2 months ago I bought a telescope.  I’ve wanted one for years, and finally broke down and did it while they were on sale at Orion.  It arrived about 6 weeks ago, and I’ve had about a dozen good observing days since.

Previously I spent some time finding Nebula, double stars, and galaxies.  Last night I decided to check out something different, stellar clusters.  It turns out there are 1/2 dozen different stellar clusters in and around the constellation of Cassiopeia, and I found most of them last night.  While the most famous is M103, as that’s in the messier catalog, the double cluster was the most spectacular.

There is something about a stellar cluster and it’s dense packing of starts that gives you the sense that the stars are just spilling out of a rift in space.  The pictures don’t do them justice, they are just breath taking in the scope.  The detail and depth of the clusters is amazing, even in slightly too bright sky last night (the moon was 1/2 full and setting at the time).  I can’t wait to check them out once the moon cycle passes and we get back to really dark skies.

M103 – open cluster in cassiopeia


NGC 869 & 884 – double cluster in perseus