Virtual Moon Atlas SW for rescue..

Date: Sept 28th 2009, Monday
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 77% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5

Used Virtual Moon Atlas to browse thru Moon's features near terminator. Considering the refractor size, it provides interesting features near the terminator. Initially I accidentally picked up the 999mm refractor size and looked for corresponding features, but soon realized that they were too tiny to browse..even hard to see with my max mag @200x with barlowed 4mm TMB EP. After switching to 50mm refractor size, I got the decent features around 10-15 in count.

Crater Euler,
Crater Lambert,
Crater Copernicus,
Sinus Iridum,
Motes Carpatus,
Crater Bullialdus,

While browsing, it seemed like there is pattern in the alignment of these craters.. e.g. Bullialdus and its near by craters A & B are aligned so closely to it, as if they are created becasue of the impact in primary crater. Same thing abt Copernicus-Reinhold-Lanseberg or Archemedies-Timocharis-Lambert-Euler alignment.. considering the distances, I am sure they are not related..but considering the curved pattern just felt like it.

The 6mm @ 66x was definitely sharp image. 2mm @ 200x wasn't helpful at all. Just not able to focus. I think limitation of the scope, should not be the problem with seeing. 3mm @ 133x was okay but still not good..but 4mm @ 100x was the max discernible magnification. So stayed with it.

also, I realized that for more details this aperture is not at all enough.. Limitation on EPs as well small aperture is not good for serious observation. Need to switch to my 10" dob for detailed observation. OR atleast need 4-5" aperture with long focal length refractor..

Also need to get the V block filter. TBD

Faint Fuzzies with the refractor & moonlight..

Date: Sept 24th 2009, Thursday
Observation Time: 8pm to 9pm (~1 hr)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 45% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5

Moon: 6th day: Observed with TMB eyepieces + barlow. Overall 6mm, 4mm and 3mm ,2mm were still nice views.. extreme zoom with 2mm @ 200x wasn't sharp and too wavy.. but high zoom indeed shows lot of details and gives a feeling of moon walk.
- Crater Posidonius at the edge of mare serenitatis was nice.. you can see tiny crates inside it.
- The white ridge, Dorsa Smirnov, inside mare serenitatis was visible clearly and showed its existence.
- Crater Plinius central mountain visibile.. seemed like 2 peaks.
- Crater Theophilius, Cyrillus, Catharina seemed to be connected with crater edges on East side.

Jupiter: Yday watched jupiter, today just tried TMB EPs with high mags.. 2mm @200x was bad.. probably 3mm @ 133x was max i was able to push. Jupiter bands were visible...sort of.. really hard to focus because of R&P. Tried red filter too.. still not that clear.. non-filter view is much better and clear.

M28 - Yday i missed this one, and today while just browsing for M22, I ended up on this one. In 32mm @ 13x clearly visible. Fuzzy tiny and sort of visible. With barlow @ 26x shows some detail, surely kills some brightness.. wasn't able to resolve any details.. but just glad that you can see this fuzzy so clearly at @13x though heavy moonlight is present. This must be visible from my binocs.

M22: Visible in 32mm, thought can not fit both m22 and m28 in same view. With high mags 6mm @ 66x shows marvellous views of M22. can clearly resolve the stars. Though moonlite is present, I was impressed with the quality of the image and the resolution.

M55: Tried hunting for M55, but moonlite kills everything. hunting thru 32mm.. With barlowed 32mm shows some vignetting while searching the object. Lil hard to use. 25mm Elux is better to use after 32mm, instead of barlowed focal 16mm.

Refractor GOTO ran out of battery. Seems to be a trouble for long term.
Need to hunt some double stars.

Overall I am happy with the tiny refractor what it can do, considering its limitations.

