I was intrigued by the discussion s.a.a about what can and cannot be seen with small refractors. What better way to judge the discussion than by observing for myself?! I was not surprised to verify that Jay's side of the discussion was correct. I was easily able to find all the Messier objects that I tried for (except for M51, which Akkana found). The open clusters (M6, M7, M23) looked fine, better in some respects than in my 12" scope since I can achieve a very much wider field of view with the little Pronto. Globulars (M4, M5, M22, M28, M80) looked like little fuzz balls with a steep brightness gradient. Only in M22 was I able to resolve any individual stars. (I didn't try for M13 because it was near the zenith where my "mount" does very poorly.) M57 (the Ring Nebula) was easily resolved as a ring. M8 was big and bright clearly showing some structure. M17 looked nice. M20 was there but I can't really claim to have seen the "Mercedes emblem". M51 was very difficult. I could clearly see it after Akkana found it but I could not see the companion. (Jay and Akkana did see the companion, however.)

The bottom line is that I found 12 out of 12 Messier objects that I tried for in the middle of a huge city with a quarter Moon in just a few minutes of trying. I have no doubt that with more time I could have seen dozens more with little effort. The truth is that small refractors really do work.