CalStar 2008 - It doesn't get much better.

This year's CalStar was without questions one of the best. Kind of a throwback to the old days in some respects. It was easily the most laid-back CalStar I've been to in many years. All the prep had been well planned out and attended to by Rob Hawley, who organized and coordinated the event for the SJAA. But, beyond the advance work, there was little if anything "official" about the event. Old school CalStar. The group was with very few exceptions considerate and well behaved, only once did a park visitor drive through the observing site at night, and nobody pulled a "Sterngold" and freak out... and only once did I notice someone leave during the night. Very well behaved group, most of whom I assume are long time CalStar attendees and know the etiquette.

It was a blessing in disguise this year that we did not have a caterer, as yellow jackets were attracted to anything edible. A big BBQ of chicken and beef would have resulted in a huge attack of the "meat bees". Chez Dan even had problems due to the flying critters, a few people getting bit. Dan and friends persevered regardless. I enjoyed the fresh brewed Kona coffee, others the scrambled eggs, pancakes, OJ, sausage, fruit and who knows what else the menu offered. Awesome job again by Dan.

Temps were hot during the day, as usual. Canopies offered a respite, but nothing worked better then heading to the Redondo Vista campground and showering down after the heat peaked around 4 pm.

Very refreshing.

Nights were pleasant early on, requiring layers only late in the evening. Skies were the best I've seen them in years. On the "official" nights for the event Thursday and Saturday had some softness to the seeing, with Friday later in the evening being exceptional.

Even the morning temps were cooperative, staying cool enough that I was able to sack out in my truck until around 9:30 a.m. each day. Getting some decent sleep makes a huge difference at this sort of event. However, as I write this I do feel fatigue.

I don't think there was a single cloud any of the three nights.

The largest scopes were some 25" Obsessions, at least two I saw, Paul Alsing's and Jon Ruyle's, both coming to the event from the San Diego area. Lots of aperture there though. Plenty of first time attendees as well. It was a fun mix. Nothing better than hearing "noobs" getting excited at the sort of views a darker sky affords, seeing their gear show its capabilities.

I was set up between Richard Ozer, Richard Navarrete (two Richards made things difficult at times.... "no, the other Richard"...) Pete Santangeli and Paul Sterngold, with Bill Porte, Marsha Robinson and Alvin Huey nearby. People were spread all over the place, like small astro-enclaves. Again, it was very fun.

I suppose the best things I saw in the scope were some of the toughies. Abell Planetaries, Palomar 12, suspecting Palomar 13, the big arm on NGC 7479. Alvin convinced me to try Shahkbazian 317, which broke into two distinct and perhaps three galaxies, and at other times just a long linear glow. The galaxy trios were lots of fun, as they invariably turned into galaxy hopping beyond the listed targets.

I also enjoyed looking through Alvin's 22" Dob, as he'd come by whenever he had something interesting. Alvin is without doubt another astro-animal. Sterngold was having fun too, doing visual, having turned away from the dark side. Wonderful to hear Paul and Pete working on objects together like Navarette and I often do.

I'm sure that was going on all over the field.

I had plenty of visitors during the night, too. Like the hornets and their attraction to anything edible, I had an attractant as well... I'd offer up my Mexican Coffee during the night, and it seemed quite popular. Friends from all over the field would stop by....

Thanks again to Rob Hawley for his work in organizing the event again this year. It was great - had (IMO) just the right atmosphere, and couldn't have turned out better. Thanks again to Dan Wright, for his generous community building "Chez Dan" breakfasts. I know he enjoys doing it, but it is obvious that it is the enjoyment of others that's the real reward. Dan, Rob, good job.

Oh, and not to forget Jeff Gortatowski for bringing me some of his wife's outstanding chocolate chip cookies. They were the perfect late night snack on the last night...

Below is a list of what I observed, aside from eye candy that were targets of opportunity. I was using an 18" f/4.5 Obsession. Friday night I did a star count in Finnish Triangle 6 (Pegasus) and got 53 stars. If anyone has any questions, let me know.

Those of you who attended CalStar '08 know how much fun and how good it was. Those who didn't make the short trip, you missed out. Make sure to attend next year...

Clear skies,

Mark

Abell 78 Cyg PN 2.0'x1.7' 16.0P 21 35 29 31 41 44
9/25 12mm NPB, dim haze around a star. Averted vision only.

NGC 7217 Peg GX 3.9'x3.2' 11.0B 22 07 52 31 21 33
9/25 12mm round galaxy, large, bright, bright core with nearly stellar nucleus.

