These two star clusters can be found easily nearby the constellation Cassiopeia. The Messier object M52 is a quite large open cluster with clearly identifiable boundaries and has a diameter of at least 20'. Its image is determined by a very bright star, however the cluster itself looks quite rich, even though the brightness of other stars is not even close to their brightest companion. To the east from M52, behind a wall of shiny stars lies the open cluster OCL261 (also known as Czernik 43), populated with a dozen dim stars.

Nice open cluster in the neighborhood of the famous double-cluster of the constellation Cassiopeia. It has a quite large diametre of 20'. Its most notable member is the 7.38 magnitude red giant star, HD 16068.

This open cluster is located in a star field that's free from bright stars. Its most remarkable figure reminds me of a reaping-hook, and is composed by four stars between magnitudes 9 and 10. These are also considered the brightest members of the cluster, besides these only a couple of stars of 8-10m are visible in the field of vision, but most of the members are fainter than 12m. For about 20' to the south is the planetary nebula PNG138.0+04.1, but its nebulosity can only be suspected even by using averted vision - the large, 5.5' diameter planetary cannot really be seen even with the UHC filter on. However, its 13m central star can be found and a little haziness can be detected next to this star that is probably illuminated by the brighter stars next to the central one.

If I wouldn't check this object out previously with my planetarium-software, I would most probably didn't even notice this sparsely populated open cluster through the telescope. Catalogues claim that it has a diameter of around 25', however it looks larger to me. Its three brightest 7m members rule the field of vision. Unfortunately at the time of this sketch, the Moon was in a phase of around 35%, painting the entire sky gray, which is probably the reason why I haven't noticed any stars brighter than 13m in the area even by using averted vision, no matter that there were an excellent seeing this time.

In the neighborhood of the M103 located this tiny but spectacular open cluster. 71x: the object probably looks the nicest on this magnification. It's notable figure is a little line formed by four stars of around the same (11-12) magnitude. 167x: the cluster itself is less spectacular on this power, however one of the four stars splits to a binary of two dim (13m) stars. The OC has an easy position, and is a very interesting, spectacular view, worth taking a look at it.

This is a large open cluster with a diametre of around 15'. Not that spectacular, although it can be clearly distinguished from its environs that is relatively poor in stars. It has two separate shiny parts, with the brightest stars as shiny as 7.5-9 magnitudes, sparkling in all different colours. The Western part of the cluster has an optical double at its end towards the middle of the cluster that can be easily separated, and where both members are also real doubles in themselves. However, I could not resolve those doubles at this magnification level.

Even the brightest star of this 6-7' cluster is only 10m, and all the rest of its brighter stars (about half a dozen) are also near 12m. Hidden in the background are even fainter members (about 30-35), which can be seen by averted vision to the 14th magnitude or so. It has a fuzzy background, suggesting plenty of even fainter stars.

This cluster is not too dense and not at all spectacular, for me its only charm was the northern star of the triangle made up of three bright stars with its nice red/orange colour. Its environs are moderately rich in stars, its boundaries are hardly noticeable, because it perfectly fades into its surroundings.

This open cluster can be located easily, yet it doesn't cover a large area. It has half-dozen brighter and at least 20 fainter members. Its most notable pattern is the diamond made up by four bright stars in the middle of the cluster. The OC is clearly separated from its environs.

This famous cluster demands a huge FoV, that can only be achieved by binoculars. At a NELM of about 5 magnitudes, you may notice it with your bare eyes as a large, diffuse spot. The coathanger shape is formed by 10 shiny stars, and the background is painted grainy by the Milky Way.

The component A is estimated at 4.6m with white colour, component B at 5.5m and looks like it has a touch of blue in it. At 71x they are only separated if the seeing permits. At 167x they are perfectly separated, B looks definitely fainter. Separation is estimated at 4.1" with a position angle (PA) of 315°.

Wide pair, nearly identical in colour and brightness, although the component A looks a little bit brighter. They are both a little bit bluish, sometimes I even detect a little orange in component B. A: 5.9m, B: 6.0m, A-B: 14", PA: 183°.

Splits up easily at 71x, although looks much better at 167x. A nice pair with different colour and brightness. A-B: 6", PA: 140°. A very spectacular pair.

A nice bright pair, A is definitely orange and at least 2 magnitudes brighter than B, which looks white/yellow. A: 3.5m, B: 5.4m, A-B: 4.7" PA: 105°. Component D is much fainter and looks perfectly white, with 11m, A-D: 90", PA: 40°.

A bright wide pair with a separation of at least 12". B is much fainter and has a little tint of orange in it. A is perfectly white.

A rather standard pair with different colour and brightness. The catalogues list only 1 magnitude difference in that, but actually it looks much more to me. The fainter component is a bit pastel greenish. A: 4.5m, gold colour, B: 5.4m, green. A-B: 9.2", PA: 270°.

A fairly large asterism made up of stars of similar brightness and colour. It clearly separates from its environs, however it is only an asterism and not an open cluster according to the data I could put my hands on. It resembles either a double questionmark, or the flames of a large torch. Sofar I couldn't find any catalogue that listed this object as an asterism, so I decided to use the designation of Lovro 2. However, please not that this is a totally unofficial designation.

A: white, 7m. B: a bit bluish, 8.1m. C: 10m. D: 11m. A-B does not split until 250x is used, but perhaps better seeing or greater magnification is required. A-B: 1.4", PA: 120°. A-C: 1', PA: 120°. A-D: 2', PA: 270°.

Component A is the brightes part of of the trio by far. They split up easily even at 71x. A: 6.5m, white. B: 9.5m, slightly bluish. C: 11m. A-B: 10", PA: 20°. A-C: 16", PA: 170°. SQM reading: 18.33m/arcsec^2 (full moon!), 6°C.

This is actually an unsuccessful observation, I still believe it should be posted here because it shows how hard is the life of an ordinary visual observer. :) The map I'm using (Triatlas B) shows stars and DSO's to approximately 12 mags. I found this quasar in Auriga and I was sure I'll be able to take a glimpse of this distant object. Without exact position data, I decided to sketch the field of stars and identify the actual quasar later. Unfortunately my astronomy program did not show any quasar here to the 16.5 magnitudes. The reason is that it lists the quasar at 18.2. I've googled the Vmag of this QSO, and found brightness data anywhere from 15.0 to 17.8m. At 15 magnitudes I should be able to see the object surely with averted vision (we had 100% snow coverage, so the NELM was not as good as it used to be). So, what I've learned from this is that brightness information must be handled with special care, especially for faint and exotic objects.