opportunity to go after the Virgo Cluster, M83, M68 and M102 (NGC 5866). At this point, you will have observed all galaxies in Messier's catalogue (unless you missed one which you can get in the morning).
The last week of March and first weekend of April (1st and 2nd) this year seems to be well placed for holding a Marathon as the Moon will be new during the week and the light of the nearly 5 day old Moon (April 1) in the evening sky hopefully will not cast too much interference. It sets a little after UT midnight on the 2nd.
Depending on experience and your observing practice, this will occur some when around or after midnight. Now you can take a break from the marathon, observe something else, return to certain interesting objects for a more detailed study, or take some warm drink (the night, to now, was cool in every respect, wasn't it)? You can even sleep or do something else. Only take care to return timely so that you have at least 2-3 hours for the remaining objects before morning twilight, so return latest around 3 am.
Fancy it? Like a real marathon a certain amount of stamina to keep going is needed through the night; a good location with a good skyline to start with - you don't want to waste precious time lugging 'scopes about to get a better view of something, and like any good runner a team around you to pace yourself, good weather and finally there is preparation – see box. As usual it is important that the Messier Marathon observer be in tip top condition and stay that way – wrap up warm; a vacuum flask of hot drink to keep you going; a supply of things to munch on – chocolate is a good source for energy; a comfortable seat; and if possible some where to keep out of any cold breeze that might blast the observing site briefly; and probably most importantly, a few other observers for mutual company.
From the website: http://messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/marathon.html
It goes without saying star maps, a red light, paper and pencils to note your observations down and binoculars are always useful as well. A Messier Marathon is a visual exercise so there is little time for imaging – save the imaging of objects when they are well presented in the sky at another time of the year. If a full Marathon seems like too much of an ordeal, the alternative is to hold monthly Messier mini-marathons over the year so over that period of time a team of observers can clock up all the objects visible from our local horizon. A group project perhaps? On the back page of this issue is a Messier list which first appeared in the March 2014 Southern Astronomer, and which accompanied the original above article.
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The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
SOMPTING SCHOOL OUTREACH EVENT
WORKSHOP EVENING: APRIL 7
On March 3 Worthing Astronomers and Worthing Skywatchers have The theme for the April meeting is to be that of the cancelled been invited back to Sompting Village Primary School for an February Workshop – a Telescope & Equipment Clinic. evening of sky-watching with telescopes. Members are cordially invited to bring along their telescopes and The Moon that evening is at first quarter – an interesting lunar phase equipment to display, show others how they work or, if you have a with the bright lunar uplands being bisected by the terminator line problem, we’ll have someone among our ranks who will be able to marking the barrier between lunar day and lunar night, with help and advise. shadows being cast across crater floors and lunar sunrise peaking through gaps in the mountains and crater walls. If the night is clear, of course there may be a chance to do some stargazing as well. Andy Lee has kindly offered to give a short talk in the main hall. Steve Bassett who is organising the event writes: A special invitation goes out to new members who have got themselves equipment that they are not too sure about using but We are after around 15 or more volunteers who would be willing to would like to get to know how to get the best from it. They are most bring their scopes along to set up on the playground and show the welcome to also bring their ‘scopes or other equipment with them. pupils and their families the near 1st qtr moon, Venus and Mars as well as any of the DSO's that can be seen. The informality of the meeting will give everyone a chance to find out what they have been doing and an opportunity to generally catch up We can arrive at the School from 6pm and will start at 7pm with a with each other. talk in the hall by Andy Lee. We will then be observing until 9pm. Obviously the event is dependent on the weather. The above chance to meet up informally in this sort of atmosphere was bought up by a member and this will be a great chance to put Those that came along to this School last time will remember that it that into practise. went really well. Hopefully we can have a similar turn out this time around. As this is an informal evening please advise if you want to give a presentation so the projector can be made available. Steve has emphasised that this is a private event and members wishing to be volunteers should contact him prior to the event These Clinic Workshops always seem to be quite popular, so do directly at: steve_bassett@hotmail.com. take the opportunity to come along. Tea’s, coffee’s and other refreshment available through the evening. The standard £3 entry per head at the door, as normal.
OBSERVING: AN AURORA METEORS & COMETS ANNIVERSARY
T
O
n March 13th, 1987 the night sky of southern England lit up with the rarest of celestial events (for southern Britain at least!) - a full on aurora.
hough they are not bright – a small telescope or ideally binoculars may be required to see them – there are some comets visible during the month however only one is well placed for observing.
I remember standing in my back garden looking at the clear skies when I saw a bright glow to the north behind the Downs at Lancing. It looked like a sunrise and then what appeared to be search light type beams of light shot up into the sky. This was, to put it mildly, unusual and I just carried on watching. And glad I did.
