Messier Madness

The constant rains of the Willamette Valley winter relented briefly in mid-March, as if in a show of mercy toward desperate earthbound astronomers. Clear Sky Chart forecasts indicated a few passable nights near Third Quarter Moon; it took no extra prodding for those of us who’d been waiting since November for an observing opportunity, despite the fact that it was squarely in the middle of the work week.

The timing was doubly fortuitous, coinciding as it did with the chance to conduct a Messier Marathon. It wasn’t perfect—New Moon would be ideal—but no-one in EAS was going to complain. Maybe the New Moon weekend would be clear, maybe it wouldn’t; the 10-day forecast (fallible as it was) indicated more rain on the way after our spell of respite. The sky gods giveth, and the sky gods taketh away. Dan and Jerry planned to spread their Marathon over the course of whatever nights were available and when the Moon was out of the sky… not a true Messier Marathon, but completely acceptable anyway, given what we’d had for clear Moonless nights during the winter (read: none). Loren wasn’t interested in the Marathon; he was plowing through an altered version of the Astronomical League’s Planetary Nebula list, hoping to pick up a few of the low-declination late winter planetaries before the rains returned.

I’d always wanted to complete a Messier Marathon, having twice come close to doing so, but I was also very close to finishing notetaking on all 110 Messiers. This took precedence. I might stop in at a few of the others while waiting for some of the ones I needed to rise into better position, but my focus was going to be on the dozen or so that would already be in decent position before the pre-dawn hours. This included a couple of the less-appreciated clusters, the Crab Nebula, and the object I dreaded most of all: M42, the Great Orion Nebula. No object surrendered such a wealth of detail, or demanded as much patience to observe. Even after years of putting descriptions into voice memos, I wasn’t sure I had the descriptive skills to do the nebula justice. But time was slipping by, and the April New Moon phase would find the nebula well past its prime visually. I had to catch it now, on the first night of this clear spell, even at the expense of every other object on every one of my lists.

I. The first night’s forecast looked best at Linslaw Point, our craggy “spiritual” retreat. It had been four long months since Loren and I had damn near frozen up on the crag, when I took notes on The Pleiades and the three Messier clusters in Auriga; I’m still not sure I had completely thawed out from that particular night (and I knew thawing far better than most). Loren was there, and Dan B and Jerry, and Dan R had joined us for the Marathon opportunity, with Jerry using his 20″ TriDob on the night; Dan B also had his 20″, and Loren his 18″ Obsession. I had the smallest scope in Bob the Dob, but I also had a secret new weapon.

I’d gotten a 14mm Delos for Christmas, Mrs. Caveman having given away (under the assumption I wasn’t going to need it) the “extra” computer we’d bought from the university; while the computer would’ve been useful, its absence was equally so, allowing me to add a little extra guilt-tripping to my request for the new eyepiece. I’d intended to get the Delos anyway, to replace my workhorse 14mm Explore 82-degree Nagler clone… the one that’d ruined the threads on my old Lumicon O-III filter (which had also already been replaced). The Explore was still a useful eyepiece, but Explore Scientific had annoyed me with their “F You” customer response to my query about replacing the eyepiece barrel. Tonight would be the Delos’ baptism of fire, as I was giving it first light on M42, befitting its status as my new workhorse.

While waiting for darkness to settle completely on the sandstone crag, however, there was time and opportunity to pick off another Messier object, one with a fairly narrow window of observability this late in the winter. Out came the Explore for one “last hurrah,” as tribute to its years of useful service.

03/15-16/23
LINSLAW POINT
SUNSET: 7:18 PM
MOON: 23 days (rose at 3:40 AM; 45% illuminated)
SEEING: 6
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.4 (12 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in mid-40s, chilly but tolerable; some dew; air mostly still
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DB, LR, DR

All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos (113x, 0.62˚ TFOV), 14mm ES 82˚ eyepiece (112x, 0.7˚ TFOV), or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

8:46
M41 (NGC 2287; CMa): First object of an important night. M41 is about 40’ across; it’s pretty obviously a cluster and is well detached from the Milky Way in this part of Canis Major, with a lot of magnitude range among the 90 or so stars here; I don’t believe the 6th-magnitude star to the SF is part of the cluster, but it’s right on the edge of the field with the cluster lucida centered in the field; that star’s about 21’ SF the lucida, which is 7th magnitude and just slightly SP the center of the cluster. F somewhat N of the lucida by 2.67’ is an 7.5-magnitude star that I think is more the physical and visual center of M41, and is on the S end of the major axis of a N slightly P-S slightly F ellipse of stars. The ellipse is about 2.75’ by 1.5’; the star on the N end of the major axis of that ellipse is the second brightest in the ellipse at 9th magnitude. The overall cluster branches out in an ‘X’ pattern; 7’ F somewhat S from the 7.5-magnitude star in the ellipse is an 8th-magnitude star that lies at the SF end of the X; that star is part of a F slightly S-P slightly N arc of six stars whose P slightly N end is the cluster lucida; that arc is about 9’ long and forms the SF bar of the X. 3.75’ NF that 7.5-magnitude star in the ellipse is the S end of a 5’ line that generally runs SP-NF and has five stars in it, making a SP-NF arc with a central section of three stars that runs straight N-S, or two slightly-intersecting lines of stars. 9’ N of the 7.5-magnitude star is an 8th-magnitude star. 7’ NP from the 7.5-magnitude star (I should be using the lucida for these directions and distances but I’m not) is the F and fainter of a pair which is 8.5 magnitude and has due P it by 0.3’ a 7th-magnitude star that has an 8th-magnitude star P somewhat N of it by 1.5’; and 3’ F that 8.5-magnitude star is another pair that’s much dimmer but very obvious; those are SP-NF each other by 0.25’ with the more-N one somewhat brighter; those are 9.5 and 10th magnitudes. From the 7.5-magnitude “center” star SP by 8’ is another 7.5-magnitude star that has an 8.5-magnitude star 1.67’ F slightly S of it, and from that 7.5-magnitude star NF by 1.75’ is an 11th-magnitude star. From that 7.5-magnitude star 3.5’ P very slightly N is an 8.5-magnitude star that has a 9th-magnitude star 2.5’ F somewhat N of it. These stars all form the various arms of the X. There looks to be “darkness of the nebulous variety” around the ellipse and then parallel to the line between the lucida and the 7.5-magnitude star (so P slightly S-F slightly N), running 25’ across the cluster. Between the lucida and the two pairs (the 7th/8th magnitude pair and the 9.5/10th-magnitude pair) toward the P edge of the cluster there’s a round 5’ blot of dark nebulosity that fills much of the space between the lucida and those pairs; P the brighter of the pairs and running SP-NF in the field is a dark strip that’s 6’ long and 1’ wide, so there is dark nebulosity abounding within the cluster’s diameter.… Running parallel to the faint pair of intersecting lines of stars NF that “center” star and P it is another dark strip that’s roughly 8’ long and variably thick, between 3’ and 1.5’. There’s a scattering about twenty brighter stars in the single digit magnitudes, and then a substrate of 10th- and 11th-magnitude stars; there’s not a huge amount of faint stars, though; I wonder if the dark nebulosity swallowed all of them up or blotted them all out. NF the “center” star by 12’, so beyond the end of the two intersecting lines, is an interesting double [SAO 172308] with the fainter S very slightly P the brighter by 12”; those are very unequal in brightness (9th and 10.5 magnitude).

