2023-07-22

The conditions were perfect, no dew, temperature was just right, and a very gentle breeze to keep the bugs away.

10:34PM

Still beautiful as I remembered. 60x fills the eyepiece nicely.

[1] M 6, Butterfly Cluster (ID)

[2] Open Cluster (ID)

10:41PM

[1] M 7, Ptolemy Cluster (ID)

[2] Open Cluster (ID)

10:58PM

Neat little cluster, detect some background 'glow'.

[1] NGC 6520 (ID)

[2] Open Cluster (ID)

[3] ../images/2023-7-22_NGC6520.jpg

11:06PM

[1] M 8, Lagoon Nebula (ID)

11:11PM

[1] M 20, Trifid Nebula (ID)

11:19PM

The star-cloud was so large, I could not fit it in my 21mm (30x) eyepiece. The best view happened to be in the finder-scope.

[1] M 24, Milky Way Patch (ID)

11:28PM

Very clear and easy to see the shape. The neck was a little distorted, and just a little AV helped define it.

[1] M 17, Swan Nebula (ID)

11:36PM

[1] M 16, Eagle Nebula Cluster (ID)

11:48PM

Fainter small blue circle. AV isn't really required.

[1] NGC 6445, He 2-290 (ID)

[2] ../images/2023-7-22_NGC6445.jpg

12:13PM

Super faint, AV is nearly required.

[1] NGC 6369, Little Ghost Nebula (ID)

[2] ../images/2023-7-22_NGC6369.jpg

12:25PM

Best view of Saturn to date. Was able to push magnification to 300x and began to see a sliver of a shadow on the rings behind Saturn. The planet and rings really 'popped' more than I've ever seen before.