At last a brief window in the clouds has allowed some observing. I started with Suzy's challenge list, but already bits of Hydra were behind some trees, so there are only a few of those. Scorpius caught my eye however.
Without doubt this was the dewiest session I've ever had. Fortunately the secondary heater worked like a charm, but I had to keep warming my eyepieces in my pocket and also do some serious defogging of the Parracor. Need to build an eyepiece warmer like Eric's.
Telescope 410mm (16) f4.9 tri-dob reflector
Eyepieces 28mm UWAN, 17,13,9 mm Naglers, Paracorr
Navigation: Night Sky Observers Guide (NSOG)
Data from NGC/IC Project database
http://www.ngcicproject.org/pubdb.htm
Seeing very good
Transparency fair Jewell box obvious to naked eye, 2 stars visible in Coal Sack, through the scope, moderate detail observable in M104
2130
NGC 4590/Messier 68 GC in Hydra Class X
12h 39m 28.0s -26Ί 44' 34"
Vmag 7.3 Dia 12
175X A moderately bright GC with many resolvable stars and a 3-4 central concentration within a soft loose halo that looks about 8 across. A large circle of stars and haze loops off to the west, another to the north and a small arc curves off to the east.
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cg...5&f=GIF&c=none
NGC 3621 GX in Hydra SA(s)d III
11h 18m 16.5s -32Ί 48' 50"
Vmag 9.2 12.3x7.1
175X Oval glow 7x4 WNW-ESE with large diffuse centre inside soft halo enclosed within a kite-shaped asterism. The centre of the galaxy is just to the west of the cross point of the kite. The stars at the western end of the kite clearly sit within the halo and the southern and eastern stars may also lie at the edge of the halo. The galaxy has a slightly mottled appearance and close inspection shows a soft 1 core
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cg...5&f=GIF&c=none
NGC 6388 GC in Scorpius Class III
17h 36m 16.9s -44Ί 44' 05"
Vmag 6.8 Dia 8.7
175X A bright GC with a very concentrated and bright core inside an clear 5 round and very regular halo, reminiscent of a mini 47 Tuc. The glow has a very grainy appearance of many stars just on the verge of resolution. A few bright foreground stars overlie the disc. Quite a striking GC
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cg...5&f=GIF&c=none
NGC 6496 GC in Scorpius Class XII
17h 59m 03.7s -44Ί 15' 59"
Vmag 8.6 Dai 6.9
175X This GC has a wide central concentration a couple of minutes across indie a 5 halo with at least 20 resolvable stars. Some of these form a semi-circle with the base E-W across the centre making it appear elongated E-W, and the curve to the north. This gives the impression that there is a darker annulus around the centre and then a brightening to the edge of the GC, but I think this is only the result of the asterism.
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cg...5&f=GIF&c=none
NGC 6337 PN in Scorpius Class 4
17h 22m 15.65s -38Ί 29' 01.4"
Vmag 12.3 Dia 49
250X A beautiful, delicate, fine 50 ring of light encloses a dark centre with a foreground star towards the northern edge. The sky clouds rapidly before I can observe with a filter.
http://spider.seds.org/ngc/ngcdss.cg...5&f=GIF&c=none