Help Me Choose!

[COLOR="Purple"]Hi All!
Sometime lurker here who needs some suggestions.

Here's the idea: At the end of the month I'll be going to Big Bend in W TX for 5 nights of (hopefully) dark sky observing. I'll be taking a brand new 18.75" scope along for its maiden voyage under dark skies.

What I'm looking for is some suggestions for medium to difficult objects to track down. I'm a long time observer with pretty good observing skills. Decent star hopper. 50 year old eyes. My current scope is a nice 14.5" so the 18.75" will be a step up, albeit not a huge one.

I'm thinking I need 5 good (for an 18.75" scope) objects to search out each night I'm observing. If the nights are clear, I'll pretty much be up all night so things that come up late could be on the list. Of course I'll be doing the usual stuff like Omega Centauri, the usual GCs, etc. I'm thinking more along the lines of "Good Over Looked Objects".


Soooo....oh delvers in the deep sky...what objects would you all suggest?
Anxiously awaiting,
Bill[/COLOR]

Hi Bill,

One object you could try is the Coma galaxy cluster. NGC 4889 is the brightest member at around 12th mag, however with the 18", you could have some fun trying to see just how many you could identify.

You can find some information on this cluster, including finder charts, on my website: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~mclark/4889c.htm

Quasars are also fun to hunt down. I have finder charts for a few: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~mclark/qso.htm

The Einstein Cross could be getting a little low but you could try for that as well.

Have fun.

Maurice

Hello:
A few things that come to mind:
1) the twin quasar in Ursa Major
2) the host galaxy of 3C273. I don't know if anyone has visually seen this, or even tried, but the host galaxy is (at least theoretically) visible at around 15th magnitude. Unfortinately, there's a magnitude 12.7 "star" smack in the middle. I suspect that all you could see is a little extra fuzz around the quasar compared to nearby field stars
3) There's a nice IC galaxy next to the Ring Nebula. Easy to roughly locate, hard to see.
4) There's another nice IC galaxy near M13, between M13 and the bright(er) NGC galaxy to its north
5) The jet coming out of M87. I've read it should be visible with amateur equipment, but I haven't seen it
in anything up a 16".

Happy hunting
Mike Connelley

If you are into galaxys, Copelands Septet in Leo is a nice view and a challenge to pick out all the galaxys. Also known as Hickson 57, try searching for NGC 3753 as it is the brightest at Mag 14.5. Also the "Box" is another nice cluster of 4 galaxys that are interesting, also in Leo. It is also listed as Hickson 61 and NGC 4169 is it's brightest member.
clear skies,
David Paessler

Well, now I'm really jealous . Bring your sunglasses for when you point that big boy in those dark skies. BB is my most favorite place. I've spent months roaming around there doing field geology for academia. On a clear night, the starshine will cast your shadow, guaranteed! You will lose yourself in the constallations. Unbelieveable seeing.

From the RASC's page, here is Terry Adrians' "Deep-Sky Challenge Objects" in pdf, complete with finder charts.

http://www.rasc.ca/pdf/dsc-objects.pdf

This should allow you to narrow down a few objects that will be interesting to find and observe.

Gary Weber

T[COLOR="Purple"]hanks everyone! I'll pour over the possibilities this weekend and come up with a list of 25 (5 objects each night for 5 nights) objects to try. I'll post here for comments.
Bill[/COLOR]