Nexstar 80mm Refractor EP Comparision

Date: Sept 23rd 2009, Wednesday
Observation Time: 8pm to 8:45pm (45mins)
Location: SD home
Weather: Okay. Moon 30% illuminated.
Instruments: Celestron Nexstar 80GT GOTO Refractor f/5
Buddies: Ashwin

Trying to understand which EPs are good for this refractor considering just basic needs. So did a quick eyepiece comparision with Ashwin on moon and jupiter.
10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel
25mm SMA vs 25mm Elux

The scope came with the SMA EPs, but i am just trying if better EPs can make a huge difference for a newbie observer.

Tried it on Moon. (30% illuminated)
25mm => 16x
25mm + 2x barlow 12.5mm => 32x
10mm => 40x
10mm + 2x barlow 5mm => 80x

10mm SMA vs 10mm Xcel: Xcel defintely gives more wide field and better eye relief. The image seemed to be same in brightness. With 2x barlow on, Ashwin picked up 3 different objects at various locations and compared. with barlowed image, he noticed that Xcel gives sharper image. Also to him, xcel seemed to be better in brightness. On other side, Xcel is lil bit bulkier than SMA.

25mm SMA vs 22mm Elux: Ashwin didn't find any difference in the views with this one. Not much different except eye relief. Barlowed image also dint have a huge impact with Elux.

Jupiter: 25mm din't provide much magnification here. With 10mm and barlowed image, definitely gave lil more in the Jupiter. At 10mm 50x, Ashwin had hard time seeing any bands on jupiter. Probably i can see them, because i know they are there. with 5mm 100x, he can make out the bands on the disk.. but color aberration indeed hampers the image.

M22: Wasn't a great view of M22 in 2mm @20x. Moon Light pollution also just makes it bad.

Overall with the EP comparison, I realized that it doesn't make huge difference for a beginner to differentiate.. probably for my dad, it wont make any difference either :) !!

Friday Night with Oreo Cookies - I

Date: Sept 18th 2009, Friday
Observation Time: 8pm to 1:30am (5.5 hrs)
Location: Jon's Home, Boulevard, CA
Weather: Excellent.. Chillier !!
Instruments: Jon's 12.5" dob, Jon's Celestron 100mm f/5 achromat. Didn't open my 10" dob.
Buddies: Jon

Jon and I decided to observe on Friday night rather than usual Sat night. Jon had some work to finish at home on sat because of Francis's Bday. Being Friday, leaving from work and reaching to Blvd was lil hectic.. both of us were hungry too. Had some funtime having Oreo Cookies and Milk. I don't even remember when was the last time I had cookies and milk.. probably when i was a kid :) ..and since friday, Jon is pulling my legs for recommending oreo cookies with milk :)..

Decided to operate only one scope 12.5" and work together..

From M8 to M7 South-west browsing for dark lanes and deep sky objects NGC 6544-6553 (New): This was an interesting experiment, browsing thru this region with 12.5" scope and 28mm Williams UWAN (50x). Just wanted to see the milky way details.. Clearly milky way stars were crowded together..lot of dark lanes around.. and lot of tiny clusters.. Out of all these, Two GCs 6544-6553, next to M8, were indeed popping in the eye. They are at the SE corner of the M8. Indeed small, but noticeable.. the whole southern area seems lil crowded and indeed bright.

Baade's window NGC 6522-6528 (New): Recently read abt this in CN Small wonders article. Mentioned to Jon abt two GCs close to galactic center. First globular 6522 is an easy catch, makes an equi triangle with two bright stars Gamma Saggi & W Saggi. The second globular 6528 is at the center of this triangle. 2nd GC 6528 is definitely faint and smaller than first GC 6522. Thru 4" refractor on 35mm Panoptic, 14x, can easily see first GC, but requires lil bit of averted vision for second one..still not that difficult, if you know where to look at.

Mentioned to Jon that i need to try 3 nebulas in Cygnus. N American + Pelican, Crescent planetory and Veil third component called Pickering's Triangle.

