Crescent moon, waxing to first quarter, dipping into the west. Clear and cool.
M34 Open Cluster, Perseus
Very elusive, although easy to spot in binoculars as a cloudy patch. Took some 20 to 30 mins to locate in the telescope. The cluster is very dispersed. About 2/3 field of view at x40 power (so I estimate approx 50′ wide). Star atlas gives a width of 35′. x100 power removes some light pollution and moonlight as expected. Only some 30 brighter stars visible at this power.
M105 type E1 and NGC 3384 type E7 Elliptical Galaxies in Leo
Both appearing as faint smudgy stars @x40 power. A little more detail at higher powers. M105 appears to be the larger of the pair. Both fit in the same field of view @159 power, about 10′ apart. Don’t think there was any evidence of NGC 3389, which is referenced in my Messier objects book, but not on the star chart.
M95 type SBb Spiral Barred and M96 type Sb Spiral Galaxies in Leo
Smaller and fainter than M105. No evidence of the spiral bars. M96 appears brighter than M95. Even at x40 power these do not fit into the same field of view.
M109 type SBb Spiral Barred Galaxy in Ursa Major
Not able to locate. Phad nearby (approx mag 2) nearby perhaps too bright? I’d like to capture M109 in the camera some time.
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici
To local you need to take off at a shallower angle from 24 Canum Venaticorum than you might think given the star charts. Reasonably bright, including its companion NGC5195, even at x40 power with light pollution, but no detail available visually.
Saturn
A bit wobbly, but cloud bands evident at x200. Still a bit lost lower down in the murk in the south east.
M3 Globular Cluster in Bootes
Just visible in the finderscope and binoculars. Reasonably easily found by navigating north from Arcturus in Bootes and then west along a trio of stars, where M3 sits at the end. Pretty hazy but bright at lower powers, and then from x200 – wow – averted vision suddenly reveals numerous stars and a shimmering nature. Bright stars suddenly appear in lines through the cluster. Must revert back to this on future nights. After a quick scan over to M13 in Hercules, I would say that M3 has more impact (even though the star chart notes that M13 is somewhat brighter). This may be down to M13 being quite low at the moment. NGC 5466 globular is nearby, also visible in binoculars. Will come back for a look with the telescope. The atlas notes this is much dimmer (mag 9.1 compared to 6.4 for M3) and smaller (11′ vs. 16.2′).