AAQ Visual Observing Section
Selected Deep Sky Objects In CetusHigh in the east Cetus is a relatively large contellation. I found it has enough bright stars to make star hopping from one object to the next fairly straightforward. For those of you who enjoy hunting “faint fuzzies” Cetus has these aplenty, along with many fine doubles, and the famous variable star Mira (Omicron Ceti). Unless indicated otherwise all observations were made with a 150mm f8 refractor. Comments made in this different text are based on observations under urban night skies using a 14” Schmidt Cassegrain and an 8” Newtonian reflector. Chi Ceti (01h 49.5m RA, -10° 38' Dec) Look for the pale orange colour of the bright primary of this pair. I thought it was pale yellow and pale blue through the 14”. You will be able to easily split the two components with 40x. The galaxy NGC 681 is located close by, but at magnitude 12 it requires a larger telescope to view. While in this area, try to resolve Struve 147 (01h 42.0m RA, -11° 17' Dec), I was unable to split it with 240x. This is a funny one. One of the catalogues I have says it is magnitudes 6.1 and 7.4 with 4” separation, which means it should be easy for the 14”. However I could not split it for certain, even with 550x and reasonably good seeing. I may have seen two centres, but it could have been my imagination! But when I looked at Carte du Ciel it is shown as 3.5” in 1822 and 0.7” in 1999. So I think that 0.7” might be beyond both of us! 37 Ceti / Struve 3 (01h 14.5m RA, -07° 53' Dec) Use 40x on this easy pair and you should also see in the same field of view the fainter magnitude 7.7 pair of Struve 101. A pretty sight together, it is easy to compare both doubles, with the fainter pair showing very similar colours and even similar position angle to Struve 3. I saw the bright pair as pale lemon yellow and very light red. NGC 246 (00h 47.8m RA, -11° 28' Dec) Using 85x I was able to see a reasonably large hazy area superimposed by an elongated diamond pattern of four relatively bright stars. This is one of the better planetary nebulae I have seen. Have a look close by for NGC 255, at magnitude 11.9, I was unable to find it. NGC 596 & 584 (01h 33.1m RA, -06° 59' Dec) At magnitude 10.9 and 10.5 respectively I could see two faint small hazy patches with 40x. You should be able to see relatively bright central cores for both of them. With a bigger telescope the magnitude 12.4 NGC 600 galaxy should also be visible in the same field of view. Gamma Ceti (02h 43.3m RA, +03° 14' Dec) With a separation of 2.8” this is quite a difficult split with 240x despite Hartung’s claim of being an “excellent object for small apertures”. I thought this was quite difficult. In good seeing with the 14” I could just split it at 237x and easier with 367x. The next night I didn’t see it at all, so seeing is everything. 84 Ceti / Struve 295 (02h 41.2m RA, -00° 42' Dec) Hartung described this as a yellow and reddish pair, which I found at least 160x is needed to clearly see. I could just split this at 178x, but found it easy with 237x even with the dim magnitude 9 companion in my relatively light skies. I agree with the colour estimate. I could split it with 190x with the 8” Newtonian though sensitive to conditions. M77 (02h 42.7m RA, -00° 01' Dec) Despite not being visible in a finderscope, I found this galaxy easy to locate given its proximity to Delta Ceti. With 85x it is a fine sight amongst a pretty field of brighter stars. The bright central core is very prominent. NGC 1055 (02h 42.1m RA, +00° 28' Dec) In contrast this nearby galaxy at 10.5 magnitude is just the merest smudge of light. Struve 274 (02h 31.5m RA, +01° 07' Dec) A fine setting of bright field stars highlights this pair of similar magnitudes with 40x. Nice and easy. Struve 231 (02h 13.1m RA, -02° 21' Dec) This pair can easily be seen in a finderscope as the middle star in a line of 3 bright stars. Look for a pale yellow brighter component, with a secondary that can be easily seen with 40x. Similar separation to Struve 274. NGC 1052 (02h 41.2m RA, -08° 13' Dec) Another faint elliptical galaxy that was just visible with 85x. Using a Lumicon deep sky filter I could see a hint of central brightening. I could not see NGC 1042 and NGC 1035 nearby. H3 80 (02h 26.2m RA, -15° 18' Dec) Not far from Sigma Ceti is this very attractive pair which you should resolve easily with 40x. Look for a pale yellow primary set in a fine star field.
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