Cygnus on the Wing

Hewitt-White discusses the Cygnus constellation. Urban star-gazers can easily recognize this iconic constellation as the Northern Cross, while rural observers might picture the elegant celestial Swan, its broad wings outlined by faint stars. Either way, Cygnus is loaded with deep-sky objects--even f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSky and telescope Vol. 144; no. 3; p. 54
Main Author Hewitt-White, Ken
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge F & W Publications, Inc 01.09.2022
Subjects
Astronomy
Constellations
Nebulae
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Summary:Hewitt-White discusses the Cygnus constellation. Urban star-gazers can easily recognize this iconic constellation as the Northern Cross, while rural observers might picture the elegant celestial Swan, its broad wings outlined by faint stars. Either way, Cygnus is loaded with deep-sky objects--even for city dwellers. For now, he will focus on just the Swan's western wing. Working in his suburban yard last summer, he explored the region using a 120-mm (4.7-inch) f/7.5 apochromatic refractor and a 10-inch f/6 Newtonian reflector. Each scope showed me every target on his west-wing bucket list. His 10-inch Dobsonian reflector provided a brighter field of view and lots more magnification. Narrowband filters such as the O III or an Ultra-High-Contrast (UHC) can be extremely helpful, or even crucial, for detecting pale nebulae in gray city skies.
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ISSN:0037-6604