Although there were only 3 members and 2 visitors at the alternate site last night, we were accompanied throughout the night by another very strong presence; the moon. Bright enough to read our maps by, it not only provided a lovely terminator through the scopes, it also determined what other objects we would be viewing.

I was fortunate again in getting a lift out to the observing site from Jim, where we found two well equipped amateurs already set up. With the addition of Jackie, we had a good crew that was ready for a night that promised transparent, if unsteady skies. Of course, Saturn and the moon were our starting points, and visitor Brett offered a lovely view of Saturn through his old 4″ refractor. Jim’s 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain and my trusty 80mm refractor rounded out the selection of scopes available, and both were in fine form, as always.

I had noticed on the heavens-above web site that the former asteroid Ceres was going to be placed in Taurus, among a bright grouping of stars not far from the Hyades, where it would be showing off it’s new Dwarf Planet designation. I wanted to spy this little fellow before the changing season carried it into the west, and my Small But Mighty ED80 did not disappoint. Armed with a hand drawn map, Ceres showed itself to be an easily identifiable intruder, at mag 8.8, and we all enjoyed a look. With my objective for the night accomplished, I joined with the others for a tour of the night sky.

Allowing ourselves to be guided off the beaten path, Jim’s “sky tour” feature led us to some fine objects that would have been otherwise overlooked. Jim started us out with Kemble’s Cascade, a lovely line of faint stars in Camelopardalis that are named for a Canadian amateur. At the end of this string of pearls lies the open cluster NGC1502. When invited to look at what Jim and Jackie were seeing, I was delighted to share in their enthusiasm for this delightful cluster. Through the 8″ a few dozen stars were visible in an elongated shape, but running through the middle and along the short axis of the oval of stars was a cluster within the cluster, of brighter stars. Most remarkable though, was how these stars seemed to be laid along this axis in pairs. We counted 7 pairs of stars, and then once we had raised the magnification, we noted that two of the pairs contained stars that were again pairs. The bottom two provided a nice colour contrast of brighter yellow and fainter blue. A truly charming cluster that invites lingering observations.

Inspired by these double stars, Jim took us to several other, including 38 Geminorum and Eta Puppis, which is also a subtle yellow and blue. Delta Corvi, known as Algorab, Theta Toucan, 54 Leonis, 24 Coma, Iota Cancri, and Tegmen, another double in Cancer kept our attention on binaries. One of the most spectacular of the night was Beta Monoceros which is a bright and very clean white, triple star. All three dazzle at about the same brightness, making for an almost unnatural, contrived look. Its discoverer, William Herschel, called it “elegant”, and I agree. This is a very pretty system, and I recommend that you get a look before the season carries it into the west. Zeta Cancri also carries the name of Tegmen (there are variations on this spelling) and was a beautiful yellow pair. We rounded out this part of the night with a view of Gamma Leonis, also known as Algieba. This very pretty (and easy to find!) pair showed both components to be yellow, with one being just a little warmer than the other.

Jim had anticipated our need for refreshment at this point, and provided all with hot chocolate to keep us warm and strong through the night. Revitalized, we were ready for the next phase of our tour.

At this time we enjoyed comparing three different planetary nebula in the spring sky. Starting with the NGC2393, the Eskimo Nebula, we used high power and an OIII filter to detect both the irregular inner core and the wispy outer “hood”. NGC3242, the Ghost of Jupiter, was small but bright. We were well aware of our constant companion through the night: the moon. Aside from stellar sources (like the binaries and clusters we had been observing) it allowed only the brightest non-stellar objects to pass its unrelenting glare. Finally we looked up to M97, the Owl nebula, and though it is big, it was unable to show itself this night without the use of the filter. Passing the filter in front of the eyepiece made this planetary blink on and off!

Jim’s scope guided us on not only a fine tour, but gave excellent views of these objects, but I had one more that I wanted to see with my little 80mm refractor. Over the course of the night the sky had lost much of its transparency, but had given us the consolation of better seeing, and a steadier sky. Looking to Bootes, I pointed my scope at Izar, easy to find just along the left hand side of the Kite asterism. Although separated by only 2.8 arc seconds, this uneven pair was very cleanly split with true black space between the components. I couldn’t help but show off this view, proud of what a small scope can show. But my scope still had more to show off. Before turning in, we turned for a last look at the ringed planet.

Now nearly midnight, the steadier air provided a much improved view of Saturn, with four moons visible through Jim’s scope, though the reduced transparency allowed only two to be seen through my smaller aperture. Each scope showed banding on the cloud tops, which has become easy to see as the rings have closed, and rich colour on the planet. Cassini’s Division was still visible through both our scopes, the only ones remaining at this time.

Bidding goodnight to the frogs whose song had provided the background music for the night, we packed up and adjourned to the home of the club’s unofficial honorary member, Tim Horton, who always provides coffee and doughnuts, like the good host he is. As good as it is though, the coffee can not provide the warm feelings that come from the good company of my fellow members of the HAA, and the beauty of the night sky. Next time you are out observing, whether alone or with other members, wander away from the sky?s show pieces, and try something different. Make your own tour through the quieter parts of the sky. It never disappoints.