The early spring nights of March are ideal for discovery, something Patrick Moore, our late Editor Emeritus, was keen to encourage. To celebrate what would have been Patrick's 100th birthday, we've put together a special challenge based on his very own Caldwell Catalogue.
We're inviting you to take a tour of 10 of our favourite objects from his list, all of which are visible this month. Your task is to find them all in a single observing session. Some of the targets are quite popular, and you'll have seen them in our monthly deep-sky and binocular tours, while others are a little less well-known. Hopefully you'll be discovering some of these for the first time.
The minimum size telescope for this challenge is a 4-inch refractor: all of the objects are within reach of this size instrument under dark skies. Larger apertures will certainly help, of course, revealing hidden details that may otherwise elude you.
We suggest that you attempt the challenge near the third week of the
