M41

[Ian123]

Was watching a docu on the laptop as always this time and just opened the curtains out of curiosity and there was Sirius glowing in the sky so i thought i will give a quick go with the bins.

Once outside and dark adjusted all the Asterisms were pretty clear although transparency was pretty poor.

After a quick look at the atlas i tried to bag a few objects.

As per usual Orion was the first port of call, Orions belt fitted easily in my 10x50 bins and a little swoop down to reveal the nebula.

Only noticed a swift little smudge of nebula with averted vision but pretty pleased nontheless, scanned all the stars of orion then over to Perseus. Really tried to distinguish M34 which i think i did which is a first .

South of Pereus i noticed the beautiful Jupiter, had to steady my bins against the shed roof (no tripod which must invest in) and very clear disk with moons going from NNW-SSW, is that right

A view back south revealed the glorious Sirius which got me out in the first place, i thought id try M41, just SSW there was a broad v of stars and a few degrees east there it was, with averted vision could just notice it, made up, first time i seen it, cant wait for clear skies to view it properly.

Thought id try M44 the beehive but with the moon in close proximaty there was no chance of that but was really pleased to bag M41 and i did all that in slip-on slippers and no socks in the snow

[Mr Q]

I have observed M44 with the full moon nearby and though not as impressive as without a moon, the brighter stars did look nice in 10x50s. It's a mater of knowing where to look that determines if you will see it. Because of its large size, scanning the area it's in will produce it in bins even with a full moon nearby, as long as the sky is fairly clear transparency wise. On a moonless night, the cluster will fill a 10x50's field of view - more of a binocular object than a telescopic one, though still nice in any size scope with low power.

[Ian123]

Yes your right, i have not been observing long and the main problem is i dont really plan my observing. Just grab my bins and hop outside and i think that is where most people fall down in this hobby.

I am in the market for some new bins now along with a tripod and with a conceited effort in my observing i will gain a lot and it will be more enjoyable.

It's a matter of getting the experience and more than anything being patient, looking forward to learning the sky and knowing where to point the bins and i think jotting down my observations will improve things no end.

[Mr Q]

Ian - If you don't have one already, a good planisphere (star chart of the whole sky by month), you can download and print one for each month at "skymaps.com". Each month a new chart appears and each has naked eye, binocular and telescopic objects listed and shown on the map. Best of all - it's free!

Happy hunting!

[Mr Q]

I did some checking with a double star database and Sirius A (at mag. -1.5) and "B" (8.5 mag.), seperated by 7" arc, would be all but impossible with any binocular.

So yes, what you saw was some image artifact. If you want to test your binos on a close pair, try Alberio in Cygnus. Its a challenge for binos with 34" seperation. Most binos can just seperate them though the pair seem to merge into one star image.