Good objects for moderate LP skies

[smolloy]

Hi all,

I understand and agree with the advice that sometimes the best thing you can buy with your astronomy money is a tank of petrol to take you to a dark sky site, and that a good dark sky with a small scope can easily beat humungous apertures under an urban sky.

The problem I have is that I don't own a car, and so it is impossible for me to heed this good advice.

So, given that I am stuck under a moderately light polluted sky, my question is what sort of objects I should be looking for?

To give you an idea of the conditions I have, last night I successfully saw M1 as a *very* faint smudge with my 10" Dob. Now the transparency of the atmosphere was quite bad last night, so I'd expect to see it more clearly when the fuzzy high-level clouds disappear. M81/82 were quite easy targets with the 10".

I don't just want to concentrate on planets & the moon, and would love to see more galaxies, nebulae, etc., but perhaps some types of object are more realistic for me. For example, is it true to say that galaxies would be simpler than nebulae due to their more concentrated light output (despite their huge distance)? Perhaps globular clusters are good targets for the same reason?

Many thanks for reading,

Steve

[Stu]

Hi Steve

I tend to think most galaxies are challenging from light polluted skies because their light is quite diffuse.

Globular clusters are a favourite of mine, plenty to find and they stand up pretty well to LP. Other suggestions are double stars, open clusters and the brighter planetary nebulae. M57 for instance is quite possible to see, I've spotted with a 66mm refractor under quite bad LP.

Cheers

Stu

[hemihaggis]

steve hope you well ,

yes i would think that most of the globular clusters would look great through your 10" scope even from a site with lp ..

some of the brighter galaxies are worth having a go at also , m81/82 as you said look great , also the Leo Triplets, some of the brighter members of the Virgo cluster, M 51 . Try M3 and M5. Try some double stars, too. alberio looks stunning and im sure i dont have to tell you about m42 and m31.