Do open clusters bore you?

[Phil4130]

I have to say apart from the 'premier' open clusters I avoid hunting them down as I find them boring to look at. Do you?

[garethmob]

iv enjoyed looking at a few of them, m45, and the plough could be given the same "name" i only like looking at the star colours though, its usally a quick look though if i notice one near an object im viewing

[angusb1]

Not at all. I could look at M29 all night. Its watching the detail appear as your eyes gradually pick out more and more that I enjoy.

[Double Kick Drum]

I have to say apart from the 'premier' open clusters I avoid hunting them down as I find them boring to look at. Do you?

Yeah, there are more exciting things in the sky but to be fair, most of those are just different shaped and brightness fuzzy blobs!

Resolving globs is really not that different to resolving OCs.

M45 and the Perseus Double Cluster always look good, to name drop a couple of showstoppers.

[AndyH]

I do like open clusters. They're like diamonds sprinkled on a sheet of velvet.

The Auriga three are some of my favourite(M36,37,38)

[R2-ditt0]

i dont find anything in the night sky boring.....each its own different wonderment!

[Phil4130]

The double cluster is really nice. I like the feeling of capturing that faint object youve been hunting for and picking the details out.

[rory]

the beehive is a beut.

[Moonshane]

for me, as with most visual observing, open clusters really start to look good with more aperture. I'd sooner look at anything other than doubles and planets/moon through my big dob as they generally look better no matter what they are (assuming they fit in the 1 degree field it gives).

the answer to the question is a resounding NO from me. I certainly prefer globs but really enjoy hunting out open clusters too especially the fainter tighter ones like NGC 2158 which is next to M35 in Gemini and will be round again soon.

[Locko]

Not at all, clusters , are some of the few things i can see up their in my light polluted sky, spent a bit of time time on M29 last night , looks like a butterfly .

[nicnac]

the only boring (let alone annoying) thing i have had the "pleasure" of observing was a vapour trail right through my view, was clear one minute and then ...... a plane GRR!

[todd8137]

love clusters and globs,cluster some are hard to spot and some are not people mainly go for the big flashy ones cos they easy hunt the smaller ones

[Phil4130]

Maybe boring is the wrong expression , just some are underwhelming

[spaceboy]

I do agree that some are hardly worth the effort finding but I'd be at a loss on those nights of poor seeing if it wasn't for OC's. It's also worth bearing in mind that those OC's that seem a waste of time under LP skies can often offer way more under more ideal conditions.

[umadog]

If you find open cluster boring or underwhelming then I'm wondering how dark your skies are...

[perrin6]

I usually examine each star to see what colour it is and if it is a very close double and look up how far the cluster is, to enhance the experience. I note these details in my observing log book.

[brantuk]

As above there's more to viewing one type of object than just looking at it. You can image it, look up it's vital stats, resolve colours and numbers of stars, log it or sketch it, split it, examine it with various apertures or scope types and note differences etc, etc. I never seem to tire of anything astro - so no - not boring for me at all

[swamp thing]

If you find open cluster boring or underwhelming then I'm wondering how dark your skies are...

Very good point, from LP skies open clusters do lack the punch that they pack from a dark sky.

Regards Steve

[Phil4130]

Pretty orange to be honest

[James]

for me, as with most visual observing, open clusters really start to look good with more aperture......... really enjoy hunting out open clusters too especially the fainter tighter ones like NGC 2158 which is next to M35 in Gemini and will be round again soon.

NGC2158 is nicely resolved in my 14" Flextube - you're spot on about aperture really adding to open clusters.

I'm more of a globular fan myself but there's lots of nice open clusters to look at so I wouldn't call them boring With smaller apertures many globulars aren't really resolvable whereas there's many excellent open clusters that are great objects in smaller apertures - M11, The Wild Duck springs to mind.

James

[John]

I think there are quite a lot of astronomical objects that are not particularly impressive through the eyepiece ................ until you learn a bit more about them that is. Then I find they take on whole new fascination

Supernovae are a good example. On the face of it, what is exciting about a barely visible pinprick of light against a barely visible faint smudge of light ?. What gives it impact is the knowledge that you are witnessing, with your own eye, a massive and cataclysmic event hundreds of millions of miles away that occurred over 20 million years ago (I'm thinking of supernova 2011dh in M51 here).

I guess my take is that if I find an object superficially dull then I probably need to find out more about it

[JamesM]

I know what you mean Phil as some of them might appeal more than others. I have just nearly finished reading a book on the history, physics and observational details of all the messier objects and I have started to revisit some of the more 'open' clusters because of what I now understand about them and that has rekindled my interest a lot. Not strictly a visual reason to reconsider their virtues but I personally find a little extra knowledge does facilitate a new perspective on what you see. Agree about them being more impressive in darker skies.

James

[Doc]

Shane is correct when he says aperture rules with open clusters, my 16" dob showed so many more stars then my 81mm refractor, words cannot describe the difference you see.

[Moonshane]

for me it's not just the numbers of stars that pop out but also the faint peppering of background stars that only hint at how many are there, phenomenal.

[Beulah]

Depends which clusters...

I particularly enjoy observing the open clusters in Auriga, Cassiopeia & Saggitarius, but the rest have to have some sort of "story" behind them as John has said.