Any suggestions for what to see?

[Dark Adaptation]

I've been wondering what sort of things in the night sky I could see. I've seen Jupiter, Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Moon (of course), and I think the galaxy in Triangulum. I'm in the Northern hemisphere, and I use a Maksutov-Cassegrain 750x60mm telescope. Has anybody got any suggestions for things I could see with that?

[allworlds]

http://60mm.free.fr/en/l60_deep_sky.php
 

Might be useful? Although you have a Mak-Cass rather than a refractor it’s very similar in aperture, focal length, and therefore capabilities. 2 1/2 inch fracs were a classic “starter scope” so there’s a fair bit on them.

I’d try for some open clusters, they can do nicely in a small scope. Perseus and Cassiopea are well placed in the evening and have some.

[MarcuSmythe]

I think it would depend on your location/seeing. I use Stellarium and pick out targets with a progressive magnitude. Once I know 8 (or whatever) is the most for that night I quickly compile a list of the doable targets.

[wookie1965]

Double and multiple stars the different colours sizes and using different eyepieces to split them. 

There are 100s of thousands of them. 

[Leo S]

Meteors. No scope required - just a working pair of Mk1 eyeballs. You can see them on any clear night, and even sometimes on cloudy nights too (if you're stubborn/patient enough). I've even observed meteors while it's been raining/snowing on me at the time! It helps to have a good site/garden from which to observe - reasonably light pollution free and clear views low down in the sky in at least a couple of directions is what you want.

The Moon does not help, but some meteors get so bright (fireballs), it does not matter too much. This time of year is traditionally good for observing meteors, with many little known showers active (there are over 1000 known meteor showers) and some major showers coming up/starting to build up. Together with sporadics (random meteors) it all adds up, and some nights can be very busy!

Of particular interest this year are the Taurids (I've posted some more info here), sometimes known as the "Halloween fireballs". They are a shower that never has very high rates (perhaps 4 or 5 an hour at peak), but the peak is drawn out over several weeks, and a significant proportion are fireballs, which can sometimes be extremely bright. The Taurids have a 7 year cycle when activity peaks, and we are at one of those peaks this year, so it's a great time to try and observe them, even with the Moon and/or cloud!

Best times to look for them are after midnight and the early hours before dawn, but early evening hours are a good time for slow sporadic fireballs. Some nights can be slow, even very slow, and then all of a sudden you'll get a night when you see many - this is usually true in general with meteor showers. No guarantees, but the more you observe them, the more you'll see, and some of them can be jaw dropping impressive (here's a good sized fireball I caught with one of my cameras back in May for example, and an impressive alpha Capricornid from early August). I often catch small fireballs with my cameras, and recent nights have been good in terms of bright meteors with a few fireballs caught, including one small Taurid fireball. I nearly caught a larger Taurid fireball a few nights back, but only observed it instead.

To observe them, dress warm, hop into a sleeping bag, and get on a camp bed or the like ideally if you have an open site to observe from, otherwise, an adjustable/reclining chair/bed works well. Situate yourself so that you have as large a possible expanse of sky to look at, especially low down/close to the horizon (most fireballs I have seen have been below half way up in the sky, often quite low above the horizon) - try to keep bright lights/the Moon out of your FOV. Bring a thermos and bite to eat perhaps. I let the cameras do most of the observing for me at the moment, but do try to observe visually often, especially at times like this.

[ED Splitter]

Well the big easy ones coming to northern skies at reasonable times are Pleiades and Orion Nebula. Orion is spectacular but it’s so obvious. My personal favourites are the ring nebula and the double cluster. They are two incredible targets that really take your breath away. 

[Gfamily]

31 minutes ago, ED Splitter said:

Well the big easy ones coming to northern skies at reasonable times are Pleiades and Orion Nebula. Orion is spectacular but it’s so obvious. My personal favourites are the ring nebula and the double cluster. They are two incredible targets that really take your breath away. 

Good suggestions, above - though I would warn that the Double Cluster in a Mak is likely to be the Cluster and a Half 😀, as the field of view is relatively small.  As suggested, double stars can be good targets - Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major is good, and Albireo in Cygnus is excellent.  You can also try for some Globular Clusters - M13 in Hercules is good as it's easy to locate ( 1/3 down the right hand side of the Keystone) and also easy to identify because of the two stars with which it makes a triangle. 

Dark skies will always help - particularly for larger, more diffuse objects  and I'd suggest getting a nice low power eyepiece as it should help with the contrast for these things. 

[Spile]

I would recommend getting a copy of Turn Left at Orion https://astro.catshill.com/what-do-i-look-at/

[starhiker]

As a completely beginner with just about one month experience, I just pick a few constellations for each session which is convenient to the direction of my garden. It is slow. I have to check skysafari for every couple of stars. But it is fun of learning. And I can see my improvement.

[Zermelo]

I would second the book mentioned above, Turn Left at Orion, as probably the best place to start.
There's also a good accompanying website.

On this forum there are various viewing lists posted by members here.

 

[Nik271]

A few more easy and spectacular double stars: Albireo, Almach, Eta Cass, Gamma Del, the double-double in Lyra, Polaris. They are visible even in light polluted cities and require only moderate magnification.