Month: January 2023

CEA 5 Leg 2 – Caldwell 1

CMDR Kezika

For the next three weeks we will be doing an in-depth survey of the cluster known as Caldwell 1. Discovering, mapping, and bio-scanning anything we can find in there, and logging it to our discoveries spreadsheet for the leg, which can be found: here

Dates

Start Date: January 14, 2023
End Date: February 4, 2023

Distances

Basecamp Line: 480.18 Ly
Main Waypoints: 480.18 Ly
Optional Waypoints: N/A

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: NGC 188 SMV 4385

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • NGC 188 SMV 4385

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: NGC 188 SMV 4385
    • POI: Caldwell 1
    • Caldwell 1, also known as NGC 188 is an open cluster located within the Cepheus constellation areas of the sky as seen from Earth. Being circumpolar as well it is always above the Horizon no matter where you are in the northern hemisphere. It was discovered in 1831 by John Herschel. Among open clusters it has a high number of main sequence stars making it of particular interest to scientists studying those and for potential exoplanets.

      It is the first object in the Caldwell catalog made by Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore to act as a complement to the Messier catalog. The objects in the Caldwell catalog are ordered by their declination, meaning Caldwell 1 is the most northerly in the sky, and Caldwell 109 being the most southerly.

Optional Waypoints

The optional waypoints for this leg is to simply scout out any stars you can within the cluster. There is a shared discoveries spreadsheet available at this link: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuaQ1lvTHzu7jkpyRmG-FXzQ2uvU?e=dE7SG0 to keep track of what has already been scouted by the group and what needs to be scouted still. Please make sure to record any progress there as well!

CEA 5 Leg 1

CMDR Kezika

We are setting off with the first leg of the fifth Celebration of Early Astronomy. In this leg we are travelling from the human populated bubble up to our entry basecamp for Caldwell 1, which we will then enter on leg 2 and spend three weeks scouting in depth.

Dates

Start Date: January 07, 2023
End Date: January 14, 2023

Distances

Basecamp Line: 6,461.95 Ly
Main Waypoints: 8,219.67 Ly

Map, (click for full size):

Basecamp: Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Main Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • 45 Tauri
    • Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • BrSO 14
    • Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Main Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: Keltim
    • POI: GJ 149
    • We will launch our fifth Celebration of Early Astronomy Expedition from this location
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: 45 Tauri
    • POI: Caldwell 41
    • Caldwell 41, The Hyades Cluster is the nearest open cluster to our own solar system, and one of the best studied star clusters in existence due to that. From the perspective of Earth, it appears within the constellation Taurus at a similar angle in the sky to Aldebaran, albeit unrelated to Aldebaran otherwise. Four stars of the Hyades, with Tauri constellation Bayer designations Gamma, Delta 1, Epsilon, and Theta form the asterism that is the head of Taurus the Bull. Due to its proximity to our own solar system, the distance to it can be measured using parallax shift of the member stars as we orbit our own sun throughout our year. This leads to the a highly accurate mesaurement of roughly 145 Ly to the center of the cluster. 45 Tauri particularly is on the closer side of the cluster.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • POI: Caldwell 99 – Coalsack Nebula
    • Caldwell 99, The Coalsack Nebula is a dark nebula easily visible to the naked eye in the sky as a dark patch obscuring part of the Milky Way’s band. Taking up about 7 degrees of arc in the night sky it is multiple times the size of the apparently size of the moon in our night sky from Earth. In Australian Aboriginal astronomy, it forms the head of the “Emu in the Sky” constellation. It was likewise a bird in Incan astronomy as well, representing a Tinamou.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: BrSO 14
    • POI: Caldwell 68 – R Coronae Australis Nebula
    • Caldwell 68, roughly 400 lightyears away from our solar system is one of the nearest star-forming regions to us. It is one part of the larger Corona Australis Molecular Cloud. It was discovered in 1861 by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt. It is a variable nebula which shows irregular variations in brightness and shape.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • POI: Caldwell 34 – Veil West Nebula
    • Caldwell 34, also designated as NGC 6960, a nebula in the Cygnus constellation and constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop. It is the remnants of a supernova. It is also sometimes referred to as the Cirrus Nebula or the Filamentary Nebula.

      Additional viewing site suggestion: Veil West Sector PD-S B4-2, puts it nearly in line with Barnard’s Loop for a spectacular view.
  • Map Reference: North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • POI: Caldwell 20 – North America Nebula
    • Caldwell 20 was discovered by William Herschel in 1786 and located roughly 1800 lightyears from our own solar system it occupies a section of the sky roughly three times the apparent size of a full moon within the constellation Cygnus. It is an emission nebula with the clouds of gas being ionized by a nearby star, causing the gas to glow. The reddish colour is characteristic of hydrogen the dominates Caldwell 20.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: Ploea The YQ-U d3-0
    • POI: Caldwell 1 Pre-Entry Basecamp
    • This is the final star before the carrier jump that will be required to enter Caldwell 1 itself.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link

Extra Waypoints

  • Map References quick reference list, more details below
    • Keltim
    • 45 Tauri
    • Musca Dark Region HM-V c2-29
    • BrSO 14
    • HIP 102082
    • Veil West Sector DL-Y d68
    • North America Sector LC-V c2-3
    • NGC 40 Star
    • HIP 16267
    • Ploea The YQ-U d3-0

Optional Waypoints Details

  • Map Reference: HIP 102082
    • AKA: V Cygni
    • A very large carbon star with only twice the mass of our sun, but nearly 200 times the size of our sun.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: NGC 40 Star
    • POI: Caldwell 2 – Bow-Tie Nebula
    • Caldwell 2 was discovered by William Herschel in 1788 and located roughly 3500 lightyears from our own solar system in the constellation Cepheus. It can be quite difficult to spot due to having only apparently visual magnitude of 12.3, making it the faintest object in the Caldwell catalog.
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link
  • Map Reference: HIP 16267
    • HIP 16267 is a binary star system high up from the galactic plane consisting of the stars BD+83 78A and BD+83 78B
    • SIMBAD Link
    • EDSM Link