Mu Cyg Double 1.4 4.8/6.1 21 44 00 28 45
Tight double, nearly same color and nearly same magnitude.

Abell 74 Vul PN 13.8' 12.2P 21 16 52 24 08 52
9/25 20mm NW edge is an arc, E edge has a small glowing area.

N7177 Peg GX 3.1'x2.0' 12.0B 22 00 41 17 44 18
9/25 - bright core elong NNE/WSW offset to elongated arms E/W. Core seems almost stellar but split.

Arp 169 Peg GX 0.6' 14.6P 21 14 45 13 50 46
Picked out two brightest easily, third was iffy.

N7042 Peg GX 2.0'x1.7' 12.8P 21 13 45 13 34 31
9/25 7mm slightly elong e/w with brighter core taking up most of galaxy, hint of stellar nucleus.

M15 Peg GC 18.0' 6.3 21 29 58 12 10 01
9/25 12mm, intense very bright small core, with small highly populated area, falling off quickly to sparse stringers.

N7156 Peg GX 1.6'x1.3' 13.1B 21 54 33 02 56 34
9/25 12mm, round without detail.

M2 Aqr CG 16.0' 6.6 21 33 27 -00 49 12
9/26 - 12mm , dense core slightly offset nw in busy central area. More stars to N than SW.

S 2838 Aqr Double 17.6 6.3/9.1 21 54 36 -03 18
9/26 12mm, nice easy split of gold and blue/gray pair.

HCG 89 Aqr GX4 0.9'x0.5' 15.4B 21 20 01 -03 55 19
9/26 7mm - A, B and C seen, B first, then A. C is most difficult.

N7171 Aqr GX 2.6'x1.5' 12.9B 22 01 01 -13 16 09
9/26 7mm, ne/sw elongations 3.5x1, dim star at SE end, very dim small core and mottling to SE of core.

N7184 Aqr GX 6.0'x1.4' 11.7B 22 02 39 -20 48 50
9/26 7mm, great galaxy, elong 8'x2' mostly wsw/ene with 2' bright core and dim stellar nucleus. Extensions dim out evenly.

Arp 325 Aqr GX 0.3'x0.3' 16.0 22 06 21 -21 04 07
9/26 7mm and 5mm radian, pair sometimes splits with 7, stays split with 5. Nice little dim pair!

Palomar 12 Cap GC 2.9' 11.7 21 46 38 -21 15 03
9/26 7mm, approx 3' diameter, granular with some stars resolving. Next to tight group of three stars pointing at the glob.

M30 Cap GC 12.0' 6.9 21 40 22 -23 10 45
9/26 20mm, nice tight glob with two distinct streamers of stars to the N and a detached part of cluster to the E.

Abell 81 Cep PN 32.0" 14.8P 22 42 25 80 26 28
9/26 7mm 1' or more in size, annular with brighter sw edge, center is not clear.

N7354 Cep PN 36.0" 12.9P 22 40 20 61 17 06
9/26 7mm, round, bright, mottled with possible annularity.. With NPB shows more hints of mottling or annularity, and a dimmer extended but close envelope on N side.

N7419 Cep OC 6.0' 13.0 22 54 19 60 48 47
9/26 12mm, elong n/s with bright star on n end. About 20 stars mostly same mag, over many dimmer members. Nice shape, stands out well as a distinct small cluster.

NGC 7510 Cep OC 4.0' 7.9 23 11 04 60 34 08
9/26 20mm, nice wedge of fairly bright stars mostly e/w, very obvious.

NGC 7380 Cep OC 12.0' 7.2 22 47 00 58 06 00
9/26 20mm, nice large wedge open to W with bent chain of stars on S edge - hard edge. Nebulosity throughout cluster and extending out to W, especially strong on S edge around middle stars in chain. W/ NPB filter, nebulosity is triangular throughout cluster, extending beyond to the W but with a distinct gap opening and widening to the N.

Abell 79 Lac PN 120"x90" 15.8P 22 26 17 54 49 40
9/26 12mm, NPB, faint, smallish, round, possibly annular, mostly averted with moments of direct vision. Not difficult.

Abell 80 Lac PN 2.7'x2.0' 15.2P 22 34 46 52 26 12
9/26 12mm OIII - entire disk of PN comes in dimly, averted. Annular but with distinct edges. Stars involved in Dim stars involved, in w and s edges of disk.

NGC 7296 Lac OC 4.0' 9.7 22 27 57 52 18 56
9/27 20mm, two chains of stars, three or more in each chain running parallel over dim haze.

