1	Night Sky : Perseus SMAS Nov ’03 Meeting
2	Legend of Perseus Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaë. When Perseus grew into a strong young man, Polydectes, the king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danaë. Polydectes wanted to marry Danaë, but did not want or like her son Perseus. Polydectes invited Perseus to a celebration and falsely announced his plans to marry another. Each guest gave a gift to the king. Perseus, who brought no gift, rashly promised to the king that he would give any gift that the king wished. Polydectes couldn't believe his good fortune and asked for the head of the Gorgon Medusa, knowing that the youth could never possibly return home alive. Perseus readily agreed not realizing his task was seemingly all but impossible.
3	Legend of Perseus Perseus was successful in killing Medusa by using the reflection in his shield. Upon return to Joppa, Perseus rescued Andromeda (daughter of the vain Cassiopeia) from the monster Cetus. Perseus traveled back to Seriphus with his new wife Andromeda. Polydectes believed that Perseus would either return home empty-handed or that he would die in the quest. Polydectes did not believe Perseus had slain Medusa when Perseus arrived during a palace banquet. Perseus proved so by displaying the head of Medusa and everyone at the banquet was turned to stone.
4	Locating Perseus
5	Western Area Objects
6	Stock 2 Large cluster (~ 1 deg) located just to the north of the Double Cluster. Consists of 50+ stars with the brightest at 8.2 mag. Nice binocular or wide-field scope object. Well-studied object with a wealth of data available on the Internet.
7	NGC 957 Located east of the Double Cluster. Size: 11.0' Mag: 7.6 Brightest star: 9.5 Number of stars: 30 Saguaro description: Cl,pL,pRi,*13...15 The faint stars give the impression of “diamond dust” and begin to resolve in larger scopes.
8	M76 The Little Dumbbell Bright, central oblong shape reminds one of M27. Magnitude: 11.0 Size: 2.7' x 1.8' Central star: 17.6 mag Also known as the Cork Nebula. Easy target for 8-inch scopes.
9	M34 Magnitude: 5.2 Size: 35.0' Number of stars: 100 Magnitude of brightest star: 7.3 Large cluster highlighted by bright blue stars against a rich area of the Milky Way. Nice object in binoculars, wide-field scopes, and larger scopes at low magnification.
10	Central Area Objects
11	NGC 1023 Brightest in a large area of galaxies known as the “NGC 1023 Group”. Magnitude: 10.5 Surface brightness: 11.4 mag/arcmin² Size: 8.1' x 3.4' Position angle: 87° Easy target in 8-inch scopes. Challenge: Observe the companion.
12	NGC 1245 Magnitude: 8.4 Size: 10.0' Number of stars: 200 Magnitude of brightest star: 11.2 Saguaro description: Cl,pL,Ri,C,iR,*12..15 Compressed cluster but very rich with faint stars. Some compare it with NGC 7789. Needs an 8-inch or larger scope for impact.
13	Mel 20, Alpha Persei Moving Cluster Magnitude: 1.2 Size: ~ 3 degrees Number of stars: 50 Wonderful binocular object with a curving arc of bright stars around alpha Per (Mirfak). The distance of this cluster has recently been measured by the Hipparcos satellite as 601 light years.
14	NGC 1528 Magnitude: 6.4 Size: 24.0' Number of stars: 40 Magnitude of brightest star: 8.8 Saguaro description: Cl,B,vRi,cC Some see “arcs of stars” within the cluster in larger scopes. I see a lower-case “m”.
15	NGC 1342 Magnitude: 6.7 Size: 14.0' Number of stars: 40 Magnitude of brightest star: 8.8 Large and easy to identify.
16	Abell 426 (Challenging object) Very large and dense galaxy cluster. Reported to be excellent in 12-inch and larger scopes under dark skies. Use an exit pupil of about 1.5mm to detect faintest members. View at right is about 0.5 degrees in diameter at the center of the large cluster outline in chart. Great discussion of visually observing this cluster at: http://pw2.netcom.com/~ahighe/a426.html
17	NGC 1275 Brightest in Abell 426 group and easiest to observe. Very active Seyfert galaxy is a strong radio (Perseus A) and X-ray source (3C84). Research shows loops of gases moving outward at 1500 miles/s. ~235 million ly distant Foreground dust belongs to a nearly edge-on spiral colliding with the brighter elliptical.
18	Eastern Area Objects
19	NGC 1582 Magnitude: 7.0 Size: 37.0' Number of stars: 20 Magnitude of brightest star: 9.0 Large cluster that appears best in binoculars and wide-field scopes.
20	NGC 1499 California Nebula Magnitude: 5.0 Size: 160.0' x 40.0' Low surface brightness. 1500 ly distance, 105 ly in extent. Object reported to respond well to an H-beta nebula filter. UHC shows hints of the outline at a dark site. Best observed in a wide-field scope. In the Orion arm of the Milky Way and illuminated by Xi Per.
21	Barnard 5 Dark nebula 1 degree northeast of O Persei. Found on two separate lists of the “best of dark nebula”. Rated 5/6 for ease of observation. Link to List 1 Link to List 2 Try observing with a wide-field scope or binoculars.
22	NGC 1514 Magnitude: 10.8 Size: 2.0' x 1.5' Central star: 9.5 mag Responds to OIII filter at about 100x. Real size is about 2.5 ly at a distance of 4300 ly.
23	Double Stars in Perseus