Thanks gentlemen,

What a real treat that was! Sometimes you never know what you'll find
out there. This is the type of goodiy that keeps me inspired.

ultralightbackpacker

M46 is a nice one, one of my favorites of the winter sky light pollution seems
to affect it more than some others.

About 1.3 degrees to the west is M47, another fine open cluster, the stars are
brighter but those tiny pin points of M46. Scan the region around m47 as there
are some interesting targets.

Another nice cluster, fainter than M46 but similar is NGC2360, its about 1/3
the way between M47 and Sirius on a direct line and just east of a 5.5
magnitude star.

Another favorite is M93, due 9 degrees due nearly due south of M46. And then 6
degrees west and a bit south is Tau Puppis which is surrounded by NGC 2362,
sometimes referred to as the Mexican Jumping Bean Cluster.

Lots of interesting clusters in the this region.

Recent I stumbled upon NGC 2467, a cluster with enveloped in a faint
nebulosity, it takes a moderately dark site to see the nebulosity.

NGC 2467 is 1.7 degrees south-south east of Xi Puppis, a magnitude 3.3 star
with a friend about 4 arc minutes away that make a nice multicolored guide post
for finding both NGC2467 and M93.

jon