9pm – 11pm        Planetary and Deep Sky observing

The moon rises at 10:46pm tonight, close to the end of the observing session.

Saturn will be well placed for viewing in the South. The photo below was taken with an 8″ telescope that is frequently set up at Van Vleck on public nights, and the illustration shows the position of some of Saturn’s moons tonight. At least as much detail as in the photo should be visible in the 20″.

Saturn’s moons and sky map graphics  courtesy of Starry Night (R) Orion Special Edition, Version: 6.2.3 kcEW, Imaginova (R) Corp.

The center of the Milky Way is also to the South tonight, although Middletown’s light pollution reduces it’s visibility.

Deep-sky objects, excluding globular star clusters and other galaxies, tend to be concentrated along the plane of the Milky Way. Some examples of different types that will be visible are:

Double stars:

Planetary Nebulae (M27 and M57):

M27 and M13 courtesy Al Johnson, M57 and M11 courtesy Joe Roberts, both ASGH members. See also Joe’s website.

Open Cluster (M11):

Globular Cluster (M13):