"C" and "H" objects

[jason.p]

What are the "C" and "H" object lists I've seen on some sigs? I imagine they're quite difficult to find.

Jason

[lukebl]

That would be the Herschel 400 list and Cauldwell 109 (Patrick Moore) list. Some are easy, some more of a challenge.

[cs1cjc]

Caldwell and Herschel. They are no harder to find than Messiers, typically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_400_Catalogue

[Steve Ward]

Caldwell and Herschel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_400_Catalogue

[jason.p]

Thanks for replies. I've got a long way to go

Jason

[Capricorn]

M, C and H are just the common ones, put "Star Catalogue" into Bing or Google and have a look at what Wikipedia gives.

There is a few more list/catalogues given, and somewhere there will be ones that are not as well known.

Also consider that ESA have the Gaia satellite to photograph and record 1000,000,000 stars if a catalogue comes out of that then it will take a little longer then M, C or H to complete for us.

Just as fun have a look at the UK Bing search engine today, 20-July, they have a good picture of the moon.

[Steve Ward]

I find this quite handy as it lists objects by constellation ....

http://www.deepskywatch.com/files/dso-guide/DSO-guide-7000-const-mag.pdf

7000 should do you for a start..........

Steve.

[JamesF]

You'll have to go on holiday to find some of the Herschel and Caldwell objects though

James

[Steve Ward]

But that takes away the fun of scratching your head when the tube ends up pointing at your toes because you punched a wrong digit into the handset.....

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Is there a list of which of the C objects are viewable from the northern hemisphere. Or would yu need to work this out from the full list?

Also does anyone use blackberry to type on here? Since the new layout typing is painfullo slow now, and doesn't always actually post what you've said

[umadog]

It depends where in the Northern hemisphere you are. Best thing is to use a good program. Astro planner does a nice job. For Caldwell you're looking at about 70 objects from the UK.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

70 is still quite a lot, considering i decided to start the Messier list 2 months ago and have barely seen a star since

[jason.p]

How do people approach these lists? Do you try and work your way through them systematically going from one list to another? I realise not everyone's approach is the same, but with what seems sometimes to be limited opportunity, it's obviously a good idea to have a plan. Do you plan a progamme days or even months ahead?

I've always been a bit of a "collector" and collecting astronomical objects adds another dimension to the hobby and seems like fun

Jason

[JamesF]

I'm still working my way through the Messier objects for the first time. I always make a plan, usually at the same time as I write up my notes from the previous night. I hate having to organise one in a hurry. Based on what I can see of the sky I create a list of early-, mid- and late-night targets and from there I'm fairly relaxed about what I actually go looking for. I work from Stellarium for finding objects and if something takes ages to find, or I want to spend time looking at it I do, but if it's barely visible in whichever scope I'm using, or the seeing isn't up to it then I move on and keep going until I feel like calling it a night.

James

[Mike73]

Umadog mentioned Astroplanner which I use and is excellent when you get used to it.

I plan my evenings viewing by constellation so tonight i'ii be looking at Messiers in Sagittarius.

Best to start with the Messier list as it has some of the brightest objects in the sky and all 110 are visible from the uk.

Don't rush going through them either, take your time, try different magnifications and filters and a good reference book is also handy to find out more info.

[JamesF]

I guess that's pretty much what I'm doing really. I'm probably sorting my list by RA rather than constellation, but in practice it probably works out to the same thing a lot of the time. Thinking about constellations is probably a bit more meaningful.

James

[Double Kick Drum]

How do people approach these lists? Do you try and work your way through them systematically going from one list to another? I realise not everyone's approach is the same, but with what seems sometimes to be limited opportunity, it's obviously a good idea to have a plan. Do you plan a progamme days or even months ahead?

I've always been a bit of a "collector" and collecting astronomical objects adds another dimension to the hobby and seems like fun

Jason

My approach is to do a little homework before going out.

Planning a session can allow you to hop between some objects which are close together, such as the many galaxies you can find in Leo, Virgo, Coma etc.

Try collating the Messier, Caldwell and Herschel databases. That way you can pick the brighter ones (by both magnitude and surface brightness), which are appropriate for that time of year to start with and then move on to more ambitious stuff once you've got your eye in.

Some good objects to start with are those which are visible in your finderscope / binoculars.

A few bright (ish) objects to find in late Summer / Autumn are:

Globular Clusters - M13 and M92 (Hercules), M15 (Pegasus) and M2 (Aquarius)

Open Clusters - M39 (Cygnus), C41 and M45 (Hyades and Pleiades in Taurus), C14 (Double Cluster in Perseus) and C13 (Owl Cluster in Casseopeia)

Galaxies - M31 and M32 (in one field of view in Andromeda) and M81 and M82 (in one field of view in Ursa Major)

Nebulae - M57 (Ring Nebula in Lyra), M27 (Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula) and C22 (Blue Snowball Nebula in Andromeda)

The Herschel list (with many exceptions) are generally more difficult than the Messiers but a 6 inch scope will be able to pick loads of these aswell. They will mostly be very feint smudges, so don't expect photo-like views.

Happy hunting!

[Mike73]

Try collating the Messier, Caldwell and Herschel databases. That way you can pick the brighter ones (by both magnitude and surface brightness).

I never thought of doing that, thanks for the tip.

[cantab]

Is there a list of which of the C objects are viewable from the northern hemisphere. Or would yu need to work this out from the full list?

The Caldwells are numbered in order of declination (barring a few slightly out of order), so just work out the highest numbered one you can spot and all the ones below it will be observable (though some might be so low in the sky you can't actually get them).