Don Pensack wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 1:42 pm
And M22 is not as bright as M4.Hmm.
Well, there's a number of considerations. First of all, I take your comment as encouragement. Having stumbled on the dimmer target, the brighter should be easier. So, I will keep trying.
That said, though, I know from other learning, such as lockpicking, that if I
try, it only gets more
difficult, but if you are just sitting there with a beer, talking to another hacker, the lock pops open. So, too, here, I was not trying to find M22. I just recognized the object for what it was when I "discovered" it with no agenda.
Similarly, I purposelfully sought out some double stars, and some were easier than others, but one night, moving my telescope to align with Mars, I happened on Eta Pisc but in the instant that it was in view, I knew it for a binary and looked it up later. Hard as it was to see naked eye, I might not have been so successful on purpose.
And individual outcomes are variable. Even as peer-validated data, the numbers are just indicators. Eye relief, exit pupil,
Bortle numbers, and all that
only predict, they do not determine, even your own right eye versus your own left eye.
Just take
Bortle, seemingly an empirical value. I look up, no Milky Way,
Bortle 8. But one night, I could see Lyra pretty good and Cygnus, too; so I turned the telescope in that direction and saw stars that were not in those constellations. Oh... The Milky Way, of course...
BTW: I subscribe to
Amateur Astronomy magazine and I see that you published half a dozen articles there.
Best Regards (and clear skies!)
Mike M.