North American Nebula and Pelican Nebula (New): Being a huge and faint object, this one always eluded me. With 28mm UWAN, 50x, I can barely see anything fuzzy in the view. The problem is the wide field of 3deg, required by this object. The only thing which i saw is a crowded region and probably some dark lanes. With OIII filter on, probably i can make out the lane connecting the Northern America part to the southern side.. still want able to see much of the northen american shape. some west coast parts may be lil brighter.. Off the east coast, Pelican nebula was definitely visible.. again..no dark lanes or pelical visible.. probably requires lil magnification.. but definitely the fuzzy part off the coast of florida was visible.

Tried both again in the refractor.. but that was without filter.. so nothing much to see in there. Without filter these objects are indeed difficult.

M30: Wanted to just see it again for details with jon's scope. At 87x, with 16T2, GC with curved A is visible..but higher magnification indeed shows it well. 9mm and 4.5mm nagler shows all details. 9mm nagler at 140x resolves the cluster at outskirts.. the alignment with the A shape is indeed looks nice. Are the A shape stars part of this cluster or just in the view? Update: Yes.. these stars are part of the cluster. these are huge red-giants in the cluster on a horizontal branch. With high exposure photograph, you can see all faint stars in M30 which indeed covers the whole A shape.

M72-M73: In order to look for Saturn nebula thru jon's scope, checked both M72 and M73. M72 was definitely resolvable at outskirts with 16T2 (87x). M73 triangular asterism of 4 stars is visible. I wasn't aware there are 4, till i read abt it. One of the vertex is sort of double with a faint star.

Saturn Nebula: Higher aperture and better eyepieces indeed shows these objects better than my scope. Lil small but bright..sort of giving the hint saturn rings around it. defintely supports higher mags, but cant see much details. tried till 7mm Nag (200x).. also tried the OIII filter.. jon mentioned that object already being bright, filter doesn't help much.

Because of Cookies and milk dinner, Jon was feeling sleepy and went to lie down in motor home. He slept for 1.5 hrs.. In the mean time, with jon's scope and all his excellent eyepieces and filters, I enjoyed the night at fullest.

M55 (New): This GC is marvelous and huge as compared to most of messier GCs. Easy binocular object, just always missed it. Easily resolvable at lower magnifications. don't remember any details.

M75 (New): Compared to its neighbors M55, M75 is a hard object. Wasn't visible at all in the binocular.. Spent hell lot of time in locating this object. Barely visible in finder. This one is probably 1/5 in size of his bigger cousin and not that bright either... nothing special abt it.. just yet another M object.

Veil Nebula: Pickering's triangle: Veil was as usual marvelous in Jon's scope. Broom and veil both visible nicely in 28mm uwan with filter on. Next to the broom, there is third part visible. This is indeed faint as compared to first two parts.. but definitely visible. Triangular fuzziness is visible. I wasn't aware abt the 3rd component before reading abt it. so wanted to take a look.

M57 ring: Ring was tiny in 28mm uwan @ 50x. but as you bump up the magnification, M57 indeed shows its true size. with filter on the nebulosity indeed becomes brighter. The donut shape is stronger. With filter on the 2" star vanished..but without filter this one shows up nicely.

Continued..

Friday Night with Oreo Cookies - II

Continued..

Blinking PN 6826: There is huge difference betn this one and M57. Compared to their sizes, this one is really really tiny. probably its 1/5th the size of ring. Easy to locate. I think i saw it @ 50x. As I bumped up the mag to 87x with 16T2, the blinking star inside the PN was sort of visible.. More the mags, the blinking effect just went away and bright white star in the bluish disk stays nicely. Unlike M57, this disk is not donut shaped.. the disk is complete, no hole, and the star is perfect white. The blue color depth keeps on reducing from edge to center, probably because of the existence of the star. the more you look at the star more brighter it seems. Blinking PN was masterpiece of the night.

M39 (New): Naked eye object. Thru binocs or lowest mag shows the stars in pyramid/triangle shape. Whole triangle is filled up with stars. Its indeed beautiful.

M29: While hunting for Crescent Nebula, browsed thru this one. Its a small open cluster. Not that impressive for an open cluster..around 15 stars. It shows sort of butterfly shape or outwards curved H. Because of the shape definitely stands out in the view.

