NGC 1664

It was my last 2008 observation: December 28th, from 8:15pm to approx. 8:45pm CST. The weather was clear and the wind was calm. A recent rain washed away most of the snow and the temp was a warmer 25 degrees. I have found most fall and early winter Messier objects (from my backyard perspective) except M1, M78 and M76 - all too dim due to light pollution. I can just make out the dumb bell shape of M76 but I am waiting for a darker night to officially catalog it. The others will also have to wait for a darker night as well.

I focused instead on NGC objects in and between the constellations Gemini and Auriga as well as Perseus. There is no shortage of open clusters in this region. The most notable open cluster had to be NGC 1664, a very large and robust cluster with a 6.0 magnitude. I also visited NGC 2126 in Auriga which was a poor organization of stars at a magnitude of 10. There may be stars I did not see due to light conditions so this cluster may be more robust. I also viewed NGC 2281 (mag. 5.4) an organized and easily found cluster as well as NGC 1528 and NGC 1513; Both objects were very close to each other and exhibited some moderate organization in Perseus.