October 2017 - Picture of the Month
NGC 225 (The Sailboat Cluster) in Cassiopeia
With my small telescope Cassiopeia is one of my favourite places as the haunt of many fine open clusters one of which is NGC 225. It's one of Caroline Herschel's discoveries, but not her best. I'd have to say that NGC 7789 nearby tops it visually.
So why an image of this cluster for Picture of the Month? I was caught by the nebulosity from the reflection nebula and those dust clouds in Warren's image. Combined with those jewel-like stars I think it adds a great deal to the interest of this cluster. I just don't get that in the eyepiece. Perhaps a bigger telescope and darker skies would help?
Oh, and the name? As Warren points out The Sailboat Cluster was coined by Dr. Rod Pommier in Astronomy Magazine.
James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.