Selected Deep Sky Objects In Equuleus
Whilst Equuleus is not a prominent constellation, winter is a good time to find some of the gems hidden in it. This constellation is set amongst the northern areas of the Milky Way. All observations were made with a 150mm f8 refractor.
Nearby Gamma Equ. you should find Struve 2765 (21h 11.1m RA, +09° 24' Dec.) an attractive dainty pair of similar magnitude which can be just resolved with 120x. Whilst here, try to split Gamma Equ., I was unable to separate it with 240x.
Struve 2786 (21h 19.6m RA, +09° 32' Dec.) On the other side of Delta Equ. is another pretty pair very similar to Struve 2765.
Still further east is Struve 2793 (21h 25.2m RA, +09° 24' Dec.) an easy pair with 40x. Set in a pretty field look for the colour difference between the component stars.
2 Equ. (21h 02.2m RA, +07° 11' Dec.) You will need 120x to split this attractive pair of similar magnitude yellow stars.
1 Equ. / Struve 2737 (20h 59.2m RA, +04° 19' Dec.) This was my favourite object in Equuleus, and can be clearly seen with 40x. Look for a pale orange primary set in a field of bright stars sprinkled around this quadruple star system.
Click here for a finder chart for Equuleus looking north at 9:00 pm on 23 September 2006. |
Click here for a chart showing the location of the deep sky objects in Equuleus mentioned above. |
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Astronomical Association of Queensland 2006. www.aaq.org.au
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