Ophiuchus
by Steve Coe
13" f/5.6 unless noted

NGC 6171 (M 107) Pretty bright, pretty large, compressed, round, resolved at 100X, going to 165X brings out about 20 stars.
Sentinel 8/10 Trans, 6/10 seeing: Easy in 11X80. 100X--Bright, large, much compressed, very rich, well resolved and much brighter in the middle. 220X--25* resolved and very rich background, very mottled from unresolved stars, lots of stars right at limit of a good night.

NGC 6218 (M 12) is a very nice globular, it fills the field at 175X and is resolved at all powers with the 18". It is bright, large, elongated and somewhat compressed. There are many lovely streamers of stars winding their way out from a very bright core. I estimated 80 stars resolved by counting 20 members in the SE quadrant of this compact globular. This cluster has a pearly luminescence that is rare in star clusters.

13" Sentinel--150X, very bright, large, irregularly round, much brighter middle, rich, much compressed, 98 * resolved
by count, nice chains of stars straggle out from core.

36" f/5 TSP 79 stars counted in NW stars, beautiful chain N-S across the face, no central small core, aviz shows LOTS of tiny stars, a few yellow stars on a silvery core. 20mm Nagler.

NGC 6234 Very faint, small, round, not brighter in the middle. This object comes and goes with the seeing. Averted vision helps some, so does going to 220X, but it is not much at anytime.

NGC 6235 Bright, pretty large, irregularly round and somewhat brighter in the middle at 165X. It is easily resolved in the 13", this nice globular has a central bar that is brighter than the other parts of the cluster.

NGC 6240 Faint, pretty small, elongated 2 X 1 in PA 30, little brighter in the middle with a 12 th mag star on the NE tip at 150X.

NGC 6254 (M 10) Bright, large, compressed, elongated 1.5X1 in PA 45, at 220X. It is unmistakable in binoculars, with M 12 nearby. Again there are many streamers of stars. The most prominent is to the NE. There are several orange stars involved, one of 12th mag on the eastern side. In 1851 Lord Rosse, using the 72" speculum, reported a dark lane going through this cluster. The next time I get an evening on a 72" I will confirm the observation. The inhabitants of these two clusters would see each other as a 2nd magnitude object!
Sentinel 13"--obvious in 11X80, 150X--Bright, large, round, very much brighter middle, well-resolved. 220X--110* counted, several nice chains, two on opposite (N-S) sides curve opposite directions, like a garden sprinkler. There is an 11th mag orange star on N side. Averted vision "fills in" the cluster with many stars.
330X--dark marking on E side, dark oval about 2 arcmin from core center, at the edge of the compressed middle section.

36" f/5 20mm Nagler TSP 69 stars counted in NW quadrant. A very nice "horseshoe" of stars near the core. A few light yellow stars and a magnificent core.

NGC 6266 (M 62) Bright, large, elongated and much brighter middle at 135X. This bizarre cluster has strings or chains of stars located on just one side of the globular. Therefore, it appears to have a "beard" of stars trailing away to one side.
13" Dugas--100X, 5 stars resolved in very rich Milky Way field, several dark lanes nearby.
200X--bright, large, gradually much brighter middle, almost stellar core, elongated 1.5X1 in PA 45, "central" bright area in offset to the SE. Several chains of stars make their way out from core to NW.
Averted vision makes it grow a lot, 28 * resolved.

NGC 6273 (M 19) Bright, large, elongated 1.5 X 1 and well resolved at 165X. It can be seen in the finderscope from a dark site. This was a showpiece object in my old 18", it consists of the finest stardust at 175X. M 19 also swims in a lovely Milky Way field.

13" Cherry Rd. 7/10 S+T easy in 11X80 finder. 100X bright, large, elongated 1.5X1 in PA 0, brighter middle. There are two 11th mag stars at the edge of the cluster, one at NE, another at NW edge.
This globular is the finest stardust.

18" f/4.5 TSP Lots of stars of the same magnitude, averted vision makes a lot of difference, doubles the size of this object. Great Milky Way field.

13" Dugas S=6 T=8 100X--5 stars resolved in cluster, it resides in very rich Milky Way field that has several small dark lanes near this globular. 220X--Bright, large, gradually much brighter middle with an almost stellar core. The central bright section is elongated 1.5X1 in PA 45 and this portion of the middle of the cluster is somewhat offset to the SE within the cluster. There are several chains of stars that make their way our from the core to the NW. 28 stars are resolved at 220X and averted vision makes this object grow in size very noticeably.

NGC 6284 Pretty bright, pretty small, round, resolved at the edges at 135X.

Camp 613 8/10 13" 11X80 just seen. 100X--bright, pretty large, round, compressed middle, much, much brighter middle, not resolved.
330X--10 stars resolved, pretty tough, averted vison helps a lot, makes it grow and resolved a few stars in core.

