Deep Sky in Southern Cepheus
By Shawn Grant
It is fall again and with it comes nice cool clear nights. Cygnus is still high and to the Northeast is Cepheus the king. Cepheus is an interesting and often overlooked constellation. There are no Messier objects, but it is still rich with deep sky objects. Galaxies, nebula, planetary nebula, and open clusters are of great abundance in Cepheus.
We are going to start our tour just outside of Cepheus in the constellation of Cassiopeia. M52 is a rich cluster that resembles a fan. The stars range from 8th magnitude down. It is well detached from the rest of the star field a showpiece object.
Move about 20' to the Southeast to an often-overlooked cluster called CZ 43. CZ 43 is a sparse somewhat faint cluster. It is fairly detached from the rest of the star field. In a wide-angle eyepiece NGC 7635 the bubble nebula forms a nice triangle with M52 and CZ 43. This nebula is very faint. With my 13" in skies with 6th magnitude transparency a nebula filter is required to bring this one out. I noted it as a faint elongated glow.
A degree to the East-northeast is another nebula NGC 7538. Is brighter and easier to see than NGC 7635. It is illuminated by a 11th magnitude star. It was elongated and the nebula filter works well with this object.
A little over a degree to the south lies the open cluster of MKN 50. This is small compact and somewhat bright. There was also some haze noted.
A half a degree to the west is NGC 7510. This is a bright, small and compact cluster. It has a very
unusual shape; it looks like a miniature constellation of Andromeda. King 19 is just a degree of NGC 7510. It is a very loose cluster and not well detached. The stars a somewhat faint.
Another half a degree to the Southeast is IC 1470 (Cepheus is packed "another half a degree"). There is some question on whether this is a planetary nebula or not. IC 1470 is very faint and small. With a nebula filter look for a small cometary nebulosity.
A degree to the West lies NGC 7429. This cluster is very loose and is not well detached. The stars are also fairly faint.
To a degree to the North lies a small open cluster NGC 7419. It is well detached and faint. I noted it a haze and with closer inspection individual stars were resolved. Now back track back to NGC 7429.
Move a degree to the South to the cluster of King 10. This is well detached from the star field and verycompact. In my 13" I noted that it looked like a splash of stars dust. 20' to the Southeast is an interesting asterism called Grant 2. It is a square of 8th magnitude stars with another 8th magnitude star in the middle. This is a very obvious asterism.
A degree to the south-southwest is the cluster King 18. This was somewhat faint, compact and well detached.
Get ready for a showpiece object. NGC 7380 and its associated nebula SH2-142 lie a half a degree of King18. NGC 7380 is a rich loose cluster with no central concentration. It is well detached and the stars are bright. SH2-142 isn't plotted in Uranometria or TheSky, but it is plotted on Megastar and Guide. This nebula was easy with a nebula filter and adds to the beauty of the cluster.
Now move a little over 2° to the west to the fine double star d Ceph. This is a nice bright blue and
gold double.
A degree to the Southwest is NGC 7281. This cluster is very loose and not well detached from the rest of the star field.
Move a degree to the Northwest to the cluster NGC 7261. It is small loose and not very well detached.
Our last object NGC 7235 is a half a degree to the north-northwest of e Ceph. This cluster is somewhat bright loose and no central concentration. The cluster is well detached though.
I used the Telrad once to find M52. The rest of the time I used an 18mm eyepiece to star-hop from object to object all the way to NGC 7235. I like to explore the sky in this manner so I could see what is there. It is also more fun. Find an area and star-hop and let me know what you see.
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