Anyway I will be looking at some of the usual suspects from my apartment complex playground. Will probably start off towards the south and observe objects in Sagittarius and Scorpius. This time of the year, both southern constellations go down pretty early. But then there are just so many DSO's to look at here. Starting with Scorpius there is globular clusters M4 and M80, as well as open clusters M6 and M7. Both open clusters look pretty despite the skyglow. I have yet to observe them in my C6 but they fill the field of my 20x80LW with sparkling diamonds of different intensities. M4 looks a tad fainter than I remember from the southern hemisphere, but still shows some resolution. M80 is a nice ball with a tight center. Have yet to check out the bug nebula in my C6 too.
Moving onto Sagittarius, I usually like to start in the M8 and M20 region. The Lagoon (M8) only shows the brightest regions (the hourglass) when viewed without a UHC type filter, and the trifid nebula (M20) is totally invisible without it. I find the best combination is by using my Orion Expanse 20mm with the NPB to give a magnification of about 37x. Views are washed out from my locale when I use my Meade 24.5mm with the NPB and it becomes too dim at 60x if I pop in the 2x barlow. While not the prettiest view, I can make out the dark lane in the lagoon as well as more nebulosity. The trifid's dark lanes are hard. Using M8 and M20 as a jumping off point, I usually surf over to M17, the swan nebula and M16, the eagle nebula. Since these objects are higher in the sky and away from the glow, they look much better. The swan in particular can be studied in detail and clearly shows its graceful neck and head regions. It is visible without the NPB filter in place but to study it in greater detail, you need a filter. The eagle is a tad harder and even with the filter in place only shows traces of nebulosity!
Moving on from star forming regions to globular clusters, I find I still don't have to use the finderscope and can just wonder down from M17 to where M22, the crackerjack cluster is and boy is this a cracker of a cluster. M22 is lose by globular standards and easily resolvable. Even my 20x80's show some graininess. Its a pity that its so low in the skies in the northern hemisphere. I rank this glob as one of the finest for small scope after Omega Centauri, 47 Tucana, followed closely by southern globs NGC 6397 and 6752, the Ara and Pavo globs....all which show varying degrees of resolution. From mag 5.1 LA skies, I find I start to see resolution at about 60x. Best views are at 150x with the 6mm Radian. While you are looking at M22, do check out M28 that is just a whisker away. This one does not show resolution in a 6" scope, but my 10" operating at about 400x, it shows several resolved stars from dark skies.
Still on the subject of globs since this time of the year there are just so many to choose from, go check out M10 and M12 in Ophiuchus and then bounce over to Hercules to scope out M13, the great Hercules cluster and then M92. M10 and M12 are nice in a 10" scope from dark skies as they show quite a bit of resolution, but from light drenched skies in a 6", you might see a speck or two but in general they are substandard! Same goes for M13. I still cannot understand why it is the best northern glob since M22 and M5 blow M13 out of the water! I see resolution in my 6" at 300x from LA skies, but even then it is not spectacular.
Now want to see something that can blow your socks off even from LA skies in a 6" scope? Check out M11, the wild duck cluster in Scutum, as well as the planetary nebula's M57, the ring nebula and M27, the dumbbell nebula, both in Lyra, the harp and Vulpecula, the fox. These three are showpiece objects that, due to their high elevation in northern skies, can appear spectacular. M11 does look like a flock of wild ducks migrating at 37x, with some stars flitting in and out of view. At 150x the cluster explodes with stars and it looses its wild duck appearance! Operating at 150x with the NPB filter in place, M57 does resemble a ghostly doughnut that Homer from the Simpson's would want to sink his teeth into. I cannot think of a better way to spend the evening than letting M57 drift through the FOV of of my 6mm Radian in the 6"! Maybe that can be bettered by letting M27, the dumbbell that appears more like a filling out apple core doing the same thing, but at 37x magnification with the NPB in place.
Want the icing on the cake......old Jove rises quite high by 10pm, and he is followed closely by Uranus. Plus Jupiter's opposition occurs on the 21st this month, and it will display close to a 50 arcsec disk! Can't wait to get out under the stars...
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