One done. I was almost sweating in anticipation of tackling M42; fortunately, I had first light for the new Delos to look forward to. I stowed the dutiful Explore, wrapped the dew heater band around the Delos, and put it in the focuser, pivoting the scope over to Orion. After a brief adjustment to my observing chair, I sized up M42 in the Telrad and carefully parked myself in the chair.

My first glance through the Delos was to center up the great nebula, as the Telrad was slightly off (despite the care with which I aligned it). But once the nebula floated into the center of the eyepiece… the rest of the Universe disappeared and nothing remained but the Orion Nebula, in its astonishing, field-filling glory.

I don’t recall my exclamation, but it was enough to summon Jerry, Dan R, and Dan B over for a look. Extracting myself from the nebula, I gave Dan R, then Jerry, then the skeptical Dan B the view. Jerry proclaimed it the best view he’d ever had of M42; Dan R concurred, repeating my earlier exclamation (probably “Holy sh!t” or something semantically equivalent) and adding an “indeed” to it afterward. Even Dan B, who considers TeleVue eyepieces overpriced and the Delos line too narrow in field of view, agreed that the view was exceptional. “It would be better in a 100-degree field of view instead of a soda straw,” he added, not wanting to be too effusive (lest he yield his longstanding position).

I returned to the eyepiece, even though the nebula’s image had burned into my brain. Somehow, I had to put the vision into words; I could’ve used Lovecraft’s lines from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath:

” It was a fever of the gods; a fanfare of supernal trumpets and a clash of immortal cymbals. Mystery hung about it as clouds about a fabulous unvisited mountain….”

except that Burnham had already done so, and I was leery of giving too much credit to Lovecraft given his personal views on race and culture. But my own words weren’t as beautiful, and I found myself so feeble-witted by the sight of the nebula that my descriptions required careful decipherment; in places, I’m not even sure what I was describing, or if it was even real.

9:11
M42, M43 (NGCs 1976, 1982; Ori): This is certainly an auspicious occasion, the 14mm Delos getting first light on the Orion Nebula, and the view has been described by everyone as utterly superb, and it absolutely is. What a phenomenal sight! The nebula takes up well more than the 37° field of view on the Delos, the stars in the Trapezium (and elsewhere) just snapping to focus. I can’t say enough how extraordinary this view is. The E and F stars are visible and I’m finding several others N of the Trapezium, in and around some of the known stars; I’m sure I’ve seen them before but this is the first time they’ve drawn my attention. But the Trapezium’s brightest star, the C star, I’m using that as the centerpiece here; the D star is NF it by 0.25’. 13” P somewhat N of the C star is, I believe, the A star, and it has the B star N slightly F it by 10”, with the E star N very slightly P the A star by 5”. The F star is 5” SF the C star. N and NF the C star is a pair, separated by 1.25’; from the C star to the brighter of those two [V1230 Ori], bridging the Fish’s Mouth, is 2.25’; that brighter star of the two is 9th magnitude, and it has 1’ P very slightly S of it an 11th magnitude star [MR Ori]. From [V1230 Ori] N slightly P by 0.75’ is a 14.5-magnitude star that I thought for a moment had a companion… yeah, there’s a 15.5 magnitude star almost due N of the dimmer of those two stars by 1.5’; those are actually 15th and 15.5 magnitude. Magnitudes on the Trapezium stars: the C star is 5th magnitude; D is 6.5; A is 6.5;  B is 8th; E is 11th… F is 11.5. Between the A [C] star and [V1230 Ori] by 0.75’ is an 11.5 magnitude star. From the C star 4’ F somewhat S is the P-most vertex [Theta² Ori] in a wedge of stars that follows the edge of the nebula; that star is also 5th magnitude. The second star in that wedge is 1’ F the first and is 6.5 magnitude; 1.25’ F slightly S of that star is an 8.5-magnitude star, and 1.5’ S slightly P that star is a 12.5 magnitude star that has a 14th magnitude star S very slightly F it by 1.75’. 

So enough about the damn stars here; let’s talk about the nebula! The brighter part  of the nebula spans almost the entire field—the big arc, which stretches N of the trapezium; it runs P slightly N-F slightly S, reaches the dark feature in the nebula [the Fish’s Mouth], and then reappears on the other side, stretching 14’ N very slightly P-S very slightly F and dissipates at the S end at a 7th-magnitude star that has F very slightly N of it by 5.5’ a 6.5-magnitude star. (This is the side I call the Scimitar.) The dark wedge of the Fish’s Mouth reaches generally NF from the Trapezium, from being almost in contact with the Trapezium stars, runs parallel to the wedge of stars [Theta2, etc.], spans 8’ SP to NF, and terminates near what looks to be a 9th-magnitude star and also sweeps roughly due P for about 10’, past an 11th-magnitude star that’s kind of swallowed up in the dark nebulosity, and reaches past that star by 2.5’ and then continues beyond that, much less opaquely; that’s the most opaque section of the dark nebulosity, but it continues P very slightly N from that 11th-magnitude star for another 13’ and then branches NP for 6.5’ along the F edge and the NF edge of M43, which is about 6.5’ from its S edge up to an 11.5-magnitude star, and then curves P and then S past a 9.5-magnitude star that is P very slightly N of the previous star, and then from that star it continues down to an 11.5-magnitude star S very very slightly P, and then curves S and F. [Whew!] M43 is 6’ generally round, with a 7th-magnitude star roughly centered in the middle of the round part, so it looks roughly like a comma whose tail reaches P and then N. the fainter part of the dark nebula that runs around the N edge of M42 varies in thickness; at its narrowest, just between M42 and M43, it’s about 2.3’ thick. From the C star in the Trapezium to the bright star in the middle of M43 is about 8’. On the other side of the Trapezium, roughly due S of the C star, on the opposite side of the bright core of the nebula (which I’ll get to in a second), is a P slightly N-F slightly S strip of darkness which is 1.5’ long and whose N edge is 0.25’ thick; it spreads somewhat S, and at its widest (which is on the F edge) is 0.67’ thick.

