November target suggestions

[MartinB]

Here are some suggestions for November. I am not including much information about the target, it's location or how to find them. That is part of your challenge. It is a subjective view of what my be worth going for.

Early in the evening the stars of the summer sky are still on view to the west - M27 the dumbell nebula is a faint smudge in a small scope, the challenge is to make out the apple core shope. Similarly M57, the ring nebula, is seen as a small grey object but small scopes at high power should show it as a ring.

M45 Pleaides is clearly visible with the naked eye. called the seven sisters, how many stars can you count? A spectacular sight through any scope and one to show the neighbours.

M81 and 82 are getting higher in the sky later in the evening over to the north. They are a bit tricky to find because they are away from bright stars. A red dot finder is useful here. A fascinating contrast between edge on and face on galaxies. Can normally be seen in the same FOV with a low power ep esp with short F/L scopes.

The big excitement this time of year is the midnight arrival or orion and the wonderful M42. No problem finding this. See how well you can make out the shape of the nebula. At the core are some bright young stars. There are 4 which are easily visible with a small scope - very close together.

If you have a big dob and dark skies you could see if you can make out the horses head nebula.

There are lots of open clusters around at the moment, as well as the ones in auriga see how many others you can find to add to your messier count. Visible at some point during the night are M29, 34, 35, 39, 44 (the Beehive) 48,50, 52 (the Scorpion), 56, 67(king Cobra) and 103. There are others but I think that's enough to be going on with.

These are my suggestions but if anyone has any others please add them to this thread