Constellation Report

Our Constellation Report is an easy way for people to become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated with a particular constellation as well as describing the numerous deep sky objects residing within its boundaries. No equipment is required to view the constellations, though a star chart can be quite helpful. This ease of observing makes constellations a natural place to begin your journey to the stars.

This weekend we move on to the constellation Scutum the Shield. Scutum is a fairly young constellation, being created in the 1700's by Johannes Hevelius to commemorate the heroics of Polish king John Sobieski III in the defense of Vienna.

Deep Sky Report

The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Scutum. Scutum is located due north of the constellation Sagittarius, which we covered last week. To find Scutum, simply face towards the southeast after dark and look about 40 degrees above the horizon. Scutum is one of the smaller constellations. It is also relatively inconspicuous - it's brightest star shining at a meager mag 3.85. Scutum is home to 2 Messier objects plus a handful of NGC objects.

M11, The Wild Duck Cluster as imaged by Al Kelly

Out first stop in Scutum is one of my favorite Open Star Clusters The Wild Duck Cluster M11(mag5.8). Look for M11 about 2 degrees to the southeast of Beta Scutii. At mag 4.2, this star won't exactly jump out at you unless you've got relatively dark skies overhead. Suffice it to say that Beta Scutii is the northern most star in the constellation. See this weeks star chart for further details.
Burnham noted that M11 was "One of the richest and most compact of the galactic clusters." As you can see from the image at right, M11 looks a lot like a globular cluster. Made up of almost 500 stars brighter than mag 14, this cluster looks beautiful in telescopes of moderate aperture. It's estimated to be about 6200 light years distant.
M11 is located along the northern edge of the Scutum Star Cloud - itself one of the densest stellar regions in the galaxy. After you've found M11, take some time and sweep through this star cloud. It is a beautiful region, filled with a wide assortment of star patterns and nebulosity. There are even several dark nebula in the area. Dark nebula are regions of light obscuring gas and dust.

This beautiful shot of the Wild Duck was taken by former Utah Skies Astrophotographer of the Month, Al Kelly. Have you been to Al's site lately? He just keeps on cranking out amazing work.

Next up is Open Star Cluster M26(mag8.0). This small cluster pales in comparison to it's dominant neighbor to the north - it's position in such a rich area of the sky only adds to it's seeming obscurity. Nevertheless, there are approximately 50 stars down to mag 15 which a small to medium aperture telescope will reveal.

Let's wrap things up by moving back into Scutum for this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Globular Cluster NGC6712 mag(8.25). Located some 21,000 light years away, NGC6712 is thought to be very near the galactic center. To find this illusive cluster, return to M11 which we found earlier and move slightly more than 2 degrees to the south. NGC6712 stands out well against the dense stellar background of the Scutum Star Cloud.

Good Luck!