U12064a/b/c Lac GX 0.7'x0.6' 14.5B 22 31.3 39 24 00
9/27 12mm, 100% with averted 12064, 12073, 12075.

N7445/46/49 And GX 0.7'x0.2' 15.6 22 59.7 39 06 00
9/27 12mm, all three members visible although dim. UGC 12298 also in field.

N7263/4/5 Lac GX 0.7'x0.4' 15.5P 22 22.4 36 12 00
9/27 12mm, 7264 is dimmest of four including 7263, 7265 and U12007. Nice field.

N7273/4/6 Lac GX 0.9'x0.5' 14.7 22 24.2 36 06 00
9/27 20mm, all three easily visible. Center one has tight double to wnw, closer galaxy to S, futher to N in 12mm.

NGC 7331 Peg GX 14.5'x3.7' 9.4V 22 37 04 34 25 00
9/27 12mm, 16x3, stellar core with bright elongated core. Arm exend out into increasingly dim points. Arms extend N/S. Core area appears wider on E side of nucleus. 7mm shows possible dark intrusion or swirl to N of core on W side.

Arp 319 Peg GX 2.3'x2.1' 13.2B 22 36 03 33 58 33
9/27 7mm, all six components visible.

N7270/71/75 Peg Trio 0.9'x0.5' 14.9P 22 23.6 32 24 00
9/27 7mm, 7270 is easy, other two pop in at higher power.

N7457 Peg GX 4.3'x2.3' 12.1B 23 00 59 30 08 41
9/27 7mm, large, dim stellar nucleus, dim core, exended NW/SE,.

Arp 278 Peg GX 1.7'x0.7' 14.4 22 19 26 29 23 53
9/27 7mm, very dim, indistinct, appear to be interacting. Elong wnw/ese.

N7463/64/65 Peg Trio 2.2'x1.8' 12.6V 23 02 01 15 57 53
9/27 7mm 7464 wsw/ese, 2 others are round, all three lie w/e. All bright.

Arp 13 Peg GX 2.5'x1.2' 11.6V 23 00 03 15 58 50
9/27 12mm, elong N/S with a very dim but pinpoint stellar core. Large and bright.

Pal 13 Peg GC 0.7' 13.8 23 06 34 12 46 19
9/27 7mm, WNW of a dim double star. Barely a haze with averted. Maybe 50% observation.

NGC 7479 Peg GX 4.3'x3.1' 11.6B 23 04 56 12 19 60
9/27 7mm, large bright barred spiral with primanent core. Bar extends N/S with arm extending around to W from S end most distinct, other end less distinct, but both seem to curve all the way around galaxy. Prominent large core without bright nucleus. Great object.

shkh 317 9/26 7mm, 2 and possibly three of the group observed. Mostly a linear glow below double star.

Summer Observing At Its Best at Houge Park

I honestly can't remember the last time I went to Houge Park for an SJAA public star party prior to last night. But it proved well worth it.

I brought out my 10" f/5.7 CPT, and at sunset was enjoying excellent views of the moon and Jupiter. Although I didn't pump up the magnification beyond the 120X my 12 Nagler gave, the detail even at that modest power was very pleasing. I think my 10" along with Daniel Stepanescu's were the biggest scopes, with various refactors ranging from about 6" down, and a few small Cats and JVN's equatorially mounted Optical Craftsman rounding out the instruments. I don't think I looked through one other scope!

Probably the most fun I had with the public was a 6-3/4 year old girl who fell in love with the views of Jupiter. Her mom couldn't tear her away from my scope. I taught her how to move the Dob, and keep the planet centered. Little tugs toward her... she was having a blast.

I also showed M31 and M32, both were obvious, M15, M92, M13 and Alberio. M13 and M92 kind of stole the show for unusual objects - most everyone else far as I could tell were showing Jupiter. The globs broke up nicely at 120X, but were dimmed enough at that mag that the views at 72X (20 Nagler) really showed them off - more in context - not very resolved, but also much more obvious.

As usual I had fun testing the public on Alberio, seeing the variations in people's color perception. Nearly everyone last night saw the colors "correctly". Sometimes you get someone that is way off. People asked interesting questions about the double, are they a true binary or just an optical alignment? How far away are they, etc. If they stuck around for a minute, I'd ask them which star of the pair should have a longer life, telling them its a science quiz, but common sense will provide the answer. Most people got it right after thinking about it a bit.

