M27, M17, NGC 7662...Our Best Night Yet!

Tonight was our best night ever. We headed up the canyon around 9:30 pm and stayed out until 1 am. We were accompanied by Chris Silva, testing out his new 130 mm equatorial mount Newtonian reflector. The sky was clear and very dark. We observed a series of celestial objects which are hereafter listed in no particular order: We saw the double stars Grapffias (or Beta Scorpii) in the 130 mm, and Albireo (or Beta Cygni) in the 150 mm. Mike found M27, the Dumbbell Nebula in the 130 mm. He tried unsuccessfully to find it in the 150 mm dobsonian, and decided to try the equatorial mount. Star hopping from Altair, up to Gamma Sagitta, and then up to the Dumbbell Nebula. It was unmistakable. Danielle was searching for the M31 Andromeda Galaxy and found NGC 7662 the Blue Snowball Planetary Nebula. It was amazing to see the blue light against such a dark sky. Mike found M17 the Swan Nebula in Sagittarius, much by mistake. He was probing the skies for M3, the Lagoon Nebula. A variety of open and globular clusters were observed in Sagittarius and Scorpio by mistake. Mike found, with some help from a more senior astronomer, the Andromeda Galaxy. Danielle was looking in the right place but not at the right time. The Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884) were also observed. It was a great night!