Crescent Nebula (New): This is indeed a hard object. In 28mm @ 50x or at higher magnification also, nothing is visible in direct sight. If looked carefully at correct location, then with 50x, i can see the typical curved fuzziness, but still really really faint. After adding the filter, nebula shows up.. With 16T2 @ 87x, it indeed shows the typical Epsilon E-C shape. It fills up around 25% of the eyepiece in center. It is indeed fainter than veil pickering part. Jon wasn't even able to find it. But i got it luckily and then figured out the exact location from M29 and deneb. Should be able to find it next time.

Helix Nebula: Just wanted to take a look thru bigger aperture. Din't make much difference. Filter helps to brighten it up, but then it still din't show any details in the helix. Interesting thing to note is, I can see 4 bright stars inside/on the helix. Some of them seem to be behind the helix too. Being closet PN, probably should highly magnify it to see the details.

Scl GC 288 + Sculptor Gal 253: Both of them are easy catch. Can't fit them in same view @50x with UWAN 82deg, but they are close.. probably in the same view in Ethos 100deg may be possible. The GC is resolvable @ 87x in 16T2, seemed like yellow stars sprinkled on bluish cluster disk. the galaxy is also huge.. it feels up 80% of the 16T2 eyepiece. being sort of edge on, seemed pretty thick too. I felt like i saw some mottling or vertical line/gap on the left side of the galaxy, lil bit like M82 ?? TBD.

Sculptor Dwarf Gal: Failed. The skymap shows it pretty huge object... and so i tried to look for it..Fought for it but didn't find it. Jon also tried it but failed.. when we checked the details of the object, the description indeed shows huge size, but surface brightness is +17.0 magnitude. Completely useless. Need bigger aperture or is it just a photographic object?

MCG -06-03-015 Sculptor Dwarf, Constellation: Sculptor, Dimension: 40.0'x 31.0', Magnitude: 10.50, Surface Brightness: 17.10, Description: vvL,eeF,lE ESO 351-G030,Member of Local Group,large and dim


M34: Tired..so revisiting something. Messed up the location. Picked up wrong stars in perseus and andromeda to look for it. It indeed seems like bouquet or probably diwali cracker - zaad.

M52: Hunt for bubble in Cassiopeia starts with M52 cluster.. because of the filter, cluster is dim, but still the bright star, at the edge of the cluster, seems prominent. With 87x, this one seems interesting. dint try high mags without filter.

Bubble nebula: failed. After the inspiration from Crescent nebula, tried for bubble nebula. Jon mentioned to use H-beta filter on this. He also said that he has tried for it a lot but failed. Indeed hard object. Wasn't even sure how its supposed to look like or how faint it is..

M31-M32-M110: Quick browse thru refractor.. M32 and M110 are indeed tiny with 14x 35mm panoptic.

Pleiades M45: All bluish stars..no fuzziness. Didn't fit in the same view of Pan 14x.

Cygnus PN 7048 (Failed) 7026 (New): Initially we started looking for 7048. It was indeed hard to locate. Later I realized that in cloudy nights article i read abt 7026 and not 7048.. So we switched to 7026. Jon found 7026 quickly. Next to Cyg 63. This one exactly looks that 6441 GC next to G scorpi star. Really close to the bright star. Indeed big, all white in color. Considering the location of 7026, I should be able to locate it next time. 7048 seems to be lil bit tough object and indeed lil bit difficult to locate. Not sure if its worth observing.

Planetary Nebula NGC 7026, Constellation: Cygnus, Dimension: 0.4'x 0.2', Magnitude: 12.00, Surface Brightness: 8.50, Description: pB,biN
Planetary Nebula NGC 7048, Constellation: Cygnus, Dimension: 1.0'x 0.8', Magnitude: 11.00, Surface Brightness: 12.20, Description: pF,pL,dif,iR,vlbM

The whole confusion betn 7048 and 7026 happened because my pocket sky atlas maps 7048 but doesn't even show 7026, though 7026 seems brighter than 7048. I think surface brightness makes a huge difference and pocket atlas should have considered it in the mapping. Same thing also applies for Scultor dwarf. The skymap shows it to be a huge object, but otherwise it was really hard to see visually because of lower surface brightness.

