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My observations
All 5 mains stars in Lupus were easily visible to my eyes, with Gamma, Delta & Epsilon making up a very obvious triangle. I found it good to know where Lupus is, or rather where Centaurus is no longer dominating.
I used my Vixen 115mm ED (FL 890mm), on an Altz mount and 32mm, 15mm, 13mm, 11mm, 7mm & 5mm EPs. By local standards, the seeing last night was very good.
The Main Stars:
Alpha Lupi (Lup): A nearby (460LY) supernova candidate.
Alpha appeared as a blue-white star, or a really strong white star.
Beta Lup (Kekouan): Only 25 million years old, yet near the end of its hydrogen phase.
Beta appeared white.
Gamma Lup. Binary (190 year period) that was widest in 2014. The only measurement I have says 0.8 arc seconds in 1996.
Gamma appeared white. I thought it was odd shaped and would have suspected it as being double. However, I could not split it with 180x
Delta Only 15 million years old, but has already entered the subgiant stage.
Delta appeared white.
Epsilon Lup. Double star; the companion is wide and faint.
Epsilon delighted me. The companion was bright enough to be easily seen and poised beside, but well distant from the primary using 60x. It was not a rich field, so this pair were an attention grabber. Epsilon appeared white.
Other Objects:
NGC 5882: Planetary nebula.
This was a classic planetary: it appeared blue and disappeared as soon I looked directly at it. I identified it using only 28x. The planetary took magnification well, as I was able to effectively use 180x to improve the view. However, the view I enjoyed best was with a 11mm Nagler (80x)
NGC 5824: Globular. Distance 104,000 LY.
This globular looked like a 'hairy' star at 28x. Using higher magnifications, its highly condensed central area showed well, without resolving into individual stars. I like it best when using a 13mm Nagler (68x).
NGC: 5927: Globular. Distance 25,000 LY. I am so familiar with this globular, as I use it as a marker when checking the nearby site of what was a nova in 1893. I am hoping to catch a recurrence of the nova...
A very loose globular. NGC5927 is like a cloud floating in space; it had an M27 appearance about it. Both objects can be imagined as floating in the foreground against the backdrop of the Milky Way. It was best with an 11mm Nagler (80x).
NGC: 5986: Globular. Distance 34,000LY.
Another loose globular that also had an optical illusion. There was a foreground star on the edge to the cluster and because of this seperate star, I initially thought that I was able to resolve the cluster with low power. However, using a 5mm Delite, I did begin to resolve this cluster. Personally, I like viewing it best with a 15mm Delite (60x).
NGC:5822. Open cluster. Distance 2,500 LY.
This is a large, loose cluster, with many reasonably bright members, which could be individually well seen. The scale (size) of the cluster is somewhat unusual. It was best with the 32mm EP (28x). It is set against the Milky Way, which makes the edges of NGC 5822 a little hard to determine.
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