Constellation Guide CYGNUS

Cygnus - The Swan



Pronounced 'Sig - Nuss'



Where to find the constellation









Constellation Chart









Cygnus is one of the 'busiest' constellations of all, mainly due to the fact that it straddles the Milky Way. Numerous clusters, and nebulae
make it one of the best areas in the Norther n sky to sweep with binoculars. Two Messier open clusters, several ngc-classified clusters,
the spectacular North American, Pelican, and Veil, nebulae, the 'blinking' planetary nebula, and perhaps THE showpiece, colour contrasting double star - Albireo





North America, and Pelican nebulae

Situated right beside each other, near Deneb. ngc7000, the North America nebula is so-called because it is actually shaped like the North American continent - visible in binoculars from VERY goos skies - a HUGE nebula, very difficult to see much of it in any telescope.

The Pelican nebula, also looks a little like it's name - smaller and dimmer than the N/A neb, much harder to spot visually

The pair are both shown far better photographically in this great image by Andy (Big Dipper)







The Veil Nebula

Supernova remnant - also covers a lot of area - so much in fact that it has more than one ngc designation - the right-most piece (ngc6960) is also known as the 'witches broom'

Widefield instrument, good sky, and preferably a nebula filter required to spot it visually







M29

Small, tight open cluster, near the bright star Sadr







M39

Larger than M29, and much more open, will fill the FOV at low powers




Several other open clusters - see the map - varying brightnesses and sizes - you can spend a whole night just hopping from one OC to the next in Cygnus.



The blinking Planetary (ngc6826)

A little off to the right of the main map - see finder chart below

Very small, may look like an out of focus star in a small scope - because it is a diffuse nebula though, it will only be easily seen with averted vision - if you look directly at it, it will appear dramatically dimmer, maybe even disappear. Look slightly away, and it will re-appear.

This is why it gets it's name







Double stars

Albireo

Back in Elizabethan days, double stars were the 'trendy' thing for 'Gentlemen astonomers' to observe. Many books were published, listing examples, and attempting to describe the colours, and Albireo was the real celebrity of double stars.

Yellow.Orange primary, with blue companion - magnitudes 3.2 and 5.4 - the colour contrast is really striking - and because it is a relatively 'wide' pairing, it can be seperated in any telescope (I've evn split it with 15x binocs)



61 Cygni

Two orange stars - slightly tighter than Albireo - magnitudes 5.5 and 6.4





I've only really scratched the surface here - There's a lot more to Cygnus for the persistent observer - Very rich area of the Milky Way - so many clusters merge with the millions of background stars - an awesome area to sweep through with a larger scope.





Cygnus NGCs (with magnitudes) - from my own "1200 Northern NGCs" list

For those with 'GoTo' or a good chart.

6764 - Gal - 11.9

6811 - OC - 6.8

6819 - OC - 7.3

6824 - Gal - 12.2

6826 - PN - 8.8 (Blinking Planetary)

6833 - PN - 13.8

6834 - OC - 7.8

6866 - OC - 7.6

6871 - OC - 5.2

6883 - OC - 8.0

6884 - PN - 12.6

6888 - Neb - 10.0 (Crescent Nebula)

6913 - OC - 6.6 (m29)

6946 - Gal - 8.8

6960 - Neb - 7.0 (Veil - part) - aka, the Witches Broom

6992 - Neb - 7.0 (Veil - part)

6995 - Neb - 7.0 (Veil - part)

7000 - Neb - 4.0 (North America Nebula)

7008 - PN - 12.0

7013 - Gal - 11.3

7026 - PN - 12.0

7027 - PN - 9.6

7039 - OC - 7.6

7048 - PN - 11.0

7062 - OC - 8.3

7063 - OC - 7.0

7082 - OC - 7.2

7086 - OC - 8.4

7092 - OC - 4.6 (m39)

Excellent tutorial for beginner & seasoned observer alike. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to add it to this great forum.

Another Excellent job!!! Thanks! I know that I will be using this one at some point as well!!

Thanks!

Glad to see you included the Blinking Planetery. It's a good object to train your averted vision technique. The reason it "disappears" is because the central star is so bright, it overwhelms the nebula and the eye can't handle the dynamic range. One of my favorites!

Clive_D wrote:

Glad to see you included the Blinking Planetery. It's a good object to train your averted vision technique. The reason it "disappears" is because the central star is so bright, it overwhelms the nebula and the eye can't handle the dynamic range. One of my favorites!

???

ANGELSKY wrote:

Clive_D wrote:

Glad to see you included the Blinking Planetery. It's a good object to train your averted vision technique. The reason it "disappears" is because the central star is so bright, it overwhelms the nebula and the eye can't handle the dynamic range. One of my favorites!

???

When you find this planetary nebula, you can't look directly at it, or you'll only see a small part of it. If you look slightly to one side, you'll see it's much bigger than you first thought. This technique is called "Averted Vision" and works well with faint galaxies and other nebulae.

Clive_D wrote:

ANGELSKY wrote:

Clive_D wrote:

Glad to see you included the Blinking Planetery. It's a good object to train your averted vision technique. The reason it "disappears" is because the central star is so bright, it overwhelms the nebula and the eye can't handle the dynamic range. One of my favorites!

???

When you find this planetary nebula, you can't look directly at it, or you'll only see a small part of it. If you look slightly to one side, you'll see it's much bigger than you first thought. This technique is called "Averted Vision" and works well with faint galaxies and other nebulae.

Oh right.I wasn't aware of such a thing.Thanks.Maybe I should try this sideways look all the time then?

It's a well tried an tested technique Mick.

Human eyes have two kinds of light sensors - Rods and Cones.
Cones work in daylight, they are sensitive to colour, and are situated pretty much central on your retina.
Rods take over in low light, when there isn't enough light for the Cones to work - Rods are far more sensitive - and as you get dark adapted, chenical changes make them get gradually even MORE sensitive, for up to 30 mins or more after you go out in the dark.
However, the Rods are situated AROUND the cones - so by looking slightly to the side of an object, the light hits the Rods better.
This is why dim objects (like the blinking planetary - and all other dim DSOs) look dimmer if you look straight at them.

Averted vision is an acquired art - you get better at it with practice - and you'll also need to exoeriment just how far away to avert your vision (everybody is slightly different)
But a good rule of thumb is to look slightly above, and AWAY from your nose - so right eye - look right and up of the target - left eye look left and up.

Surprising how much more you can see when you get used to doing it - in fact, it's habit now, I do it automatically with naked eyes if I'm outside when it's dark.

Oh right.
Thanks Guys I wasn't aware of this.

yes i have heard of averted vision but i am told it is tricking your eye to do what is not normal.
one to practice on

sounds very interesting, i would like to try it next time im out.

Excellent share mate. Very informative and at the same very useful piece of information.