The King’s jewels
One of the least famous constellations offers keen-eyed observers some fascinating and beautiful sights
It’s an unspoken truth that while some constellations are gorgeous and are blessed with spectacular telescopic treats, others can be just a little boring. With no bright stars, they are dull to the naked eye, and they have no big, bright deep-sky objects that cry out to admired through a low-power eyepiece. One such constellation is Cepheus, the King. To the naked eye its faint stars make the shape of a child’s crude drawing of a house, and that’s it. However, if you swing a medium or largeaperture telescope towards it, you’ll be rewarded with views of some genuinely fascinating and attractive objects.
The spectacular spiral galaxy NGC 6946, known as the Fireworks Galaxy – actually in Cygnus but right on the border with Cepheus – is a popular photographic target for astrophotographers, and seeing it through a large telescope will show you why. This March, as the galaxies of Virgo call out to you from the east and the whirls and swirls of the Orion Nebula whisper from the west, put your hands over your ears, tilt your telescope up and take a tour of Cepheus and the sky around it instead. You’ll be glad you did.
1 Bow Tie Nebula (NGC 40)
At magnitude +10.6, this dim planetary nebula needs an eightinch or larger telescope to show its subtle oval shape. Its bright central star is more obvious.
2 Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)
Despite being seventh magnitude, you’ll need a large telescope to see this nebula due to its low surface brightness. Averted vision and high magnification will help highlight its dark dust lanes.
3 Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946)
This ninth-magnitude spiral galaxy is 10 million light years away. Oriented face on to us, under a dark sky a large telescope will reveal its beautifully curved spiral arms and mottled detail within them.
4 NGC 188
Very close to Polaris, this open cluster is 9 billion years old, one of the oldest known. It is an eighth-magnitude dusting of faint stars best seen through a large telescope.
5 Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
You’ll only see the ghostly glowing shell of this very faint 12th-magnitude nebula in Cassiopeia through a large telescope under a very dark sky. A 14-inch telescope will show subtle details.
6 Messier 52
Just over Cepheus’ border in Cassiopeia, this seventhmagnitude open cluster can be seen as a smudge through small telescopes, but larger instruments will resolve it into 200 or so faint stars.
“To the naked eye its faint stars make the shape of a child’s crude drawing of a house”