Recommended clusters

[ianto]

I can't say I'm a compleye novice, but have had to sell my 10 inch reflector, so haven,t been out for a while. However I still have my refractor.I was always most excited about gobular clusters. But, not having been in the game for a few years, some of the local dads in the Village would like a view following stargazering live on the BBC. So i guess the question is besides Jupiter, which deep sky objects, ( particularly clusters as they have the wow factor) would everyone recommend for tommorrow night? thanks!

[West End Wendy]

It's not a great time of the year for globulars unfortunately - Summer is really the season for them. You'll catch M15 in Pegasus if you get out as soon as it gets dark - it'll be fairly low down in the west - it's a great sight if you can find it.

Open clusters are another matter - you'll find M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga - M37 is almost globular-like because the stars are all close together but it needs dark skies to really stand out. Continue down to M35 in Gemini, which I think is bigger and brighter than the Auriga ones. Perhaps the best sight in the sky at the moment is the double cluster in Perseus - that whole area is in a densely-packed area of the Milky Way and is absolutely spectacular in dark conditions.

And of course there's the Orion nebula - easy to find and a truly 5-star visual experience.

There's also the Pleiades, of course, and the Beehive in Cancer, but these are big and probably best seen through binoculars.

Tim

[swamp thing]

Hi

Tim, gives some great open clusters, but for your winter Glob fix, M79 in Lepus is worth a gander.

Regards Steve

[Astro Imp]

Not globs. but how about M45(Plieades) M36, M37, and M38 in Auriga, M44 in Cancer, M35 in Gemini and for something different M31 (Andromeda galaxy).

Enjoy your night.

HTH.

edit: I see I am a bit slow, must type faster.