Milkyway Alignment: Over the last 3 months i have seen how milky way moves around the northen celestial pole..e.g. how the milky way in saggitarus rotates much faster than the one in cygnus or much less rotation in cassiopeia, but again much wider angled rotation in Orion. Obviously southern parts are gonna move-rotate much faster and wider as compared to northern objects, but the interesting part here is that..because milkyway is a single line or disk, it moves around and shows the real alignment. All the arms and dust lanes shows the disk rotating precisely.. So is it actually rotating around galactic north star? Where is the galactic north pole ?? Probably 23N of north pole..not sure TBD. Milkyway must be rotating around it. Need to see the relationship betn celestial pole (earth), Ecliptic pole (solar system alignment), galactic pole (milkyway alignment)

Getting Into The Rhythm - I

Date: Sept 13th 2009, Saturday
Observation Time: 7:30pm to 1:00am (5.5 hrs)
Location: Jon's Home, Boulevard, CA
Weather: Moderate Seeing, Good Transparency. Windy whole night.. chillier !!
Instruments: Jon's 12.5" dob, My 10" dob, Jon's Celestron 100mm f/5 achromat. Bino browsing.
Buddies: Jon

Had 2 sessions after coming back from India..but in this session I felt like my usual rhythm is back. After normal browsing, spent lot of detailed viewings in Capricorn, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Aquila, Hercules etc.. total 5.5 hrs observing was excellent..

Just after sunset, browsed few bright usual candidates thry my scope and Jon's refractor.

M7-M6: Nice viewing. Pin point stars.. butterfly red star seemed orange. there is a GC next to M7, but missed it. need to find out TBD.

6441 Tiny Glb next to G scorpi: while looking for M7, ended up at this GC next to G Scorpi. GC is small, but bright.. Initially felt like shape of 8..but its not.. surprisingly, its also visible thru 10x50 binocs thru averted vision. How much is magnitude of this TBD?

N Jewl box: Quick browsing.. seemed lil tiny in the nagler..

M4 Antares & 6144: M4 next to antares is definitely resolvable in 17mm nagler 76x. 6144 seemed lil smaller.. but its definitely not tiny.. its just really faint so lil tricky to observe.. seemed like egg shaped..

Alberio: In the pair, the green star seemed bluish..probably not dark enough yet after sunset

With Jon's refractor, did lil browsing. Used his Williams 28mm UWAN. Excellent viewing. Lagoon, Triffid, Swan, Eagle, Wild duck M11, M4 Antares.

Pipe nebula in Oph: Its dark nebula. Lil bit visible thru naked eye, if you know what you are looking for. Binoc browsing with Jon.. Refractor browsing with 28mm UWAN wasn;t much helpful

M23 OC: In Saggi, saw thru binoculars. Easy to spot.. preety wide and big.

M25 OC: In saggi, opposite of M23..located at the center of the inverted comma-spiral. Thru binocs.. Not as dense as M23 OC.

M22 GC, M28 GC: Opposite ends of lambda saggi star. M28 smaller, but still visible thru binoculars clearly.. usual bluish in color.

M62 GC (New): Yet another GC in sco. Smaller than M4. Easy to locate.

