My first Deep Sky Object - M44

[BWBlackett]

It's a steep learning curve trying to work out where to point a Dob, I can find the Moon and Saturn easily enough but have had a lot of trouble trying to find any DSOs. Well after about 4 hours trying, using Turn Left At Orion, I happened across M44 the Behive Nebular

I decided to have a go at sketching what I saw and this is what I came up with.

This was using a 25mm eyepiece - so at around x48

I'd appreciate it if someone can confirm that I did actually see M44 :?

Thanks,

Brian.

[GordonCopestake]

Yup, looks like the beehive CLUSTER to me. Nice sketch. It is in the same sort of area as saturn too, over to the south/south/west

[geppetto]

Nice one Brian, seems that you found it ok 8)

[garymcgrory]

great sketch, beehive is a nice open cluster. Would recommend you persever, once you find each dso you will find it no bother next session. I would recommend M13 globular (Hercules) & the double cluster NGC 869 and NGC 884 (Perseus) next time you go out-great targets and not to hard to find.

Gary

[Cloudgazer]

Looks like part of the Beehive to me.

It's a steep learning curve trying to work out where to point a Dob, I can find the Moon and Saturn easily enough but have had a lot of trouble trying to find any DSOs. Well after about 4 hours trying, using Turn Left At Orion, I happened across M44 the Beehive Nebular

Welcome to the world of dob ownership mate.. If you enjoyed trying to find that one you'll love trying to find galaxies and some of the fainter clusters .

It's well worth all the effort when you do find what your looking for though and once you've found it the first time it's much easier from then on. The Ring Nebula near Lyra (P114 in Turn Left At Orion) is quite easy to find if you follow the books instructions.

Scott

[proflight2000]

The M44 is certainly in my top 3, so much to see and I like the triangle shapes the stars make which you have picked up a treat in your sketch.