Death Valley and Stars by Katie Carrell

The first weekend of November ASN-LV is going to Death Valley with our sister group, ASN.

I decided to write about what you might see on the nights we'll be there. On November 1st, some of the constellations that will be in the sky are Cassiopeia and Perseus. In the constellation Cassiopeia, you can see M52 and M103. M52 is a large and rich cluster, its magnitude is 6.9. Messier found this in 1774 while observing a comet. M52 is actually located a little above Cassiopeia. M103 is also a cluster, its magnitude is 7. Many amateurs pass over M103 for more exciting things like the Perseus Double Cluster. Some of the NGCs you may find near Cassiopeia are NGC278, NGC457, NGC7635, and NGC7789. NGC278 is a lot closer to Andromeda and it is a small, face-on, spiral galaxy. NGC457 is a cluster. To the naked eye the cluster forms one of the eyes to the Owl Cluster. NGC7635 is a challenge to see even with a telescope. The NGC7635 is called the Bubble Nebula and the reason it is hard to see is because of the low surface brightness. NGC7789 is a cluster. This open cluster is a glorious sight. In the constellation Perseus you can see M76, which is closer to Andromeda then to Perseus and is part of a double nebula. M76 is a smaller version of M27 and it is one of the most difficult items of the messier objects to see. You can also see Abel426, which is a cluster of galaxies. It's magnitude ranges from 12-15.

On November 2nd the constellations you might see are Andromeda and Pegasus. In Andromeda you can see M110, which is a satellite galaxy of the Great Andromeda Galaxy and is usually just out of the field of sight when viewing M31. You can also see the following: NGC891 and NGC7662. NGC891 is an edge-on, spiral galaxy and is visible with a 6-inch telescope. NGC7662 is called The Blue Snowball and is one of the finest planetaries in the northern sky. In the constellation Pegasus you can see M15, which is a globular cluster and is 70% further then M13.

These are just some of the things you may see on this trip to Death Valley. I'll see all of you there.