Astr 309: Objects worth viewing with the 8-in telescopes

Moon: a must see, especially near the terminator where shadows are long and craters look "3D"

Planets: best near opposition, but always good. Uranus and Neptune are a challenge, Pluto may not be possible.

Double Stars:

• Alberio (beta Cygni) -- bright, easy to find, great color contrast with good separation
• Alcor/Mizar (zeta Ursae Majoris) -- the "rider" is 11.8' away, the "horse" is a binary with 14.6" separation
• epsilon Lyrae -- the "double double", its easy to "split" the main pair, with good seeing you'll see each "star" is actually a binary

Star Clusters:

• M13 -- the great globular cluster in Hercules
• M15 -- a globular cluster in Pegasus
• h & chi Persii -- the "double cluster," two nearby open clusters

Nebulae:

• M42 -- the Great Nebula in Orion (late fall)
• M1 -- the Crab Nebula supernova remnant (late fall)
• M57 -- the Ring Nebula, a planetary nebula in Lyra
• M27 -- a larger, more diffuse planetary nebula that M57

Galaxies:

• M31 -- the Andromeda galaxy
• M32 -- a dwarf elliptical galaxy, a companion to M31
• M33 -- a smaller, fainter spiral galaxy in the local group

Andy Layden -- Aug 2010