Sketch, 2000/2/12, with 8" Dobsonian, 25mm eyepiece. 1 degree field of view. Observed from Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. M40 is indeed a pair of faint stars, as indicated by the arrow in the sketch. It is interesting that Messier included it in his list anyway, although he knew it is not a deep sky object. A faint galaxy, NGC 4290 of 12th magnitude, should be in the same field. But it was not observed from the site.
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All images by Jerry Xiaojin Zhu unless noted otherwise. Feel free to use them for your personal enjoyment. For other usage please contact the author at jerryzhu@gmail.com
