Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 57
OBSERVING
Alan Whitman
Going Deep
The Dark Creatures of Cepheus
Up the aperture to track down the Seahorse and Elephant Trunk Nebulae.
At the first Mount Kobau Star Party in 1984, my
observing partner Jim Failes made a naked-eye discovery
of a band of dust clouds that he calls the Polaris Superhighway. It begins in the galaxy's central rift near Epsilon Cas, passes immediately east of the three-star chain
of 46, 48, and 50 Cas, and loops tightly around Polaris.
It continues as a broader highway in a concave loop to
the Draco side of Beta (β) Cephei, makes a convex arc
around Beta, and then continues in another concave loop
passing between Alpha (α) and Eta (η) Cephei, where
it reconnects to the rift's dust clouds. Find a site where
M33 is visible with the unaided eye and you should then
be able to see the Polaris Superhighway.
My favorite telescopic dark (absorption) nebula in
Cepheus is the well-named 90′-long, sinuous Seahorse
Nebula, Barnard 150. It's detectable by the lack of stars
- there's no background Milky Way glow visible here at
Star magnitudes
How often have we read that the complex of Milky
Way dust clouds composing the Great Rift broadens
into the Northern Coalsack, then ends at Deneb? Yes,
the most prominent section of the rift ends at Deneb,
but in a fine sky the unaided eye can trace our edge-on
galaxy's dust lane past Cassiopeia and all the way to
westernmost Camelopardalis! The rift zigzags around
the northwestern side of Deneb and the North America
Nebula, crosses the great 12°°-long black gash of the Funnel Cloud Nebula (Le Gentil 3), and continues through
Zeta (ζ) and Iota (ι) Cephei. The chain of dust clouds
passes a few degrees poleward of Epsilon (ε) Cassiopeiae,
and finally peters out near BK Camelopardalis. This is
almost 55° of galactic longitude past Deneb! The brighter
side of the Milky Way lies to the south of the dust clouds,
but north of the rift the fainter side of the Milky Way
extends up to Polaris.
Nebulae Dark and Bright
Object
Type
Opacity
Size
+60° 18′
21h 39.1m
+57° 30′
10′
21h
34.9m
+56° 43′
3′
21h
40.4m
+57° 49′
4′
21h
42.2m
+56° 42′
Dark Nebula
5
60′
IC 1396
Emission Nebula
-
170′ × 140′
Dark Nebula
4
Dec.
50.7m
B150
B365
RA
20h
_
+62°
B163
vdB 142
B366
Dark Nebula
Dark Nebula
Reflection Nebula
Dark Nebula
6
4
-
3
49′
21h 36.0m
+59° 34′
58.9m
+58° 45′
B169
Dark Nebula
3
60′
21h
B170
Dark Nebula
4
15′
21h 58.1m
+58° 57′
B171
Dark Nebula
5
91′
22h 01.3m
+58° 52′
B173
Dark Nebula
6
4′
22h 07.5m
+59° 40′
19′
22h
+59° 04′
B174
Dark Nebula
6
07.3m
Opacity is measured on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is least opaque and 6 is most opaque.
Angular sizes are from recent catalogs. Visually, an object's size is often smaller than the
cataloged value and varies according to the aperture and magnification of the viewing
instrument. Right ascension and declination are for equinox 2000.0.
B150
12
h
B173-74
c
+58°
21h 40.4m
B152
i
+57° 24′
10′
d
9
+60°
B161
3
4
5
6
7
8
B366
B169-70-71
14
CEPHEUS
+
B161
vdB 142
IC 1396
¡
+56°
13
B163
B365
+54°
22h 00m
21h 40m
21h 20m
Sk yandTelescope.com November 2016
21h 00m
57
http://www.SkyandTelescope.com
Sky and Telescope - November 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky and Telescope - November 2016
Contents
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 1
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 3
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - A
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - B
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 4
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 5
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 6
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 7
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 8
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 9
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 10
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 11
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 12
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 13
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 14
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 15
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 16
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 17
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 18
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 19
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 20
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 21
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 22
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 23
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 24
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 25
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 26
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 27
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 28
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 29
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 30
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 31
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 32
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 33
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 34
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 35
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 36
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 37
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 38
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 39
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 40
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 41
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 42
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 43
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 44
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 45
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 46
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 47
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 48
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 49
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 50
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 51
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 52
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 53
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 54
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 55
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 56
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 57
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 58
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 59
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 60
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 61
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 62
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 63
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 64
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 65
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 66
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 67
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 68
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 69
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 70
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 71
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 72
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 73
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 74
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 75
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 76
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 77
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 78
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 79
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 80
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 81
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 82
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 83
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 84
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - Cover3
Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - Cover4
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