AAQ Visual Observing Section

Selected Deep Sky Objects In Cygnus

My apologies to AAQ members who like myself do not have a particularly clear northern horizon. However, if you have the opportunity to find one, you will be rewarded with some fine sights in this month’s constellation. I thought we should continue taking a look at our own Milky Way galaxy, as well as checking out a few of the night sky’s most beautiful double stars while still prominent in the early spring evenings. All observations were made with a 150mm f/8 refractor.

Beta Cygni (19h 30.7m RA, +27° 58' Dec) Albireo is truly one of the outstanding double stars I have observed. The beautiful yellow and blue colours combined with an attractive background star field never fail to impress. Use your widest field eyepiece to maximise the beauty of this pair.

17 Cygni (19h 46.4m RA, +33° 44' Dec) This is another beautiful pair easily split with 40x. The background star fields found throughout this constellation really emphasise the yellow primary and orange secondary.

Struve 2576 (19h 45.6m RA, +33° 36' Dec) Whilst in the area of 17 Cygni check out this pair which you should be able to locate in the same wide field view. However, in contrast, you will need at least 120x to resolve this much closer double.

O.Struve 390 (19h 55.1m RA, +30° 12' Dec) This is actually a triplet system, and with 80x I was able to split the yellow primary from its mag. 9.3 companion. At 11.1 mag. the third member is beyond my instruments resolution, but would be a good test for a larger scope.

NGC 6871 (20h 05.9m RA, +35° 47' Dec) This group is interesting for the attractive bright orange star 27 Cygni located near the edge of the open cluster. If you look in the middle there appears to be two sets of double stars. Check out the pair closer to 27 Cygni, this is SH 314 which I needed 120x to see the 9.4 mag. secondary.

NGC 6834 (19h 52.2m RA, +29° 24' Dec) I have included this object although it is not very impressive even at 120x. What I did find interesting was the straight chain of five brighter stars bisecting the open cluster.

Gamma Cygni (20h 22.2m RA, +40° 15' Dec) Whilst not of any interest in itself, check for a subtle haze of nebulosity which envelopes Sadr. I found an Ultra High Contrast filter improved the view marginally. There are also a number of doubles around this star – see how you go, I was unable to resolve any of them.

48 Cygni (20h 37.5m RA, +31° 34' Dec) This pair of similar magnitude stars is very easily split with 40x.

NGC 6960, 6992, 6995 (20h 56.4m RA, +31° 43' Dec) Veil Nebula. At 40x I found a hint of nebulosity visible around 52 Cygni. With the addition of an Ultra Hight Contrast filter to my eyepiece a long filament of nebulosity flowing through 52 Cygni was clearly visible. Undoubtedly this would make a fine sight either photographically or with a larger telescope.

NGC 7092 / M39 (21h 32.2m RA, +48° 26' Dec) Use your wide field eyepiece for this open cluster. A good variety of fainter and brighter stars are visible. Almost in the same field of view to the NW are two small triangular groups of 3 stars – these display interesting colour variations against a dark background sky.

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