what to view in heavily polluted skies?

as the planets are gone until the wee hours of the morning, and i live in dublin with tons of light pollution, what is worth looking at with a 6" scope, bar the pliades? are there any dso's that will look good in light polluted skies?

M42 in Orion is bright enough to look good under those conditions & is also a very stunning nebula.

The Perseus double-cluster great from sunset to about midnight. It's just over halfway from Mirfak to Ruchbah, right on the line.

Had a nice look at M57, the ring nebula tonight while the clouds stayed away (raining yet again). It's tiny though & it's probably too low at this time, just after sunset is the best I guess.

My favourite next to the Pleiades & M42, has to be M82 and M81 in Ursa Major. Drawing a line from Phecda through Dubhe, just go 10 degrees and it's just slightly to the left. M81 is very dim, but M82 (Cigar Galaxy) is compact enough to show up quite nicely.

Also saw the M1, the Crab Nebula, tonight, but it was barely perceptible due to lp & that was in an 8 incher.

There are also quite a few open clusters that are accessible, e.g. M35-M39.

Hope that helps,

Trev

There are eyepiece filters available that minimise the effect of light pollution in particular by cutting out the spectra emitted by mercury and sodium lamps, which are the worst of the lot. Check it out. My preference is the Baader Neodymium Skyglow Filter, which is quite reasonably priced, but I also have and recommend recommend the Celestron LPR filter, which costs about 60% more. The principle difference between the two is that the Baader Skyglow filter is recommended for imaging but the Celestron LPR is not though it can be more effective depending on the atmosphere (I haven't exactly figured out the why yet but it seems to be related to water vapour levels). Either of these filters will improve viewing in an urban environment.

Note: Do not let a forceful but ill-informed shop assistant (I've met one such in one particular shop) convince you that the Baader Contrast Booster is the same as a Skyglow filter or Fringe Killer. The Fringe Killer is meant to correct chromatic abberation in an achromatic, ED or semi-apochromatic refractors of less than 5", the Contrast Booster will overcome some of the chromatic abberation in refractors of 5" or more but in a reflector or catadioptric (all sizes) it is purely a contrast booster and best used at a dark site because it is not a skyglow filter.

There are eyepiece filters available that minimise the effect of light pollution in particular by cutting out the spectra emitted by mercury and sodium lamps, which are the worst of the lot.

I'd recommend that you have a look through one before buying though. By cutting out the light pollution, and in some cases they are designed to increase contrast of nebulae, they also make the image much darker. Although they are good, these filters won't give you the same views as you'll get from a dark site.

Most open starclusters arebright enough to withstand bad light pollution, M35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 would be good..

Keith..

As Trevor says M42 is a beautiful nebula and is visible in the most heavily light polluted stars, see if you can resolve 6 stars in the trapezium.

Splitting doubles is actually a lot more fun than it seems and these stars will punch through light pollution. This post has links to get lists for double stars
www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=164

I got myself an Orion Ultrablock filter , its supposed to be very good, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet, I will let you know if it is any good. Last Saturday was a beautifully clear night to test it out, but as usual on these occasions I had a prior commitment I couldn't get out off :evil:

Regards