In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Aquarius
region, and show you how to find these beautiful
deep sky objects:
The Sculptor Galaxy
The Helix Nebula
And the Globular Cluster Messier 30
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Main Content
Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 5 of Star
Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm positively thrilled
to be your host.
In this series of programs we'll show you
the most beautiful sights in the night sky,
and explain exactly how to find them with
your binoculars or telescope.
In this installment of Star Hopping, we are
focusing on the "water" region of the Autumn
sky, containing the constellations of Aquarius
the Water Bearer, Pisces Austrinus the Southern
Fish, and Cetus the Whale.
The set of deep sky objects that we're finding
tonight are definitely fainter and will require
a telescope to locate them, although you could
potentially pick them up in your binoculars
if you have a dark sky.
These targets will appear about midway up
in the south and southeastern skies, around
10 PM, at the end of October.
The center constellation of this watery group
is the ancient constellation of Aquarius,
initially documented in the second century
by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.
It's an extremely large constellation, covering
nearly 1000 square degrees, making it the
10th largest constellation in the sky.
There are really no especially bright stars
in Aquarius, which makes it somewhat difficult
to pick out, particularly if you are dealing
with some light pollution in your location.
It's always best to try to get away from city
lights for your astronomical viewing activities.
In Aquarius, there is one easily recognized
pattern of stars, known as the "Water Jar",
two curves of stars that represent the opening
of the water carrying vessel that Aquarius
is toting.
The water jar lies near the border of the
constellation of Pisces Austrinus, with its
bright star Fomalhaut.
To the left of the Water Jar lies the constellation
of Cetus, which is where we'll be starting
our search for our first target, NGC 253,
better known as the Sculptor Spiral, or the
Silver Dollar Galaxy.
This is a very large spiral galaxy, nearly
a half degree on its long axis, just as big
as the full moon.
In the eyepiece it appears large and ghostly
pale, but in astrophotos, like this one taken
with the KPO Reflector, it reveals beautiful
detail in its core.
Ready for a Galaxy hunt?
Let's get started.
The first star you will see when you look
into the south is bright Fomalhaut in Pisces
Austrinus.
Looking to the left about 30 degrees, much
more into the southeast, you will spy another
fairly bright 2nd magnitude star, named Deneb
Kaitos, in the constellation of Cetus.
This will be our starting point in our search
for the Sculptor Galaxy.
Make sure you have a fairly wide field eyepiece
in your scope, as our target is pretty large.
Here we go.
About 5 degrees down and slightly right of
Deneb Kaitos, you will see a triangle of stars.
As you head down there you will be passing
nearby to another large Galaxy, NGC 247, an
8th magnitude object.
If you find it, take note of its brightness
in the eyepiece - the Sculptor Galaxy is a
full magnitude brighter, so if you see this
one, it's a good sign!
Most of the stars in this Hop are between
5th and 6th magnitude.
So, now we are sitting on our little triangle
of stars.
About 2 degrees below this group you will
see another single 5th magnitude star.
You'll pass a couple fainter stars on the
way to it.
So now move down and slightly to the right
about a degree, and you should see the large
ghostly image of the Sculptor Spiral.
Once you have found this monster with your
scope, try and see it in your binoculars.
The Sculptor Spiral is one of the largest
galaxies in the sky, and it is is a fairly
dark area, so you should be able to pick it
up in your binocs.
Great!
Now on to our second object, which is another
big one, so you should keep the wide field
eyepiece in your scope.
We're going to locate the largest and closest
planetary nebula in the sky, the famous Helix
Nebula.
We located a couple other famous planetaries
in Star Hopping a couple weeks ago; the Dumbbell
Nebula and the Ring Nebula.
You can check them out by clicking on the
link down there.
Neither of these two even come close to the
size of the Helix, which is literally twice
the size of the Dumbbell, at about a quarter
of a degree.
That's half the size of the full moon.
To find the Helix, we will be starting at
Alpha Piscis Austrini, much better known as
Fomalhaut, a first magnitude star, so it stands
out like a flare in the southern sky, pretty
hard to miss.
In this star hop we'll be using 4th and 5th
magnitude stars, all reasonably bright so
it won't be too difficult.
From Fomalhaut, move to the upper right to
4th magnitude Epsilon Piscis Austrini.
Now move about the same distance across the
border of Aquarius and find the 5th magnitude
star 49 Aquarii.
The next move is another 5 degrees, slightly
upward to the 5th magnitude star 47 Aquarii.
Now, if you make a hard left, about 5 degrees
away is another 5th magnitude star named Upsilon
Aquarii.
As you move to it, about half way there you
will run into a very large hazy ring of light
in your eyepiece - you have just located the
Helix Nebula.
Remember our discussion in the last episode
about using Averted Vision?
That visual trick will help a lot in studying
the Helix in the eyepiece.
If you need a reminder, check out last week's
episode down there.
The Helix has been called "The Eye of God"
because it consists of a red outer area and
a brighter center that looks somewhat like
the iris of an eye.
In other pictures it looks a bit like a corkscrew,
similar to what was captured in this image
taken at KPO.
Okay, our last target for this week is the
globular cluster Messier 30, in the constellation
of Capricornus, the Sea Goat, yet another
watery constellation.
Our starting point is to the right of the
Helix, on the star Deneb Algeidi, which is
a star of magnitude 2.8.
Moving about 5 degrees downward, you'll pass
the star Kappa Capricorni - that's kinda fun
to say.
Then shortly you'll see the 5th magnitude
star Epsilon Capricorni.
Continue another 5 degrees downward and you
see the pair b Capricorni and Zeta Capricorni,
of magnitudes 4.5 and 3.8 respectively.
From Zeta, make a hard left and slightly upward,
about 5 degrees out, heading for the 5th magnitude
star 41 Capricorni.
Just before you get there, you will see the
fuzzy star which is M30.
Put in a high power eyepiece to resolve this
globular into stars.
The cluster collectively shines at about 7th
magnitude, but is comprised primarily of 12th
magnitude stars.
Look closely; you're viewing about 200,000
stars in your eyepiece!
So that's our three targets for this episode.
We looked first at the beautiful NGC 253:
the famous Sculptor Galaxy, then we checked
out the largest and closest planetary nebula
in the sky: the Helix Nebula in Aquarius.
Finally we tracked down Messier 30, a globular
cluster in Capricornus.
These three were definitely not as bright
as the objects we have been finding in previous
episodes, but it's a great way to exercise
your star hopping and object recognition skills!
All in all pretty fun!
I hope you've enjoyed star hopping around
the Milky Way.
We'll continue to bring you these astronomy
tutorials every couple of weeks, and if we
get inspired, sometimes more often.
We've been cranking them out weekly so far
to get a good start on the series.
The episodes will be designed to help you
find deep sky objects that are up in the sky
at the time we post them to YouTube.
If you found this video useful, please consider
Subscribing to our Channel down there, click
the Thumbs Up, and please share it out to
your friends who like looking at stars.
Also, we love your comments and feedback,
so please feel free to leave any question
or comment below, and we will be sure to respond
quickly.
Also, please follow KPO on Facebook, where
we post all of our astrophotos and keep everyone
informed about upcoming astronomical events.
We'd love to hear from you to discuss all
this great stuff up in the sky.
All the links to these places including our
website kpobservatory.org, can be found below
in the Episode Notes as well.
And finally, if you feel this video provides
you value, and if you'd like to see more,
please consider supporting us on Patreon,
where for a couple dollars per video, you
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even more great astronomy tutorials like this
one.
Well thanks again for watching, and we'll
see you next time on Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory.

