Sky & Telescope - July 2021 - 56

JULY 2021 OBSERVING
Suburban Stargazer

magnitude, which noticeably alters
my perception of the quad. I always
keep an eye on R. The corners closest
to M11 are distinguished by doubles.
Herschel (H) VI 50, a 6.2-magnitude
orange sun with a wide 8.2-magnitude
companion to the south-southeast, is
super-obvious. Struve (Σ) 2391 attractively packages 6.5- and 9.6-magnitude
elements 38″ apart. The entire scene -
R to M - ﬁts in almost any telescope's
low-power ﬁeld.
The abovementioned quadrilateral
is part of an asterism I call the Golf
Club. The quad outlines the golf club's
9-iron head. From the head, trending
southwestward along the west side of
the Scutum Cloud, is a 2°-long shaft of
6th- and 7th-magnitude dots ending
at the golf club's grip, established by
orangey, 5.8-magnitude HD 172348. In
an improbable stroke of luck, my nightsky 9-iron is ready to hit a grainy golf
ball branded M11.
The Golf Club's grip-star, together
with Epsilon (ε), Delta (δ), and Alpha
(α) Scuti, trace out a quadrilateral similar to the 9-iron head, except mirrorreversed, upside-down, and three times
larger. In my Dob's ﬁnderscope, this
group provided two routes to my next
quarry, 8.0-magnitude open cluster
M26. Going from Alpha through Delta
gets me straight there. Alternatively, I
enjoy zig-zagging in one-degree steps
from HD 172348 across to Epsilon,
down to Delta, then over to M26. It's
a picturesque course - the grip-star
glinting orange, Epsilon and Delta each
sporting wide companions.

Kite Cluster
Wimpy M26 is no match for Smyth's
wild ducks. M26 rivals M11 in terms
of size, but its 120 stars are loosely
arranged. What would the scopes
reveal? Since M26 never climbs higher
than 32° above my light-blighted
southern horizon, I expected more woe
than wonder.
56

J U LY 2 0 2 1 * S K Y & T E L E S C O P E

S SMATTERING OF STARS Although overshadowed by nearby M11, open cluster M26 is a fine
sight even in modest-aperture, suburban scopes.

Predictably, the refractor at 30×
yielded only a gray, granular blob. However, upgrading to 38× teased out four
pinpricks in the form of a slender, 140″long kite. The wee kite slants northeast; it's weighted at its southwest end
by the cluster's 9.2-magnitude lucida.
Doubling to 76× clariﬁed the kite, and
patient averted vision added numerous
surrounding pinpricks of light concentrated toward the northeast. The extra
stuff was unmistakable at 100×.
The 10-inch punched through the
ugly pollution to grab lots of very faint
stars. I detected perhaps two dozen stars
at 169×. As noted above, they trend
northeast of the likewise-leaning kite,
making M26 seem elongated. Not bad
for a lower-tier cluster submerged in a
creamy sky.
My Scutum exploration concluded

at a ﬁnder-friendly, diamond-shaped
asterism 1° south of M26. The ½°-long
grouping features a 6th-magnitude yellowy star on top, dimmer orange suns
tinting its sides, and a binary called
Struve (Σ) 2373 at bottom. Offering
7.4- and 8.4-magnitude components
just 4″ apart, this little duo is exquisite.
Struve 2373 divided oh-so-delicately in
the refractor at 75×. Nice!
From ducks to diamonds, this is a
fun ramble. Needless to say, these glories of the Scutum Milky Way are best
enjoyed far from city lights. But if you're
stuck in town, as I often am, attack the
Shield anyway - you'll like it.
Longtime S&T contributor KEN
HEWITT-WHITE is waiting for a citywide
power failure to observe the rest of the
Scutum Milky Way.

Suburban Scutum Finds
Object

Type

Mag(v)

Size/Sep

Dec.

M11

Open cluster

5.8

11′

18h 51.1m

-06° 16′

R Scuti

Variable star

4.2 - 8.6

18h 47.5m

-05° 42′

H VI 50

Double star

6.2, 8.2

112″

18h

Σ2391

Double star

6.5, 9.6

37.7″

18h 48.6m

-06° 00′

M26

Open cluster

8.0

8′

18h 45.3m

-09° 23′

18h

-10° 30′

Σ2373

Double star

7.4, 8.4

4.3″

49.7m

-05° 54′

45.9m

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 magnification of the viewing instrument.
Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0.

Sky & Telescope - July 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - July 2021