Asking me to pick my favorite open cluster for an
astronomy binocular is like asking me to pick my favorite chocolate! What few brain cells I have left would fry in the attempt. Not going to happen. What I am willing to do, however, is pick my favorite open star clusters for binocular by season. With that in mind, my favorite summer open star cluster for a
binocular (drum roll, please) is M7 in Sagittarius. To me, it is the epitome of
summer binocular astronomy. Only way it could be better is if it was higher in the sky for our northern latitudes. Even close to the horizon, even under my light polluted sky, though, this open cluster is a grand sight and, like many of the great
binocular open clusters, it is a better sight in a binocular than it is a telescope.