first time cluster hunter

[ian_j_kirk]

hi all,

thought i would share my first experience of looking at star clusters from last night. im pretty new to astronomy, and always been keen to observe galaxies as the thought of looking at something so far away that could possibly be home to a planet not unlike our own has always appealed to me. as was the case last night when i was trying to view the leo triplet. i managed m65/66 earlier this week, but wanted to see if i could spot ngc 3628. the seeing was not brilliant for me last night and i was unable to see it.

i still has about an hour to go before i had to go inside so this left me pondering what to observe next. as i had never really bothered with star clusters i thought that this would be a perfect time to start. i pulled out a sky map and decided to have a look at m3 and m13. looking through my brand new bst starguider 18mm in my 200p dob these clusters looked very impressive, but left me wanting to increase my eyepiece collection (18mm was not really enough magnification i think, and as i said, im a newbie so the 18mm is the only decent eyepiece i have purchased so far)

still having a little time left, i thought i would try m103 in cassiopeia. now for me, this was the most impressive sight of the night! this open cluster was like a glittering treasure trove of diamonds sparkling away, but what i liked the most was the colours of the other stars that made up the picture. the reds and the yellows mixed with the blue white stars was amazing. while i can appreciate people saying how good clusters like m3 are, i cant believe i have never heard m103 being mentioned as one to look out for!

has anyone else seen this one, and what did they think?

thanks for reading

ian

[ubertank]

I've never checked out m103 actually but have had a look online and it does look lovely. Some great colouration in there as you say.

I'm thinking of going for a cluster as my next imaging target and it seems like a good option.

Glad you're having a good time. I loved my 200P. No better scope to get you into astronomy.

[andrew63]

Thanks for posting - there are some lovely open clusters around that part of the sky - several others in cassiopeia and some fine ones in auriga and perseus. Indeed jewels of the sky !

andrew

[Double Kick Drum]

Lovely report.

Congrats on your new discoveries. M5 is another great globular cluster that is favourable to view at the moment.

NGC 3628 is a nice addition if your sky is good enough. Try the other Leo trio - M95, M96 and M105. They are almost as close together as the triplet.

Happy hunting!

[cotterless45]

Nice report, your enthusiasm is infectious !

Clusters are handy if the seeing is not the best. Wait a few months until Cassiopeia rises high and dominates the scene. It is festooned with easy clusters including "The Owl" NGC457and "Caroline's Rose",NGC7789.

This time of year is best for globular clusters as we look out of the Milky Way, as we orbit the Sun we look into the Milky Way and the young stars in open clusters. All for which it's good to have

clear skies, Nick.

[mdstuart]

Great report, your excitement comes over. Star colours are great with a good scope.

M103 is a nice cluster with bright stars.

Try and spot a carbon star..they are very red. There is one near Vega in Lyra that is on most star charts.

Have you seen the ring nebula in Lyra yet. It is pretty awesome.

Mark

Sent from my BlackBerry 9320 using Tapatalk

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice report. You found some great objects!

[KevUU]

From last September (in Keffalonia )

"M103 - compact oc of a few stars. Not actually that interesting but the most impressive show of averted vision yet: 4 or 5 stars visible directly at x50 but 10 or more jump out with averted vision, looks like it would be more interesting with a bigger scope "

That was with my ST80, now I have the then-conceived bigger scope - same as yours - so I'm looking forward to another look!

In a similar area, try the Double Cluster, technically in Perseus but I always think of it as Cassiopeia. Haven't seen it in the dob but I'm expecting good things

I can thoroughly recommend 12mm then 8mm BSTs in that scope, maybe with your 18mm you could go straight to the 8mm? Or barlow the 18mm for 9mm of course, if you have a barlow.

Happy Hunting

[alan potts]

A very nice report, keep it up. Both M 3 and M 13 look wonderful from a real dark site, I like to use about X150 on these targets.

Alan.

[Flash2Bang]

Nice report! I took in M3 and M5 last night from the back garden. Lovely.

Regards

Andy