This is the snappily named, 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak (2017) passing north of The Sickle in Leo (its head) at the start of March, passing through the Lynx, through Ursa Major and passing through the ‘blade’ of The Plough at months end. It is expected to be about 5m.
What I (and thousands of others) saw that evening was the visual manifestation of a magnetic storm that had been triggered by solar activity surrounding a massive sunspot that was crossing the face of the Sun whose progress I had been following for several days with my telescope.
Also making an appearance in our skies is 2P/Encke – a periodic comet that makes an appearance in the skies every 3.3 years or so. Unfortunately it is not well placed being close to the Sun. This comet is the shortest periodic comet and was discovered by Messier’s collaborator, Pierre Méchain in 1786 but it was Johann Encke who worked out the period of the comet in 1819 and it was named after him.
The solar wind had blown charged particles from the Sun across space where they had been caught in our planet’s protective layer – the magnetosphere - where they were drawn down by Earth’s magnetic field, and ‘excited’ which caused them to glow.
There are no regular meteor showers this month, though the Lyrids will be visible in April – more about them, next month.
The sky was lit by green and red lights with auroral ‘curtains’ looking as if they were gently moving in a breeze, while an auroral corona lit
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The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
PROPOSED SEAFRONT OBSERVING:
APRIL 1 Global Astronomy Month returns in April and the full list of GAM events will appear in the next newsletter, however the first of the month has been set aside for what is known as the Global Star Party. Hopefully and by coincidence, that is the same night that has been chosen for a prospective seafront observing night. Mid evening the nearly 5 day old Moon will lay to the east of the Hyades in Taurus which will be in the western sky, while out to the east, the planet Jupiter will be rising in Virgo.
Views of aurora similar to this were seen across southern England in 1987
up the sky overhead – the Fully Monty of aurora’s. My big regret was that I never grabbed my camera (days of film of course!) but then perhaps I would not have been able to take in what I saw.
Between them there will be a selection of deep sky objects (DSO) to entertain the viewers, perhaps a mini-Messier Marathon? For those on Facebook and the Forum details will follow and hopefully the April newsletter, out at the end of March will have some more information as to this event.
Though I knew it had something to do with the large sunspot group crossing the Sun at the time I was little aware the chaos it was causing around the world.
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In Toronto the local grid ‘popped’, military officials on both sides of the Iron Curtain were reassuring each other that the magnetic storm was not a prelude to nuclear attack, and people as far south as the equator were witnessing one of natures greatest displays.
OBSERVING:
THE MOON
Those drilling for oil found their precision drills going off course, as did ships and aircraft. For several days after, Concorde was required to fly at much lower altitudes than normal due to the risk of excess radiation in the upper layers of the atmosphere.
This month is a chance to observe the feature known as Lunar X – a chance alignment of shadow and sunlight on the walls and peaks of craters which gives the appearance of an X. Lunar X has been mentioned recently but for newcomers it will be seen on the evening of March 5 during the latter part of the evening.
A schematic of the mechanics of an aurora
Statistically speaking aurora are best observed around either the spring or autumn equinoxes which is due to the tilt of the Earth in its orbit relative to the Sun. The Great Aurora of 1987 as it has become known came at a time when solar activity was very prominent, but even a quiet Sun such as we are seeing at the moment is producing enough activity to give those in higher latitudes regular views of auroral shows.
There are three chances of Lunar X visibility in 2017 for UK evening observing and are as follows: March 5, 22.21UT; June 1, 21.36UT; July 30, 20.33UT; (Times are for the start of lunar sunrise conditions and X will be visible for sometime after the times shown.)
In the UK, Scotland and the Scottish Isles will see aurora at regular intervals given clear skies. The further south you come the more rarer they are, with Northern England and the Midlands being better placed. Don’t let this put you off. The late Neil Bone who lived south of Chichester regularly photographed aurora from his garden.
Good luck, you Lunar X-Philes. 8
The Southern Astronomer No.102 – March 2017
March Night Sky around 21.30 UT mid-month
C
harles Messier created his catalogue of deep sky objects that still bare in initial (M) so these fuzzy objects would not be confused with comets which were his passion. It is perhaps an irony that though he was a successful comet hunter, it is for his catalogue that he is more famous.
Some of the circumpolar constellations which are forever in our skies, are well placed. Ursa Major is almost overhead and that too is a source of a number of Messier objects. Also in Ursa Major is an area of galaxy concentrations named after its ‘discoverer’ - the Hubble Deep Field portion of the Hubble space telescope. Alas these will be beyond the light grasp of amateur equipment.
There are a good number of Messier objects in the sky mid evening. The greatest cluster of them lay between Leo and Virgo – so many they just become a confused blur on a sky map at this scale. Messier had discovered some of the brighter objects of what we now call the Virgo Cluster – a collection of 1500 to 2000 galaxies which are at the heart of an even larger area, the Virgo Super Cluster.
