What to see looking north

[Dayleh]

After following this forums advice i decided to get a 10" dob. I got it last Thursday after a rainy trip through the peak district and have been looking for a gap in the clouds to use it since.

Last night was the first chance i got to use it and after struggling against the flipped optics i managed to find m81 and m82 to make a comparison against my previous 6". I also checked a few double stars but had to pack up for work in the morning. 

Now, other than Andromeda which is next on my list, what other objects (from my North facing garden) should i be looking towards this time of year on work nights where i dont have time to travel out? 

Written on the phone so theres probably errors. 

[Knighty2112]

You've got Perseus and Cassiopia close by that are sprinkled with open star clusters. Plenty to see around there. If you go just below the last star in the handle of the plough (Ursa Major) you should be able to nab M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy quite easily on a decent night. Quite a few other galaxies also in that area between Ursa Major and Canes Vanataci too.

The image from Skysafari below shows galaxies up to 9.5 mag in that area. Happy hunting!  

 

[Dayleh]

Ahh nice thanks im looking forward to seeing some of the clusters. I tried wrestling with m51 last night but my simple brain cant grasp everything appearing mirrored haha. Ill have another stab at it if i get another clear night. 

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, Dayleh said:

Ahh nice thanks im looking forward to seeing some of the clusters. I tried wrestling with m51 last night but my simple brain cant grasp everything appearing mirrored haha. Ill have another stab at it if i get another clear night. 

It gets me still. One good thing with the Skysafari app though is that you can flip the view all four ways to match what you see through your eyepiece. Comes in handy sometimes to home in on a target.  

[Dayleh]

1 hour ago, Knighty2112 said:

It gets me still. One good thing with the Skysafari app though is that you can flip the view all four ways to match what you see through your eyepiece. Comes in handy sometimes to home in on a target.  

You can with stellarium too on the pc which is how i eventually found m81 and 82. I wish there was a phone app that you could change the orientation on save me running inside haha

[Knighty2112]

7 minutes ago, Dayleh said:

You can with stellarium too on the pc which is how i eventually found m81 and 82. I wish there was a phone app that you could change the orientation on save me running inside haha

You can get Skysafari on both Android and IPhone.  

[wimvb]

With a 10" scope, wouldn't galaxy pair M81/82 be visible?? They're just on the 'other side' of the big dipper.

And let's not forget double stars. Some of these can be colourful displays, while others are interesting because they are difficult to separate.

[Dayleh]

23 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

You can get Skysafari on both Android and IPhone.  

Oh my if this is true its a huge game changer for me. Downloading now. 

17 hours ago, wimvb said:

With a 10" scope, wouldn't galaxy pair M81/82 be visible?? They're just on the 'other side' of the big dipper.

And let's not forget double stars. Some of these can be colourful displays, while others are interesting because they are difficult to separate.

I checked m81 and m82, theyre the only dso ive managed to find so far. As for doublè stars, i checked albeiro and found it astounding. Know any other good doubles? 

[MattJenko]

The head of Delphinus is a nice double, and then there is Almach, which is my favourite and a Northern object at the moment, just down from Andromeda.

[MattJenko]

Double Cluster in a 10" is spectacular also.

[wimvb]

I believe I read somewhere that (more than) half the number of stars visible are double stars. Mizar in Ursa Major is a classic. Should be easy to split.

Polaris itself is also a double. As is M40 (Ursa Major)

Other targets to the north are the owl nebula (M97) and several galaxies (M108 near the Owl).

Have a look here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects

or here

http://dso-browser.com/

With a 10" you should be able to spot most of the Messiers in your "field of view"

 

Happy hunting