Messier Objects: M13, M22
Stars Identified: Al Nayat (τ Scorpii), Al Nayat (σ Scorpii), Antares, Arcturus, Cebalrai (β Ophiuchi), Dschubba, Graffias, HD163641, 66 Ophiuchi, 67 Ophiuchi, 68 Ophiuchi, 70 Ophiuchi, 72 Ophiuchi
Location: SCO
Date: 2025-07-16
Time: 9:00 PM - 11:30 PM ADT
Equipment: Naked eye, Canon 10x42 IS binoculars
Magnification: x10
Transparency: not recorded
Seeing: not recorded
Temperature: 19º-17º C
SQM: 20.73-21.86
I was only using my binoculars on this particular evening at SCO.
9:55 PM ADT
Arcturus and the Big Dipper were visible; however, Megrez did not become visible until 10:21 PM.
10:01 PM ADT
The stars of Scorpius were seen - the reddish Antares, Dschubba, Graffias, Al Nayat (τ Scorpii), and Al Nayat (σ Scorpii).
10:12 PM ADT
The Keystone of Hercules were up at the zenith. M13 (Hercules Cluster) was easily located.
10:17 PM ADT
Ophiuchus was located because fo the 3 stars above Scorpius forming a shallow bowl-shaped pattern.
10:18 PM ADT
I located M22 adjacent to the the Teapot lid star (Kaus Borealis).
10:23 PM ADT
SQM: 20.73
Temperature: 19º C
Light breeze. Milky Way now quite evident visually.
11:16 PM ADT
SQM: 21.886
Temperature: 17º C
Because both Scorpius and Ophiuchus were still high in the sky to be seen, I was able to identify the stars in Taurus Poniatovii, a constellation that fell into disuse it the late 19th Century. Dave Chapman alerted me to this asterism a year or two ago. It is quite fun to identify it again when the conditions allow for it. The stars range from 3rd to 6th magnitude and can be found between Cebalrai (β Ophiuchi) (the right shoulder of Ophiuchus) and the tail of Serpens Cauda. The entire asterism spans 7º.
The fourth-magnitude stars 67 and 70 Ophichi form the top of the head of the bull with 68 Ophiuchi marking its nose. 66 Ophiuchi is the western eye, 72 Ophiuchi (mag 3.7) marks the end of the eastern horn, while the western horn extends toward 6th-magnitude HD 163641 and beyond. Its hind leg is standing on Alya (θ Serpentis). There are a couple of lines of stars going east from Oph 66 and Oph 70 that suggest where the bull's body lies.
The group of stars centred on 67 Ophiuchi plus a scattering of about a dozen other stars form the open cluster Melotte 186 (Collinder 359).
