Soldant,
If you are interested in planetaries (I know I am
, M57 and M27 are the best planetary nebula's to look at from suburbia (and you get a good look with a 6" scope). M57 shows its ring structure while M27 shows its classic apple core shape. If you have a nebular filter it becomes more boxed shaped. There are several other planetaries at this time of the year, some of them show a small disc with no internal structure. One of the nicer small planetaries is the southern ring NGC 3132 in Carina/Vela but that sets pretty early. It shows even illumination at 300x in my 6" and is one of the prettier planetaries around. Then there is the blue planetary in Centaurus which also shows a small disc (smaller than 3132). It really appears blue! Can't remember the number but it is to the right of Crux. Other notables include the bug nebula (NGC 6302 I think) in Scorpius and NGC 5189, the spiral planetary in Musca. The bug planetary does really resemble a squashed bug in the 6" while 5189 does look like it has spiral arms. These are some of the ones you should look out for. And the best part is that they are not that much affected by light pollution as they are compact and have high surface brightness.
Cheers,
Darren
p/s: I am also planning for Astrofest so if you are coming, see you there! Pity I can't make it to Ron's this weekend. astro_south invited me but I am currently back home in Malaysia.