Observations made in the constellation Canis Major

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Observations made in the constellation Canis Major:

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1"-inch other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Mar 14 01:05:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2237

This evening, I observed a hyper giant red star known as Y V Canis Majoris while cruising around Canis Major with my 5.1" short tube Newtonian Telescope. I was really impressed how red this star was.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 21 04:30:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2130

Last evening, I observed a lot of dim stars called Collinder 121 in the Ursa Major. The star group begins just below M41 & covers a large area. In the middle of Collinder 121 is a red super giant orange star called Canis Majoris. This star is another candidate for a super nova just like Antares & Betelgeuse but its orange color is not as deep as the other two. This probably means it won't go supernova for a long time.

Alpha CMa (Sirius) (Visual Binary, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jan 7 02:30:00 2019 UT   Obs. no.: 2087

A few evenings ago, I observed the colors of both Sirius & Procion with my naked eye & my 10X50 binoculars. Procion was colored yellow while Sirius is bluish white. This means Sirius is the hotter star of the two.

Last evening, my brother Anthony & I attempted to see the comet that is approaching Earth. Unfortunately, we did not see the comet. We did see the Hyades, Pleiades, & many objects in the Orion Constellation. We also got to see the M41 open cluster just below the bright star of Sirius. Finally, we saw our first Geminid meteor whose amber color showed its chemical composition to be sodium. This weekend, we will try to see the comet when it is closest to Earth.

Alpha CMa (Sirius) (Visual Binary, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Feb 23 00:30:00 2016 UT   Obs. no.: 1965

With Sirius B's orbit swinging out farther away from Sirius, My brother Anthony & I decided to try to Split the Sirius double star with my 127mm MAK. We were able to see the Sirius B hugging next to Sirius. It was just barely out of the Sirius' glare & not to difficult to see.For the next three years, Sirius B's orbit will continue to pull farther away from Sirius, thus making it easier to see.

Sirius B (Star, in Canis Major)
Observer: Attila Schne (e-mail: yolo@chello.hu, web: http://www.ebeamguns.com)
Instrument: 11-inch other   Location: Veszprem, Veszprem, Hungary
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 27 02:20:00 2013 UT   Obs. no.: 1898

Using my 11" Yolo telescope. I was able to observe the faint pair of Sirius at 400x. It was visible very easily, even when the Sirius was in the middle of the field of view.

Other (Other, est. to be in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 4 04:15:00 2011 UT   Obs. no.: 1863

Last evening, my brother Anthony and I were able to split Sirius B from Sirius A. Sirius B is now extending farther away from Sirius A in its orbit around its parent star. During brief moments of good seeing, we were able to see a gap between the two stars. Sirius B will continue extending out in its orbit from Sirius A until the year 2025 so we have many years to split this interesting double star.

Other (Other, est. mag -2, est. to be in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Mar 15 23:15:00 2009 UT   Obs. no.: 1818

This evening my brother Anthony, my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I went to the West Haven beach to watch the Space Shuttle roar by us as it went into orbit. The Shuttle was launched at 7:43 PM EDT from Fla. At 7:50 PM EDT we watched the Shuttle go by and as it flew by we were able to see its main engine shutoff occur. We were able to watch it a little while longer before it went out of site heading into orbit. We also trained Steve's 6" Dob on the planet Venus. Venus' crescent is really getting thin and once again we were easily able to see its ashen light. Also we were able to observe dark areas in Venus' cloud bank at its terminator. All of these wonderful events happening on my 40th anniversary of coming home from Vietnam.

Alpha CMa (Sirius) (Visual Binary, in Canis Major)
Observer: Attila Schn (e-mail: yolo@chello.hu)
Instrument: 9-inch refractor   Location: Veszprm, Hungary
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Feb 24 19:34:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1765

After many tries,on that night I tried,at different magnifications.Finally at 510x I could see the Sirius B a very faint star in the Sirius flames.The Sirius should keep out of the filed of view. Otherwise it is too brilliant. The Sirius B was seen thorough 15 minutes. PA 90-95 degres.Very-very difficult double.The sky must be very clean and the seeing excellent.And a good telescope also needed!

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: North Guilford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Jan 27 00:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1617

This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I went to a school to join three other friends in order to show grammer school kids the sky through our telescopes and binoculars. We had a nice seabreaze which helped cool the temperatures to a confortable 10 degrees above zero. We showed the kids the terminator of the moon which really oohed and aahed them. As usual, the Orion Nebula was a big hit as well as several open clusters in the area. What surprised me was how much the kids were impressed with M41 open cluster. Finally, the kids looking at Betelgeuse really impressed them. Afterword, we retired back to the building for brownies, cookies and hot chocolate.