Veil Nebula: Observed this one multiple times during the night. All viewings were excellent.
- ~8pm: Being at zenith, hard to point the scope. Jon pointed this one thru his 16.5". Both components visible.
- ~8:15pm: In the refractor, filter on, with 28mm UWAN. You can fit complete Veil loop in the view. Excellent. I don't even remember if I have seen the complete Veil before. Tried 35mm Panoptic on this one. UWAN view was definitely better than panoptic. Mag + extra Fov definitely helps to capture better view.
- ~10pm: In Jon's 16.5 scope with his 16T2 nagler, we compared 2 OIII filters on veil, Celestron 2" & Orion 1.25". I wasn't aware abt which filter is ON. Jon was testing both filters blindly without knowing them. First (Ori 1.25") seemed to give brighter view of the nebulosity than second one (Cel 2"). Ori 1.25" was cheaper than Cel 2" filter.
- ~11:45pm: In my 10" dob, 17T4 nagler, with Cel 2" filter, Saw the veil. Without filter the nebulosity is not that clear. In first componet "broomstick", the bigger part on one side of star 52 is clearly visible, but the opposite side wasn't clearly visible. With filter ON, the nebulosity extends and shows its real length.
- In the skyMap, they show third component for veil nebula towards star52, but I/we didn't see it. Need to talk with Jon abt this. TBD.

Capricorn browsing:
M30: Distinctive curved H shape stars with the GC on the right vertical line. Easy to catch and easy to remember. 9x15 Finder shows it faintly. Visited this one after almost an year.

M72 GC: Yet another GC

M73 Asterism: Being close to M72 GC, Easy to spot. Asterism triangle.

Saturn nebula 7009: Easy to spot after observing M72, M73. In 10", 17T4 70x, Bluish. Tiny. Ring shape lil visible. Tried to locate it in Jon's 16.5", 22T4 54x, just wasn't able to find it. instead of following usual m72-m73 line, I went from opposite side with a bright star, but just lost it.

Continued..

Getting Into The Rhythm - II

Continued..

Andromeda/Pegasus browsing:
M31 Andromeda: M31-M32-M110 fits in edge-to-edge in GSO 30mm superview eyepiece in my dob (40x). The EP itself gives the feeling of dust lane in Andromeda. In Jon's 16.5" with 22T4 54x, Andromeda seems brighter. M110 is definitely bigger and elongated than M32..probably lil fainter though.

M33 Triangulum: Always forget the location. My 9x15 finder shows this one. In 17T4 70x, its fainter. Seemed circular.. Can't see any spiral structure. In Jon's 16.5", 22T4 54x, seems brighter and shape is visible..but missed lot of details.. need to watch carefully next time. TBD

Blue snowball 7662: Easy catch, if you know where to look at. really tiny, but bright. Bluish. which one is bigger Saturn PN in Capri or snowball in Andromeda. I think Saturn PN. TBD.

7331 Edge-on Gal: Was Lil tricky to find it.. I know where to look at, but in 30mm, 40x, its hard to find. The edge on shape shows clearly in 17T4, 70x. Definitely bright, but tiny edge on. If 7331 is so hard to locate and see.. then forget abt Stephan's quintet.. read more on magnitude and size differences. TBD

Little Dumbbell M76: Visited after an year.. little dumbbell is really little. Hard to see any dumbbell shape.. but increasing the magnification indeed helps.. brightness is not deemed.

After this had lil bit of bino and naked eye browsing.. trying to get a perspective on milky way.. how things are aligned wr.t perseus, cassiopea, cygnus, saggi etc. Are Cassi-Perseus in different arm than Cyg+ -Saggi. Lot of Nebs are aligned here.

Double cluster: Nice view in 30mm 40x.

M34 OC: Easy to catch. but just don't remember the shape. very less number of bright stars..

M52 OC: May be lil difficult to catch, because it doesn't have anything prominent..but the lil concentrated stars make it probably easier to find it. Definitely small. apart from faint star concentration, ony one bright star at the edge.. not sure if is the field star or actual cluster star.

M103 OC: Does it have the shape of flower bouquet.. dont remember much. probably around 10-15 bright stars to make that shape.

Hercules Browsing:
M13 GC: simply wow..and really huge in 17T4 nagler 70x. It probably fills up the 60-70% of eyepiece.