The Trapezium is nestled in the NP vertex of an irregular pentagon where the texture and brightness are considerably variable; the brightest part of the nebula itself is along the F side of this pentagon [“The Cliff”], over toward the wedge; that section is 2.5’ long and runs at an almost-right angle N from that narrower dark strip on the S end of the Trapezium. The Fish’s Mouth juts into the N(F) edge of that pentagon, which tip-to-tip is also 2.5’; the NP edge of the pentagon runs 1.75’, starting N of the Trapezium and then running SP; and then the final edge runs SF from that point S down to the P edge of that little dark spot/strip. The Scimitar, which is on the F edge of the nebula, is as narrow as 1.25’, widens considerably as it moves S, and then narrows again (like the blade of a scimitar!) down to the star at its tip, but there’s also—from that star and running 6.5’ NP to a 10th-magnitude star [NV Ori]—another variably thin, perhaps 0.3/0.5’ strip that runs NP-SF between those two stars (the 7th-magnitude star at the end of the scimitar and the 10th-magnitude star I just mentioned). The widest part of the Scimitar also has along it a 13th-magnitude star, right on the tip where the scalloping is. The P side of the nebula is somewhat “cut off”; there’s a fairly abrupt cutoff where it spreads S, almost like a dark area amidst the bubble itself; with the Trapezium on the N side of the field, the nebulosity kind of spans most of the edge P and then S around the circumference of the field; but that N-S part that I just mentioned, the brighter portion on the P edge of the darkness there, is kind of a well-defined area P somewhat S of the Trapezium, with a 9th-magnitude star near the S end of it. There’s another bright spot in the nebulosity from the star in the tip of the Scimitar: from the Trapezium due S, starting 5’ S slightly F the Trapezium and then proceeding roughly S-ward for three more stars, is a line of four whose brightest star is on the S end of it; that star is 8th magnitude and lies 13’ S slightly P the Trapezium; between that star and the star at the tip of the Scimitar, and framed within and around a small right triangle of fainter stars, is a patch of nebulosity that is 3’ P-F and 1.25’ SP-NF. This portion of the nebula surrounding the triangle is surprisingly obvious if you can get the center of the nebula and that bright triple star [Iota Ori] in the Rocket Cluster [NGC 1980] out of the way; it seems to be more obvious on the P end, around the faintest of the stars in that little right triangle; the triangle is about 0.67’ on the F side and then 1.5’ on the other non-hypotenuse side; the stars on the F side are the much brighter; the star on the end of the hypotenuse and the long side is quite dim, 13.5 magnitude; the right-angle vertex is 12th magnitude, and the third vertex is 11.5 magnitude. The southern reaches of the nebula loop around some 30’ S of the Trapezium and F the Rocket Cluster; the nebulosity runs faintly but obviously through the cluster and proceeds P slightly S from there. I mentioned that long dark area against the brighter background that has the really cutoff edge on its F side; between that edge (which is on the P side of the nebula) and the Trapezium is a number of faint stars; that’s the greatest concentration of stars in the nebula.  

With the UHC… WOW!! The pentagon extends and delineates much better, really enhanced in contrast and full of texture. The filter also extends the pentagon S of that dark notch S of the Trapezium, which is really thrown into relief against the bright part of the nebula. The UHC has killed most of M43; I didn’t remember or expect this. The filter has enhanced the bright part of M42 so much that the appearance of the dark parts has changed; from the base of the Scimitar, along the F edge of that dark portion of the nebula, there’s a very ghostly strip that runs past the base of the Scimitar and proceeds NF for 5’. And then from the Trapezium to the bright star on the other side of the dark clump, the bright one along the major axis of the dark nebulosity, from that star 2.5’ P somewhat S is a small tuft of nebulosity that’s been much enhanced by the filter; it’s between that star and the fainter one P very slightly S of it; that tuft is 2’ x 1’, elongated P slightly S-F slightly N. The cutoff on the P edge of the nebula is incredible! The NP edge is much, much more well-defined with the UHC. (Probably with the THC, too.) The loop there, the S-ward loop of the nebula, becomes much more apparent and runs more distinctly through NGC 1980. From the N edge of M42, that bubble is almost the same size as the field, close to 40’, and roughly round (squashed on the P side and rounder on the F side). “In the cold light of Oxygen III….”: WOW again! The number of features that are changed by the filter… the S-ward loop is thinner, especially on the F side, and more diffuse, but the Scimitar is much, much brighter. M43 is reduced to just a faint glow around that bright star, no more than about 1.5’ diameter; it’s almost disappeared completely. The Scimitar is incredibly well delineated; in particular, the edge on the inside of the blade toward the handle is really sharply defined and very bright; it almost looks like a segment of the Veil, only much brighter. The arc of nebulosity that runs through NGC 1980, however, is much less obvious than with the UHC. There are dark ripples throughout the nebulosity… there’s the large dark obscuration in the P edge of the nebula, and just F that (so S slightly P the Trapezium), there are some dark ripples in that region as well, giving the nebula a much more irregular shape/texture. There are dark “speckles” in the pentagon/central region too. Only three of the Trapezium stars are even visible; the nebula has blotted the B star out entirely. From the bright P edge [The Cliff] of the wedge of stars F the Trapezium, the nebulosity loops from the inner edge of the Scimitar all the way along the pentagon; the nebulosity along the edge of that wedge is very well defined, but the pentagon, especially to the S, is a little less well defined than in the UHC or the unfiltered view; it streams away past the dark strip and continues, especially SP the dark strip, where there’s much more of a visible streamer heading S.  This is such an unusual view with the O-III the nebula’s shape is dramatically different. Interestingly: N of the nebula, farther N than M43, the dark wedge in the nebula is as dark as the sky background, which makes me suspect that there’s a lot more dark nebulosity here that just doesn’t have the bright nebula to provide contrast to make it visible. I’ve always thought the nebula looks like a bat, and that impression is much enhanced here. S of the dark cloud on the P edge of the nebula, S on the S slightly F edge of that is that 9th-magnitude star, and then S of that star by several arcminutes is a brighter patch of nebulosity brought out by the O-III, one that extends quite a bit beyond that star; there’s the large vague dark cloud on the P edge of the nebula, the 9th-magnitude star on the S slightly F edge of that, and then extending 8’ S from that star is this other, higher-contrast region of nebulosity.

