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(IAAC) Obj: NGC 206, "G 52" (in M 31) - Inst: 20" f/5 dob newt
Observer: Lew Gramer
Your skills: Intermediate
Date and UT of Observation: 1997-07-31/08-01, 07:20 UT
Location: Savoy, MA, USA (42N, elev 700m)
Site classification: rural
Limiting magnitude: 7.2 (zenith)
Seeing: 7 of 10 - pretty good, intermittent haze
Moon up: no
Instrument: 20" f/5 Tectron truss-tube dob Newtonian reflector
(This was an OBSERVING NEIGHBOR'S Tectron 20", with a 2.6"
secondary, better coatings & cleaner optics than mine.)
Magnification: 70x, 170x, 210x, 360x
Filters used: None
Object: ngc206, G52
Category: Star cloud, globular cluster (in M31)
Constellation: And
Data: mag "vFT", "eFT" size 4'x2', 1"
RA/DE: 00h41m +40o44m
Description:
The famous star cloud in the Great Andromeda Galaxy was very bright
this morning, with a jagged N edge sloping NE-SW; a more irregular
S edge, diffuse especially to the SE, and containing a pronounced
dark "indentation" near the center of the edge. A globular cluster
in M31, known as "G52" in the Luginbuhl & Skiff Observing Handbook,
was readily identified with averted vision to the W. An arcing dark
lane was VERY striking to the E, NE, and especially SE of the star
cloud, where the dark streak was traced through a *degree* of arc-
length, curving S and back NE! Roiling clouds of bright and faint
"nebulosity" stretched S of n206, with 4-5 small, stark dark lanes
bifurcating to the E and W, amid many stellar and more extended
brightenings. Worth every minute spent on this object under such
clear conditions! (See also the log for two nights later, where I
identified several more constituent objects in the great Galaxy!)