A couple other "observations" about last night. While I didn't see the Milky Way, I didn't really look for it all that intently. It was not obvious in Sagittarius, or Cygnus. But the skies were pretty good, if I can see M31 in the scope easily, its one of the better nights at Houge. The temps last night were amazing. I was wearing a thin tank top. Sandals would have been fine. For an in-town star party, this was summer observing at its best at Houge Park. Two things I don't like at Houge though - there are new "security" lights on one of the neighborhood houses, right where the driveway is - and I mean lights. Maybe 8 of the, on the roofline of that home, so bright they cast dark shadows all. I don't recall that from before. Way overkill, and unshielded. I's sure that with such a display, nobody will steal that house! I also find the sidewalk at Houge transmits way too much vibration. I solved that one though by simply moving my scope onto the lawn.

It was a fun night. I called it quits kind of early, about 10:15, as the public participation was waning. But it was certainly a rewarding experience. It always is. And it was good to see friends there like Daniel, Chambers, Van Nuland, Rob Hawley and Mark Johnston. I should go there more often.

"Mariposa" - from the Cocoon

Michelle Stone and Paul Plett hosted a wonderful star party for a large number of friends at their "Plettstone" home in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park. A few newer faces were becoming fixtures in the group, and combined with the old friends the feeling was reminiscent of old days in the southwest lot at Fremont Peak, at the height of TAC's early exuberant days. Thanks to Michelle and Paul for such a great time.

I observed on Friday and Saturday nights, finishing around 2:45 a.m. each night. Friday was shorts, sandals and tank top all night. Saturday cooled down a bit, requiring jeans, shoes and a light polartec shirt by late in the evening. Sunup came too soon each morning, but the comraderie helped make the fatigue disappear. I enjoyed the outdoor shower on Saturday, a perfect way to cool down during the heat.

I think the sky was brighter than some of the other times I'd observed there, but the transparency, especially on Saturday night, was excellent.

Without doubt, for me the observing highlight of the trip was an outstanding detailed view of IC 5146 / Sh2-125, the Cocoon Nebula.

Here are my observations - double stars, Herschel 400 (NGCXXXX), Herschel 400-II (NXXXX), Arp catalog, and Sharpless HII/Bright Nebulae (Sh2-XXX). The entire list can be found at:

http://www.resource-intl.com/Deep.Sky.Aug.Sep.08.html

I had a great time... here is what I saw....

Beta Cep Double 13.3 3.2/7.9 21 28 42 70 34
I began the night on Beta Cephei, a nice double with 13.3 separation, an easy split even at les than 100x. The primary was a nice blue/white and the companion a distinct red/orange.

Sh2-136 Cep BN 5.0' 21 16 05 68 15 11 Two and one half degrees south-southwest sits the small bright nebula Sh2-136. Don t let the description bright nebula fool you, this is a difficult object. I suspected it as a dim glow surrounding SAO 4461:645, and the DSS image appears to confirm the observation. My note says With the NPB filter it appears round and centered on a star. Better without the filter and seems to extend to northwest. Averted vision required, nebula disappears with direct vision.

N7129 Cep OC 8.0' 11.5 21 42 00 66 05 00
I moved 3.13 degrees ESE to the open cluster N7129. It is a very nice nebula surrounding three equally bright stars, and a fourth very dim star embedded in a knot of nebulosity, forming almost a parallelogram. The brightest areas of the nebula are around N and S stars. Check out the DSS image on this one, as it gives an idea of how thoroughly the nebula is involved in the nice small cluster. NGC 7142 Cep OC 4.3' 9.3 21 45 12 65 46 23
Only 33 arcminutes to the south-southeast is another small open cluster NGC 7142. It is an amorphous group of stars stretched out mostly to southeast and southwest. Particularly notable is a nice open arc of stars extending to the west. This object has many stars of nearly the same magnitude. Overall, this is a really nice open cluster, that stands out well.

Xi Cep Double 7.7 4.4/6.5 22 03 56 64 38
Off to Xi Cephei, a nice double with two distinctly different magnitudes and easy to split at low power (100x). Primary is yellow, companion is gold. The separation is 7.7 arcminutes, with mags of 4.4 and 6.5. Find it by moving in the same direction as before an additional 2.2 degrees. Easy stuff!

N7139 Cep PN 77.0" 13.3P 21 46 08 63 47 41
Move just over 2 degrees west-southwest to find the surprising planetary nebula N7139. It is large and dim. Initially I thought it was a big round galaxy. It has indistinct edges, a brighter southern edge, which gives it somewhat of an annular feeling. There is a dim star involved in SE edge.

