There's a number of objects that are cannon fodder for a 10" scope and novice eyes. Many lists are just that, lists, and don't describe the visual impact or features to look out for, nor the suitability of objects to inexperienced eyes.
Loving outreach as I do, the difference between experienced eyes and novice is significant. It means my 48 year old eyes can pick up faint fuzzies 15 year old eyes cannot. Knowing this, when compiling a list of DSO's for novices, I consider experience, visual impact and also a few challenging objects. I do like people to learn averted vision and then apply it to challenge them and not be condescending. No good trying to show something that is too obscure or difficult - you will just lose your audience. So building up to some object is great, but not drop them in the deep end straight away is more important. And things are even more difficult under light polluted skies. Also, what excites YOU won't necessarily excite novice eyes - Alpha Centauri and one other are the only double stars I show. You need to think of your audience all the time. Know your stuff so you can also explain to people what it is that they are looking at is also just as important. Just try not to get all astro-techno with them. Leave as much of the astro jargon out as you can. That's the challenge I enjoy with outreach
The Horse Head nebula is not something I would show novices. Certainly not at the start of a session, and if I did it is one object left to the very end and only to those die-hard novices who linger back after everyone else has left. Remember that the Horse Head nebula is a very difficult target for experienced eyes, demanding very good dark sky conditions. It is one object that needs careful consideration.
Logan, 3199 is one object I also wouldn't put on my novice list. Sorry mate, it will frustrate too much.
Here's a few objects good for novices and some that will also challenge. Those good for light polluted skies I will put "LPS" at the end. These are targets for this time of the year (January)
• The Pleiades. Not just for the spectacle of the stars, but there's also the chance of picking up some of the faint reflection nebulosity. LPS
• M42. Always a favourite, but what is often forgotten in talking about it is the dark pillar that points towards the Trapezium, and how it harbours a cluster of protostars, stars that have nearly finished forming and are about to ignite their nuclear fires. Best of all, this dark pillar is also dead easy to see under light polluted skies. 50mm binos will show it too! LPS
• NGC 253, the Silver Dollar galaxy, in Sculptor as Logan mentioned. A near edge-on spiral. Though its arms are not distinctly visible because of its acute angle, 253 shows a mottled appearance due to its arm structure and the dark gas and dust that runs through it - the same dark material that creates the dark splotches in our Milky Way galaxy.
• 47 Tuc and NGC 121. Curious pairing, maybe, but very exciting once you know why. 47 Tuc, the remnant core of a galaxy out Monstrous Milky Way consumed long ago. A magnificent orb of millions of stars that holds a black hole in its centre to be able to maintain so many stars in such a stable orbit. 121 is a GC not of our own MW, but of the SMC, 200,000 light years away, not 15,000 like 47 Tuc. NGC 121 must also be a bloody big GC! 121 will challenge, but will also introduce line-of-sight as a common occurrence. LPS (47 Tuc)
• NGC 1365, a big face-on barred spiral in Fornax. There is a chance of being able to pick out the bar and a glimpse of the two arms with this one in a 10" scope. You can also pump up the magnification to medium to help bring out the arm structures. High mag not a great idea if your scope is push-pull. And don't forget that around 1365 is the rest of the Fornax cluster, so well worth having people pan the scope around a little as they will see literally dozens of galaxies dot the view.
• The Grus Quartet of interacting galaxies. Centered around NGC 7582 in Grus, though not really showy galaxies in a 10" scope, what is more significant though is their distance to us - 64 million light years. This means that the light we see today left those galaxies at the same time as when the dinosaurs were being wiped off our Earth! So when people see these galaxies though a scope, the light they see has been travelling for 64 million years, and they are looking that far back into time that the dinosaurs were treading their last steps. Pretty awesome I reckon
• Thor's Helmet in Canis Major. NGC 2359 is a really special object. A planetary nebula that surrounds a Wolf-Rayet star, a star that is in its final stage of evolution before it goes supernova. Its complex bubble structure and the curious two pairs of "wings" that it has are an artefact of the magnetic and gravitational interaction the material that's been ejected from the parent star is having with an unseen but also massive companion star and interstellar material that's been caught up in the mess. One pair of "wings" will be easier to see in a 10" scope, the other pair may be beyond a 10" aperture.
• NGC 3115, the Spindle Galaxy in Sextans. A gorgeous edge-on spiral galaxy that is larger and easier to see than the Sombrero. Really quite a striking bright streak of light with a distinctly bright core. LPS (tricky though).
• M1, the Crab Nebula in Taurus. No, I'm not crazy to offer up this one. One for the end-of-the-session die hards
Probably the most underwhelming object in the sky despite is "M1" designation. But it is both astronomically and historically significant. Astronomically because it is a supernova remnant - the guts of a star that blew up. Also that it has dimmed since Messier first catalogued it which is why it is rather ho-hum... Historically because the supernova explosion was seen and recorded by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054 AD. At its core is a pulsar, the fast spinning core of the exploded star. Pulsars at the time of their discovery were first designated "LGM's", Little Green Men, as the pulsating signal that was first detected by radio astronomers was unknown in its origin. Now we know that these pulsating signals are the beats of these fast spinning cores. Pulsars are also used as a "time keeping key" with the plates on the Voyager spacecraft. The rate of pulse of Pulsars does decay over time, so by using the oscillation period of hydrogen atoms as the base timing, the amount of time that has elapsed from when aliens should find the Voyager spacecraft can be calculated as the rate of spin from the time of launch is recorded on those plates. Easy!
The lines radiating out from the various pulsars on the plate can also be used to triangulate the Sun's position in the Milky Way galaxy. So who thought M1 was boring!
So, that's a starting list of objects.
Alex.