Gal next to M13: Indeed faint, but visible in my scope in 17T4 70x. Seemed elongated.. In Jon's scope it was definitely brighter and you can miss it. while observing this galaxy, i realized that to take the full advantage of the Nagler view, i need to take out my glasses. I was voiding it tok eep the visin at 20-20, so Jon and I can watch everything at same time..but becasue of that i was loosing lot of details on the object also. Infact initially i missed this galaxy also, but once i took out the glasses I realized how bright it was as comared to my scope.. surprisingly, removing glasses made a huge difference.

Hercules PN 6210: Remembered this one from 6 moths back and asked Jon to point to it..Its interesting to see how Jon remembers the location so smoothly. Again really really tiny little but bright PN.. Can confuse it with a blue star at lower mags. dont remeber any other details.

Continued..

Getting Into The Rhythm - III

Continue..

Helix nebula: Observed this one again after long time. In 17T4 70x fills up the center and probably lil smaller than lagoon nebula. but lagoon is brighter than Helix. With Cel 2" OIII filter, increases the contrast heavily. Everything is white fuzzy, can not see any details.Center doesnt have much fussiness, but dont see any star in the middle either.

With filter ON, checked veil and little dumbbell again.

North American nebula: It is hard to see anything here. Probably the size. with filter on 17T4, 70x, its not gonna help much. Need to try Jon's refractor UWAN combo with filter ON. or my 30mm with filter.

M27 Dumbbell: Without filter also, its an awesome sight. With filter, can clearly see more fuziness just outskirts of the dumbbell.

M57 Ring: At 70x, 17T4, the ring is tiny, but with filter ON it shows huge contrast. Donut shape is marvelous. the brightness definitely pops up in the eye. Distinctive bluish color. More mags on this one is better, but because of filter i stayed with 17T4 only.

Because the filter was still on.. looked for nearby tiny PNs in skymap.

Aquila pn: triple cave: one of them 6804: Jon had never seen this before.. in some sense its difficult to locate. Definitely faint that our usual tiny PNs (snowball, saturn)..but stil you can see it. Exactly between two field stars. HArd to find it in jon's scope.. not sure why.. After 10mins search, we got this one on his scope. Lil brighter in his scope.. surely bigger aperture helps. Map says there should be 2 PNs with 0.5 deg view.. but we saw only one. They are +12.6, +11.2 mags.. 6804 is fainter but bigger than 6803. 6803 is definitely harder.. will try next time. 6807 in triple cave doesn't seem feasible to me..
http://www.umich.edu/~lowbrows/reflections/2002/dscobel.7.html

Aquila globular: In the process, saw a globular..but its not even mentioned in my skymap. Need to read more. check wikisky. (Read more.. there is no globular here..probably just concentration of stars and nothing more.. false alarm)

Sculptor GC 288, Gal 253:
Just before moonrise, asked Jon for older Sculptor galaxy. somehow both of us had hard time o nthis one becase of mismatched location of "TBD" star. but i figred out the correct location and we saw both GC and the gla.. Both objects, esp GC shows up in finder smoothly. Gal is NW of it in 2-3 deg apart. Gal is way too elongated and seemed like a white strip. both objects are indeed bright. Need to read more details.

Moon: Observed moon thru refractor. Din't see much color problem in achro. Probabaly because moon was still on horizon..not too bright..and more yellowish than white.. Jon's 16.5" shows marvellous views of moon..no doubt.. seeing was bad being moon on horizon..

Jupiter: Observed Jupiter multiple times during the night.. thru all instruments.
1 sat + disk + 3 sat alignment. Binoc showed it clearly too. thoug hinitially seeing was bad, jupiter was again a masterpiece.. crispy shot 180x.. 3 bands so clearly visible.. with some dark spot at the center on NE band.

For Next time:

Saggi: m54, m70, m69, GC in M7, m18-swan, m55
Aquila: m11-26,
Capri: m75
Oph: m9
Sco: m19, m80
Peg: m15
Cyg: m29, blinking pn, Veil third component, m39
Her: m92
Lyr: m56
Cassi-Per: Try to picturize shapes in messier OCS.
Scl and For browsing

what is LDN ? how to observe them? Lynds dark nebula catalog..skipping it for a while.