IC 1893 and IC 410, Cluster and Emission Nebula in Auriga
Sharing Observations and Bringing Amateur Astronomers Together
Introduction
This month’s target
John Herschel discovered the open cluster IC 1893 in 1827 with the 18¼-inch reflector at Slough in Buckinghamshire, England. His handwritten journal reads: “Rich, coarse, scattered and straggling. It more than fills the field. The stars are 9…15 magnitude.” The engulfing nebula, IC 410, wasn’t discovered until 1892, when Max Wolf found some new extended nebulae on photographic plates taken with a 6-inch Voigtländer portrait lens. My paraphrased translation of the pertinent section of his discovery says: The ribbon-rich nebula shown on the plates around the star cluster surrounds the star BD+33 1023 [HD 242908] should also be new. It largely encloses the whole group.
The nebula is roughly 11,000 to 12,000 light-years distant, and the adolescent cluster within it is at least 4-million years old.
Sharing Observations and Bringing Amateur Astronomers Together
This month’s target
During his term as the first director of Dearborn Observatory, Truman Henry Safford discovered IC 348 on December 1, 1866, with the observatory’s 18.5-inch refractor. Safford published his observation in a table of objects found at Dearborn in the years 1866–1868. The table uses the alphabet-soup notation common to the era, which decrypted means: very large, very gradually brighter in the middle, pretty bright. Additionally, a note below that section of the table describes the object as “A loose cluster with nebula.” The combo appeared in the First Index Catalogue.
IC 348 has the dubious honor of bearing two IC designations. Edward Emerson Barnard independently discovered the nebula in 1893, and it was placed in the Second Index Calalogue as IC 1985, without anyone tumbling to the fact that it was already in the previous IC catalog. Unlike Safford, Barnard didn’t note the existence of the cluster within the nebula.
IC 348 is thought to be roughly 1000 light-years away and a youthful 2–3 million years old. It holds about 500 stars, with brightest being hot, blue-white stars on the main sequence. The cluster’s visual magnitude is 7.3. By Sue French
Posted October 6, 2020 by rogerivester Categories:Roger's Articles
After a five month hiatus from observing, it felt really good to be back outside with a telescope.
Fifteen years plus or (185 consecutive months) of compiling the Observer’s Challenge report left me with a bit of observing burnout. Fred Rayworth of Las Vegas, and myself issued the first report in February 2009. But for the past five or more years, Sue French (former S&T Associate Editor and author) would take Fred’s place, and I would work with Sue to compile the report.
The challenge report ended in June 2024, but not before receiving almost 200,000 .pdf world-wide downloads. However, the reports will live on via the following link:
My objective is to complete a personal goal of seeing and sketching galaxies (NGC 7335, 7336 and 7340) known as “The Deer Lick Galaxy Group.” This “these three galaxies” were given this name by Tom Lorenzin, based on an incredible night of transparency and seeing from the Deerlick Gap Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the early 1980’s.
But would they be possible from my suburban backyard and with a 10-inch Newtonian?
Tuesday, November 26th 2024: At 7:00 PM, the sky was clear, but with very poor transparency. After an hour of observing the Deer Lick Group location, I was finally able to see or glimpse NGC 7335, which is the brightest of the three galaxies. However, I could see this galaxy only intermittently, and appearing as an elongated blur.
I used my 10-inch Newtonian with a magnification of 208x, and despite all of my imagination, I could not see galaxies NGC 7336 or 7340.
A pleasant surprise: I was able to see Stephen’s Quintet, which is a very faint cluster of five tiny galaxies. However, I could only see a faint glow or brightening in the location, which would not have even been possible without the use of a GoTo equatorial mount. It’s amazing what we can see, when we know the deep-sky object is in the center of the telescope field.
Cold nighttime temps and dry air will return this Friday night (November 29th 2024) which “for most part” guarantees improved transparency. I’m very hopeful I’ll be able to achieve my 30 year goal of seeing all three of the galaxies, using my 10-inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian, and from my suburban backyard.
