2025-03-19

• Condition: E5
• Location: Home, Spearfish: 44.49, -103.87

Excellent crisp night. Had a short window of time to view.

08:43PM

• Target: NGC 1746
• Const: Taurus
• RaDec: 05h03m +23.49
• Type: Open Cluster
• Scope: AT102ED
• Setting: 26x
• Class: II 2 r

I love it when I find a new favorite. As far as I know, NGC 1746 isn’t a well known cluster so I was expecting an average observation tonight.

What a breath-taking view. I caught myself actually uttering “wow” verbally when I first saw it. The sheer number of faint hardly-noticeable stars in the field was mesmerizing. They were verging on the edge of requiring AV to see, and because of this they would sparkle faintly. This gave the impression of the gentle undulations of the waters surface glinting in the sun. There were a few more noticeable stars thrown in the mix to add variety to the over all appearance.

Not sure if it was just my luck with the excellent crisp skies tonight, or having just the right magnification to see this, but either way NGC 1746 has been added to my list of favorites. I love being surprised.