Nice report Patrick, great job!
Well I got out again tonight, under great skies! Just using the 4.5" reflector & 21mm EP (47x). The toughies - no way I'm going to split Algieba, but at least it looked oblong when I zoomed up to 112x.
Seeing was pretty woeful as usual.
BUT... I spent a lot of time on NGC 1888/9. Field is easy to pick with a couple of distinctive lines of stars. Position is about halfway between the dim fourth star of a row of four, and a brighter star about 9' away. Took me ages, especially as I was losing dark adaptation every time I checked charts etc. But I did see something! And while very, very faint it wasn't weak, and in the end with good adaptation I could hold it quite well, jiggling the scope around. It was a very small roundish patch - I would reckon less than 1' diam. Maybe the core of 1888 or reinforced 1889. Not the slightest sign of any extension of the edge-on, whatever I did. Rapt, that's really dim!
For the rest, saw the two globs - with better conditions, much brighter & larger extent, but not much to add to what I posted before. Lovely targets! Galaxy NGC 1532, instead of a fleeting ghost, was quite strong. I could see the thin core, bright for about 4' length, and with averted vision the galaxy appeared to extend for about 10'. M1 was quite nice, a strong grey oval. Even though it was pretty low, it had to be one of my best views ever - there even appeared to be some slight mottling at times but it was hard to pin down. Comet 81P was quite easy to pick, but never more than a faint flickering ghost and no sign of the tail. Might have been better if it was in the clear (and higher!), but it was quite close to a small star. Pleased nonetheless because a mag 10 comet like that is no easy target in a small scope! NGC 3242 was very bright. Tried it at 112x and while it stayed nice and bright, I couldn't see any detail.
So assuming TYC833-134-1 is Regulus' companion, that's pretty much it!
Cheers -