> By far I thought the cutest Herschel object of the night was NGC 1664. Does
> not this object remind you of a heart shaped balloon flying NW up the Milky
> Way? No? Oh... well never mind. <g> 1647, the subject of Gary Seronik's
I've viewed that cluster over several nights the past week or so. Last
night my notes say (using 10" f/5.6 and 20 Nagler) "Fan shaped cluster to
west of a bright star in the field. A chain of stars runs south from the
edge fo the cluster. The brighter members of the group seem to form the
perimiter of the formation." Another night's notes state "Bright star
very close to the southeast side, a chaing going south of the central
condensation to its west, another chain to the east."
One of the fun backyard objects from a few nights ago was was NGC1931:
"Open cluster with nebulousity. Somewhat mimicking a planetary nebula in
size and appearance. With higher power (7mm) three or more stars break
apart embedded in the nebulousity."
Another nice surprise was using my 10x50 binoculars on a few objects in
the Night Sky Observers Guide (again, in my backyard). Collinder 70 -
Orion's Belt stars and their surrounding field are magnificient. The
three bright stars are set amid a very rich field. Nice chains curving
gracefully through the western to stars, hooking east below and west
above, then south around the western end star in the belt. Gorgeous!
Mark Wagner
mgw@No-Spam-intl.com