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Observing notes: 2007 April 14/15
By Carol Botha. Published 2009 June 10.
Objects noted
Deep sky observing logbook for Saturday/Sunday, 2007 April 14/15. Observations were made from Sutherland, with an 8-inch f/5 Dobsonian (15mm eyepiece, 45' fov), and 10x50 binoculars.
NGC 6218
Instrument: 8-inch, F5 Dobsonian, 15mm eyepiece, field size: 45'
Sky: Clear
Quality: Star party, irritating sudden bright headlights and indiscriminate pointing of green lasers
Globular cluster (M12) in Ophiuchus. Not as easy to locate through the telescope as its neighbour M10. The object seems of even density without a brighter nucleus. It appears slightly elongated north-south . When looking directly it looks like a spun cacoon or almost like a thumbprint. With averted vision the cluster appears slightly brighter towards the middle. I cannot resolve any stars. In the same field are a number of bright stars .One star nestles at the southern edge of the cluster with another star to south-east. Three stars form a straight line from ESE to NNW with two stars west of the cluster.
NGC 6254
Instrument: 8-inch, F5 Dobsonian, 15mm eyepiece, field size: 45'
Sky: Very slight haze but Milky Way clearly visible
Quality: –2°C plus two jovial observing partners
Globular cluster (M10) in Ophiuchus. Reasonably easy to locate. Unlike other globular clusters that I've seen i.e with averted vision the brighter nucleus seems to be off centre towards north-west. The less denser fan shaped halo radiating to north-east. I cannot resolve any stars. There are four bright stars in the form of a cross in the same field with the long axis north-south.
Dark Doodad
Instrument: Binoculars 10x50
Sky: Very slight haze but Milky Way clearly visible
Dark Nebula in Musca. I was drawn to the name of this object but only succeeded in finding it from Sutherland. An exciting moment when sighting the object through binoculars. The nebula is well-defined , cigar shaped and almost looks like tight parallel brush strokes that stretch from north-east, just below the brightest star in the field, alpha (?) Musca to southwest , north of and beyond gamma Musca , extending beyond the binoculars field of view. To the south are a pair of close stars, one which I later identified as delta Musca. Just north-east of delta Musca lies a faint globular cluster NGC 4833.
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