Eyes Full Of Stars

During this month’s lunar dark time, I got the imaging gear out to work the sky again and attempt to capture some new pictures. Before going out, I spent some time going through my boxes of adapters, connecting rings and focal reducers. I managed to get a set together that now allows me to image targets with my Celestron 11″ SCT at shorter focal lengths than I used to get my image of the Dumbbell nebula. Shorter focal lengths give me a wider field of view and collect more light in the equivalent exposure times. That means I can go for bigger targets and get more detail during my imaging sessions.

Taking the time to learn your way around the night sky requires an abundance of patience – a virtue noticeably lacking in some segments of today’s fast-paced world. By following the celestial dome through the seasons you can watch a slowly shifting tableau of constellations and deep sky objects pass overhead. Now, with the mid-point of another lap around the Sun behind us, let’s explore some star name origins.

Pluto. No matter how you think of it, dwarf planet, regular planet or isolated world on the remote outskirts of the solar system, Pluto’s presence is indisputable. It was there yesterday, its there today and it will be there tomorrow. Since its reclassification in August 2006, the subject of Pluto has stoked public interest in a way not seen since the announcement of its discovery 80 years ago.

Trying to view Pluto through a telescope can be quite difficult. Ordinarily, it appears ’star-like’, a faint point of light that will not resolve into a planetary disc. Without a detailed set of charts to guide your observation, it can be hard to identify Pluto hidden in the midst of a rich star field.

This week, let’s turn our attention to the southern horizon and explore the summer constellation Scorpius. Located in the direction of center of the Milky Way galaxy, this part of the sky is rich with star clusters and nebulae. I love to spend a lazy evening scanning around this area with binoculars.

Get out and face south and look for a lopsided ‘T’ pattern of stars. This area forms the top of the body, the head and the claws of the scorpion.