Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 27

BRIAN VENTRUDO
Cygnus RA 19h 53m Dec. +35° 00′
Object
Type
GLORIOUS CYGNUS You'll find the
crowning glory of summer's shimmering
sights in the celestial Swan. Overhead
on August nights is the Cygnus
Star Cloud. But do spend some time
on its neighboring targets - you'll
likely return again and again.
B144
IC 1318
NGC 6910
M29
NGC 7000
Dark nebula
Emission nebula
Open cluster
Open cluster
Emission nebula
Mag(v)
-
-
7.4
6.6
5.0
Size
270′ × 90′
50′ × 30′
10′
10′
120′ × 100′
RA
Dec.
19h 58.7m
20h 22.2m
20h 23.2m
20h 24.1m
20h 59.3m
+35° 20′
+40° 15′
+40° 47′
+38° 30′
+44° 31′
solved aside from a few 6th- to 8th-magnitude foreground
stars. I see a bright patch about 1° southeast of a line between
Albireo and Phi (φ) Cygni. About 2° southeast of 3.9-magnitude
Eta (η) Cygni you'll find three tiny clouds, each around
1° across, which pop in my 15×50 binos. Near the center of
the Cygnus cloud lies B144, with Eta on its southwestern
edge. About 4.5° long and 1.5° wide, this dark nebula is easily
visible without optics in a good sky.
Towards Sadr, the cloud blends into patches of darkness
and bright nebulosity. Look for a dark channel ¼° south of
Sadr, with the brightest parts of the IC 1318, the Butterfly
Nebula, on either side. I see the emission nebula's ghostly
glow in my refractor with the 13-mm Ethos. The field includes
the small Y-shaped open cluster NGC 6910 with two 7thmagnitude
yellow-white stars and a handful of fainter 9thand
10th-magnitude glints covering 10′. When I nudge the
scope to put Sadr at the northern edge of the field, the distinctive,
6.6-magnitude open cluster M29 pops into view to the
south. It looks like two parentheses of three 9th-magnitude
stars, each with a few fainter stars sprinkled in.
We'll end near the North America Nebula (NGC 7000),
which Barnard calls " a splendid mixture of stars and nebulosity, "
about 3° east of Deneb (Alpha Cygni). While the nebula
is visually intriguing, a stunning view lies 2° northeast of
its center, where we see a brilliant star cloud just beyond the
nebula's " Alaska. " With a diameter of about 2°, the cloud
equals M24 and the Scutum Star Cloud in brightness and
beauty, especially for observers at northerly latitudes who can
view it nearly overhead. In my 85-mm at 46×, I see resolved
9th- and 10th-magnitude stars in a truly spectacular field.
Nudging the scope 2° west across a dark gulf reveals yet
another star cloud of equal size but slightly lesser brightness.
More star clouds lie along the Milky Way, but I'll let you
sweep the sky to discover your own favorites. In time, you
may begin to navigate the best parts of the summer sky not
by constellation but by the prominent clots of stars and dark
nebulae along this starry backbone of the night.
¢ Contributing Editor BRIAN VENTRUDO is a writer, scientist,
and longtime amateur astronomer based in Calgary, Canada.
He explores the Milky Way on short summer nights with binoculars,
telescopes, cameras, or just with the unaided eye. He
writes about astronomy and stargazing at his website
CosmicPursuits.com.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * AUGUST 2024 27
http://www.CosmicPursuits.com https://skyandtelescope.org/
Sky & Telescope - August 2024

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