NGC 6287 Pretty bright, pretty large, somewhat elongated 1.5 X 1, ten stars resolved at 220X.

NGC 6293 Pretty bright, pretty large, bright in the middle and round. It is resolved at 135X. There is a pretty bright double star at the edge of this globular. NGC 6293 is located just north of B 59, the stem of the Pipe Nebula, therefore there are several dark lanes leading out of the field into the Milky Way.

NGC 6296 Faint, small, little elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 135, very little brighter in the middle. It was just barely seen at 100X, shows up better at 220X.

NGC 6304 Pretty faint, pretty small, round brighter in the middle and resolved at 135X.

NGC 6309 Pretty bright, small, elongated NW-SE and not brighter in the middle at 165X. This planetary hides in a rich Milky Way field of view and needs some power to bring it out. Another problem with finding this guy is that it hides near an 11th mag star and looks like a double star at low powers. There is another star which brackets this nebula, but it demands 220X to see.

NGC 6316 Pretty bright, pretty small, round, much brighter in the middle, resolved ten stars at 165X.

NGC 6325 Faint, pretty large, somewhat brighter in the middle at 100X. There are few field stars near this globular because of nearby dark nebulae.

NGC 6333 (M 9) is a large, bright globular cluster. The core is bright and oddly triangular in shape. There are chains of stars radiating outward at 135X. Dark nebula B64 is to the east. Along with B64 there is a dark area on the south side, within the cluster.
Sentinel--easy in 11X80, shows fuzzy glob and dark oval to the west. 150X--Bright, large, round, extremely compressed, much, much compressed, only 12 stars resolved at this power. 330X-- the finest stardust! Still only 22* resolved, but averted vision shows a myriad of tiny stars at the limit of the 13" and a pretty bright bar of star in the core runs NE-SW and is about 2 arcmin long. 60X--Erfle 38mm shows a very compressed glob at the edge of a dark nebula and a rich star field to its' north. There is a nice orange star 15 arcmin south of M9, also at the edge of
dark nebula B 64.

NGC 6342 Pretty bright, small, round, bright nucleus, two stars are resolved at 165X. There is an 11th mag star on the SW side.

NGC 6355 Pretty faint, pretty large, round, somewhat brighter in the middle, three stars resolved at 165X.

NGC 6356 Bright, pretty large, much brighter in the middle, three stars resolved across a very grainy cluster at 165X.

NGC 6366 Faint, large, round, not brighter in the middle at 135X. I counted 11 stars when I raised the power to 220X on this low surface brightness globular. It is somewhat strange for a globular in that it is not compressed at all. It looks like a pretty faint open cluster with several brighter members. When a friend looked into the eyepiece, he said it looked like oatmeal. I agreed.

NGC 6366 6" f/6 Cherry Rd. 7/10 S+T
22mm--just barely seen, never held steady appox 30%
14mm--helps some but still extremely faint, pretty large, round, only seen about 50% of time, averted vision helps

NGC 6369 Bright, large, little elongated 1.2 X 1 E-W. This planetary is much brighter on the north side and is annular with averted vision at 220X. It was immediately obvious at 100X and was light green at all powers. This object is located within the "Bowl" of the dark Pipe Nebula, so there are few field stars. Large scopes work well on this
object. My old 18" f/6 Dobsonian at 175X will show a central dark spot and at 300X this object starts to look somewhat like the Ring Nebula. 13" Camp 613 7/10 see, 9/10 trans--100X nice planetary inside a dark nebula. 220X--pretty bright, pretty small, round, annular, north edge brighter, no star seen, light green. 330X--color much fainter.

36" f/5 TSP 96 14mm Meade 7/10 S+T An incomplete annulus, like a horseshoe. No star seen, some neby inside the annulus. Bright, large and easy, all with the UHC filter. No filter-- light grey-green color, central star seen 20% of the time, "fill in" effect not nearly as obvious without filter.

Cherry Rd. 6" f/6 7/10=S+T 22mm--faint, small, round, not brighter in the middle, not easy I expected a higher surface brightness. 8.8mm--more easy to see at higher power, but still pretty faint and very little elongated 1.2X1, no central star seen ever. 6.7mm--too much power, mushy.

Eagle Eye site S=7 T=8 13" 100X--obviously non-stellar 150X--mostly annular "horseshoe" shape, a not quite complete ring of nebulosity. It is brighter on the north side and the south side is the opening in the horseshoe. Ken Reeve's 20" f/5 with the 8.8 mm EP a complete annulus with a central star held about 30% of the time. A light grey-green. Fills in the ring with faint nebulosity, more obvious with averted vision.

