Deep sky challenge
Winter is coming, but some of autumn’s deep-sky treasures can still be enjoyed through your telescope
Sliding into November, it’s only natural to swing your telescope away from the subtle attractions of the autumn sky and use it to enjoy views of winter’s bigger, brighter and bolder objects. But before you start diving headfirst into the swirling grey and green gas clouds of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) or squint at the Crab Nebula’s (Messier 1) ghostly outline, why not postpone winter a little longer and give some of autumn’s delights one last look?
If you can make it to somewhere with a dark sky unspoiled by light pollution, a small telescope will show you the two small, faint satellite galaxies of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31). Owners of larger instruments which can provide higher magnifications and gulp down more subtle starlight can see a nebula that is said to resemble a blue snowball, and a fine edge-on galaxy too.
Head over to Pegasus, the Winged Horse, and you will find the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7479. Glowing at a magnitude of +11.6, you’ll need to be armed with a good-sized telescope to pick out its beautiful curved arms.
1 NGC 891
Small telescopes show this galaxy as a faint needle of light, but larger telescopes reveal it is an edge-on galaxy with a bright central bulge and a dark dust lane running across its equator. Higher magnification views will show mottling.
2 The Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC 7662)
Although this eighthmagnitude planetary nebula can be seen through small telescopes, its blue colour is only visible through instruments of six inches and larger.
3 Gamma Andromedae
One of the prettiest double stars in this region of the sky, Almach can be split with a small telescope, but larger instruments will highlight the beautiful contrast in colour between its bright pink-white component and its fainter, steely blue one.
4 Messier 110
Lying so close to bright M31, it is almost lost in its parent galaxy’s glow, and it is usually overlooked. Small telescopes show it as a small misty smudge, while larger ones will show its subtle silvery beauty.
5 Messier 32
The smaller of M31’s satellite galaxies is visible in small telescopes as a slightly brighter smudge within that great galaxy, but larger telescopes pull it out from the background glow. It is an elliptical galaxy which shines at eighth magnitude.
6 NGC 7479
This very pretty barred spiral galaxy, presented almost face-on to us, is 11th magnitude so seeing its gracefully curved arms requires a large telescope under a dark sky. It is over 100 light years away.