Sky & Telescope - September 2023 - 56

SEPTEMBER 2023 OBSERVING
Suburban Stargazer
Σ2666
ν
+40°
σ
61
+38°
69
7063
IC 4996
+36°
υ
CYGNUS
+34°
ε
ΟΣ437
+32°
6992
6995
+30°
21h 20m
ζ
Veil
Σ2762
21h 10m
21h 00m
Nebula
20h 50m 20h 40m
truly stupendous sight. (Just kidding.)
But hang on. A few arcminutes north
of the triangle is Exhibit C, an uneven
binary listed as Σ2668. Its 6.3- and
8.5-magnitude components are a whopping
3.5″ apart - easy-peasy.
These tandems, a stone's throw from
Gamma Cygni, resolve in both my
scopes - refractor and reflector - at
around 100×. Give 'em a try.
On the Wing
An almost 2° push south-southeastward
from Gamma sweeps up M29.
Spanning 10′, the open cluster contains
few members, none of them bright.
Viewed in my refractor at 30×, M29 is a
hazy knot of starlight in the Milky Way.
A modest increase to 38× presents the
bare bones of this skeletal grouping -
two semi-parallel arcs of 9th- and 10thmagnitude
stars, eight in all. At 100×,
another seven or eight background
members help bind the rows together.
The reflector working at 127× reveals
15 faint stars, for a grand total of 23.
Wowzers! (Kidding again.)
Next, we head southeastward to
2.5-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Cygni,
56 SEPTEMBER 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE
6960
52
49
39
48
41
20h 30m
20h 20m
then veer a few degrees southward to
4.2-magnitude 52 Cygni, a strongly
unequal double. The 4.3- and 9.5-magnitude
stars, 5.9″ apart, resolve at
medium to high magnification. And for
the eagle-eyed, there's more here. 52
Cygni overlays NGC 6960, one of the
two main segments of the celebrated
Veil Nebula. Using the 10-inch reflector,
can I separate the wispy supernova remnant
from a gray city sky? I should at
least try because, well, one never knows
what one might see.
And I see nothing. Nada. Zilch.
That is, until I insert the Amazing
Magic Thing (AMT). Ta-da! The ghostly
Veil materializes with the aid of an
ultra-high contrast (UHC) narrowband
filter. Even better is the doubly ionized
oxygen (O-III) filter. Applying either
AMT, I can glimpse the slightly wavy
jet-contrail form of NGC 6960, and also
the crescent-shaped NGC 6992/95, 2° to
the east-northeast. Both sections show at
50×, though I prefer the view at 64×. To
my further surprise, the Veil also comes
to life in the little refractor. In that
scope, the low-power UHC view is best.
Wowzers - and this time I mean it!
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
PK 80-6.1
λ
X
47
35
42
τ
Do 10
Do 5
Berk 86
40
M29
6888
The Swan's eastern wingtip is
established by 3.2-magnitude Zeta
(ζ) Cygni. One degree west of Zeta
is Σ2762, a binary system displaying
5.7- and 8.1-magnitude elements 3.3″
apart. My refractor handles Σ2762 at
129×. In the 10-inch, the primary glows
warmly yellow. Less than 3° northeast
of Zeta is a pair of 6th-magnitude stars,
separated by nearly 12′, on a northeastsouthwest
slant. The southwestern one
is a binary called OΣ437. It offers 7.2and
7.4-magnitude stars 2.5″ apart. The
closely spaced yellow-orange suns are a
satisfying catch in both scopes at 150×.
Our final target 61 Cygni, is
famous, but tricky to find. It marks
one corner of a two-degree-wide
triangle whose other vertices are held
by 4th-magnitude Tau (τ) and Sigma
(σ) Cygni. The triangle lies halfway
between Zeta Cygni and 1st-magnitude
Deneb. Only 11.4 light-years from
Earth, 61 Cygni was the first star to
have its parallax measured. However,
61 Cygni is a double celestial act. Its
5.2- and 6.1-magnitude components,
31.9″ apart, exude a deep-orange hue.
The alluring 61 set looks great at low
magnification in any telescope.
Long-focal-length instruments
are adept at slaying double stars. My
7.1-inch f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain
effortlessly resolves every Cygnus double
described here. Moreover, it delivers
pristine views of the clusters NGC 6910
and M29. My one disappointment with
the Mak is that it can hardly register the
Veil Nebula. The scope has some worthy
attributes, but low magnifications and
wide-angle fields of view aren't part of
the package.
¢ Contributing Editor KEN HEWITTWHITE
is president and treasurer of
the Dud Clusters Society, an unofficial
organization of uncertain registry and
declining membership.
γ
Σ2668
6910
Cr 419
WINGING IT In mid-September, the
2.2-magnitude star Gamma (γ) Cygni, also
known as Sadr, crosses the zenith soon after
nightfall for observers at latitude 40° north. The
author's tour runs from Gamma southeastward
past 2.5-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Cygni, or Gienah,
to 3.2-magnitude Zeta (ζ) Cygni.
Star magnitudes
Sky & Telescope - September 2023

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