Abell 75 Cep PN 56.0" 17.0P 21 26 23 62 53 33
I moved 2.2 degrees again west-southwest to Abell 75, better known as NGC 7076. At 293x it responds best to OIII. It is visible without a filter, but its envelope improves with OIII. It ma be elongated east-west, and with a brighter eastern edge, giving impression of annularity. Two stars involved, central star is brighter than one toward western edge. I had help observing this target by the young eyes of Elisabeth Oppenheimer, who stopped by to ask a few questions. Thanks for the help Elisabeth!

NGC 7160 Cep OC 7.0' 6.1 21 53 48 62 36 00
Three degrees to the east is the open cluster NGC 7160. It contains two bright stars are set in two curved chains each opening to their south east. I found it difficult to determine the extent of this cluster beyond the chains.

S 2780 Cep Double 1.0 6.0/7.0 22 11 42 59 59
A fairly big hop of 3.22 degrees to the west southwest gets you to the double star Struve 2780. It is easier though to come off of Alpha Cephei and use an optical finder to locate this mag 6.0/7.0 pair. It is a tight double at 1 arcsecond! It was an impressive split at 293X! The pair were just about equal brightness, but it was in somewhat soft seeing.

15 Cep Double 11.1 6.7/11.4 22 03 54 59 49
Moving back east almost exactly six degrees gets you to 15 Cephei. This is a wide double at 11.1 arcminute separation, and widely differing magnitudes at 6.7 and 11.4. It is certainly and easy split at low power, and big different in magnitudes is obvious.

B366 Cep DN 10.0' 3 21 40 03 59 34
>From there I hopped to Barnard 366, three degrees east. Some Barnards are interesting, this one was not in that category. It is in an easy location, very near Mu Cephei. It is simply a not very remarkable dark area, although, there is mottling involved.

Struve 690 Cep Double 19.5 4.1/12.3 21 43 30 58 47
Struve 690 is Herschel s garnet star. I failed to look at it as a double, but it is. It has a wide separation of 19.5 arcminutes, and a very wide difference in magnitude from mag 4.1 to 12.3. What it is remarkable for is its rich color. I think everyone expects this, a carbon star to be deep blood red, but it never appears that way. It is what I would call infused with orange/bronze. It is one of the most colorful stars I ve ever observed.

S 2816 Cep Double 11.7 5.6/7.7 21 39 00 57 29
Make sure to visit the beautiful tripe star Struve 2816, one and a half degrees south. This is a very pretty triple, two dimmer blue stars flanking a yellow/gold mag 5.7 star.

Abell 77 Cep PN 76.0"x 49.0" 16.4P 21 32 10 55 5242
Next I hopped just under 2 degrees south-southwest. I used Mu Cephei then picked out mag 5.7 SAO 33626 as a yardstick to get to mag 6.1 SAO 33458, and from there to the field containing Abell 77 (aka PK97+3.1 or Sh2-128). All I could detect was some slight brightening but very indistinct with OIII and averted vision. Over time I felt there were a few areas of mottling or slightly brighter haze. The object had very indistinct edges.

Struve 2840 Cep Double 18.8 5.5/7.3 21h 52.0m 55 48
Just over three degrees east the double star Struve 2840 was visible at mag 5.5. It is an easy hop from mag 3.4 Zeta Cephei to mag 5.5 SAO 33990, then on a line to mag 5.7 13 Cephei and next to the target. This is an easy low power split of an unequal pair of white stars.

Sh2-127 Cyg BN 1.0' 21 28 41.9 54 37 15
Heading back west three and a half degrees you re in the neighborhood of Sh2-127. This little nebula is at best a very small hazy spot with averted only. Even then, there are many very dim stars involved in the brightest section, about 3 minutes north-northeast of dim star, so confirming that you are seeing nebula and not a tight grouping of dim stars is tricky. I used a VHT filter to help bring out the glow.

NGC 7128 Cyg OC 3.1' 9.7 21 44 00 53 43 00
On to NGC 7128, a nice small open cluster a bit over 2 degrees mostly west. There are about 12 stars in the group with many dimmer ones forming a haze. The southeastern-most star in the cluster is obviously red.

NGC 7086 Cyg OC 9.0' 8.4 21 30 30 51 35 00
Three degrees west-southwest is the open cluster NGC 7086, Large, splashy, it contains many stars of similar magnitude. It is amazing to compare the variety in appearances of open clusters!

