Favourite Open Clusters

[glenc]

What are your favourite (5 or 10) open clusters?
Here are some suggestions.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/OpenClusters?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvS_vCh tI34fQ#

[mental4astro]

Clusters of clusters count, Glen? Here's why I ask:

* Table of Scorpius - some four or five clusters in the same line of sight. One very bright cluster, NGC 6231, being mainly OB stars, then other clusters, some larger in size but fainter members, another cluster huge in member stars, plus bright and dark nebulosity. Stunning rich, wide field.

* M7 - spectacular large cluster with three other OC's, a GC and some four PN's all within its boundary. A rich field scope or binos will show an intricate network of dark nebulosity. I use the tiny GC as a gauge for seeing conditions & transperancy if I can resolve some of its stars.

* The Jewel Box. Colour, bright stars & dim, takes magnification very well. Beautiful.

* NGC 6520 and B86. Located in the guts of Sagittarius, in a large aperture scope, the background is ablaze with the Milky Way, 6520 is a lovely pile of diamonds over the top of the MW. But what really sets it of is the Ink Spot dark nebula, B86. The whole scene is stunning.

Mental.

[glenc]

Thanks Mental.

[bigjoe]

How about the ones in Norma-Ngc 6067 etc. Ic 2391 in vela, Ngc 2516 Carina, and the Gem cluster. Ngc 6231 a cracker.
M37,M35,M11 the Wild Duck. These are just a few you could add to an enjoyable list.
Cheers Bigjoe.

[glenc]

Thanks Joe.

[FlashDrive]

M7 ( NGC6745 ) .... and .... M45 ( Pleiades ) ....:D


Flash

[Saturnine]

How about NGC3532 and it's dark lane, M46 and the planetary NGC2438, N3114,M23 and as mentioned, the region around N6231,Tr-24,N6242.
These are some of my favourites.

Jeff

[AG Hybrid]

M41. Not particularly amazing, but it has sentimental value for me since it was the first cataloged object I found with my first scope. its located just to the south of Sirius.

[Robh]

NGC 6231 in Scorpius.
Gem Cluster (NGC 3293).
Pearl Cluster (NGC 3766).
Tau CMa Cluster (NGC 2362).
Jewel Box (NGC 4755).

Most of the compact ones are pretty.

Regards, Rob

[Camelopardalis]

M45 - The Pleiades. First cluster I ever saw, knowingly :D from somewhere decently dark you can make out a number of the stars with the naked eye, but binoculars are a treat.

NGC 869/884 - The Double Cluster. Not visible from Sydney's latitude but further north?

[pgc hunter]

NGC 2477. Epic cluster is epic.

[Gem]

M11. :)

[glenc]

So far we have 23 OC.

Messiers 7, 11, 23, 35, 37, 41, 45, 46+PN
NGCs 869/884, 2362(tau), 2477, 2516, 3114, 3293, 3532, 3766, 4755, 6067, 6231, 6242, 6520/B86
IC 2391, Tr24

N6231 is in front with 4 votes
M7, M11, M45, N3293, N4755 have 2 votes

[glenc]

It is good to see APOD naming an OC after the lady that discovered it.
"A late 18th century deep sky discovery (http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/Caroline_Herschel_Objects.html) of astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel (http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Herschel_Caroline.html), the cluster [N7789] is also known as Caroline's Rose."
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131026.html

[Camelopardalis]

I'd almost forgotten about that - Caroline's Rose is a beautiful cluster, better with aperture :)

The Owl cluster nearby is fun cluster too.

[dannat]

6231 is very good, 2516 is terrific, as is 3532 & 3766

[ausastronomer]

In no particular order, some of my favourites are:-

M46
NGC 3532 (Football Cluster)
NGC 3293 (Gem Cluster)
NGC 4755 (Jewel Box)
NGC 2516
NGC 6231
IC 2602 (Southern Pleiades)

Cheers,
John B

[AG Hybrid]

Those listed may be your favorites. But the best one by far is M73. Just, no comparison. Yep!

That being said I mirror Rob's sentiment that compact open clusters tend to be the prettiest.

M73 is the best tho.

[glenc]

M73 :lol: 4*s in a Y shape!

[ausastronomer]

Hi Glen,

As you probably know, M73 is not a "true" gravitationally bound open cluster. It is a chance line of sight alignment of unrelated stars. For decades there was discussion and debate on whether or not M73 was in fact a true open cluster. There was a paper released about 2000 which indicated it was an "old" open cluster whose stars were widely dispersed. The truth was established in 2002 when the distances to the 5 brightest members was calculated and it was established they were just too widely distanced to have ever been related. Of course in Messier's day everything was based on optical perception.

Cheers,
John B

[glenc]

I assumed that Adrian was joking.

[ausastronomer]

That was pretty obvious, it wouldn't otherwise make anyone's top 500 lol

Cheers,
John B

[MichaelSW]

On the strength of excitement shown in Suzy’s thread – Deep Sky Companions “Southern Gems”, I sent off my pre-order. When it arrived, the first thing I did was go to the Index to find what Stephen J O’Meara might have to say about my favourite open cluster.

First to the NGC listings – it wasn’t there. Then to the common name – it wasn’t there either. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. How could I be so wrong? Maybe beauty is only in the eye of the beholder.

With somewhat diminished enthusiasm for my purchase, I started my read-through from page 1. And when I got to Southern Gem #46 – The Spider Spit Cluster, Little Jewell Box ?? Hey, my No.1 open cluster was there after all – NGC 3293, The Gem.

When I first saw NGC 3293, the stars, the colours, the pattern just grabbed me. I said to myself, "I see a mother eagle settling onto her nest of chicks with wings a little spread over them". I can also make out a coral polyp's view of a sea turtle cruising overhead, but when I'm showing people, I stick with the eagle description.

And yes, mother eagles and marine turtles are also in the eye of the beholder.

[Jon]

Gem (3293)
Jewel Box
M11 wild Duck
M41
M7

[glenc]

Please add your five favourites to the GC, nebula and PN threads, if you have not done so.
Thanks Glen

[astroron]

With somewhat diminished enthusiasm for my purchase, I started my read-through from page 1. And when I got to Southern Gem #46 – The Spider Spit Cluster, Little Jewell Box ?? Hey, my No.1 open cluster was there after all – NGC 3293, The Gem.

Spider Spit Cluster!:eyepop:
How I hate some of the crap names given by this crass American naming game:mad2:
Silver coin, Spider Spit,Spanish dancer,ect.
And now we have and a plethora of other self made catalogues such as the Caldwell,O'meara and so on,and to think the NGC/IC was made to bring things together.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Allan]

NGC 4755 - Jewel Box
NGC 3293 - Gem
M7 - Ptolemy's
M45 - Pleiades
M11 - Wild Duck

[bigjoe]

Mr Herschel was right. Y (haw) :Pwould Messier call this an open cluster at all!
Most underwhelming!

[anthonyc1]

My top 5 are:

Jewel Box
NGC 3532
IC 2602
M41
M11

Although I'm sure my top 5 may be chopped and change over time as I am still very early into my observing career!

[glenc]

Please list your 10 favourite galaxies if you have not already done so. Thanks Glen
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=114308 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=114308)

[Tropo-Bob]

5 Great Open Clusters:-
Pleiades
M7
NGC 3532
NGC 6231
NGC 3293

[glenc]

I plan to combine all this information next week.
See http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=114641

[glenc]

My 5 favourite open clusters are:
M45
N2516
N6231
M11
M46

[glenc]

Thank you everyone for participating. The results are summarised here.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=114641 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=114641)