Easy beginner targets at the moment?

[PolygonPi]

Hey,

 

After the glorious sunshine all day yesterday I was looking forward to some time with the scope in the evening, hopefully managing something a bit more difficult than Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter was super clear and stable (I find it's a good place to start so I can fine-tune the finder scope), and then I was practicing navigating along the Plough, spending some time on the Mizar double - very cool at 200x. Then I looked up and the clouds were rushing in (I never really appreciated how fast clouds can appear before). So I quickly swung the scope round to have a go at the Beehive Cluster and found it with about 30 seconds to spare as everything started to fade away.

 

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for other easy targets to start with at the moment? Preferably visible before midnight and not too low, and not in the west (house in the way). M13 looks like a good one to go for.

[+seven_legs]

What scope have you got?

In Canes Venatici Cor Caroli is a nice double, m3 globular. M92 globular in Hercules. Pole star is a good double star. M67 open cluster in cancer.

[philjay]

Hi Andy

Yep clouds have a knack of appearing quickly. Not knowing what your scope is all I can suggest is some brighter objects

 

Some nice open clusters around at the moment:

 

M35 in Gemini, nice bright and not too low in the west at twilight

M37,36 and 38 in Auriga

 

Globular cluster M3 in Bootes

 

Loads of double stars in Bootes, Xi and Epsilon are particularly nice

[PolygonPi]

Thanks, sorry should have said, I've got a Skywatcher 200p, so the limiting factor here is user skill

Cool, got a few there to go for when the sky clears up. Bright things are good, I'm likely to be able to find them!

[BAZ]

Have you got Stellaruim? It's a great free planetarium program that gives you an idea what is where, and how to star hop to find it. 

 

http://www.stellarium.org/

 

Here's the user guise as well.

 

http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide

 

If you have been mooching about round Ursa Major, have a look for M81 & 82, these can be found even with light pollution, then if you fancy it have a go for M51, the other end of the constellation, and if you want a real challenge try for m101. This might not be able to be seen as it is a face on galaxy and even a trace of LP can wash it out.

 

If you fancy a bit of reading, you won't go wrong with Turn Left at Orion, and if you want a decent Star Atlas for taking outside with you, then have a look at the Sky and Telescope Pocket Star Atlas. It's reasonably priced, has loads of info in it and best of all, it has plasticized pages so it won't go soggy when the dew strikes.

[PolygonPi]

Well I managed M44, M67 and the Cor Caroli double in a quick session last night, before the clouds thwarted my search for M3.

 

The Sky and Telescope Pocket Star Atlas sounds ideal. Thinking about getting a Telrad finder as well - it's pretty hard to tell what I'm looking at in the finder scope, and I've heard of lot of praise for the Telrad.