Double cluster in Perseus... First time!

[dazcaz]

My wife, son and I have just spent the evening with a bunch of very nice people from the Cardiff Astro Society at one of their observing sites.

A decent collection of telescopes and very nice, friendly and helpful people.

First light of the night for my 4" refractor was Jupiter. Stunning banding great definition.
Next was the orion Nebular. Very impressed by the view through this 2nd hand 'scope. Really sweet. Best view I've seen in ages.

The highlight was finding the double cluster in Perseus. One of the guys found it with his GOTO scope, and someone showed me roughly were to look. He pointed my laser pointer in the rough area and I followed the light. A little searching and I found them/it.

Just stunning. The sharpness of the view took my breath away. What a wonderful thing to see. The 'scope really made a great job of this. Others came to look and were very impressed by what they saw. One said it was the best view of the double cluster he had ever seen. Not bad for a 'scope that cost me 50 quid!!!!!

We came home very happy indeed!

[The Bat]

I love the Double Cluster. It ranks amongst my favourite objects and I always try to give people a look at it at star parties.

Rachel

[gadieid]

It is clearly seen with the unaided eye from dark places, and it is unknown why it is not in Messier list. Probably Messier did not ever thought it is a comet. However, similar unaided-eye clusters such as M44 and M45 are in the list. If you haven;t tried them yet, M45 is in Taurus and M44 in Cancer. Both will look great through a small telescope.
Try to see it from a darker places there are many more stars there than when view from the city.

[dazcaz]

It is clearly seen with the unaided eye from dark places,

So I've been told... I live in the centre of Cardiff, some nights I struggle to see the moon

To be fair, the sky isn't too bad over me, or the local AS' observing sites, but the cluster isn't visible unless you have assistance.

Now I know where it is it will become a regular in my sky tours.

I now have a pair of Nikon Action 10-22X50 bins (After David said they were good). These make clusters look really nice.