Delicacies on Via Lactea

If all you like are hunting fuzzy little galaxies, stop reading now. Contained in this article are objects located in the Milky Way, what professional galaxy hunters refer to as the ZOA — the zone of avoidance.

Although some of these objects may be viewed in your backyard, why not have some real fun? Look at TAC's "observing sites" page (http://www.observers.org) for local sites where the skies are so much darker. all within short drives. Join other observers at these sites by watching the mailing list on TAC near observing weekends. It is a friendly and helpful group!

Here are a few good targets for this month:

NGC 6543 is the Cat's Eye Nebula in Draco. With good steadiness, the shell can reveal some intricate inner detail. At mag 8.1 it is easy to see. Local observer Peter Natscher noted "the bright blue/purple planetary shows its two overlapping oval lobes and ring detail along with the inner darker area surrounding the bright central star."

Does the Blinking Planetary blink? Put sufficient power on NGC 6826 to show its shell. Don't over magnify it. With the object centered, you'll see the small puffball. Concentrate, staring directly at it and suddenly you'll see the shell "blink out" leaving only the pinpoint central star. As soon as you move your eye though, the star hides and the puffball shows itself again.

NGC 6802 is a little open cluster very near "The Coathanger" (Melotte 111). From my backyard it is "small, dim, and looked like an unresolved globular cluster." While there, be sure to enjoy The Coathanger in a binocular.

NGC 6633 is an open cluster in Ophiuchus described by Jane Houston Jones as "best viewed in a wide-field at low magnification, the 30 star loose cluster, at mag 4.7 resembles a ... retriever? ... it looks just like a miniature Canis Major, complete with ears, snout, bared teeth, four legs . and a tail!"

Here is a dim one viewed from my backyard in a 10" dob. "NGC 6781, mag 12.0, 1.8', in Aquila is a smallish planetary nebula. I suspected it without a filter, but upon installing the UHC it was an easy target. Although it is described as a "planetary ring" I saw no evidence of a ring, just a fairly solid circle. The object is easy to locate, one third the distance between Delta and Zeta Aquilae."

Robert Leyland, an excellent north bay observer, describes "a couple of open clusters, between Delta and Nu Aquila, NGC 6755 a large loose open cluster, with two more concentrated knots of stars, nearby NGC 6756 is smaller, and tighter like a scattering of salt grains."

Jamie Dillon is fun, writing about an open cluster in Scutum. "Veronica Lake Cluster, 6704, just north of the Wild Duck, with a trailing arm of stars curling out from the center, like Ms Lake being sultry with her hair over one eye." Jamie. how do you come up with them?

The Little Gem. Two objects with the same name? Both are planetaries. David Kingsley, using a 7" dob, writes NGC "6818, also known as the Little Gem, is a bright tight planetary with a clear hint of a hole visible. This gives it a mini-M57 appearance, with the nice additional feature of a triangular corral of field stars surrounding the nebula. A very pretty view." Steve Gottlieb describes NGC 6939 "At 380x this was a beautiful annular planetary about 30 arc-second diameter with a well-defined 15 arc-second dark central hole. The rim was clearly brighter along the N edge and slightly weaker on the following edge." Two gems, same name?

Let's finish with a wonderful pair of objects in the same field of view. Make sure to be at a dark site to view this. Albert Highe describes B86 and NGC 6520 as "located in a rich area of the Milky Way, I would normally consider these objects unremarkable by themselves. But I find the juxtaposition of the higher density of stars against the near absence of stars to be fascinating. It is one of those objects I return to every opportunity I get." I couldn't agree more. It is a beautiful and amazing sight!

There are many objects worth visiting. See the box for a list of some, including those above.

Name	RA	Dec.	Type
NGC 6543	17 58 00.0	+66 37 00.0	PN	Cat's Eye
NGC 6826	19 44 00.0	+50 31 00.0	PN	Blinking
NGC 6823	19 43 00.0	+23 18 00.0	OC
NGC 6802	19 30 00.0	+20 16 00.0	OC
NGC 6633	18 27 00.0	+06 34 00.0	OC
NGC 6781	19 18 00.0	+06 32 00.0	PN
NGC 6756	19 08 00.0	+04 41 00.0	OC
NGC 6755	19 07 00.0	+04 14 00.0	OC
NGC 6712	18 53 00.0	-08 42 00.0	GC
NGC 6517	18 01 00.0	-08 57 00.0	GC
NGC 6818	19 43 00.0	-14 09 00.0	PN	Little Gem
NGC 6645	18 32 00.0	-16 54 00.0	OC
NGC 6445	17 49 00.0	-20 00 00.0	PN
NGC 6440	17 48 00.0	-20 21 00.0	GC
NGC 6583	18 15 00.0	-22 08 00.0	OC
NGC 6514	18 02 00.0	-23 02 00.0	ER
NGC 6369	17 29 00.0	-23 45 00.0	PN	Little Gem
NGC 6401	17 38 00.0	-23 54 00.0	GC
NGC 6638	18 30 00.0	-25 29 00.0	GC
NGC 6355	17 23 00.0	-26 21 00.0	GC
NGC 6540	18 06 00.0	-27 45 00.0	GC
NGC 6520	18 03 00.0	-27 54 00.0	OC	with B86
NGC 6522	18 03 00.0	-30 02 00.0	GC
NGC 6528	18 04 00.0	-30 03 00.0	GC