NGC 246 Skull Nebula Captured from Pearly Bea...
NGC 246 (also known as the Skull Nebula or Caldwell 56) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Cetus (The Whale), discovered by William Herschel in 1785.
Come and catch some starlight and join us on the Village Green at Pearly Beach for an evening of stargazing on Saturday 30 March from 19:30 onwards. Two of the targets on the evening will be the globular cluster NGC 5139, also known as Omega Centauri, and the open cluster M46 with the planetary nebula NGC 2438 appearing within it.
Another target nearby Omega Centauri that we will visit is NGC 4945, a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Centaurus, visible near the star Xi Centauri. The galaxy was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826 and is thought to be similar to the Milky Way Galaxy, although X-ray observations show that NGC 4945 has an unusual energetic Seyfert 2 nucleus that might house a supermassive black hole.
Don't forget Saturn is occulted by the Moon in the early hours on the 29th March (Friday), details to follow.
Attached images are some of the targets that we will slew the telescope too.