Friday, September 29th 2024 observation notes: Transparency was excellent, as well as seeing. The Andromeda galaxy was incredibly bright and easy to see without optical aid and with direct vision. The NELM was about 5.1 or possibly a bit better, especially in the area of the Deer Lick Group.
Again, I used my 10-inch f/4.5 Newtonian for the Deer Lick Galaxy Group and Stephen’s Quintet. I increased the magnification for my previous observation to 291x, using an 11mm EP and a 2.8x UO Klee Barlow. Seldom can I use a magnification this high.
After an hour of careful observing, I could only see only galaxy NGC 7335, with averted vision. The galaxy appeared very faint, not constant, elongated, no center brightness or concentration. I really think I was seeing galaxies NGC 7336 and NGC 7340, but could not confirm, or not definitive. So no…I could not see all three of the Deer Lick Group.
Now to Stephen’s Quintet: With improved sky conditions versus my previous observation, and with increased magnification (291x) I could see a very soft glow or brightening. No individual galaxies could be identified or seen. However, I’m very pleased just seeing it definitively, if only a soft glow in the location.
The above notes are my final for the Deer Lick Galaxy Group and Stephen’s Quintet:
Original post or article as following:
While driving through Little Switzerland, North Carolina, we stopped at the Deerlick Gap Overlook, which is just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve always considered this to be a very famous location for both amateur astronomers and professionals alike.
The overlook became the namesake for faint galaxies NGC 7335, 7336 and 7340 in Pegasus, which has become known as the Deer Lick Group. It had nothing to do with the appearance of the galaxies, but from the location where they were observed from.
Tom Lorenzin, author of “1000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing” was observing from the Deerlick Overlook one incredibly transparent night in October, 1983. He was able to get an extraordinary view of the faint triangle of galaxies. The name stuck, and is now known by many as the Deer Lick Group.
Note: Tom Lorenzin passed away from a heart attack on Aug. 23, 2014 in Winston Salem, at the age of 67.I had known Tom for many years, receiving advice on both visual observing targets and pencil sketching.
Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to see the Deer Lick Group from my 4.8-5.0 NELM suburban backyard, using my 10-inch f/4.5 equatorial Newtonian. However, it’s my goal this year to attempt this trio of galaxies from a dark-site, andif I’m successful, a thirty year goal will be achieved.
I should note: I have observed the three galaxies that Lorenzin list as following, with a friends 14.5-inch Newtonian from a semi-dark-site, but I didn’t make any notes, and without a sketch.
So my goal now, is to attempt the three galaxies (NGC 7335,6,40) from my suburban backyard, using my 10-inch Newtonian, during October and November 2024. I think I can do it!
And I’ll also try “Stephen’s Quintet” while I’m at it. With this group of faint galaxies, and from my backyard, I’ll take just a faint glow, and maybe a separation of a galaxy or two.Again, I’ll be sketching what I see.
The following are Tom’s Lorenzin’s descriptive notes from “1000+” based on his October 1983 observing session from the Deerlick Overlook.
NGC 7331: 10.4M; 10′ x 2.5′ extent; bright and much elongated edge-on spiral with stellar nucleus; axis oriented NNW-SSE; the Deer Lick group, a very faint triangle of 14+M GALs (N7335,6,40) is a few minutes E and a little N; “STEPHAN’S QUINTET” (soft glow of five very faint and distant GAL’s) is 30′ due S; good supernova prospect.
original photo of Deerlick Gap Overlook just off the Blue Ridge Parkway:
The Veil Nebula has long been modeled as the remnant of a supernova explosion that occurred within an interstellar cavity created by the progenitor star. However, a recent study by Fesen, Weil, and Cisneros (2018MNRAS.481.1786F ) using multi-wavelength emission maps indicates that the large-scale structure of the Veil Nebula is due to interaction of the remnant with local interstellar clouds. Employing Gaia DR2 data, the team determined an distance of 735±25 pc.
