Last Saturday night, the 10th January 2026, we had some decent clear skies and it gave me the opportunity of observing a number of deep sky objects with my Dwarf 3. The transparency wasn't great as it was very cold and I think a thin mist had formed. By the end of the evening there was quite a hard frost but the Dwarf coped very well and it didn't freeze or dew up. The moon was at last quarter and it didn't interfere with observations as it didn't rise until 01:16 UT on the morning of the 11th.
The first object I was interested in was the globular cluster Palomar 2. This was the BAA Deep Sky Section's object of interest for January. This faint object can be found in the constellation of Auriga near the south west boundary and was so named as it was one of 15 globular clusters that were first discovered on the Palomar Sky Survey plates in the 1950s.
Here is my image from the Dwarf 3 based on 246x15s exposures:-
This is approximately the full field of view of the Dwarf and the globular cluster is the small reddish hazy object in the centre of the frame. The reason it is so red is that it has been dimmed nearly three magnitudes by interstellar dust. The start of this 61.5 minute observation was at 18:32 and it ended at 19:47. For all the observations I took that evening I used auto parameters in the Dwarf and in Stellar Studio. The image has been cropped slightly and binned x2. What I think is interesting about this wide field is how you can see a dark area of obscuration in the upper centre of the frame. This is probably the same obscuration that reddens and dims the globular cluster.
Here is a cropped image of the full frame to show more detail:-
The cluster doesn't really resolve into stars and this is not surprising since the dwarf only has an aperture of 35mm.
The next object I looked at was the open star cluster M34 in the constellation of Perseus. Stewart Moore had written about this 'splendid open cluster in the winter sky' in the latest issue of the BAA Journal (Vol. 135, No. 6, p428). It lies near the western boundary with Andromeda and not far from 14 Persei. Here is my 101x15s observation with the Dwarf 3:-
The start of this 25 minute observation was at 19:55 and it ended at 20:32. The image has again been cropped slightly and binned x2.
As Orion is well placed at this time of year I couldn't resist imaging the Orion Nebula (M42). Here is my 121x15s observation of this object:-
This has come out very nicely even though the central area has been overexposed. The start of this 30 minute observation was at 21:04 and it ended at 21:43. The image has again been cropped slightly and binned x2. I have photographed this nebula several times in the past and you can see my most recent observation in 2023 here. I hope to make a more detailed comparison of the two images in due course. The Dwarf has made use of the duo band filter in this case.
My final, and most exciting, image of the evening was IC443 or the Jellyfish nebula. This can be found in the constellation of Gemini. It lies between the two stars of mu and eta (Propus) Geminorum. The illuminated nebula is a supernova remnant that perhaps exploded 30 to 35 thousand years ago. Here is my 484x15s observation of it:-
The two bright stars you can see are mu (left) and eta (right). There jellyfish is close to eta but there is quite an extended area of nebulosity covering this whole frame. The start of this 2 hour observation was at 21:49 and it ended at 00:17. The image has again been cropped slightly and binned x2. This is the first time I have ever attempted to image this nebula and I am very pleased with the result. Again, the Dwarf has made use of the duo band filter.
All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2026
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