[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi all,

With there being two weekends either side of the March New Moon, I was a bit surprised not to see a March Observing Challenge.

Since the first 'New Moon' weekend starts tomorrow, I was compiling a list for myself to have a thrash at. I thought I'd throw my name in the ring for a shot at some targets, easy through to more challenging. Might be nice to see what range of observations we get across a variety of instruments and sites.

1: M104, Sombrero Galaxy, in Virgo. A galaxy that is visible in small scope, but reveals more as apeture increases. (Sorry about the GOJ)

2: NGC 2818 & 2818A, Open cluster + planetary neb, in Pyxis (a two-for-one special)

3: Antila Galaxy Cluster, some 5 NGC named Galaxies out of 200+, in Antila, starting from NGC 3267

4: M83, galaxy visible in 50mm binos from Sydney, in Hydra

5: NGC 5286, Globular Cluster, in Centaurus, the little brother of Omega Centauri

6: Eta Carina, nebula and cluster, in Carina. Awesome in any scope. I think it will prove the toughest to describe and sketch.

Have fun,

Mental

P.S. I hope I'm not taking anyone's thunder with this thread. I thought it would be nice to keep this ball rolling if there is no one responsible for 'The Challenge'.