An incredible object, one which words fail to express the majesty of—I could’ve spent twice as long describing it and gotten things even more confused!

Almost an hour after starting my recording on M42 (and M43, forgotten in the shuffle), I paused it, typed “M42” into the Save As space, and saved the file. I went back to the eyepiece, observing the nebula for at least fifteen minutes more, pausing only for Loren to take a look through the Delos; he’d heard everyone rave about the view, but had been busy with his own agenda. His only response: a Borat-esque “Niiiiiiiice.”

It would have been easy to simply call it a night on the note-taking; I could’ve spent hours taking in the view of M42. It had been a (shamefully) long time since I’d studied an object that closely… and 37 years, perhaps to the day, since my first disappointing glance at M42 through my then-new C8 from my Cincinnati backyard. I’d had different expectations then; the nebula was already low in the Bortle 8 light-haze over the city, and while I’d been prepared for it not to look like a photograph, I’d still expected better than that view had provided. My second look at the nebula through that scope in those skies was far superior, but not even the 20″ Obsession had shown the razor-sharp stars and the wispy textures yielded by the Delos and the 12.5″ Ostahowski optics.

The others had made progress on their Marathon; Dan B had been giving Jerry grief over his love of open clusters, in part because he had also checked out NGC 1980 in my scope while sweeping through the M42 complex and was currently heading for M48; he and Dan R were discussing the Dogon people of Mali and their allegedly-inexplicable knowledge of Sirius B. Meanwhile, Loren had picked off one of the Sanduleak planetaries on his list and had finished observing Minkowski 3-6 in Pyxis, which I had seen with Bob the Dob but nothing the scale of Loren’s 18″ Obsession. I’d planned to take a look when he’d offered, but M42 had held my awestruck attention.

With plenty of time left in the night, and Taurus sinking toward the west, I swung the 12.5″ scope toward yet another Messier object I’d somehow avoided taking notes on. Nothing was going to compare to M42, of course, but I had to keep going.

10:37
M1 (NGC 1952; Tau): Comparing notes on the Crab Nebula with the other guys and everybody has said it looks particularly fine tonight, and it certainly does: not only is it bright, it’s also textured-looking, as if the famous tendrils are just outside the edge of resolution. The Crab is vaguely football-shaped, extending NP-SF, with an extra notch slightly to the SP; the brighter region is zigzag-shaped almost like, dare I say it, the S in the logo for the band KISS overlaid over the top of the dimmer layer. The nebula is 6’ x 4’ and has NP it, 6’ from the center of the nebula, an 11.5-magnitude star. 10’ N very slightly F the nebula is a 9.5-magnitude star; there’s a 10th-magnitude star F slightly S of the nebula by 7’, S slightly P the nebula by 10′ is the S-most vertex in an isosceles triangle that points S; that star is 11.5 magnitude and has another 11.5-magnitude star due N of it by 2’ and a 12th-magnitude star 2’ N somewhat F it; those two stars are 1.3’ apart. The famous tendrils in the nebula are just outside of the edge of resolution, and it seems like unfiltered I’m almost able to get something out of those, but just not quite. so I try to UHC There’s real tendril texture in the Crab with the UHC; there’s no doubt about it.  On the S edge, 2’ from P to F, there’s a small brighter section of the nebula that almost qualifies as a “central region” to it. But it’s definitely brighter and much better defined along the S edge. The nebula’s  shape has gotten a little more irregular with the UHC. In averted vision, there certainly seems as if there are stellarings among the nebulosity; these wouldn’t be stars because they would have been obliterated by the filter. With the O-III… I’m still getting those glimpses of what I think are stellarings, especially along the SP, where there are also glimpses of irregular texture again. The whole nebula has lost some of its shape and is more oval, as in a smaller-scope view of it. It’s very irregularly bright; I’m having a hard time distinguishing a shape to it, and a lot of the texture is indeterminate and hard to point out or describe. It really almost needs averted vision with the O-III in. The brightness is still irregular throughout the nebula; it’s a little rounder now than it was, as if there’s more faint nebulosity that’s been pulled in, but the texturing is very hard to define.

As with M42, the others stopped over to check out the Delos view. They’d already looked at the Crab in the course of their Marathoning, and agreed that it was particularly impressive on that night; Dan B paused in his sifting through of the Virgo Cluster to take a look, and we (of course) launched into the famous Ren & Stimpy bit about voyaging to the Crab Nebula (complete with pushing the History Eraser Button).

When I’d set my agenda for the evening, I’d hoped to get through the Orion Nebula, the Crab, and the three later-winter open clusters I still needed notes for: M41, M50, and M93. I’d already done the first three of those objects; the last two were already past the meridian, but still high enough to glean some intelligible musings from.

11:09
M93 (NGC 2447; Pup): M93 is one of the more under-appreciated Messier objects. The whole of the cluster reminds me a little bit of NGC 7510 in Cepheus in terms of shape and brightness, although it’s quite a bit larger, at 12’ x 6’. The majority of the cluster consists of two roughly-parallel streams of stars that diverge from the cluster lucida, which is very near the SP tip of the cluster; there’s a 10th-magnitude star 1’ S of it that is the very point where the two streams converge, and the lucida is the first one following it. The space between the two streams is somewhat filled-in with stars along the middle of the streams’ length. There are several clumps within and among the stars of the cluster but the most obvious feature is the two chains. The lucida is 8th magnitude, and there’s another one very close to it in brightness that’s F slightly N of the lucida by 1.67’. (The lucida is the brightest star in the field.) The N edge of the main body of the cluster is a 10’ arc of fifteen stars that sweeps from the 10th-magnitude star SP-NF up through the lucida in a curve, and then midway along it cuts P very very slightly S-F very very slightly N for the rest of its length. From the 10th-magnitude star through the second-brightest star that I mentioned (1.67’ F slightly N the lucida and NF the 10th-magnitude star by 2.3’), from that star, it sweeps (from that second-brightest star) in a roughly-straight line 9’ P very slightly S-F very slightly N; between the middles of those two arcs is the densest concentration of stars in the cluster; there’s a little bit of faint background glow in there. Those two strands are 3.5’ apart at the middle and 3’ at their F ends. In the middle of the S strand is a diamond of stars that’s 0.75’ x 0.5’; the major axis of the diamond runs NP-SF, and just outside the S end of the major axis of that diamond is a clump of four stars no more than 12” diameter. In the middle of the northern arc is an elongated ellipse or football shape, which is around the point where that arc bends. The S arc has twelve or thirteen prominent stars. S of the SF end of the cluster is a line of three regularly-spaced (1’ apart) roughly-equal brightness stars running NP-SF; those are all 10th magnitude, and the NP of those has an 11.5-magnitude star P it by 0.3’; these four stars may not actually be cluster members. M93 contains about 70 stars, with a huge magnitude range; that area in the middle, where it’s really dense, looks to have some 14th-magnitude stars in it, so the stars range from the 8th-magnitude lucida down to 14th magnitude. The cluster is quite rich and well detached from the background.

