M46 and M47

[Cjg]

Anyone got a good way of finding these by starhopping please?

Had a look last time I was out, (last week) but low'ish and clouds thwarted my attempts....does not look too difficult, but I failed on Saturday.

Thank you.

 

Chris

[kev100]

Hi Chris,

How are you going about finding them? What's your scope? I find that M47 is fairly obvious even in my finder scope (standard 9x50), or my 10x50 bins, and I usually find the clusters merely by panning left from Sirius. Do you use an app? Or a star atlas?

Kev

[Cjg]

Thanks Kevin,

am using the pocket sky atlas, a red dot finder on a 76mm frac. 

Tried panning left from Sirius, but no look, I'll have another attempt as and when clear.

Thanks,

Chris

[kev100]

Hiya. Go with your lowest power ep, and you should pick 'em up.

[Piero]

Good question Chris! 

Spotting M46 / M47 is a great adventure, and should not be too difficult with your Tak 76 and a low power eyepiece.  Although there aren't many bright stars, there are nice open clusters in the area and you could technically jump between them!  

So, following this approach, from Sirius, you have two "routes": 

- the "North-East". You reach the Heart-Shaped cluster (M50) and then you move South-East intercepting a few NGC open clusters. 

- the "South-North". You visit M41 (lovely!) then follow the Dog's body until you reach Wezen. From there you move North-East. Tau Canis Majoris (also called C64) is a beautiful little cluster you find as first. Again, you jump between NGC open clusters. Some of them are quite nice actually, but in my opinion require a bit more than 15x-20x to be really appreciated. Anyway, continuing in the same direction, you reach M46 and M47. They are both gorgeous, but the latter is awesome to me! From M47, you could continue the "panoramic tour" moving North-West until reaching M50  

 

If your sky is dark-ish, you could use an OIII filter and try to see if you can spot the planetary nebula NGC 2438 inside M46. I tried it but didn't succeed likely due to the light pollution of that evening. I should give it a go next time too actually!  

Enjoy! 

Piero

[Special K]

Great hops from Piero above. I get your pain, as my first attempt was difficult due to not having anything really bright in that area to start from.  My notes also show a hop from Sirius. Once there though, these are an absolute treasure. M47 has a great shape with a double star near the middle and a looser double further west.  Treasure box!

For a quick fix, scan 4 degrees south of Sirius for M41 the Little Behive. 

[Cjg]

Thanks everyone,

Great advice and I'll have another attempt as soon as we get clear skies (maybe tonight)

Thanks,

Chris

[Astro Imp]

Great question Chris and some good advice reeceived, I've had a couple of failed attempts and will keep trying.

As has been mentioned M41 is lovely and an easy find.

Thanks everyone and good luck Chris.

[Cjg]

Got them!

M46 / M47 and M50 this evening, before the clouds rolled in.

M47/47 in the same field of view (just) in my 24mm Panoptic. Beautiful. Possibly saw the Planetary nebula in M46, but not certain, so another viewing needed.

M50 too.

Looking at the Sky an Telescope pocket atlas, I'd under estimated the distances from Sirius: they are further away than I thought initially. Thanks everyone for your help.

There are lots of goodies in that region.

Chris

[spike95609]

Funny that, while I was star-hopping from Sirius the other night I also found the stars were further apart than I thought they should be. I think the problem for me was that I couldn't see all of Canis Major from where I was and it was difficult to get a sense of scale as there aren't all that many naked eye stars on that page in S&T.

[todd8137]

Hi there do not give up,if you found every thing every night you would only spend a few secs looking at it ,the thrill for me is finding targets even after 10 odd years the anticipation and the thrill of finding things or night still makes me roll the obsy roof off every time it's clear 

ps telrad should be on your list and download some free telrad charts makes life that little easier 

pat