Perseus; little gems.

[cotterless45]

Kicked off at 12.40; seeing was crystal;This is the 9th night over the last 2 weeks of diamond weather;

NGC957 at x40 was a circle of stars , but showed chains of stars at x25.

M34 at x25 looked like a square packed with stars.

NGC1245 looked very open at x40.

NGC1342 at x40 looked like a loose S shape with two stars above.

NGC1513 at x40 looked like a question mark.

NGC1528 was a lovely compact cluster at x40 with two bright paralell chains. X80 showed more central fainter stars.

NGC1545 looked faint around a central triangle at x25, A few more stars were visible at x80 with averted vision.

Then onto

NGC1023 a bright elongated galaxy with two bright stars above. This is H-1-156 on the Herschel list and at mag 9.5 is worth a look.

NGC1270 is a galaxy found between 2 pairs of lined up stars.

IC351 is a tiny panetary nebula one but top in a line of stars, at x80 it'll pop in and out of view.As does IC2003 at x40. This pops in a group of faint stars beneath a bright shopping trolley shape. At x80 there is a bright star to one side.

Have a look at Perseus , there's more there than the double cluster. Tonight it was glowing in the Milky Way, all above with Vixen 102 and goto.

Clear skies, Nick.

[rory]

the sky last night was particulaly clear i thought. nice haul there nick.

[cotterless45]

On the edge of town, it was like walking out into a planetarium! tasty,

Nick.

[Double Kick Drum]

Here here!

Both NGC 957 (which I found by accident) and NGC 1023 are much underrated. Not to forget M34 and M76 and the nice starry backdrop to the constellation.

Thanks for the tip off on a few other open clusters.

[Bart]

Yes I agree, N??G?C 1023 is nice, I was there last night, so to speak

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice list. I just consulted my DSO list, and I have spotted the following in Perseus:

IC 348

Messier 34

Messier 76

NGC 744

NGC 869

NGC 884

NGC 957

NGC 1023

NGC 1245

NGC 1275

NGC 1342

NGC 1444

NGC 1499

NGC 1513

NGC 1528

NGC 1545

NGC 1582

Tr 2

I haven't got the little IC planetaries, must have a shot at them.