top 10 anyone??

[iantobach]

Hello all, as I`m still learning the ropes, does anyone have a top 10 of things I really should be searching for- ,I`ve worked my way through the planets around this time of year, and a couple of nebulae and galaxies as per " Turn right at orion" , (i`ve got a 102 refractor, but saving the pennies for something bigger one day)

iantobach

[GordonCopestake]

The Messier Marathon is always a winner

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Have you had a go at the Messier objects? French bloke called Messier made a list and because he didn't have goto or a CCD they're all relatively easy things to see. Don't start with No. 1 though, it's a beep to find visually.

Check out Stellarium or other software that will tell you what's on the menu tonight.

Captain Chaos

[Andrew*]

a tough call. Once you've done some planets, the moon, Andromeda (M31), the Orion nebula (M42) and the Pleiades (M45), targets are difficult to choose and find. I think you should just work through the appropriate targets for this time of year in "Turn LEFT at Orion". Make sure you don't just find it and tick it off the list - take a good look at each one.

Globular clusters are very nice, and the Perseus double cluster has to be seen.

HTH

Andrew

[The Warthog]

There are some nice clusters around Sirius that aren't too difficult to find. M81 and 82 are easy, as is the thingy just below the bowl of the Dipper. There are some nice clusters around Cassiopeia, too. I expect they are all in TLAOrion.

[iantobach]

thanks guys really helpful ,as clear skies tonight, will consult LEFT at orion iantobach

[marxy]

Hey.

In about 3 weeks time is the best time for a messier marathon in March.

I am certainly looking forward to grabbing as many objects as possible - weather permitting

Just a quick question from a newbie, are there a number of 'easier' to find messier objects?

I have an antares 5" achro, and am trying to decide between an 8" dob and a 80mm antares sentinel semi-APO for grab and go.

Cheers

[Astroman]

"Easy" depends on your point of view. I happen to find 30 or 40 Messier's "easy", but it's just because I've already found them all and these are "easy" because I've memorized the surrounding location asterisms and such. Some of the easy ones to find are not necessarily easy to see, though. A quick list of easy (for me) to find in no particualr order:

M42, 78, 50, 44, 41, 46, 47, 95, 96, 65, 66, 45, 35, 36, 37, 38, 104, 79, 53, 84, 86, 5, 3, 4, 1, 12, 22, 20, 8, 16, 17, 24, 23, 11, 80, 27, 57, 81, 82, 108, 97, 51, 101, 109, 31, 32, 110, 93, 54, 69, 70, 71, 13, 92, 15, 74, 77, 33, and probably a couple more I forget at the moment. (Ok, so it's closer to 50 than 30.)

The point is, it took me almost 2 years to find anything besides M42 and M13! You'll slowly learn if not all, then most of the star hopping tricks, (if you put your GOTO away). Patience and perseverence is the key.