Top ten deep sky objects

[glenc]

Beginners often look for a list of bright deep sky objects.
The attached MS Word file lists the 10 brightest galaxies, 10 brightest globular clusters, 10 bright open clusters, 10 bright nebulae and 10 bright planetary nebulae.

[glenc]

See here for pictures of the top 10 and some other bright objects.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dunlop1826/BrightDSOForSouthernObservers#

[jjjnettie]

"The Glen 10's"
Sounds catchy.
Thanks for the list and the link.

[Liz]

Great lists, thanks Glen :)

[richardda1st]

List, saved and printed, now for a trip to a dark site. Thanks Glen:)

[dannat]

thanks aagin Glen - - you really should write a book & charge us for all this great info

[PCH]

I'm with Dannat - you really do help people like us out with these great lists you share from time to time. Many thanks :thumbsup:

[Robh]

Glenn,

As usual, another nice compendium for people to use.
However, I would quibble on one point. I don't consider M33 bright and would rather include the Sombrero (M104) in it's place. I don't think M33's visual magnitude alone should put it in this list of bright galaxies.

Regards, Rob

[Trido]

That was a great list, and a great link to the photos as well. Thanks.

[Blackant]

Thanks Glen, that list is awesome! My 8" Dob will be arriving from Bintel in early August, so I'll be giving it a good workout :thumbsup:

Till then I'll just have to keep using by bino's and 4.5" skyrover :rolleyes:

Kind regards

Ant

[glenc]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I plan to do a book on James Dunlop's catalogue one day. http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dunlop1826/Dunlop28#
Rob, M104 is better in a telescope but M33 is better in binoculars from here, however M33 is lower in the sky for you and fainter.
These are some of the galaxies that have high surface brightness: M 104, NGC 3115, NGC 4699 and NGC 1553.

[Robh]

Glen,
Fair enough!
And thanks again for the contribution.
Rob

[glenc]

Here are 10 large planetary nebulae, all south of dec +50: (size > 90", mag < 12)

NAME, SIZE in arcsec, Mag
NGC 246, 240x210, 10.4
NGC 1360, 460x320, 9.6
NGC 1514, 136x121, 10.9
NGC 4361, 93x37, 11.0
NGC 5189, 185x130, 9.5
IC 4406, 100x37, 10.2
NGC 6781, 111x109, 11.6
M 27, 480x340, 7.1, Dumbbell
IC 5148/50, 120, 11.0
NGC 7293, 880x720, 7.6, Helix

[glenc]

I looked at the planetary nebulae NGCs 7293, 1360, 246, 1514, IC 5150, NGCs 2818, 2440, 2438, 1535, 2392, 7662, 7009 and 6818 this morning. (listed from large to small). I also looked at Abell 21 with a 12" Dob and a 21mm EP. Abell 21 was large and very faint with an OIII filter and with a UHC filter.
The attached wikisky image shows Abell 21 with a 28' field. Wikisky.org images of all the NGC PN are at https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/NGCPlanetaryNebulae?authkey=Gv1sRgC Jm95-XF98SCggE

[mishku]

I've printed the list and looking forward to doing the Glen10!! :thumbsup:

[Giorgio]

I will try too!! :D

[garin]

Thanks Glen,
Look forward to tracking them down

[jenchris]

I thought I'd posted a request yesterday Glen.
However since I can't find it I guess I must be mistaken so here it is.
May I use your top ten in the Event Horizon Ezine (Southern astronomical Society's magazine)?
I'll give full credit of course. It's a very useful list for folks and excellent as a tour for beginners

[glenc]

Jennifer you can do that. Glen

[naskies]

Great list for newbies like me... thanks Glen! :)

[glenc]

This "map" shows a good selection of 95 deep sky objects south of declination +45.
You can zoom in using the +.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/BrightDSOForSouthernObservers#52810 11344794121746
17 open clusters are circles
19 globular clusters are diamonds
17 nebulae are squares
15 planetary nebulae are blue dots
27 galaxies are triangles
A list is attached and images are at https://picasaweb.google.com/110048826379679252146/BrightDSOForSouthernObservers#

[ausastronomer]

Hi Glenn, Rob,

I dunno about that one. M33 is one of my favourite telescopic galaxies. At Coonabarabran it only gets to about 30 deg above the horizon, but is visible naked eye when conditions are favourable. Under those same conditions in a medium to large telescope an absolute wealth of detail is visible. There are numerous and large HII regions including NGCs 588, 592, 595, and NGC 603 and 604, plus several IC objects, all visible in an 18" telescope. The spiral arms are also clearly visible. At higher powers because of its apparent size it is too large for the FOV and you need to move the scope around to take it all in. I also love the Sombrero. It is a very easy object in smaller scopes, and the dust lane is evident in those same scopes, but for mine it doesn't have the available detail that M33 does. To be honest I love 'em both to death.


I can appreciate this post is in the "beginner's" section. However, many people start out these days with 10" or 12" newtonians and M33 has plenty to offer for that size telescope.

Cheers,
John B

[dj gravelrash]

Your a gem glen. Have printed off all the info. Again thanks for looking after us new guys -cheers

[Robh]

Hi John,

Unfortunately, a lot of us live in or around bright suburban polluted skies. Low surface brightness galaxies are a tough call even in larger scopes.
But I guess you have to use a base line. Given you can view somewhere under dark skies, all these are great objects to observe.

Regards, Rob