My first Magazine Sky & Telescope - 01.2019

JANUARY 2019 OBSERVING Deep-Sky Wonders NW q The delicate nebulosity lit up by the Pleiades isn’t physically associated with the open cluster. Rather, the dust cloud is following a trajectory that just happened to intersect with that of the star cluster. with a faint luminous atmosphere of a circular form.” NGC 1514’s 9th-magnitude, central binary star is handily located between two 8th-magnitude stars 17′ apart, and through the 130-mm scope at 23×, a very faint, sizable glow surrounds it. At 48× the nebula becomes prominent and dimmer in the center, leaving a wide annulus that’s unevenly bright with the most luminous portions northwest and southeast. At 102× I can see that it fades in the northeast and south-southwest. A narrowband ﬁ lter nicely increases con- trast, and an O III ﬁ lter helps even more. The view is wonderfully complex through my 15-inch reﬂ ector at 216× with a narrowband ﬁ lter. A fainter fringe coats the nebula, more than 2′ across and most prominent where it caps northwest and southeast bright patches. A fainter part of the fringe bulges outward from the south-south- western dim area. This tantalizingly p Sometimes called the “Hidden Galaxy,” IC 342 lies in a dusty region near the galactic equator. irregular cloudiness is the source of NGC 1514’s popular name, the Crys- tal Ball Nebula. Look for your cosmic fortunes within. ¢ Contributing Editor SUE FRENCH welcomes your comments at scfrench@ nycap.rr.com. Objects on High Object South 437 Type Mag(v) Size/Sep RA Dec. NGC 869 Open cluster 3.6 29′ 2 h 19.1 m +57° 08′ NGC 884 Open cluster 3.7 29′ 2 h 22.3 m +57° 08′ Messier 34 Open cluster 5.2 35′ 2 h 42.1 m +42° 45′ IC 342 Spiral galaxy 8.4 21.4′ × 20.9′ 3 h 46.8 m +68° 06′ Pleiades Open cluster 1.2 2° 3 h 47.5 m +24° 06′ South 437 Double star 7.8, 7.7 39.5″ 3 h 46.3 m +24° 11′ NGC 1514 Planetary nebula 10.9 2.2′ 4 h 09.3 m +30° 47′ Angular sizes and separations are from recent catalogs. Visually, an object’s size is often smaller than the cataloged value and varies according to the aperture and magnii cation of the viewing instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0. 56 JA N UA RY 2 019 • SK Y & TELESCOPE SUE NCHOR spreading southward from its namesake star. Contrary to what early sources claim, the tatters of nebulosity that swathe the Pleiades are not the dusty remains of their birth. Cluster and clouds journey different celestial path- ways and weren’t together when the Pleiades formed, but their chance meet- ing creates a sight of delicate beauty enjoyed from a neighborly distance of only 440 light-years. The discoverer of M45 was prob- ably Urg, or somebody with a similar caveman-like appellation, since its brightest stars are quite noticeable to the unaided eye. It’s a sad commentary on wasted light that this is no longer true everywhere. Although the Pleiades are commonly called the Seven Sisters, I could routinely see nine Pleiads on an average night when I moved to my upstate New York home 34 years ago. Now the norm is six stars. In far northern Taurus, lesser-known NGC 1514 is a remarkable planetary nebula. William Herschel discovered it in 1790, and his journal reads: “A most singular phenomenon. A star about 8m, In a 10-inch scope at 88×, IC 342 reveals a dusty suggestion of spiral arms. Look for the brighter galactic core and the dis- tinctive line of stars running southeast- northwest across the galaxy’s south- west quadrant.

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