By the time I’d finished M93, my neck was sore from twisting to look in the eyepiece; the cluster had sunk quite low, and the seeing that low was mediocre at best. Fortunately, M50 was a bit higher.

11:33
M50 (NGC 2323; Mon): M50 is also quite an underrated Messier object, a fine cluster amid a sea of fine clusters in Monoceros. It’s vaguely roundish, perhaps 13’ across in its more-concentrated center. Along the S edge and including the lucida, running F very slightly S up to the lucida and bending NP from there, then continuing around the P side of the middle of the cluster, is a string of stars that must be 23’ long and breaks N at the P end for another 8’, terminating at the P end in two lines, one of which is almost N-S and has nine stars, and then P that is a S very slightly F-N very slightly P line of six stars, with its brightest star in the S end; those two N-ish lines are 3.67’ apart at their S ends and 5’ apart at their N ends; this entire line may or may not be part of the cluster, particularly the segments to the P. The lucida is 8th magnitude and has kind of a reddish cast to it (which is really unusual considering that I’m seeing it with colorblind caveman eyes), and it’s bracketed to the NP and F slightly S by a trio of star pairs: one to the NP ( 9.5 and 10th, 0.3’ separation, P somewhat S-F somewhat N) and then two F; that long line terminates on the F end at a roughly N-S pair that’s brighter (9th and 10th) and wider than the others, maybe 0.75’. From the lucida N slightly F by 7’ is the second-brightest star in the cluster, which is 8.5 magnitude and is the brighter of a pair, with an 11th-magnitude secondary 8” S very very slightly F. From the primary of that pair 3’ N slightly P is a 9th-magnitude star which has another 9th magnitude star P somewhat S of it by 1.5’; and that second star is the F end of a P-F line of stars that has seven stars in it and is 4.25’ long; it forms a long isosceles triangle with the lucida; that star on the F end of that line is 8’ N of the lucida. Inside that triangle with the lucida and that P-F line is the densest part of the cluster, especially toward the N half of that triangle; there must be 70 stars here. The cluster is well detached from the Monoceros Milky Way; it’s pretty rich, with a huge range of magnitudes, from the lucida down to 13th magnitude. From the lucida P somewhat N by 1.25’ is another 9.5-magnitude star that has a 10.5-magnitude star 0.3’ F somewhat N of it. 18’ N of the lucida of the cluster is a 9th-magnitude star. From the pair NP the lucida (the 9.5-10th magnitude pair that’s 0.3’ apart), running from the 10th-magnitude star through the 9.5-magnitude star and then P somewhat S for about 7’ is a line of about ten stars, most of which are considerably fainter, but on the SP end it has a clump of 11th-magnitudish stars, kind of a right triangle with a couple stars N somewhat F of the short edge of the right triangle.

I finished my notetaking by midnight; the others were well into the spring galaxy fields on the Messier Marathon “route.” I puttered about for a while, checking in on Markarian’s Chain in Virgo and some of the rising globular clusters. But I was essentially done for the night, and continued to observe only because it seemed like the thing to do until the others were ready to go. I’d never really felt that way before.

The view of the Orion Nebula had made everything else that night superfluous—if it was possible to have overdosed on the faint photons of celestial majesty, I would have been declared terminal from that first glance. Carl Sagan had once used the phrase “visions of cosmic splendor,” and he might well have been talking about what I had just seen, just experienced. It stuck with me as I loaded up the Flex, as I drove home—which I couldn’t even recall doing—and through work the next day, looming in the back of my brain like a fever dream, as Starry Night must’ve done for the young van Gogh… only my recorded words failed to capture the awe that van Gogh’s canvas froze in time.

II. The skies cleared again for the weekend. Having finished their first half-Marathon, Dan B and Jerry were keen to wait until the midnight hours before trying to complete their second, and with my winter objects finished, I could wait until later when my galaxy targets in Leo, Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici, and eastern Hydra would be closer to the meridian. Loren, too, had his quarry located in the spring constellations.

We met at 11:30 at the Eagle’s Rest amphitheater; Eagle’s Rest had the better forecast on the night. I’d taken an evening nap in preparation for what was going to be another intense night of Messier work—I only had an even dozen Messier objects remaining, and didn’t want to take any chances on April’s weather being sufficient for astronomy. It was clear this particular night, and I intended to make full use of it.

Dan and Jerry were already there, setting up; Loren arrived shortly after me. There was also a large, uprooted tree stump in the middle of the observing area, hauled there from who-knew-where, obviously for the purpose of being burned; it had somehow escaped that particular fate. Dan had perched whiskey glasses on the stump, to go with the well-stocked charcuterie that he’d brought with him.

There was a general sense of bonhomie as scopes were assembled and tuned up. With the sky already dark, it took little time for the observing party to get down to “work.”

I started off by browsing a bit, while waiting for my first objects in Leo to reach optimal observing position. I chose to open with M13, giving the new Delos “second light” on another object well suited to its extraordinary sharpness. And then it was time for the Messier homestretch.

03/18/23
EAGLE’S REST (amphitheater)
SUNSET: 7:22 PM
MOON: 26 days (rose at 6:12 AM; 16% illuminated)
SEEING: 7
TRANSPARENCY: 6
SQM: 21.32 (2:30 AM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: temps in upper 40s; calm; negligible dew
OTHERS PRESENT: JO, DB, LR

All observations: 12.5″ f/5 Discovery Dob, 14mm TeleVue Delos (113x, 0.62˚ TFOV), or 7mm TeleVue Nagler (225x, 0.36˚ TFOV) unless otherwise noted

1:34
M96 (NGC 3368; Leo): M96 is considerably bright, with a 4.5’ x 3.0’ halo, extended NP-SF. The halo is not smooth; it has some texture to it. I can’t really decide if the galaxy has a large bright core and a stellar nucleus, or a gradually-arrived-at, small, blazing core without nucleus… I think the former, so I’m going with that. It appears to have a star embedded near the core/nucleus to the S slightly P,  just outside of that core/nucleus. The halo is rather poorly defined, although we have had lots of high cloud go through, so the transparency is not what it could be. The galaxy has an 11th-magnitude star 9’ NP it; there’s an 11.5-magnitude star 11’ F the galaxy, and that star has 11’ F slightly N of it a 9.5-magnitude star [which is outside the field]. 3.5’ P somewhat N of the galaxy is a 13th-magnitude star; 5.25’ F very slightly N of the galaxy is a 13.5-magnitude star.