These galaxies occupy a tiny portion of our sky – about 2.6 arcminutes or, to put into other terms, about 1/12th of the diameter of our Moon. These 3000 or so galaxies are so distant we see them only as they were when they were young, billions of years ago.
The evenings are now becoming that bit lighter due to a combination of the passing of the equinox and the change of times Taurus and Orion are now very much heading westwards – the two due to the annual introduction of British Summer Time on the 26th. constellations that I think off as the harbingers of winter are now So as usual a reminder that times shown in The Southern disappearing from our skies, making way for the spring star patterns Astronomer, unless stated, are always given in UTC – that is, BST like Leo and Virgo. minus 1 hour.
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The Southern Astronomer No.66 – March 2014 A list of all Messier objects in order of observing during an evening M NGC Con Type RA Dec Mag Size(') 1 2 3 4 5 6* 7* 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30* 31 32 33* 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54* 55* 56 57 58
M77 M74 M33 M31 M32 M110 M52 M103 M76 M34 M45 M79 M42 M43 M78 M1 M35 M37 M36 M38 M41 M93 M47 M46 M50 M48 M44 M67 M95 M96 M105 M65 M66 M81 M82 M97 M108 M109 M40 M106 M94 M63 M51 M101 M102 M53 M64 M3 M98 M99 M100 M85 M84 M86 M87 M89 M90 M88
1068 628 598 224 221 205 7654 581 650 1039 1904 1976 1982 2068 1952 2168 2099 1960 1912 2287 2447 2422 2437 2323 2548 2632 2682 3351 3368 3379 3623 3627 3031 3034 3587 3556 3992 Win4 4258 4736 5055 5194 5457 5866 5024 4826 5272 4192 4254 4321 4382 4374 4406 4486 4552 4569 4501
Cet Tri And And And And Cas Cas Per Per Tau Lep Ori Ori Ori Tau Gem Aur Aur Aur Cma Pup Pup Pup Mon Hya Cnc Cnc Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo UMa UMa UMa UMa UMa UMa CVn CVn CVn CVn UMa Dra Com Com CVn Com Com Com Com Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Com
5 5 5 5 6 6 1 1 3 1 1 2 4 4 4 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 6 5 5 5 7 3 5 5 C 5 5 5 5 5 8 2 5 2 5 5 5 8 8 8 6 6 5 5
02 42.7 01 36.7 01 33.9 00 42.7 00 42.7 00 40.4 23 24.2 01 33.2 01 42.4 02 42.0 03 47.0 05 24.5 05 35.4 05 35.6 05 46.7 05 34.5 06 08.9 05 52.4 05 36.1 05 28.4 06 46.0 07 44.6 07 36.6 07 41.8 07 03.2 08 13.8 08 40.1 08 50.4 10 44.0 10 46.8 10 47.8 11 18.9 11 20.2 09 55.6 09 55.8 11 14.8 11 11.5 11 57.6 12 22.4 12 19.0 12 50.9 13 15.8 13 29.9 14 03.2 15 06.5 13 12.9 12 56.7 13 42.2 12 13.8 12 18.8 12 22.9 12 25.4 12 25.1 12 26.2 12 30.8 12 35.7 12 36.8 12 32.0
-00 01 +15 47 +30 39 +41 16 +40 52 +41 41 +61 35 +60 42 +51 34 +42 47 +24 07 -24 33 -05 27 -05 16 +00 03 +22 01 +24 20 +32 33 +34 08 +35 50 -20 44 -23 52 -14 30 -14 49 -08 20 -05 48 +19 59 +11 49 +11 42 +11 49 +12 35 +13 05 +12 59 +69 04 +69 41 +55 01 +55 40 +53 23 +58 05 +47 18 +41 07 +42 02 +47 12 +54 21 +55 46 +18 10 +21 41 +28 23 +14 54 +14 25 +15 49 +18 11 +12 53 +12 57 +12 24 +12 33 +13 10 +14 25
8.9 9.4 5.7 3.4 8.1 8.5 7.3 7.4 10.1