M39 Cyg OC 31.0' 4.6 21 32 12 48 27 00
A three degree hop generally south, and a peek in the optical finder, puts you right on M39. And there is no doubt about it. It is large, very coarse, and roughly the 12 brightest stars dominate the field. Again, the variety in opens could not be more apparent!

N7067 Cyg OC 3.0' 9.7 21 24 12 48 01 00
A degree and a half mostly west of M39 lands you on N7067. It is a nice small open cluster with about 5 stars of equal mag being the brightest, about a dozen dimmer ones interspersed , then many very dim stars as a haze in the background. They appear to form a rough triangle with the southern tip defined by one of the brightest stars. Some dim nebulosity appears to be involved, but seemingly missing in center of cluster and could be just dim stars in the background.

Sh2-125 Cyg BN 8.8' 21 53 05 47 16 18
Sitting five degrees east is another Sharpless bright nebula. This one is designated Sh2-125, but is better known as the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146). I ve had a number of successful observations in the past, but mostly just some mottling in the area, maybe a distinct shape that let me know I was indeed picking out some detail. But this night s observation was one for the books. I used an H-Beta filter and was treated to an obvious large and mostly circular glow. Two bright stars were involved, the brightest on southwest edge of the object, the other roughly in its center. The north-northwest edge appeared to be a brighter section, and there was some mottling around the central star giving a feeling of annularity. Over time I began to also suspect more extension of the object to the east-northeast. This was hands-down the best view I ve ever observed of the Cocoon.

N7082 Cyg OC 24.0' 7.2 21 29 24 47 05 00
Hard to believe an open cluster can be a more difficult observation than the Cocoon, but here s such a case. N7082 is in an easy location to identify, four degrees west (man, I did way too much hopping around this month!), but because it sits in such a rich Milky Way field, it effectively disappears into it. I know I saw it, but don t ask me to describe it in any more detail!

NGC 7209 Lac OC 24.0' 7.7 22 05 12 46 30 00
Arrgh! Sorry, I definitely need to better arrange these objects! Back (again way too much hopping) six degrees east is NGC 7209, now in Lacerta. It is a very nice open cluster with many stars of very similar magnitudes, surrounded by four bright stars, three of near equal brightness, forth is brightest. Nice setting, almost like a gem set in a ring.

NGC 7062 Cyg OC 6.0' 8.3 21 23 28 46 23 03
Even with all the back and forth hopping, I did get to know these areas pretty well. A lot of unnecessary work though. Live and learn. Back again, nine degrees west to NGC 7062 in Cygnus. This open cluster features five stars in nearly a pentagram surrounding haze of many much dimmer stars. Of special note is a beautiful, near perfect chain of five stars outside the cluster, in exquisite steps from brightest to dimmest, east to west. Worth the big hop!

B156 Cyg DN 8.0' 3 21 33 59 45 35
B155 Cyg DN 13.0' 3 21 32 08 44 58
Probably the easiest location of the night goes to Barnard 156 in Cygnus, located on the 4th magnitude star Rho-Cygni. This is a black area, totally devoid of any other stars. Very nearby is Barnard 155, which is clearly a large dark void in a rich star field. Both these objects showed best in a TeleVue 101 brought by Richard Navarrete.

Sh2-123 Cyg BN 13.0' 21 42 05 44 32 24
An easy star hop from the two Barnards was Sh2-123, which appeared as a large amorphous glow around and involved in star chain running N/S to the W of two bright stars seperated widely. Neb extends in Y to W of star chain. Subtle is an overstatement.

NGC 7044 Cyg OC 5.0' 12.0 21 13 09 42 29 44
Just under two degrees east-southeast is the fun open cluster NGC 7044. It contains very dim stars of all about same magnitude. With some study, it looks like starfish! In the 12mm eyepiece there is a well populated central area, and spokes or arms extending away in perhaps six directions. Separated from the main cluster to the west is a nice arc of star with many dim ones behind them The arc begins to the southwest, extends obviously west, then arcs back to east but not as far back as the main cluster. This is a fun view.

Sh2-113 Cyg BN 15.0' 21 20 30 38 05 29
I finished the trip attempting Sh2-113 in Cygnus. With my 12mm eyepiece I pulled in one small bright knot, and was centering the object when all the stars suddenly dimmed out. A cloud had moved in, and the sky looked like it was going to continue having broken clouds for some time. This target is worth a return trip, the knot was obvious, but, perhaps I was glimpsing a dim galaxy in the field. I ll have to check again .