1:44
M95 (NGC 3351; Leo): A quick jump over to M95, the Theta Galaxy, and it’s a little easier with this one to tell that it’s a small core versus a non-stellar nucleus; I don’t see a nucleus here at all. But it is quite bright in the core; the halo is considerably fainter; in averted vision, the halo stretches about 2.75’ across and is pretty much round. The halo fades away into the background and is poorly defined, but the core is very well defined and spans 0.3’. Due P the galaxy by 6’ is the brightest star in the field, which is 10th magnitude. That star is the “right-angle vertex” of an almost-right triangle, with a 12th-magnitude star 2.5’ NF and a 13th-magnitude star that’s 3.3’ NP. 7’ N of the right angle vertex is an 11.5-magnitude star that has a 13.5-magnitude star F very very slightly S of it by 0.75’ and a 14th-magnitude star S very very slightly P by 1.5’. From the galaxy 15’ NF is an 11th-magnitude star; from the galaxy 19’ F somewhat S is a 10.5-magnitude star that has S of it by 1.5’ a 14th-magnitude star.

The seeing was, at times, extremely variable; I had a particularly bad patch drift through as I was observing M95. The transparency wasn’t great, either, as I missed the entire, ring-shaped outer halo of the galaxy.

In the background, Dan and Jerry were discussing M29 in Cygnus, the “Cooling Tower.”

M83 has always been significant for me. It was either the last or the penultimate Messier object that I found with my trusty C8 (I can’t recall if it was M83 or M77 that was the last one; I’m leaning toward the latter), as it never rose above the horrendous light dome of Cincinnati to the south; by May, the Midwest humidity had begun settling in, making the light dome seem to hang in the air like real pollution. I’m reasonably sure I only spotted M83 then by catching it on a March morning soon after midnight, just as I was doing now. In Cincinnati, I had the advantage of five extra degrees of southern declination. In Oregon, I had the larger scope and better skies, even if it meant sitting on the ground—as was a common-enough scenario, and a source of jokes for my group in Carbondale, and as I was doing now, craning my neck downward to better access the eyepiece.

2:09
M83 (NGC 5236; Hya): M83 is way down in the dirt; it doesn’t have as well-defined a halo is it should because of its very low altitude from here; I’m sitting on the ground to observe it. The galaxy is very diffuse and very large; it’s about 7.5’ x 6.0’, with a small, very bright core that seems to be slightly off-center to the S. I suspect there’s more to the spiral arms that I’m not seeing, certainly in any kind of direct vision. The dimensions of the halo really come and go. It’s poorly defined; I know it’s well-defined from lower latitudes, but from here it isn’t, and I’m lucky to see it as well as I do. The core is 0.25’ diameter, but it seems extended P-F, more precisely P slightly S-F slightly N… maybe 0.25’ x 0.3’. Embedded in the halo 3.5’ P slightly S from the core is a 12th-mag star; F very slightly N by 3.5’ is a 13.5-mag star; SP the core by 7’ is a 10th-magnitude star (we may be dealing with atmospheric extinction down here too, in terms of magnitude) which is the SP end of a wedge (or flatted ‘V’), with the 12th-magnitude vertex star due F it by 4’, and then 2.25’ N slightly F that star is a 10.5-magnitude star that has a 12th-magnitude star S very slightly P it by 10”; and then 1.3’ in the same direction, N slightly F that 10.5-magnitude star, is another 12th-magnitude star. Both sides of the wedge are 4’ long. 18’ F the galaxy is a 7th-magnitude star; F somewhat N of the galaxy by 28’ is a 6th-magnitude star. In averted vision, I occasionally get a sense of the short third arm of the galaxy, stretching out toward the P. And sometimes I get a sense that the ‘V’ is along the S arm of the galaxy, which would make the galaxy much larger than the dimensions I gave; every now and then in the muck down there it seems that those stars are wrapped in the edge of the halo, which would make the galaxy about 11’ N-S. The halo is not regularly bright, so I’m sure there is spiral structure that would be visible if the galaxy was farther south… or if we were farther south!

I took a brief break after M83, to stretch my legs and get SQM readings on the night. Jerry and Dan also took readings, and at the same point in the sky: at the juncture of Coma Berenices, Boötes, and Canes Venatici—appropriate, because that’s where I was going to be headed next. Although the club’s sky-quality meter often gave more-optimistic readings than Jerry’s and Dan’s, they seemed to largely be in concurrence tonight, after discarding the first readings: we averaged between 21.28 and 21.35… quite good for the amphitheater site.

It’s been noted by amateur astronomers across the United States that the last couple of years have seen an overall decrease in sky quality, and SQM readings in general have borne this out, whether from more-constant forest fire smoke, ash from Pacific volcanoes (really!), or from an unusually deep solar minimum (see https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02365-1), and possibly all three (and more) factors. At least for this particular night, we were right on our expected average reading for the amphitheater.

I’d forgotten what a beautiful object M64 is, and was appreciative of the opportunity to be reminded of it.

2:34
M64 (NGC 4826; Com): Here at M64, the lovely, fairly smooth-textured Black-Eye Galaxy in Coma, and the “black eye” is quite prominent tonight. M64 has a smoothish halo and a small bright core with a substellar nucleus. it’s elongated P somewhat N-F somewhat S and 6.0’ x 3.5’. The halo is not well-defined; this seems to be a night when the large galaxies don’t seem to be particularly well defined— whether that’s a transparency issue or just because that’s the way they are I can’t tell. The F edge of the galaxy seems to be more diffuse; and is a little better defined on the N edge than on the S. The notable feature here, of course, is the black eye, the dust cloud, that starts at the due F side of the galaxy along the major axis and runs clockwise around the N edge of the core just to the N very slightly P side of the galaxy; it’s difficult to make an estimate of how thick this cloud is against the backdrop of the galaxy, but it’s pretty easily visible in direct vision. The core is rather abruptly arrived at, and it has on the N slightly F by 4.3’ an 11th-magnitude star. N of the Galaxy by about 4’, and almost forming an isosceles triangle there with the galaxy and the 11th-magnitude star, is a 14.5-magnitude star; S very slightly F the galaxy by 4’ is another 14.5-magnitude star. 11’ S slightly F the galaxy is the brightest star in the field, which is 10th magnitude, and it has 2’ S very slightly F it another 14th-magnitude star; 3’ P slightly S from the 10th magnitude star is the brighter and more S of a pair; those are 14th and 14.5 magnitude, separated N somewhat P-S somewhat F by 0.3’, with the brighter star to the S. 10’ P very slightly S of the galaxy is an 11.5-magnitude star that is the middle of a line of five roughly evenly-spaced stars; this line is not perfectly straight, but runs 20’ N very slightly P-S very slightly F from a 13th-magnitude star and then hooks S somewhat F from the S-most of the first four stars, terminating with a 13th-magnitude star that is the fifth star from N to S. M64 is quite a lovely galaxy, one of the most aesthetically-appealing in the Messier Catalogue.

