Deep Sky
Introdution.
Welcome to deep sky this will help you get more information on the objects
you will look at and more information on observing them.
Open Clusters.
Open custers are stars that are losely bound together. They range from just
a few stars bound together to thousands of stars. There are so many visable
at anytime these are a good place for someone to start. There are a few that
are visable to the naked eye. Most of the well known are easy to see in binoculars.
As I said they come in varying sizes and shapes. There are one or two which are
not well known and are as few as four or five stars.
Globular Clusters.
One of my favorites Globular clusters are a collection of stars but they are in a
ball of stars. There are many thousands of stars in any one cluster. They are best
view at a high magnification. But are still very good at a low power. When viewing them
see how far you can resolve to the core. Photographs do not do globular clusters any
justice. They are very old stars but some new stars have been found in them so debates
are still going on. But non the less these are a well worth a look and light pollution
does not realy affect them. There are a number of faint globular clusters but from these
skys they can be hard to see. There are a few that are small but these are still worth
a look. The best from UK skys is M13 easy to find and visable in binoculars.
Comets.
Comets are often called dirty snow balls which is a good term. Most are not bright and on
the most part go unnoticed by most. Some like Hale Bopp can be very bright and stir public
intreast. But had the orbit been different and had the comet been on the other side of the
solar system Hale Bopp would have been close to earth as Hyatake was Hale Bopp would have been
the Comet of the Millinium. The predicted brightness was -12 (as bright as the FULL MOON!!!!)
this would have scared most people. But most comets do not reach this brightness most do not
even reach naked eye brightness. Binoculars are good for most comets but some will need a Telescope.
You can with most expect to see a tail but Levys comet in the mid 1990s never did show a real tail.
But some may show multiple tails. Comets have always caused fear during earlier times and many deaths
and lost battles have been blamed with the appearence of a comet. But even today some people belive
comets to be the fortellers of bad luck. Comet hale bopp was bad luck for Jupiter when it crashed into
that planet. This is one of the advents which made the 1990s a wonderful time to be an astronomer.
When the next bright comet will be is any bodys guess but I hope I am still here to see it.
Nebula.
Nebula come in many types I will start with diffuse this as it's name implys is spread out over an area
of sky. The most famous is the Horse Head Nebula. This is infact dark nebula in front of brighter nebula.
Diffuse nebula is where stars are being born. The Orion nebula (M 45) is a classic exsample of this. To
see these depends on brightness and Light pollution for some you will need a large telescope but some are
bright enough to be seen in binoculars. Planatery nebula are also an easy arget for small telescopes. these
are the exact opossite of diffuse nebula. A plantary nebula is formed when a star blows of its Atmosphere
in its death throws. These are of intreast because the sun will do the same when it dies. The most famous
is the ring (M45) and this is easy in a telescope. There are a number that are easy to find in a telescope.
Dark Nebula are as I said earlier are dark matter in front of brighter stars or gas. I have never seen any dark
nebular. But the the Horse Head Nebula is the most famous. It is a difficult object and the people who have
seen it have seen it in various sizes of telescopes. Super Remnants are again a death of a star. This time the
star has blown itself apart. These are one of the most violt events in the universe. The Crab nebula is a very
famous exsample and it is a very easy target. The veil is famous but this is a hard target. It is faint but I
have seen part of it with an OIII filter. You might see it with a very large telescope from dark skies.
Galaxies.
Again there are diffrent sorts They are some of the best oblects to look at but some are faint. The most
famous is the Andromeda galaxy. This is most distant object visable with the naked eye. Most need some optical
aid. There are a few clusters of galaxys but when looking at these identification can be hard.
