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Old 27-09-2014, 09:56 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 5,005
Now, objects you might like to chase down:

* I've mentioned the heart of the Milky Way which is centered around the Cloud of Sagittarius. This is the densest star cloud in the whole sky, and the core of the Milky Way lies behind it 30,000 light years away. We don't get to see the core as one of the Milky Way's arms cuts in between us and the core! Look in and around the Cloud. There are many DSO's within it and around it, including M8 & M20.

* Within Scorpio is the Table of Scorpio. This is the area around the base of its 'tail'. There are some five open clusters all jammed in, some small and intense, others big loose and made up of dimmer stars. There is also a huge complex of bright and dark nebulosity. This is one of my favourite parts of the sky.

* Swing back to Sagittarius and you will spot several globular clusters, including the giant M22. Spotting the many, many GC's here will keep you busy for some time. They can be spotted because they remain as fuzzy dots, not coming to point focus like stars. With binos you'll be able to spot at least 10 GC's in Sagittarius.

* Just outside Sagittarius there is M16 & M17, the Swan & Eagle nebulae. While small, they are bright and stand out like the proverbial doggie's from the surrounding Milky Way.

* The Magellanic Clouds. Binos are perfect tools for these. There are literally thousands of DSOs within each of these dwarf galaxies. Binos will concentrate the light of these two galaxies, giving a fantastic view. Right next to the SMC is the giant globular cluster 47Tuc, and another smaller 'normal' GC, NGC 362. And within the LMC is the colossus Tarantula Nebula.

You can also just spend some time SLOWLY scanning the length of the Milky Way. You'll see fantastic details. One of my favourite things here is spotting the very opaque finger like dark nebulae that riddle the whole Milky Way.

I'm sure other people will add their own special bino objects.

Mental,
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