Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 54

OBSERVING

Deep-Sky Wonders

The Celestial Swan
October's familiar skies contain a wealth of fresh sights.
Oh Nature! all-sufficient! over all!
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profusely scatter'd o'er the void immense.
- James Thomson, Autumn, 1730

image-stabilized binoculars and was greeted by 24
mixed bright and faint stars in a noteworthy, triangular
group. The cluster is a simple star-hop from the arrowhead of stars behind the swan's tail (Deneb) along a line
of similarly bright stars.
In a dark sky, M39 is visible as a hazy spot to the
unaided eye, and Aristotle is sometimes put forth as
High in the evening sky, we now behold the starry
the cluster's discoverer. This attribution stems from
splendor of Cygnus, the Swan, whose outstretched wings a mistake by Peter Doig, who in 1925 wrote that John
Ellard Gore had made this claim. Gore did write a series
evoke such grace that we can easily envision him gliding
of papers about the Messier objects, published in The
above the silvery stream of the Milky Way. Many deepObservatory in 1902, but it was M41's discovery that Gore
sky wonders call Cygnus home, including more than a
ascribed to Aristotle. Charles Messier holds the only
few you may never have seen.
st wellclai for the discovery of M39, which he
solid claim
But let's begin with one of the most
first logged on October 24, 1764.
known denizens of Cygnus, Messier 39. This
Mink 1-79
isplashy open cluster is visible with any optiSitting 1° east-northeast of M39,
M
Minkowski 1-79 is a nice planetary nebcal aid. I recently perused M39 with 18×50
ula for medium-size scopes. My 10-inch
reflector at 115× shows a faint, east-west
Studying Minkowski 1-79 through his 27-inch
oval less than 1′ long. There are 12th- to
f/4.2 reflector at 586× without a filter, amateur
13th-magnitude stars positioned about
astronomer Uwe Glahn noted that the plan1′ north and northwest, and another
etary nebula appeared highly elongated eastcclose to its western end. An O III fi lter
west with a brighter center. He also spotted two
ma
makes the nebula stand out much better.
tiny patches of haze on the northern and southern
ern
N
AH
GL
UWE
edges of the nebula.
At 213×
213 a faint star appears at the planetary's
+55° 7127
Star magnitudes

M39

CYGNUS

7128

/1
+50°

2
3
4
5
6
7

/2
M 1-79
M39

CRAIG & TAMMY TEMPLE

+45°

54

You may be able to pick M39 out as a hazy spot in a clear
sky, but optical aid will make the star cluster truly sparkle.
This image (10 exposures at 300 seconds each for 50 minutes total) was captured through an 80-mm f/7.5 refractor.

October 2016 sky & telescope

Abell 71

l
_

Deneb

j
21h 40m

21h 20m

21h 00m

20h 00m



Sky and Telescope - October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - October 2016

Contents
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 1
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 3
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - A
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - B
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 4
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 5
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 6
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 7
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 8
Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 9
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