Hi All;
I got out 2 nights last week. The sky was hazy both nights. Friday was really bad. I haven't gotten out in a while, so you take what you can get. I looked at few of the usual Messiers, M13, M15, M92 all very nice. M27 & M57 real good with the Ultra Block filter. I saw a few Planetaries which I've seen before, NGC 6891 very small and round, NGC6543 the Cats Eye a big blue spot, no details, NGC6804 looks like a fan and NGC6790 which looks like a pie with a piece taken out. NGC7006 the Saturn nebula was a hazy blob, usually this has points on the sides, but the sky was not good. Two Galaxies that were visible in the haze were NGC7217 a good size galaxy in Peg. & NGC7331 which has that flying saucer look, big central bulge with points extending in both directions. I did get to see a few new items and a bunch of double stars. Doubles are great, you can see them in less than perfect skies and with a bright moon.

NGC6790 - PN, AQU, mag 10.0, dia 6". This is a very small ring shaped PN. Looked good in the 14MM at 218x but lost it's shape in the 8MM at 380x.

NGC7062 - OC, CYG, mag 8.3, dia 7.0'. There are 4 bright stars in the foreground and lots of dim stars in the background. Nice large item in the 40MM at 76x.

NGC6885 - OC, CYG, mag 6.0, dia 7.0. Large open cluster, didn't take notes.

NGC6910 - OC, CYG, mag 7.4, dia 8.0. It has 2 bright red stars in the foreground. There are 3 lines of stars forming a Peace Sign. So I dubbed this the "Peace Sign cluster". A few more foreground stars and lots in the background. Very nice Oped Cluster. Check it out. Peace be with you.

NGC6929 - OC, CYG, mag 7.8, dia 8.0. Very odd item. Looks much dimmer than the 7.8 magnitude would suggest. There is a central portion with many dim stars resolving and a glow in the background suggesting many unresolved stars. Another part is a loop curling around the top of the central portion. Not sure if this was part of the cluster, but it must be the get the mag and size.

NGC6940 - OC, Vul, mag 6.3, dia 3.1. This was my favorite OC of the 2 nights. Looked very much like M11 with many stars of equal magnitude resolving with a dark background. Dense cluster. Very nice.

Sigma Cass, double star, mag 5.0/7.1, sep 3.7". No notes.

Eta Draco, double star, mag 2.7/8.7, sep 5.2". The 2.7 is a beautiful yellow star. The 8.7 was lost in the glare at 138x. With the 14MM at 218 you can see the dimmer star just above the yellow star, Very nice.

Mu Draco, double star, mag 5.7/5.7, sep 1.9". Twins! Both white stars, looked like headlights at a distance. Good clean black space between them. I liked this one.

17 Draco, triple star. mag 5.4/6.4, sep 3.4" & mag 5.5, sep 90.3". This looked like Epsilon Lyre with one star missing. A very close double with a single bright star not far away. You mat not have thought the other bright star was part of the system.

39 Draco, seven star system, three positive sighting, two maybes, mag 5.0/8.0, sep 3.8" & mag 7.4, sep 88.9". These stars looked very much like 17 Draco above. I could make out 2 more stars. The Cambridge Star Atlas has seven stars, the three mentioned, two at mag 10 & 11 and two more at mag 14. I'll be looking for all seven on the next clear night. A challenge item for sure.

Uranus - mag 5.?, dia 2.?, can't remember the details. Looked absolutely like a disk. Best in the 14MM at 218x. Too hazy for the 8MM. Blue/Green color. I saw it through a hole in the tree branches. I just love finding stuff in there.

The best item of the two days was the small ring shaped planetary nebula NGC6790. It's hard to pick out these small ones (6") in a good star field. Like NGC6803 mag 11, dia 6", I couldn't tell which one it was. There were just so many stars in the field, at 6" it's not much bigger that a star, and a hazy night, well, I'll try this again next time. Clear Skies.

That's it;
BOB SAL