Tomorrow should be a nice, clear, cold night. I think I will concentrate on Perseus, Auriga, Orion, and maybe Taurus, and possibly Gemini, if I can last that long. (Maybe some long underwear is in order.)
So, here are some targets.
Perseus: Of course the double cluster (NGC869 and NGC884). Actually, everything the book says is easy to find, and then a couple of not so easy. M76 is probably a good one to try for. Maybe I can borrow someone’s O-III filter.
(Oh, the book, by the way is: Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, O’Reilly 2007. This book is dedicated to John Dobson, but it might also have been dedicated to Harvard Pennington, since it seems that the methodology of the Thompsons’ book is quite aligned with the geometric methods of Pennington. Pennington’s book is The Year Round Messier Marathon, 1997-2003 William-Bell, Inc. In that book Pennington provides the geometric method. The Thompsons apply that method to more than Messier, but still.)
Still in Perseus: M 34 is a good one, I saw that one last January. NGC 1023 is a galaxy I don’t think I have ever seen. NGC1342 open cluster (bright) “very easy to find geometrically”. NGC 1528 should also be available. Oh and CR29, which is close to the double.
Maybe I will just stay in Perseus all night.
But Taurus is also available. Pleiades, Hyades, NGC1514 (which I will probably not see) is a bright planetary nebula. I am not good at seeing nebulae. NGC1647 a bright open cluster. Then M1 the crab. I should be able to find this.
Auriga M37 M36, M38. All things I have seen before, but that doesn’t mean a thing. (Something could still not mean a thing even if it had that swing.) If I can find M36, then I can find NGC1931. NGC 2281. Anyway, all of these things in Auriga are sort of close except for 2281, which is sort of out there by itself. Still.
If I am there long enough. Gemini. With M35 Maybe try to split Castor. And as a challenge object NGC2392. The Eskimo Nebula.
That seems like a good plan. Hope it stays clear.