Sky and Telescope - October 2016 - 37

GOAT CLUSTER Studying globular cluster M30 in his 10-inch
reﬂector at 156×, the author saw the curving horns of a goat.
What do yyou see?
N

M30
S

MARTIN GERMANO

NGC 6934

HIGH POWER MANDATORY To resolve the stubborn stars of
NGC 6934, you'll need to use as much aperture and magniﬁcation as
possible. As the author notes, even at 312× in the 10-inch, the cluster
refused to give up many individual sparklers.

NGC 457

JASPAL CHADHA

even lower in the night sky than NGC 253. It's also
loosely concentrated, looking almost like an open cluster,
which makes it appear fainter than its 8.1 magnitude and
size would suggest. Yet, its reputation for being tough is
mostly undeserved, as you'll ﬁnd once you track it down.
On a good night, NGC 288 is visible in my 5-inch as a
large, dim, elongated glow at 56×. At 70×, it's not only
more obvious, but a sprinkling of tiny stars wink in and
out of view.
Messier 30, lurking in Capricornus, is large and
bright if not quite spectacular. This globular will always
be the Goat Cluster for me, and not just because it's situated in the Sea-Goat. One night, I was observing it from
my light-polluted yard. The sky was as good as it ever gets
and the cluster was showing oﬀ quite a few resolved stars
to my 6-inch reﬂector. As I stared, I began to make out
two adjacent strings of suns extending from M30's core
that brought to mind, amazingly, the horns of a goat. So
that's it for me: M30 is the Goat Cluster.
There are a few non-Messier globulars scattered
across the autumn sky, too. One of my favorites is NGC
6934. Wading over to Delphinus, the Dolphin, you'll
ﬁnd this small fuzz-ball 4° south of Epsilon Delphini,
the dolphin's tail star. In order to resolve any stars at all
in NGC 6934, I found high power mandatory. This yellowish cluster took magniﬁcation well but didn't become
a ball of stars even at 312× in the 10-inch. It did give up
a few suns, though they tended to ﬂicker in and out of
view like ﬁreworks popping oﬀ.
Let's end tonight's deep-sky voyage on bright and
beautiful NGC 457 in Cassiopeia. This open cluster, the
famous E.T. or Owl Cluster, is a spectacular coda and

GOOGLY EYES The uneven but bright eyes of a celestial owl -
or Hollywood alien, depending on your imagination - peer out of
open cluster NGC 457.

lovely even in an 80-mm telescope. As soon as you land
on the starry group, you'll understand why observers see
an extraterrestrial or an owl (or maybe a dragonﬂy) here.
The cluster's lines of stars make a distinct stick ﬁgure.
You'll also notice E.T. looks comically goggle-eyed; bright
yellow Phi (φ) Cassiopeiae forms one of his eyes, which
is considerably brighter than the other eye.
As the autumn stars sink and the sapphires of winter
begin to rise, I hope you've enjoyed this four-part series
of seasonal backyard star tours. You certainly don't have
to stop here, though. With a few tricks up your sleeve
and a little planning, a lifetime of wonders awaits you
and your telescope in the humble backyard. ✦
Veteran observer and scope junkie Rod Mollise attended his
ﬁrst star party when he was just 5 years old. Dad had to help
carry the C14. Read his amusing and informative online
postings at http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com.
Sk yandTelescope.com October 2016

http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com http://www.SkyandTelescope.com

Sky and Telescope - October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - October 2016