NGC 6384 Pretty faint, pretty small, little elongated and somewhat brighter in the middle at 165X. In moments of good seeing it displays some barred structure. This galaxy that is near the Milky Way and therefore must be loosing some photons to dust clouds between us.

NGC 6401 Pretty bright, pretty small, little brighter in the middle and very grainy at 220X. There is an 11th mag star on the east side. The cluster grows with averted vision and two stars are resolved across the face of this globular.

NGC 6402 (M 14) Very bright, very large, round, extremely rich, extremely compressed at 165X. I estimated 200 stars by counting 50 in one quadrant. This beautiful globular shows off an explosion of faint stars when I use averted vision.

Dugas Rd. 7/10 trans, 5/10 seeing. 13" 100X bright, large, somewhat elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 30, extremely rich, gradually brighter middle, considerably compressed, 5 stars resolved. 220X--12 stars resolved, many at edge of resolution, really grows with averted vision, the finest stardust.

NGC 6426 Pretty faint, pretty large, elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 25, somewhat brighter in the middle, 10 stars resolved at 100X from Cherry Rd. This a low surface brightness object.

NGC 6517 Pretty faint, considerably large, brighter in the middle, elongated NE to SW, I cannot resolve this cluster with any power up to 220X. The field of view is very star poor and this dark field may exhibit so much extinction that I am not able to resolve any stars on the face of this globular. 100X--pretty bright, pretty small, round, much brighter middle, easy to see as non-stellar. 220X--about all the power this object can take, a little fuzzy at the edges, averted vision makes it grow larger, no resolution. Core is elongated 1.5X1 in PA 45.

Heber Cabin S=7, T=8 13" 100X--pretty bright, pretty small, round, much, much brigther middle, easy to see as non-stellar. 220X--about all the power this glob can take, a little fuzzy at the edges, averted vision makes it grow. Still no resolution into stars. The core is elongated 1.5X1 in PA 45.

NGC 6517 13" Eagle Eye site S=6 T=7
150X--pretty bright, pretty large, brighter middle, averted vision makes it grow. There is no resolution of this globular, but going to 330X makes it really grainy at the edges. It shows up like just a little more aperture or a really terrific night at altitude might show a few of the stars as tiny points of light.

NGC 6539 Faint, pretty large, round, little brighter in the middle at 165X. This globular is in a very dark, star poor field. 100X--faint, pretty large, brighter middle, irregularly round, resolved even at 100X, about 8 very faint stars seen, better resolved with averted vision. There is an 11th mag star at the edge of this globular, it is in a PA of 330 degrees. This low surface brightness cluster is not helped with higher powers, even on a very good night.

NGC 6572 Bright, large, elongated 1.5 X 1 in PA 135 using 220X. The central star is held steady in good seeing conditions. Other times the center will just brighten up somewhat. The noteworthy aspect of this gem is its' color. In every scope I have ever owned, from an 8" to an 18" this is the greenest nebula I have ever seen! This guy is as green as an Irishman's coat on St. Patrick's day. Alright, alright, it is as green as lime Jello.
13" Table Mesa 5/10 trans, 6/10 seeing- 100X--immediately obvious, Beautiful Easter Egg afloat in the Milky Way, bright and small. 220X--bright, small, little elongated PA 75, averted vision shows a dim outer haze, there is a bright center that is about 4 X 5 arcsec in size, the outer hazy section is twice that size. The central star is held steady. 330X-- outer haze in obvious. Central star held steady and looks blue-white. The nebula is still a beautiful blue-green color. UHC doesn't help.

Ultimate Star Party, McDonald Obs., Oct. 95, S=7, T=9, 36" f/5--

NGC 6572 36" 20mm; glorious green, luminescent, elongated 2X1, central star obvious immediately; dim outer section or envelope that is larger than main bright body.

36" f/5 TSP 96 S+T 7/10 14mm Meade UWA Intense Aqua, central star seen easily, AViz makes is grow about twice the size it is with direct vision.

NGC 6633 Bright, large, not compressed, pretty rich at 60X. This nice cluster is easy in the 11 X 80 finder, with many bright members, several are yellow or light orange in color. I counted 38 stars in this lovely cluster. 13" 60X--bright, large, stars 8..., little compressed, pretty rich, several nice chains of stars, 32* counted. Several stars show color, 2 blue and 3 yellow in cluster. A very rich field.

IC 1257 Very, very faint, pretty small, not brighter in the middle, round at 165X. This low surface brightness object is not plotted on Uranometria 2000 and is just barely visible in the 13" on a superb night in the mountains of Arizona.

IC 4604 Faint, very, very large, irregular nebula with Rho OPH involved. This dim glow is best in the 10X50 binoculars. This entire system is on the edge of one of the largest dark nebulae in the skies. About one degree away to the northwest is the area William Herschel called " A Hole in the Heavens". This dark nebula is so thick that a
large scope at 100X will not show one star. You must see for yourself how fascinating it is to be awash in the Milky Way one minute and in a complete void the next.

