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Why does nobody mention how many deep-sky objects you can actually see from a backyard?
I hit 85 tracked objects last night with just an 8-inch Dobsonian from my driveway in Phoenix and now I'm wondering how many I've been missing for the last two years just because I didn't aim higher in the sky.
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jamesm4820d ago
85 in one night from Phoenix... don't you have light pollution out there? I'm not sure tracking a bunch of fuzzies in a bright sky really counts for much.
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ray_hernandez20d ago
I did a session like that from Tucson a few years back, not quite as bright as Phoenix but still bad. I stuck to the bright stuff like you said, hit M13, M22, and the Double Cluster, and they were all solid. Jupiter was actually incredible, I could see the bands and three moons without even trying hard. The key was just skipping the stuff that needs dark skies, like the Veil or the North America Nebula. 85 is totally doable if you pick your targets right and move fast.
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hugoh5520d ago
Phoenix has some of the WORST light pollution in the country, I agree with that. But heres the thing nobody talks about. @jamesm48 you mentioned tracking a bunch of fuzzies, but what about the planetary targets? Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars cut right through the glow like a hot knife through butter. I pulled 12 planetary observations myself on my last Phoenix trip, and they looked SHARP even with a streetlight nearby. Plus those big bright globular clusters like M13 and M5 actually hold up better in moderate light than people give them credit for. So 85 sounds totally possible if you stick to high surface brightness objects and skip the faint nebulae.
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