DeepSkyBagger

What size 'scope are you using? M46 has a very prominent planetary nebula in it just north of the centre. Maybe worth a return visit with an OIII filter if conditions aren't good.

Here's an observation I made of NGC 1501 a few years ago. The notes read 'Quite large and immediately visible to direct vision even without the OIII filter. Round. With the OIII filter it appears occasionally to be darker in the middle, possibly with two voids. Very slightly elongated.' As you say, it's well worth the effort. You don't say what size instrument you were using.

Hi John. NGC 7354 is indeed a fine object. I don't have the atlas you mentioned, so I can't comment on that. I observed the planetary with a 12" reflector, like yourself, and found it to be very bright and very large. It appeared round and smooth-looking, brighter towards the middle but the central star (m16.1) was not seen. Attached is my observation.

You've already answered your own question. It sounds very much like a meteor. Some can get very bright, I saw a -6 a few months ago. The bright flash at the end is the meteor breaking up and vaporising. Even a meteor that reached -3 is probably still very small, maybe grape-sized or a little larger. You were lucky to see one that bright. I've seen maybe a dozen that bright over more than 40 years of sky-watching.

Really glad you chaps have had some clear skies this time. Circumstances conspired against me coming up this time. Perhaps a blessing in disguise - my clutch may have failed up there somewhere, towing a caravan, rather than on my drive! Hoping everything is fixed for Kelling Heath at the end of this month.

So! It's your fault! My clutch went yesterday - obviously caught some bad ju-ju from yours!

You're certainly racking up those Herschels! You might actually have seen NGC 1817, though not recognised it. You may have been looking for something a bit more 'clustery'. I observed it almost exactly six years ago (4/11/2013). Here are my notes: 'Boring cluster. Some of the brighter stars make a NW-SE chain at the W end of the cluster. Otherwise it is a loose scattering of faint stars not well separated from the background. A slightly brighter pair lies near the middle.' It doesn't stand out at all well apart from the brighter chain, and even then, that's not *that* obvious. Of course in those heady days, I really didn't know just how boring clusters could be. That was before I started observing the Dolidze clusters. Don't be tempted to go for those. It feels like punishment!

I think that's a really good idea. Maybe a sticky thread that can be added to over the years. The need for astro-friendly sites is ever more necessary.

That's great. Thanks for the info. I'm always on the lookout for good spots.

This is a good website to visit when planning holidays: https://www.campsites.co.uk/search/dark-sky-campsites

That's another good find, Wookie. Bookmarked!

They are all scanned already. It's the actual physical entities themselves I'm concerned with.

Does the Stonehough campsite have lights dotted around, like nearly all campsites? I've recently taken to asking campsite owners if they can turn lights off for me. Surprisingly often, I get a positive result.

This might seem a wee bit morbid, but I've recently been wondering what will happen to my observations, journals etc., once I shuffle off this mortal coil. I've been making observations for over forty years (and hope to make them for several more decades yet, I might add), and this all amounts to several journals and lever arch files full of my drawings of deep-sky objects. I doubt they'll mean much to any family members, so I was wondering if anyone knew of an organisation or body that would take these items and curate them for the future. This may seem trivial, but they're important to me, and represent a substantial amount of work over my life. I know it won't bother me when the time comes, but right now, I worry that my 'life's work' will simply be chucked within a few weeks of me trotting off. Anybody else worry about this sort of thing? Any ideas?

Nick, Where do you get this name 'Bogardus' from? Only two stars in Auriga have 'official' IAU names, alpha (Capella) and beta (Menkalinan). SIMBAD lists an unofficial name for theta, but it's 'Mahasim' not 'Bogardus'. I don't use lesser-known star names, I think Bayer designations are less ambiguous. Patrick

Now there's another advantage I hadn't thought of! Sometimes, especially in high contrast situations, I can hardly see past mine. Awful.