IC 4634 Pretty bright, extremely small planetary. It is somewhat elongated. This greenish dot is floating in a very nice Milky Way field. Averted vision makes it grow to about three times the Airy disk.
Camp 613 8/10 13" 220X--pretty bright, very small, bright middle, disk is only about 2X the seeing disk on a great night at altitude. 330X--disk is still tiny, little elongated 1.5X1 in PA 135, averted vision makes it grow, a light blue-green color.

IC 4665 is a very large open cluster that is scattered over at least one degree of sky. It barely fits in the 18" with a 2" Giant Erfle eyepiece. Even so, the cluster aspect is lost and there are just 40 pretty bright stars in the field. My best view of this cluster is with an 8" f/4.5 at 25X. The brighter cluster members are obvious and there are about 100 dimmer members. The field contains many nice chains of stars and several wide double stars. From a dark Arizona site the cluster is naked eye and my 10 X 50 binoculars provide a nice view. From Camp 613 with the 13" while testing a 35mm Panoptic eyepiece this cluster is very bright, very, very large, not compressed and rich. It contains 62 stars from mags 8 to 13 with no central condensation but it is a very nice large cluster. There is an 11th mag orange star on the north side.

6" f/6 from Cherry Rd. 6/10 11 stars resolved in 10X50s. 38mm (25X) very bright, very large, pretty rich, not compressed, 29 stars counted, covers about 30% of the field of view. 22mm (40) 41 stars resolved--nice view, about half the field, unequal pair on S side, just split.

B 64 Large, very dark, very obvious dark nebula. At 100X it was very obvious, with only 6 stars involved. This dark marking is triangular in shape.

B 72 Pretty large, pretty dark nebula. This thin dark lane was noticed at 100X, there is no star involved in the dark area. This winding thin, dark lane is called "The Snake".

B 259 Large, dark and easy dark nebula. It is immediately seen at 100X, with only 4 stars involved. The dark area is "horn" shaped.

Hubble 4 is a planetary nebula discovered by photography with the 48" Schmidt using its grating and picking out the distinctive spectra of a planetary. This object is pretty small and pretty faint, but I managed to pick it out at 100X in the 18". It is shaped like a comet with a star at the tip. It reminds me of Hubble's Variable Nebula in Monoceros. The UHC filter helps some and averted vision at 220X just about doubles its' size.

Collinder 350 Bright, large, scattered, 32 stars counted at 60X with several nice chains of stars and some pairs.

Do 27 Large, fills the field at 100X, 19 stars counted, no nebulosity seen at Cherry Rd.

Palomar 6 Very, very faint, pretty large, round, not brighter in the middle at 165X. I could not have found this faint globular without Uranometria 2000 chart.

Palomar 15 On a night I rated 6/10 for seeing and transparency this very low surface brightness globular cluster was just suspected with the 13" at 150X. Only because it was very slightly brighter in the middle can I say I saw it that night. However, I kept this glob on the observing list, waiting for a better night. I looked again at a site that is about 75 miles from Phoenix on a night I rated 7/10 for seeing and 8/10 for transparency. It was extremely faint,
pretty small, round and low surface brightness, but averted vision helps the contrast with this object.

PK 38+12.1 Very faint, small, round, not brighter in the middle, low surface brightness disk, averted vision helps but not much. The observation above is at 100X, going to 150x reduces the contrast of this planetary.

Trumpler 26 Pretty bright, large, not compressed, somewhat rich at 100X. I counted 32 stars in the 13", but the cluster aspect of this object is more obvious in the 11 X 80 finder.

Double Stars

Rho OPH A multiple star with four components. Two wide 8th mag stars are over 2 arc minutes from the primary, they can be seen in the finder scope. The primary are 5th and 6th magnitude split by 3 arc seconds. I can get a clean split at 135X. The primary is yellow and the three companions are light blue. A gorgeous combination! This beautiful multiple star involved within the IC 4604 nebula.

Omicron OPH Split at 165X, light yellow and blue.

Tau OPH Elongated at 165X, split 25% of the time at 285X, both white.

19 OPH Easy at 100X, white and light blue, this double is one arm of a nice "Y"-shaped asterism.

36 OPH Split at 165X, matched yellow pair.

54 OPH Easy split at 100X, white and blue.

61 OPH Easy split at 100X, both white matched pair.

70 OPH Continually elongated at 165X, split 10% of the time, higher powers don't seem to help, both yellow.

Struve 2166 Easy split at 100X, off white and light blue.

Red Stars

V OPH Orange star in sparse field of dark nebulae.