Hi Bob,

Very nice reports. I'm glad to hear it was just a cloudy/busy spell holding up your observations and nothing serious. Thank you very much for the suggestions for additions to my hit list. Will definitely have to see them as my observing skills develop.

You're right, the 10" SCT I'm using is an LX200, though oddly enough I've only used its GOTO capabilities to point at imaginary stars and galaxies on the ceiling of my living room. I can see how GOTO would be an advantage, especially under light polluted skies where starhopping may be nearly impossible. I'd be lost without my 4th magnitude guide stars. My locating techniques so far can best be described as starhopping in the 8x50 finderscope, centering the region as best I can, then looking around for the fuzzy blob in the scope. So far I've been lucky, but real starhopping will be a necessity for those mag 14 fuzzies unless I find a 1000 ft extension cord! I've even tried making that annoying "whirring" noise while manually slewing the scope, but somehow that didn't help my pointing accuracy much.

Anyway, I've been adding your suggested targets and others to my hit list and penciling them into my charts if they don't show up. The question I have is about the Stingray cluster in Auriga. My list shows NGC 2419 as a faint globular in Lynx. Were you thinking of something else or did I pencil it in wrong? I'd love to add that to my hit list or add a description if it's already there.

Many thanks and happy hunting,
Matt

• Oops, My mistake - bobsal - April 15, 2002 - 12:41 UTC