Last night was the new moon, and the day before that a cold front blew the moist Houston air into the Gulf. Under cloudless, transparent skies, in the backyard with the XT8, I visited an old friend and found a new.
First, I found NGC 2362, the Queen and her Court, my personal favorite open cluster. Tau Canis Majoris is surrounded by dimmer stars that follow her through the sky as if they adore her. It's a stunner.
Later, I found M47 and M46 and for the first time ever spotted NGC 2438, the planetary nebula in M46. It was not visible at 40x, but at 150x (with a new Baader Hyperion 8mm) it jumped out. It was brighter still at 240x, a great contrast to the dimmer but dense star setting of M46. The planetary is a ghostly marshmallow sitting in a box of loose precious stones!
Astronomy and astrophotography by Val Ricks for the love of the sky and its Creator. For a better view, toggle F11 and turn off the lights.
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