As I was taking notes on M64, Loren was searching out Longmore-Tritton 5, an obscure planetary in Coma Berenices, an unusual place for planetary nebulae (although there’s at least one other within the constellation’s borders). Dan and Jerry were discussing M9 and M14, being deep in the summer globular clusters by this point. I turned Bob the Dob northward from M64 for the last two Messier galaxies I needed notes on.

3:01
M94 (NGC 4736; CVn): I know M94 is a spiral, but it makes a pretty convincing elliptical, too: the galaxy is very bright and has a roundish 3.0’ halo which is quite diffuse but pretty well defined, with a small, very suddenly bright core and a stellar nucleus. The galaxy serves as the right-angle vertex of a triangle that extends almost perfectly N-S, P-F.  8.5’ N of the galaxy is a 9.5-magnitude star that has a 13.5-magnitude star 1.75’ N somewhat F it. 5.67’ due P the galaxy is an 11th-magnitude star that is the tip of a Sagitta-like asterism; it’s the arrowhead on the arrow, which runs basically along the hypotenuse of the right triangle of the galaxy is part of; so from the 10th-magnitude star it runs 2.67’ N slightly F to a 14th-magnitude star at the middle of the “Sagitta,” and then almost on the same line 1.5’ N slightly F that star is a 14.5-magnitude star that has a 14th-magnitude star 0.67’ P very slightly N of it. 4’ S of the galaxy is a 12th-magnitude star that has another 12th-magnitude star F slightly S of it by 4.5’.

3:20
M63 (NGC 5055; CVn): M63 is my last Messier galaxy; it’s maybe not quite as bright as M94 but it’s much bigger. It’s elongated P very very slightly N-F very very slightly S, 6.0’ x 2.67’, with very diffuse, poorly-defined ends to the halo; it smears away into the background. The gradual core region is about 2.5’ and contains a distinct stellar nucleus that is pretty bright but really pops in averted vision. Despite the flocculent nature of the spiral arms, the halo is really quite smooth at this magnification, although it’s a fair amount fainter than the core; there seem to be two layers to the halo: a really faint, diffuse, poorly-defined part and an inner halo region between that and the core that’s maybe 5.0’ by 1.75’, which gradually brightens to the core. There’s a 9th-magnitude star P slightly N of the galaxy by 3.75’, and then 4.5’ P somewhat S of that star is a 10.5-magnitude star. S of the galaxy by 4.25’ is a 13th-magnitude star. 7’ F very slightly S of the galaxy is a 12.5-magnitude star that is the S-most in an arc of three that extends 0.75’ NP-SF; 0.67’ NP that star is one that’s somewhat fainter than the other two, at 13th magnitude, and then 0.25’ N very very slightly P that one is another 12.5-magnitude star. NP the galaxy by 16’ is a 9.5-magnitude star that has a 13th-magnitude star N somewhat F it by 1’.

Only a handful of Messier objects now: two summer clusters (M6 & 7), two summer nebulae (M16 & 17), and one hardly even worth the time to take notes on it.

3:37
M40 (Winnecke 4); NGC 4290 (UMa): We end the evening with the most disappointing Messier of all, M40, which is little more than a pair of 9th-magnitude stars, the more S of the two slightly brighter (so 9th and 9.2 magnitude); those are separated by 1’, P slightly S-F slightly N to each other. 8.5’ S very slightly F the fainter of M40 is an 11.5-magnitude star; there’s a 12th-magnitude star 5.75’ NP the brighter of the pair. 17’ S somewhat P the brighter of M40 is 70 Ursae Majoris, which is 5.5 magnitude, and then forming a right triangle with M40 and 70 UMa, 11’ due P the brighter of M40 and 14’ N of 70 UMa, is a small, very diffuse galaxy [NGC 4290] that’s very diffuse; it’s 1.5’ x 0.67’, oriented SP-NF, with a gradual, slightly-brighter core but no nucleus visible.

Somehow I missed NGC 4284, just P NGC 4290. I chalk it up to the skyglow of Eugene/Springfield, which swamped the entire northern quadrant of the sky, including the field of M40 and NGC 4290.

The others were packing up as I was finishing my notes; I had planned to observe longer, but it seemed a good time to call it a night. I’d accomplished everything I needed to for the night. I’d forgotten that I also needed M44, which in any event was already into the trees and would require another night to lay claim to.

III. That night would happen three nights later, on the following Tuesday… another work night, but with only one necessary object and the sky still darkening fairly early, it was well worth the damage to my sleep cycle. I could finish the Beehive and be home at the time I’d normally be winding down for the night anyway. Dan B and I made the trek back to the amphitheater—the site of the only clear forecast among EAS’ observing spots—to get in some last-ditch stargazing before the forecasted rains returned.

But the forecast tonight was better than the reality. There was a distinct softness to the sky, if not any actual visible haze or clouds. By the time scopes were assembled and darkness had started falling, it was obvious that the seeing was a mess—even Mars was twinkling. It was fortunate that my only necessary quarry on the night was a naked-eye open cluster; anything smaller, fainter, and/or more nebulous would be at a disadvantage competing with the barely-passable conditions.

One of the noteworthy features of M44 was the presence of a number of small, faint galaxies within the cluster’s borders. Many open clusters had galaxies “in” them, but few had galaxies as bright as those within M44. There were at least five NGC galaxies and one UGC visible on a photograph of the cluster that I was using as a locator chart; I had hoped to sweep up all of these during my observation, adding them to what was already sure to be a long audio recording. To that end, I’d brought the 20″ Obsession, rather than Bob the Dob, even though I’d used the 12.5″ scope on most (if not all) of the other Messiers. With the poor transparency, though, these galaxies wouldn’t appear as anything but pale shadows of themselves. I might see them, but taking notes on them wouldn’t be fair... or worthwhile.