5.5 1.6 7.7 4.0 9.0 8.3 8.4 5.3 6.2 6.3 7.4 4.6 6.0 5.2 6.0 6.3 5.5 3.7 6.1 9.7 9.2 9.3 9.3 8.9 6.9 8.4 9.9 10.0 9.8 8.4 8.4 8.2 8.6 8.4 7.9 9.9 7.6 8.5 6.2 10.1 9.9 9.3 9.1 9.1 8.9 8.6 9.6 9.5 9.6
7x6 10.2x9. 573x45 178x63 8x6 8.5 13.0 6.0 2.7x1.8 35.0 110.0 8.7 85x60 20x15 8x6 6x4 28.0 24.0 12.0 21.0 38.0 22.0 30.0 27.0 16.0 54.0 95.0 30.0 4.4x3.3 6x4 2.0 8x1.5 8x2.5 21x10 9x4 3.4x3.3 8x1 7x4 0.8 19x8 7x3 10x6 11x7 22.0 5.2x2.3 12.6 9.3x5.4 16.2 9.5x3.2 5.4x4.8 7x6 7.1x5.2 5.0 7.5x5.5 7.0 4.0 9.5x4.5 7x4
M 59 60 61 62* 63 64 65 66 67 68 69* 70* 71 72 73 74* 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83* 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110
M91 M58 M59 M60 M49 M61 M104
M68 M83 M5 M13 M92 M57 M56 M29 M39 M27 M71 M107
M12 M10 M14 M9 M4 M80 M19 M62 M6 M7 M11 M26 M16 M17 M18 M24 M25 M23 M21 M20 M8 M28 M22 M69 M70 M54 M55 M75 M15 M2 M72 M73 M30
NGC Con
Type RA
4548 4579 4621 4649 4472 4303 4594 4590 5236 5904 6205 6341 6720 6779 6913 7092 6853 6838 6171 6218 6254 6402 6333 6121 6093 6273 6266 6405 6475 6705 6694 6611 6618 6613 6603
5 5 6 6 6 5 5 2 5 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 B 1 1 1 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 A 2
I4725
6494 6531 6514 6523 6626 6656 6637 6681 6715 6809 6864 7078 7089 6981 6994 7099
Com Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Vir Hya Hya Ser Her Her Lyr Lyr Cyg Cyg Vul Sge Oph Oph Oph Oph Oph Sco Sco Oph Oph Sco Sct Sct Sct Ser Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Sgr Peg Aqr Aqr Aqr Cap
12 35.4 12 37.7 12 42.0 12 43.7 12 29.8 12 21.9 12 40.0 12 39.5 13 37.0 15 18.6 16 41.7 17 17.1 18 53.6 19 16.6 20 23.9 21 32.2 19 59.6 19 53.8 16 32.5 16 47.2 16 57.1 17 37.6 17 19.2 16 23.6 16 17.0 17 02.6 17 01.2 17 40.1 17 53.9 18 51.1 18 45.2 18 18.8 18 20.8 18 19.9 18 16.9 18 31.6 17 56.8 18 04.6 18 02.6 18 03.8 18 24.5 18 36.4 18 31.4 18 43.2 18 55.1 19 40.0 20 06.1 21 30.0 21 33.5 20 53.5 20 58.9 21 40.4
Dec +14 30 +11 49 +11 39 +11 33 +08 00 +04 28 -11 37 -26 45 -29 52 +02 05 +36 28 +43 08 +33 02 +30 11 +38 32 +48 26 +22 43 +18 47 -13 03 -01 57 -04 06 -03 15 -18 31 -26 32 -22 59 -26 16 -30 07 -32 13 -34 49 -06 16 -09 24 -13 47 -16 11 -17 08 -18 29 -19 15 -19 01 -22 30 -23 02 -24 23 -24 52 -23 54 -32 21 -32 18 -30 29 -30 58 -21 55 +12 10 -00 49 -12 32 -12 38 -23 11
Mag
Size(')
10.2 9.7 9.6 8.8 8.4 9.7 8.0 7.8 7.6 5.6 5.8 6.4 8.8 8.3 7.1 4.6 7.4 8.2 7.9 6.7 6.6 7.6 7.7 5.6 7.3 6.8 6.5 5.3 4.1 6.3 8.0 6.4 7.0 7.5 4.6 6.5 6.9 6.5 9.0 6.0 6.8 5.1 7.6 7.9 7.6 6.3 8.5 6.2 6.5 9.3 9.0 7.2
5.4x4.4 5.5x4.5 5x3.5 7x6 9x7.5 6x5.5 9x4 12.0 11x10 17.4 16.6 11.2 1.4x1.0 7.1 7.0 32.0 8.0x5.7 7.2 10.0 14.5 15.1 11.7 9.3 26.3 8.9 13.5 14.1 25.0 80.0 14.0 15.0 7.0 11.0 9.0 90 40.0 27.0 13.0 28.0 90x40 11.2 24.0 7.1 7.8 9.1 19.0 6.0 12.3 12.9 5.9 2.8 11.0
* Not visible from UK Type: 1=Open Cluster, 2=Globular Cluster, 3=Planetary Nebula, 4=Diffuse Nebula, 5=Spiral Galaxy, 6=Elliptical Galaxy, 7=Irregular Galaxy, 8=Lenticular (S0) Galaxy, 9=Supernova Remnant, A=Group or Asterism of Four stars, B=Star Cloud, C=Double Star
5