This beautiful nebula bears several NGC designations. Its western arc, NGC 6960, runs through the naked-eye star 52 Cygni and is commonly called the Witch’s Broom. The tantalizingly intricate western arc is called NGC 6992 in the north, while the tattered southern reaches comprise NGC 6995. The brightest part of Pickering’s Triangular Wisp, which claims no NGC number, lies between the northern tips of the two great arcs. The discoverers of NGC 6974 (Lord Rosse) and NGC 6979 (William Herschel) gave these pieces positions that don’t correspond to anything obvious, but the names have been popularly tagged onto the northern and southern parts of the nebulosity just east of Pickering’s Triangular Wisp. As good a guess as any.
Posted June 17, 2020 by rogerivester Categories:Uncategorized
Roger, I don’t know how many of your readers have heard of the “Great Lensnapping” that happened at the original Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh in the late 1800s.
My beloved 13-inch Fitz-Clark had it’s objective lens stolen and held for ransom. At the time, it was the third largest in the world! (Now it’s the third largest in the current Observatory.)
Samuel Pierpont Langley was director at the time and refused to pay anything, as no telescope in the country would then be safe from theft. He finally met the thief at a hotel in a Pittsburgh suburb – the thief agreed to return it if Langley didn’t prosecute. He subsequently found it in a waste basket at that very hotel.
The lens was pretty well scratched up and Langley sent it to Alvin Clark for refinishing. Thus the dual name Fitz-Clark. As I’ve stated before, it is without question the finest visual telescope I’ve ever seen or used bar none!
To read more and see a photo of the famous 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor, see the following link:
This is the telescope that Wally McCall and I used for our visual sky survey in the mid-60’s that resulted in the Sky & Telescope series The Finest Deep-Sky Objects and its eventual Sky Publishing reprint that went through three printings.My personal total eyepiece time logged using this amazing instrument over many years was some 10,000 hours! It clearly showed markings on several of the Galilean satellites and spiral structure within Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.One of the “discoveries” we made using the 13-inch was the “Blinking Planetary” in Cygnus (NGC 6826) which has become a favorite showpiece at star parties and public viewing sessions.
“The Finest Deep-Sky Objects by James Mullaney and Wallace McCall”
“On Public Nights at Allegheny Observatory, when the dome of the 13-inch refractor is crowded with visitors, all anxious to lookat everything in the sky, a hand finding list of impressive objects is invaluable.”
These words prefaced our short list of celestial showpieces published in the December, 1962, issue of “Sky and Telescope”. Wenow present an expanded version, intended as a roster of the finest star clusters, nebulae, and other deep-sky objects, for theconvenience of amateur astronomers with telescopes of all sizes. It is the result of our five-year visual survey of the heavens northof -40º declination….
The “Finest Deep-Sky Objects…” Cover Photo:
Since this book was my first deep-sky reference book, I wanted to document all objects, and would later put it into a soft-cover (1998 publication) of my own making.This was before I began my second quest…to see and document all of the Messier Objects.
I actually went through the list a couple times, accumulating over 500 (3×5 notecards) with observing notes and many pencil sketches of the “Finest Deep-Sky Objects”. The book was self-published (with assistance in publishing by Tom English) and actually sold at a couple local astronomy events.
The publication was titled: “The 105 (+1) Finest Deep-Sky Objects: Revisited”
Final observing of the list: Between August 1995 and May 1996, I completed viewing all of the 105 + (1) deep-sky objects.
Each object was observed with an 80 mm f/15 refractor or a 10-inch f/4.5 EQ reflector. Only with exception of a very few objects were observed from my suburban backyard. This project was a big project…much bigger than I had anticipated. I spent over 250 hours at the telescope eyepiece with an additional 50 hours (probably many more) to summarize review and prepare for the publication.
The (+1) was an additional object to the original list, as Jim Mullaney always said, the Crab Nebula should have been included. Roger Ivester
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