Started with Jupiter and Saturn. Seeing is good, and there is some good detail in both gas giants. Jupiter's cloud bands show structure, and Saturn shows cloud bands and the Cassini division quite distinctly.
M75 was next to Saturn, so starhopped over to this small, tight glob.
Then saw the galaxy NGC6907 not too far away, so did my best to find this one. I found it, and think I could see it, but it was a very faint, very diffuse cloud that was best seen in averted vision.
NGC6822 Barnard's galaxy. Another large, faint, diffuse cloud better seen with averted vision. Surprisingly large (I wrote in my notes that it filled the
M54. A small glob with a bright core with a hazy cloud around it. Could maybe resolve some stars at high magnification.
M22. A big impressive glob with lots of individual stars resolved.
NGC6638. A small cloud of light.
M28. A medium sized glob. A few stars seemed to resolve at higher magnifications.
NGC6642. A small ball of light.
M17. Love going by the Swan nebula.
M16. More nebulosity than I often get from this one.
M75. Small bright cluster.
M2. Bright, dense cluster.
Neptune was its usual small blue dot.
NGC7721. A faint oblong streak.
M31. A naked eye object tonight. The telescope gave a very nice view of the Andromeda galaxy. Could see the haze well out into the spiral arms, and could make out a couple of dust lanes near the core. M32 and M110 were readily visible as well.
M33. A nice cloud of light. I get optimixtic sometimes whether or not I can make out arms on this one.
Decided I had to pass by M81 and M82.
Perhaps the highlight was getting a good look at Mars after allowing it to rise fairly high in the sky. I know I have guessed and imagined various Martian features, but tonight there was a clear, distinct dark swath across the otherwise orange face of the planet.
Uranus was a small greenish dot.
M57 was a nice ring with hints of color around the ring.
Helix nebula. A very faint cloud with a darker center.
Finally, the moon rose as a deep red crescent.
Then I packed up and headed back down the mountain.
