Saw 3 more this morning with 20x80s, M2, M15 and N7293.
Also looked at 9 PN with the 12". After the full moon I will look for the remaining 25 of the 95 DSO.
Here is a sheet to log the 95 DSO.
EP is eyepiece. You may wish to also use eL and eS for extremely large, extremely small etc.
See post #10 for the list and post #22 below for a "map".
The faintest objects in the list of 95 DSO are the two PN NGC 5189 and IC 4406. The smallest object is the PN NGC 3918. This map from SkyMapPro shows all three and 9 other objects from the list of 95 DSO.
I did some observing from north of Moree, south of White Cliffs and west of Menindee between 9/4 and 12/4. The sky 3km from White Cliffs was the best with a 360 degree horizon and no lights. I have now seen 87 of the 95 objects in this list using 20x80 binoculars.
Can we make this post a sticky or have it permanently positioned somewhere on the site as I know that I and others would use it again and again to refer to.
Those little maps are interesting Glenn, I will use them to punch the numbers into the Go-To, what they really need though is a commentary next to them on what the PN is and where to find it in the sky, Perhaps with a best viewing time. EG: M57 - Ring Nebula - A bright & obvious ring in any scope 8" and over - In the Constellation Lyra - Best viewed July to Sept 7pm till midnight.
Post #10 gives a list with the name, type, constellation, magnitude size, RA and dec for each object.
Post #22 gives the date when each object is visible at midnight on a crude map.
Objects are visible at 10pm one month later and 8pm two months later than this.
The PN maps in post #25 are to help identify them.
An early question on this thread: Are open clusters an acquired taste? NGC 3532 (bang in middle of Glen's list) really is breathtaking - like fine white sand sprinkled by hand on blackness. My way of thinking of open clusters is that their stars are what emerges after the 'hard partying' in a dust-storm like the Lagoon or Tarantula or M42 etc. Most of them are going to be flung into the outer darkness before very long - lotsa movement -they are an evanescent sculpture.
John Herschel scanned the whole sky in the early 1800s with an 18" and thought that NGC 3532 was the best OC. I prefer the more compact OCs like NGCs 3293, 3766, 4755, and 6231.
The most brilliant object of the kind I have ever seen
NGC 3532
This cluster was discovered by Lacaille and included in his 1755 catalogue as Class II No. 10. In his half-an-inch 8x telescope he saw it as a "prodigious number of faint stars forming a semi-circle of 20/25 minutes diameter."
Dunlop 323: "a very large cluster of stars about the 9th magnitude, with a red star of the 7-8th magnitude, north following the centre of the cluster. Elliptical figure: the stars are pretty regularly scattered."
John Herschel was very impressed with the cluster, including it in a list of 'greatest hits': "Among the nebulae which occur from 9h to 12h we have .. the beautiful planetary nebula [NGC 2867], a perfect planet in appearance, with an attendant satellite; the falcated nebula [NGC 3199]; Eta Argus with its nebula; the superb cluster [NGC 3532]; the blue [Herschel's italics] planetary nebula [NGC 3918], a most exquisite and unique object ; and the beautiful cluster of various coloured stars about Kappa Crucis [NGC 4755]."
His first observation [3532] recorded the "Chief star of a very large, round, loosely scattered cluster of stars 8..12th magnitude, which fills 2 or 3 fields. A fine bright object." His next observation recorded "The chief star of a superb cluster, which has several elegant double stars, and many orange-coloured ones." His third observation reads: "A glorious cluster of immense magnitude, being at least 2 fields in extent every way. The stars are 8, 9, 10 and 11 mag, but chiefly 10th magnitude, of which there must be at least 200. It is the most brilliant object of the kind I have ever seen."
These are arguably the best objects south of declination -20.
There are 8 OC, 8 GC, 8 Neb/PN and 8 Gxy.
The file below is tab delimited and can be copied into a spreadsheet.
The name is usually a NGC number and the file is in RA order.
Saw 78 of the 95 DSO from Ewingar Sate Forest using Alex's 12" Dobsonian last weekend. The 450m altitude and the very dark clear skies made them brighter than usual. Also saw M31 this morning using 20x80 binoculars.
