August 27, 2010 August 29, 2010
Posted by orionrising in Observing.Tags: arrow, cygnus, delphinus, diamond, dolphin
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Object: Constellation
Site: Front Yard
Seeing: 3
Transparency: Good
Type: Deep Sky
Constellation: Delphinus
Magnification: 10x
FOV: 4.8 Degrees
Observing Time: 11:20pm – 11:30pm
Notes: Found this interesting formation of stars, while scanning the skies near Cygnus. At first I didn’t know how to find it in my star map, there were no useful reference points. After looking and searching for a lengthy amount of time in Stellarium, I’m now pretty certain that this is the head area of Delphinus, the Dolphin, a faint constellation closer to the horizon from Cygnus the Swan. It looked like a downward-pointing arrow at first glance, but the constellation diagram in Stellarium and other star maps depict Delphinus’ head as a diamond– probably this was the source of confusion. This constellation is relatively hard to find, but a very rewarding experience overall, because this is the first time I viewed this constellation at all. Delphinus isn’t visible using the naked eye from my observing site. I’m planning to revisit Delphinus later to take a closer and more detailed look, in my haste to identify the pattern itself I don’t think I did it complete justice yet!