Photographic Observing Lists

The Messier Object list is a fantastic list for visual observers.  It is a good compilation of a wide range of bright objects of various types and sizes that are all visible to just about any observer in the northern hemisphere.  It works great with a range of instruments from binoculars, to very large aperture Dobsonian scopes.  It is also a very nice size, with just 110 objects, it feels very approachable.  When it comes to astrophotography, this list can still be extremely useful because all of the objects are bright and can be photographed both in the city and countryside with a wide range of instruments. However, it can also be extremely limiting because it was not made with photography in mind.  Many objects are great photographic targets, but are not very bright visually.  Some objects were just way too big or too unlike comets to make Messier's list.  And still others were just not observed by Messier.  As a result, I have found myself searching through various catalogs such as the NGC, IC, Caldwell, Sharpless, and Barnard catalogs looking for good photographic targets among the thousands listed.  I thought it would be useful to make several lists of what I think to be the best photographic targets.  

Some attributes of my Photographic Observing Lists I am putting together.

• One list would include objects that would fit nicely in wide fields greater than 60 arc minutes in width and height (such as a camera lens or wide field refractor).  
• A second list would cater to field sizes between 10 arc minutes and 60 arc minutes (such as many large and small amateur telescopes).
• Athird list would include objects that fit in small field sizes less than 10 arc minutes. 
• All of the objects on this list will have a declination of -30 degrees or higher, for good observations in Delaware.
• None of the objects will be just a cluster of stars because clusters tend to look better visually than in photographs.  If the cluster also has a nebula, it might be included.
• All of the objects will be visually interesting, no elliptical galaxies without structure.
• All of the objects will be approachable, nothing should be too dim as to be invisible in a 5 minute photograph from a reasonably dark site in a 6 inch scope.

These observings lists are still a work in progress and it is my intent to create documents to support people who intend to photograph these objects.  Also, I would like to potentially recognize anybody who successfully photographs all the objects in the list in our club because that could be really fun!

Below, I have detailed the objects on each of the 3 rough drafts of the lists.  Also I have the beginnings of the document for the intermediate list in PDF form, but right now the document is very large.  Please right click here and from the contextual menu, download the PDF rather than just opening it in your browser.  Then you can open the PDF.

Thanks,

Rob Lancaster

Large Object Photo List

Smaller Object Photo List

Super Small Object Observing List