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June 20, 2010 July 2, 2010

Posted by orionrising in Observing.
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The elegant crown shape of Corona Borealis

Object: Constellation

Site: Front Yard

Seeing: 3

Transparency: Good

Type: Stars

Constellation: Corona Borealis

Magnification: 10x

FOV: 4.8 Degrees

Observing Time: 11:50 pm-12:10 am

Notes: Spent a few very special moments tonight under the stars.  Tried to find M29 in Cygnus again, but to no avail.  I then resorted to scanning the skies again, and found Corona Borealis.  These stars are arranged in such a beautiful crown shape, and each are so bright that the formation made is quite stunning.  My first impression was another Orion’s Belt, because only 3-4 stars barely fit in the FOV at any one time and the stars were quite bright.  After searching out the other stars in this little-known constellation, I finally made out the crown shape, and was taken aback by the organization of it all.  Each star in the crown is like a diamond on a jewel-studded tiara (the photo above doesn’t cover the whole constellation to mimic the FOV, and really doesn’t do it justice…go out and see it for yourself!). This was really quite an experience for me, as I have never actually noticed this constellation with the naked eye, and to view it through binoculars for the first time made a very deep impression.