--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hodierna Southern Binocular Observing List -- Version 1.00 For urban, suburban, or dark sky locations --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Objects from Giovanni Battista Hodierna's treatise of 1654 or star maps from incomplete celestial atlas project --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Object RA Dec Const VMag Type Dist LY Comments h m s d ' " --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M42/ 05 35 17 -05 23 25 Ori 4.0 EN+RN 1600 Nearby OC's: NGC 1976 NGC 1981, 1977, and 1980 in Orion's sword readily visible in urban skies --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M41/ 06 46 00 -20 45 15 CMa 4.5 OC 2300 Near Sirius NGC 2287 and "pointer" asterism to E of M41 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cr 135 07 17 17 -36 49 00 Pup 2.1 OC 1030 Looks like striking asterism including Pi Puppis. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGC 2362 07 18 41 -24 57 15 CMa 3.8 OC 5000 Includes Tau CMa; rest of cluster may be easier to see with telescope, or in darker skies with binoculars. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cr 140 07 23 12 -32 02 00 CMa 3.5 OC 1320 Cluster in dark skies is "Tuft of the Tail" of CMa (Steve Coe); urban binocular asterism of "Southern Bear" includes Cr 140 area plus three bright stars in Puppis. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M47/ 07 36 35 -14 28 47 Pup 4.4 OC 1600 M47 is easily NGC 2422 seen in urban skies; but nearby M46 to E may require darker skies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGC 2451 07 45 24 -37 58 00 Pup 2.8 OC 640, Data suggests 1170 two clusters in NGC 2451 at 640 and 1170 LY; "Down arrow" asterism to N points to "J" asterism just to W of 2451. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Fall-Winter objects above; 4 Spring-Summer objects below --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGC 6231 16 54 11 -41 49 27 Sco 2.6 OC 5870 Known as "Northern Jewel Box" or "False Comet" (with NGC 6231 as "coma," and OC Trumpler 24 to N as "tail" in dark skies); Not quite 10-o above horizon in SVAS area. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M6/ 17 40 17 -32 16 00 Sco 4.2 OC 1600 Known as NGC 6405 "Butterfly Cluster"; near and to NW of M7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M7/ 17 53 46 -34 47 00 Sco 3.3 OC 800 "Ptolemy's NGC 6475 Cluster"; with 15X70 binocs, an impressive "sparkle" of stars even in urban skies --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NGC 6530 18 04 31 -24 20 54 Sgr 4.6 OC 4075 Cluster itself (OC of M8) attractive in urban skies; in dark skies, M8 "Lagoon Nebula" also visible; telescope with UHC or OIII filter may help --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CATALOGUES: M Messier; NGC New General Catalogue; Cr Collinder OBJECT TYPES: OC Open Cluster; EN Emission Nebula; RN Reflection Nebula CONSTELLATIONS: CMa Canis Major; Pup Puppis; Sco Scorpius; Sgr Sagittarius --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: The Fall-Winter objects become easily visible before dawn around Octaber; and the Spring-Summer objects around April. Eacn month the same object reaches its highest elevation above the southern horizon (transit or culmination) about two hours earlier. Comments are based mainly on observations with 15X70 binoculars from urban site near California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) within City of Sacramento, CA, USA. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Margo Schulter mschulter@calweb.com 26 January 2009