Other (Other, est. mag -1.8, est. to be in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Dec 28 01:15:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1605

This evening, I viewed what I always refer to as the baseball diamond. As the baseball diamomd rises in the southeast I imagine that I am in the center field bleachers looking past second base towards home plate. So what is the baseball diamond? It starts at Sirius which would be the home plate of the base ball diamond. The batter hits a long homerun into the outfield where I am sitting. He then rounds the bases in his homerun trot, first going by first base which happens to be Procyon. He then continues on his homerun trot to second base which is Betelgeuse. On to third base trots our hero, third base happening to be Rigel. He then rounds third base and heads for home which once again is Sirius. Anyone can imagine the baseball diamond by waiting for Sirius (home plate) Procyon (first base) Betelgeuse (second base) and Rigel (third base) to rise up fairly high in the sky.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Feb 20 01:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1493

A nice group of stars that filled up most of my eyepiece at 71x. Located about 4 S x SW of Sirius it was easy to locate. At least 6 dozen stars make up this loosely bound cluster.

NGC2362 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Sriram.M.Gubbi (e-mail: sriram_gubbi@yahoo.co.in, web: http://dino.lm.com/artists/display.php?name=sriram_gubbi)
Instrument: 6-inch other   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Nov 12 04:45:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1410

It appeared extremely beautiful. Through direct vision, only Tau Canis Majoris was visible but with averted vision, it looked wonderful: a faint cluster marked by a bright star.

Other (Other, est. mag -1.4, est. to be in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Mar 15 00:20:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1184

After our great success looking at Mercury and Saturn and with the seeing continuing to be out standing, my friends Mike Dzubaty, his son Mike and I decided to go for the gold and see if we can see Sirius' companion star Sirius B. The first thing we did was put what is called an apidizing screen onto the front end of Mike's 6" dob. We then put a 7.4 MM eyepiece on the scope. As seen in a newtonian reflecter, we were able to see Sirius B on the left side of Sirius. Even Mike's 12 year old son was able to see it without too much trouble. It should be mentioned that this year and next year Sirius B will be far enough away from Sirius to be spotted.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor   Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 25 00:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1152

M 41 - A beautiful cluster composed of bright stars. You can find it easily, just four degrees below Sirius.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Sriram.M.Gubbi (e-mail: sriram_gubbi@yahoo.co.in)
Instrument: 50-mm equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Jun 25 20:35:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1195

this open cluster is one of the most beautiful deep sky objects i have seen.it appears in a small area overflowing with faint stars.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: BCT (e-mail: torchbct@aol.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Trinidad, TX, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Feb 19 06:00:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 613

Could get a five star pattern match. Most stars were orange and probably 50 stars were apparent. Really neat, its the first new DSO I have found.

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jan 12 04:20:00 2002 UT   Obs. no.: 602

The open star cluster m 41 was a very rich open. I noticed the brighter stars had an orange tinge to them. This means there are older stars within the cluster. I also observed a double star in the cluster. Michael Amato

M41 (Open Cluster, in Canis Major)
Observer: Serge (e-mail: astroguy@onaustralia.com.au)
Instrument: 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector   Location: Perth, WA, Australia
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Thu Dec 21 17:58:00 2000 UT   Obs. no.: 540

Large group, few orange stars in the middle, bright OC

Other (Other, est. mag 10.6, est. to be in Canis Major, Est. RaDec 06h21.7m, -12d59')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Nov 29 08:10:00 1998 UT   Obs. no.: 423

I observed two of the little known planetary nebulae that were featured in the article appearing on page 124 of the January 1999 issue of Sky & Telescope. The high surface brightness IC 2165 was fairly obvious at 118x without the use of an O-III filter. I also viewed this 10.6 magnitude object at 202, 249, and 259x with and without an O-III filter. Even at 259x I could not see the annular structure that was mentioned in the article. IC 2165 appeared as a typical circularly shaped planetary without color.

M41 (Open Cluster in Canis Major, Est. RaDec 06h47.0m -20.45)
Observer: Alan Shaffer (e-mail: milkyway@gte.net)
Instrument: 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector   Location: Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Feb 10 04:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 65

Easy view. My setting circles were right on!! Used 24.5 SWA at 2500mm. See 20-30 brightest stars and many more faint stars. Nice circular cluster. Espin star has a red glow!!

NGC2359 (Bright Nebula in Canis Major)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 20-inch other   Location: Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Feb 10 02:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 76

Using a friend's 20" f/10 classical Cassegrain and a 2" 40mm Orion MegaVista ocular I located and observed the unique diffuse nebula NGC 2359 (also known as Thor's Helmet or the Duck Nebula) for the first time from Pennsylvania. (I had seen it previously from the Florida Keys at the Winter Star Party.) It was barely visible without an O-III filter but when the filter was in place the nebula was unmistakable, resembling not so much a Viking's helmet as an M turned on its side.

M41 (Open Cluster in Canis Major)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Feb 5 05:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 55

Big, bright cluster; about 10 members visible in binoculars. A fairly easy fuzzy patch with the naked eye. Swept up in "bug hunt."

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