Snake Eggs

The best view of this globular was at 203x. It had a bright core, not quite stellar. The cluster appeared mottled, although individual stars were not quite detectable with direct vision. Using averted vision, a couple of stars would pop in and out of view.

This globular was faint, with the best view coming at 81x. A faint field star next to the cluster appeared brighter than the cluster itself. The cluster looked like a small, faint smudge of light, with no stars resolvable.

This cluster was fairly bright. At 203x, it appeared round, with a non-stellar core. It had a slightly mottled appearance, but no stars could be individually resolved.

This globular was extremely faint. At 81x, I had to use averted vision to see it. It appeared as a faint fuzzy patch of light, easily missed on low-power sweeps of the area. With direct vision, the core would become stellar and the nebulous patch would disappear, whereas with averted vision, the stellar core would disappear and only the nebulosity was detected.

This globular was fairly large and bright, with the best view at 203x. Two bright stars were at the edge of the field, making it easier to focus, but far enough away to not interfere too much with viewing the cluster. The core was stellar and the overall shape was round. With averted vision, a little mottling could be seen, but no stars could be resolved.

This cluster was faint and small, somewhat difficult to detect. The best view was offered at 81x, where it appeared as a dim smudge. Even the exact shape was difficult to discern, but there was a definite brightening near the center.

The best view of this globular was at 122x. It appeared somewhat bright and fairly large. Individual stars couldn't be resolved. The core was non-stellar.

This cluster was somewhat faint and small, with the best view at 81x. With averted vision, a stellar core popped in and out of view. A faint star was nestled next to the globular, that had a similar magnitude as the core.

While I was in the area, I had to catch this one. The best view of this globular was at 203x. With direct vision, a few individual stars were resolved, but averted vision revealed many more. Compared with the other clusters I looked at tonight, this appeared really bright and large.

This cluster appeared large and bright. In fact, when I first located it, I thought I had mistakenly gone to nearby M9 again. The different arrangement of field stars soon convinced me otherwise, however. The globular was a little smaller than M9, and showed up best at 203x. The core appeared large and bright, but individual stars were not detected. A little more aperture would probably make this cluster a showpiece.

This cluster appeared small and faint, with a stellar core. The best view was at 81x. With averted vision, the stellar core was pretty steady, while with direct vision, the cluster turned into just a dim fuzzy patch of light. This was the complete opposite effect of NGC 6355. The overall shape appeared to be slightly elongated.

At 49x, the cluster is really obvious, and a rectangular patch of nebulosity is seen nearby. With averted vision, a larger and fainter nebulosity can be detected in the surrounding area, just barely brighter than the background sky. A dark band could barely be seen bisecting some of the fainter regions of nebulosity.

By using an O-III filter, however, the whole scene changes. The cluster becomes slightly dimmer and less noticeable, but the nebula really stands out. The nebula appears in several shades of grey (although it started taking on a slightly greenish appearance at times). Within the nebula were several spiraling arcs of dark areas which gave the cluster an overall rose shape. With this view, the nebula completely engulfed the cluster. I heard somebody recently mention that they thought the Lagoon was boring in small scopes. My advice is to buy an O-III filter; I think the Lagoon is prettier than the Orion Nebula!

This open cluster was fairly rich and large, but it contained a lot of dim stars. The cluster contained several strings and arcs of stars arranged in nearly a heart shape. The richest area of the cluster appeared to be the outer edges. All together, a couple dozen stars were visible.

This cluster was faint and small, best viewed at 122x. With averted vision, a few stars were visible, but it mainly appeared as an oval-shaped patch of light. It would be very easy to miss this one on a casual sweep of the area.

The best view of this globular cluster was at 203x. It appeared fairly bright, and almost had a stellar core with averted vision. It also was somewhat large, but no individual stars could be resolved.

This globular appeared somewhat faint and small. The best view was at 81x. Individual stars couldn't be resolved, but the shape was round, with a slight brightening in the middle.

This open cluster was rich and compact, with the best view coming at 203x. There was some nebulosity noted, probably due to faint, non-resolvable stars. The overall appearance reminded me of a baby grand piano, or maybe the Prudential logo. The brightest stars were along the outside edge. The cluster had a few small arcs and chains, along with several clumps of stars. About two dozen stars were visible altogther, of varying magnitudes. This would probably look terrific in a little larger telescope.

This is the small open cluster inside M24, the Sagittarius Star Cloud. The best view was at 203x, where it looked like an oval-shaped fuzzy patch. Right down the middle of the major axis was what appeared to be a chain of stars in a straight line. It gave the impression of the cluster's backbone.