Help we seeing!

Last night I was looking thru my murky light polluted skies on a "clear" night with my average, although collimated sct 8". I was using low power at 80-100

I was looking around Bootes and couldn't find M3 (and I might not have been in the correct spot!)

I then looked around the pile of galaxies below Coma Berenices and couldn't find any

Is there a list of which Meiser objects could be seen under these compromised conditions?

thanks howard

Based on Mag 7 and brighter, try these:

Messier RA Dec Constellation Magn Type
M 93 7:44:36 -23.87 Puppis 6.2 Open Cluster
M 92 17:17:06 43.13 Hercules 6.5 Globular Cluster
M 81 9:55:36 69.07 Ursa Major 6.9 Galaxy
M 67 8:50:24 11.82 Cancer 6.9 Open Cluster
M 62 17:01:12 -30.12 6.6 Globular Cluster
M 55 19:40:00 -30.97 7.0 Globular Cluster
M 52 23:24:12 61.58 Cassiopea 6.9 Open Cluster
M 50 7:03:12 -8.33 Monoceros 5.9 Open Cluster
M 48 8:13:48 -5.80 Hydra 5.8 Open Cluster
M 47 7:36:36 -14.50 Puppis 4.4 Open Cluster
M 46 7:41:48 -14.82 Puppis 6.1 Open Cluster
M 45 3:47:00 24.12 0.0 Mixed Deep Sky
M 44 8:40:06 19.98 Cancer 3.1 Open Cluster
M 42 5:35:24 -5.45 Orion 4.0 Nebula
M 41 6:47:00 -20.73 Canis Major 4.5 Open Cluster
M 40 12:22:24 58.08 0.0 Mixed Deep Sky
M 39 21:32:12 48.43 4.6 Open Cluster
M 38 5:28:42 35.83 Auriga 6.4 Open Cluster
M 37 5:52:24 32.55 Auriga 5.6 Open Cluster
M 36 5:36:06 34.13 Auriga 6.0 Open Cluster
M 35 6:08:54 24.33 Gemini 5.1 Open Cluster
M 34 2:42:00 42.78 Perseus 5.2 Open Cluster
M 33 1:33:54 30.65 Triangulum 5.7 Galaxy
M 31 0:42:42 41.27 Andromeda 3.5 Galaxy
M 29 20:23:54 38.53 6.6 Open Cluster
M 28 18:24:30 -24.87 6.9 Globular Cluster
M 25 18:31:36 -19.25 4.0 Open Cluster
M 23 17:56:48 -19.02 5.5 Open Cluster
M 22 18:36:24 -23.90 5.1 Globular Cluster
M 21 18:04:36 -22.50 5.9 Open Cluster
M 20 18:02:36 -23.03 6.3 Cluster+Nebulosity
M 18 18:19:54 -17.13 6.9 Open Cluster
M 17 18:20:48 -16.18 6.0 Cluster+Nebulosity
M 16 18:18:48 -13.78 6.0 Cluster+Nebulosity
M 15 21:30:00 12.17 Pegasus 6.4 Globular Cluster
M 13 16:41:42 36.47 Hercules 5.9 Globular Cluster
M 12 16:47:12 -1.95 Ophiuchus 6.6 Globular Cluster
M 11 18:51:06 -6.27 5.8 Open Cluster
M 10 16:57:06 -4.10 Ophiuchus 6.6 Globular Cluster
M 8 18:03:48 -24.38 5.8 Nebula
M 7 17:53:54 -34.82 3.3 Open Cluster
M 6 17:40:06 -32.22 4.2 Open Cluster
M 5 15:18:36 2.08 Virgo 5.8 Globular Cluster
M 4 16:23:36 -26.53 5.9 Globular Cluster
M 3 13:42:12 28.38 Canes Venatici 6.4 Globular Cluster
M 2 21:33:30 -0.82 Aquaruis 6.5 Globular Cluster

Howard,

Good question. The Astronomical League has a list of deep sky objects and double stars in their "Urban Club" observing list, plus some tips on observing in light pollution. Web site starts at www.astroleague.org, then go toward the bottom and find the Urban Club link. Most of the deep sky objects are open and globular clusters that tolerate light pollution better than nebula and galaxies.

M3 will be easy to spot once you are at the right location, being a bright globular cluster. But M3 doesn't have the easiest guide stars for it. With the 80x-100x, you probably have a narrow field of view in your eyepiece, less than 1 degree, so you need a good finder telescope like an 8x50mm to get you to the right spot. I assume you have some star charts too, because just panning around a constellation is like finding a needle in a haystack.

You might try for M53, it has better guide stars leading to it and is a fairly bright globular cluster with an 8" telescope.

Good luck!

Mike Ratcliff