A Long overdued update...Night of the Crab Nebula

The long festive season has come and gone. Weather has not been the best for observing as we have been getting heaps of rains and clouds. But on frigid wintery evenings/nights, where the skies have been clear, the transparency is usually phenomenal. And phenomenal it was. Limiting magnitudes have gone up and DSO's that look eh in my 6" f/5 scope now look ooohhhh. M42, the Orion Nebula even looked superb without the NPB filter in place. So yes it was time to try and see if I could bag M1, the Crab Nebula in Taurus. Well prior to this, I revisited M78, the reflection nebula in Orion and found it easily so my guess was that M1 would reveal itself. I could make out more of M78 than on previous occasions. And yes it did reveal itself, even without the Orion SkyGlow filter in place. Of course the Crab resembled a smudge of light, not unlike an oil slick on the surface of a lens without any detail whatsoever...but to be able to even see its ghostly visage from light polluted Los Angeles was a feat in itself. So for those of you who think DSO's are impossible from light polluted suburban skies, I say try harder. The skies the limit (no pun intended) literally. The next time I am out, I am going to try and bag me some galaxies in the Leo-Ursa Major-Virgo region......