Equipment: 16” Dobsonian telescope, 55mm and 12mm Tele Vue Nagler eyepieces.
“New” objects observed: Messier 10, Messier 12
Previously viewed objects observed: Messier 56
“New” is in quotes there because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen M10 and M12, but never bothered to make note of it. In any case, I made sure to look at them tonight, so two more off the Messier list for sure.
This was a surprisingly difficult night. The smog was, I think, less heavy than the day before, so I had some hope that it would be a decent night, but I ended up having a lot of trouble with the three globular clusters listed above. The haze seems to have been stronger than I realized.
I also wanted to try and knock out some more of the Messier objects I have either not observed or have observed and forgot about, but most of them were either not in the sky or behind a building. M107 was in the sky but I was unable to see it for some reason, and M15 had not quite cleared the house when I decided to pack it in. Most of the Sagittarius goodies were stuck behind the neighbors’ house and not emerging anytime soon. With the Moon coming up anyway, I decided to bag it. While the sky was not nearly as murky as the night before, there was still enough smog and such to make it tough.
Sadly, another mediocre viewing night. Getting two more notches in the Messier belt was nice, but I think another trip to the mountains is in order as soon as possible.
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