Tonights Targets?

[scarecrow]

Any good targets i should be watching out for tonight?. Im in london but as its a clear night i hope to spot a few good targets. As my dad is popping over i will show him the normal sites like the moon, Jupiter, Andromeda and the double double. Is there any good open clusters i should check out?

I have a 200p GOTO for reference.

[MjrTom]

Try this website

Gives you a list of what's visible within a certain predefined time frame and can sort it by magnitude

Tonight's Sky Main Page

Personally the double cluster in Perseus (NGC884 & NGC869), The Owl/ET cluster in Cassiopeia, (NGC457), Pleiades in Taurus (M45) and lastly Brocchi's cluster (The coathanger) in Vulpecula (Collinder 339) are some of my faves

[Skylook123]

Very wise, not too hard to find objects. I would add, depending on the night sky you have to work with, The Ring is usually a nice, tight, bright object.

Don't forget some colorful double stars like Albireo, Gamma Andromeda, and Beta Lyra near The Ring. And Polaris is a nice little teaching/viewing object as well, with the dim bluish companion we don't usually think about.

And of course, the biggest open cluster of them all, to our earthbound eyes: The Big Dipper! Acutally, Alkaid on the end of the handle and Dubhe on the end of the bowl are only field stars, not included, but the middle five are the Ursa Major Moving Cluster, of similar age and distance making them, like the Pleiades, not just an asterism but a big open cluster as well.

Have fun!

[tony4563]

Double cluster in Perseus, my highlight tonight.

Looked stunning with my 40mm TMB Paragon

[JimStan]

I would strongly recommend that if you don't have it already, that you download a good planetarium program such as Stellerium ( Stellarium ) . This program will show you what is up in the sky at any time you desire, ranging from real time to several thousand years in the past or into the future. It also shows you the positions of Jupiter's moons, and the planets and moon phase and positions.

After a while you will get to know the sky rather intimately, but it is always good to be able to check for something you might otherwise miss.

One tool I use is printing out a sky map for the hours that I intend to be viewing. Since the data is updated according to a sidereal clock, it is much more useful than a published monthly or quarterly sky map.

Good luck!

Jim S.

[David Smith]

Try this website

Gives you a list of what's visible within a certain predefined time frame and can sort it by magnitude

Tonight's Sky Main Page

Personally the double cluster in Perseus (NGC884 & NGC869), The Owl/ET cluster in Cassiopeia, (NGC457), Pleiades in Taurus (M45) and lastly Brocchi's cluster (The coathanger) in Vulpecula (Collinder 339) are some of my faves

Great link, thanks for that:)