The spring frogs of the Willamette Valley had serenaded us the previous night out at the amphitheater, but I had by this point become so focused on my note-taking that the ambient natural sounds didn’t even register; only unusual changes in the soundtrack made me take notice. Dan, however, had been creeped out by a sudden cessation of the frog noises on an earlier trip to the amphitheater, noting the hidden presence of a largish mammal in the area; he let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he was getting into his car if the frogs suddenly stopped their susurrations.

And they were certainly vocal on this night. I was more aware of them now that Dan had pointed out their collective song. One frog in particular was louder than the rest; his soloing was, in pitch and rhythm, the exact line played by David Cross’ violin starting at 0:58 of King Crimson’s “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part I.” I made sure to record this for posterity.

Eventually the sky became dark, the lead frog chose a different song, and it was time to begin harvesting photons. I started with NGC 2903 and Hickson 44 in Leo; both looked surprisingly good, with NGC 3187 in Hickson 44 having real presence to it. I hoped that the Beehive would be as good. It wasn’t.

03/21/23
EAGLE’S REST (amphitheater)
SUNSET: 7:22 PM
MOON: 26 days (rose at 6:12 AM; 16% illuminated)
SEEING: 5
TRANSPARENCY: 5
SQM: 21.1 (11:30 PM)
NELM: not checked
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Temps to low 50s; slight breeze, no dew; sky indistinctly hazy and turbulent
OTHERS PRESENT: DB

All observations: 20″ f/5 Obsession Dob, 34mm Meade 5000 SWA (75x, 0.91˚ TFOV)

10:49
M44 (NGC 2632; Cnc): I had planned to take notes on M44 and then pick out the small galaxies within the cluster’s borders, but the conditions don’t warrant taking notes on the galaxies. So we’ll stick to the star cluster, starting with the bright triangle at the center of the Beehive, which is the cluster’s most-notable feature; I’m using the 34mm Meade, my largest-scale eyepiece, because the cluster itself is well over a degree… perhaps 80’. The S-most star [HD 73710] is the brightest in that triangle; not necessarily the cluster lucida, but certainly one of the brightest in it at 6th magnitude. It has a 7.5-magnitude star 1’ N very slightly P it; 1.3’ F the 6th-magnitude star is a 9.5-magnitude star. There’s a 10th-magnitude star 0.3’ F somewhat N of the 6th-magnitude star, and 6’ that same direction, F somewhat N of [HD 73710], is a 7th-magnitude star; SF [HD 73710] by 10’ is another 6.5-magnitude star [EP Cancri]; all these stars have haze around them from the poor sky conditions. So back to [HD 73710]: S very very very slightly F it by 8’ is another [Epsilon Cnc] that may actually be slightly brighter, maybe 5.5 magnitude, and could very well be the lucida of the cluster, at least of the central region; it has a 7.5-magnitude star P very slightly S of it by 2.25’. From [HD 73710] SP by 11’ is the N-most and right-angle vertex of a small right triangle; that star is 7.5 magnitude and there’s another of the same magnitude 0.75’ S slightly F that one, and then 1.5’ P slightly S of the right-angle vertex there’s a 6.5-magnitude star. From [HD 73710] 11’ NP is another 6.5 magnitude star [38 Cnc]; this rounds out the central region of the cluster, although there are also a number of fainter pairs here. 

18’ N of [HD 73710] is the F end of a long serpentine pattern that runs for about 20’ and contains ten bright stars including the star [40 Cnc] I measured to, so the “head” end of that snake is 6.5 magnitude and has a 9th-magnitude star 1.67’ N somewhat F it; there’s another 6.5-magnitude star [39 Cnc] P somewhat N of [40 Cnc] by 2.5’, and those three stars form a triangle that makes up the head of the snake in a Draco sort of manner. From there, the “snake” branches NP for three more stars to a 7.5-magnitude star which is the third beyond the head, and then it sweeps P somewhat S from that star for another four stars (plus a few fainter ones), and from that 7.5-magnitude star it continues another 16’ P somewhat S, terminating at an 8th-magnitude star [CY Cnc]. So that marks the obvious N edge of the cluster; there are a number of fainter stars dropped in over that, and there are about twelve more brightish stars in that N end, and especially at the P end of that snake pattern there’s a random scattering of fainter stars. From [HD 73710] S by about 19’ is another 7th-magnitude star, and that one has P very very slightly S of it by 10’ a 7.5-magnitude star [BU Cnc]; from the 7th-magnitude star 9’ S somewhat F is a 7.5-magnitude star [BN Cnc] that is the NP vertex of a thin rectangle: 0.67’ F slightly S of that star is the NF vertex of that rectangle, which is 10.5 magnitude. From the 7.5-magnitude star 2.5’ S somewhat P is an 8.5-magnitude star [BV Cnc] that has SF it by 0.67’ an 11.5-magnitude star; those make up that thin rectangle on the S vaguely central edge of the cluster. F the NP vertex of that rectangle by 9’ is one of equal magnitude [HI Cnc]. 25’ F somewhat N [HD 73710] is a 7th-magnitude star. The Beehive is obviously well detached from any of the surroundings; there’s very little surrounding it that’s noteworthy. It has quite a few 6th/7th/8th-magnitude stars in it, but not a lot in terms of density of fainter stars; there’s a substrate of 9th- and 10th-magnitude stars, but it’s not very rich. The cluster overall is fairly-well populated, with about 90 stars spread over an 80’ area, in a considerable magnitude range from 6th down to 10th; even though it’s only four magnitudes, it seems more significant due to the rich overlay of 6th-/7th-magnitude stars.

In order to encompass the majority of the Beehive, I’d switched to my less-used 34mm Meade 5000 SWA, Meade’s answer (ripoff) to the TeleVue Panoptic. This low magnification made the little galaxies among the Beehive stars nearly impossible to see, even if the sky conditions had allowed them to shine through. Feeling oddly optimistic, I swapped the Meade for the 10mm Delos and pulled up the reference photograph I’d intended to use for tracking the galaxies down. After a half-hour, I’d managed to pick up all five NGC galaxies and the UGC galaxy—none of them looked particularly distinctive, but the fact that I’d seen them at all was encouraging for a future opportunity.

I took down the big scope as Dan finished up his own observations; it was unusual for me to have completed my observing before everyone else. I took some SQM readings before stowing the scope in the Flex: 21.04-21.11 at zenith, and 21.10-21.12 between the Beehive and the Sickle of Leo. Even by recent standards, those numbers were low for the amphitheater, and were borne out in the reality of the conditions.

We left without regret. The next night the rains of winter returned, and they stayed until mid-May, leaving me with only hopes for the late spring, audio recordings of my wanderings through the last vestiges of the Messier Catalogue, and the glorious afterimage of the Orion Nebula etched forever into my memory.