M34 / NGC1039
The constellation of Perseus is about 60 degrees high, and still rising, at about 21:00 GMT in mid November. This can mean that some objects in this constellation, especially with Dobsonian telescopes, can be difficult to see near its passage through our zenith. Therefore, they can sometimes be seen more easily when they are still rising. Just as equatorial telescopes have a blind spot near the north celestial pole, Dobsonian telescopes can have ablind spot near the zenith. This is where steering and looking through these telescopes can start to get quite awkward.
The star cluster M34, (RA 02:42, Dec +42:47 epoch 2000), is one of those deep sky objects that I can sometimes see with the naked eye, in exceptional conditions. It is just under 1,500 light years away and is composed of a reasonable number of stars from about 8th to 10th magnitude. It presents no challenge to 7×50 binoculars, in terms of resolving the individual stars. It is also not too difficult to find as it is about midway between gamma Andromeda and beta Persei, also known as Algol, the Demon Star. Telescopically, especially with larger telescopes, it can seem a bit disappointing
as it does not show a huge number of stars as the magnification is increased. However, for small telescopes, especially at low power, it is well worth trying to find.
Another star cluster in Perseus which is almost as bright as M34, and bears many similarities to it, is NGC 1528, (RA 04:15 Dec +51:14). If M34 is near the end of the left arm of Perseus, then NGC 1528 can be visualised as being near the end of the right arm. It is normally an easy sight in 7×50 binoculars, although not quite as easy as M34. However, telescopically, this object, to me, seems more interesting than M34. It is about twice as distant, over 2,500 light years away, and seems slightly richer. The individual stars are still relatively bright, compared to some ofthe more distant star clusters, but are about a magnitude fainter than the stars of M34. In my early days of observing,when I was using a 4.25 inch f3.5 reflector, magnifying about 17x, this was one of the objects I started to find beforeI got very far in seeing all of the 110 Messier objects. It is definitely easier to find than some of the more elusive Messier objects.