October 10, 2010 – M11, Wild Duck Cluster

Nice clear dark cold night as usual lately…until the clouds rolled in….

I had a nice list of Messier objects to hunt down tonight, and I was just hot on the trail when the clouds rolled in!

Image via Wikipedia

• M11 – Wild Duck cluster – My plan was to start at Beta Sct (Scutum) and pan over to M11. I spent a lot of time trying to find Scutum – I actually spent some time thinking a different asterism was Scutum (I later looked at the map and realized it was actually Serpens Cauda).  I began to hunt down Scutum by following the stars in Aquila, going from Altair to Delta, then to Lambda Aql (the tail). Beta Sct was nearby….but then I realized that I could more easily hop from Lambda Aql to 12 Aql, then to Eta Sct, and over to M11 (this series of objects are nearly in a straight line and equidistant). So there it was, M11. Pretty nice open cluster….lots of nice bright blue stars. Then I looked up at the sky an realized I was looking through a thin cloud, so I probably didn’t see the entire cluster. The thin cloud was followed by thick clouds….I packed it in.
  

  Image via Wikipedia

I was next going to view M26, M16, M17, M18, M25, and M24…..for another night!!