August 9, 2008

10:30-11:30pm

The night seemed perfect, clear and cool. But as soon as the scope was set up and aligned, th clouds began to arrive.

M29

Still my favorite cluster in the night sky, lying among Cygnus's ultra-rich star fields just a few degrees from gamma Cygni (Sadr). The cluster was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, one of his first discoveries made while comet-hunting in the skies over Paris.

This image comprises 30, 15-second sub-exposures.

M29 is often dismissed as an unimpressive object.  Personally, I find the disparagement of this fine little cluster perplexing. True, it is not as magnificent as many – not having as many stars as M52, or gleaming as brightly as the Pleiades – but is has a charm all its own. And, in many cases, my own included may be the first object an amateur stargazer spots with a telescope in the summer sky.

Despite its location near a bright star (Sadr), it's not easily located by a novice observer, which makes its final discovery all the more rewarding, especially since it stands out clearly in the otherwise crowded region.

NGC 6946

Appearing on the border of the constellations of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, this magnificent spiral galaxy was first observed by William Herschel in 1798. Herschel, of course, had no idea what he was actually seeing, noting it as another nebula. Modern astronomers have recorded nine supernova (exploding stars) in NGC 6946 since 1917 leading to NGC 6946's popular description as the “Fireworks Galaxy.” It is thought to lie about 10 million light years distant from the Milky Way galaxy.

Due to the oncoming clouds, this was a hurried image, somewhat ruined as wispy clouds obscured the object even as the last sub-exposures were taken. The above image is a stack of 44, 30-second sub-exposures.