Hi all,
Here are a few more object suggestions:
Sweep of Milky Way with binoculars from Carina east through to Sagittarius. Almost overwhelming concentration of stars, bright and dark nebulae, open clusters, globular clusters and galaxies. From a dark site the dark dust 'fingers' of the Milky Way can be easily seen by naked eye, with the "Dark Horse of Sagittarius" a feature of the Milky Way, probably second to the Coal Sack as an easily identifiable naked eye dark nebula. The following link showing this dark nebula as Sagittarius sets in the west:
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/1...s/full_jpg.jpg
M104, the Sombrero Galaxy, in Virgo. Mentioned in an earlier Challenge, but with the Antennae Galaxy being offered, the Sombrero is very nearby and is an achieveable target with binoculars too. I've seen the Sombrero in my 50mm binos from my home in Sydney's east, with its quite distinct lenticular shape easy to make out. Stunning to see from binos to as big a scope as you've got. Interesting to note that as far as galaxies are concrened, the Milky Way is a giant, the Sombrero out guns the Milky Way probably by some 30%.
Three more galaxies: M83 in Hydra, not too far from the Sombrero, also observeable with binoculars. NGC 4699 & 5247, both in Virgo, companions to M104 in the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, the former tightly wound and the later with arms visible in scopes around 16".
A final offering- M16, the Eagle Nebula, in Serpens Cauda. A Cluster and Nebula combination similar to the Lagoon Nebula, and very close to the Lagoon too. Together with the Star Cloud M24, they make an almost straight line of naked eye clusters/nebulae.
