Pixies

Looks like it's increased by over a magnitude in under a week: Busy little beggar!

The first 2 targets I ever observed. Both are well placed and some of the easiest DSOs to find. M57 - the Ring Nebula M13 - the Great Cluster in Hercules Both are pretty easy to find via star-hopping. What chart/app are you using? M57 probably the easiest. When looking for it in a low powered eyepiece, it will just appear to be a fuzzy star you can't focus on. Use higher power (the 8mm will be perfect) and its nature becomes obvious. It was a real wow moment for me. M13 - if you have binoculars, scan the location first. It should be visible easily in 10x bins.

Jenham's Astro has a vid about a similar scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHwtZ54cF48&ab_channel=Jenham'sAstro

Seeing was poor last night for me - due to the hot weather I think, rather than the jetstream. I had a bit of a late session and the transparency and especially the seeing improved greatly around 2am. The dumbbell is faint unless you have a dark sky. An Oiii filter makes a HUGE difference with this target. Last night I could easily see the hourglass shape with direct vision. M57 is less improved with filters (IMHO), UHC is a little better than Oiii - but my UHC filter is a relative cheapy, so I could easily be mistaken. For M11 (Wild Duck Cluster) , you need to find the 'Croissant' asterism (that's my name for it) at the base of Aquilla: That's easy to find in a magnifying finder or binoculars if your sky isn't dark enough: You can find M11 (blue) using the 2 bright stars Eta and Beta Scutii - plus the 2 close stars (yellow) act as a pointer, too: Happy hunting!

My 16 yo son couldn't sleep last night and appeared outside a couple of times during the session. 1st appearance I showed him M57 and Albireo. He seemed relatively impressed at the sights. When he came down later, I was getting ready to call it a night. His young eyesight is much better than mine, and he could pick out many satellites naked eye. ISS duly arrived on cue (I can see that one), tracked across the sky and passed within 1° of Jupiter. His sister had made an appearance earlier, turned the kitchen light on, got a glass of water, and vanished.! 🙄

Very clear tonight. Had the dob out, so headed over to the nova at the end of the session. A little brighter tonight. Similar to HD220770 (star near M52) but a wee bit brighter. I'd say 7.5

Bedtime was 3am last night and up at 8 for work. But tonight is clear too and I feel that I can't miss any clear nights after 4 weeks of cloud! Coffee and more coffee. Plus, hopefully the dog will let me sleep-in to 9am tomorrow!

I often do a Google image search for a sketch of the target using a similar scope. You often get pics from C.N., DeepSkywatch and ASOD which are pretty indicative. For example, for M17: (image copied with all rights to Michael Rector - CN.)

Sounds very much like my experience last night. Transparency in that direction was poor and it was a fight just to find things. A lot of moisture in the air.

Had observed Jupiter earlier with the ST80. Very little detail, as you would expect with this scope, but the Northern equitorial belt was very clear and dark.

Nope. It was pretty poor. The northern skies were bright, as expected, but the view South was very murky. No stars visible naked-eye below 30° apart from the gas giants. Basically, I was struggling to do some Messier bagging. Got a few, but not very satisfying. I'll have to try again another night. Swan nebula was the highlight.

Excellent report. I'm trying the same thing tonight - heading out with the ST80 and binos to a darkish site with a good Southerly horizon. Hopefully I get a fraction of your success!

Managed a quick view with the 10x50 bins tonight. I haven't had a decent night for about 4 weeks now, it's in a completely different part of the sky! Anyway, I appear to have missed both brightenings and it's a lot dimmer now. Needed a wee bit of averted vision to see it. I reckon it's around mag 8.

That is such a cool picture may I ask your camera settings and what were you using to track (if any)? So many Messier objects (and others) there that I still haven't observed properly, as my Southerly horizon is bright and quite high. Hoping to get out at the end of this week to somewhere suitable. Cheers.

Can it be true?

21.8! Nice. Yep. I don't think I'll ever have to look up the location of M52, or the Bubble nebula - if ever I try astrophotography!

Now that nauticaldarkness is back, I'm ready for some clear nights: Fingers crossed for Tuesday, @ScouseSpaceCadet:

Judging by the 'L' on the circuit board, that's an inductor. Inductance is measured in units of Henry [L]. What text is on the body of the component? If you are going to remove it, as @gajjersays, cut the wires near the component body, so you are only trying to remove the wires when you desolder it. If you've never desoldered anything before, check YouTube for tips, using desoldering wick,

Ditto the above. M81 and M82 are probably the best targets to start with. M31 is probably still a little low. The latter is easy to find with binoculars, though, but just a faint smudge. I'm also Bortle 6 using an 8" dob. When the skies are darker, you should be able to find quite a few galaxies, although they will be just faint fuzzies. Here's a quick list of some of the easier ones to observer (in my opinion), although not suitable all year round. M81 and M82 M31 - Andromeda M51 - Whirlpool M94, M106 - brighter ones in Canes Venatici M87 - Virgo A. Harder to locate, but quite bright (Spring) M49, M60 - other bright galaxies in Virgo (Spring) M64 - brighter ones in Coma Berenices (Spring) And on good nights, and mainly with averted vision: M65 and M66 in Leo Triple (best in Spring) M84 and M86 in Markarian's Chain (best in Spring) Spring is definitely galaxy season! Some of the above are harder to find, because they are in areas of the sky without many guide stars, especially a lot of the Virgo galaxies. A Telrad alone might not be enough and you will need either a wide-angle eyepiece, like a 32mm plossl, or an additional magnifying finder - an 8x50 RACI finder, for example. Practise is required. I enjoy using a zoom for galaxy hunting, as you can experiment to find the best magnification for each target that gives the best apparent contrast. However, the field-of-view of the zoom at 24mm is not very wide: I'd recommend a low powered fixed eyepiece to compliment it. Start with M81 and M82. They should be easily visible with your equipment under Bortle 6 - once proper darkness returns. I am assuming you are in the northern hemisphere! Apologies if not.

Nice report. Glad someone is having clear skies! Hercules is much higher now, than before, so I guess you were on your hands and knees trying to use the straight-through finder? One of the earliest 'upgrades' I made with a large dob, and still probably the biggest improvement per £ so far, was to ditch the straight finder and replace it with a combination of both Telrad and a RACI finder. When I first started, it probably took me 15 minutes to find M13, now it takes 30 seconds! Here's a good thread about this finder combination: M101 is faint! It will be very hard to find in summer skies. It's hard enough in winter unless you have very dark skies!

There was a chat about this last year. Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted:

Thanks. A great report as always. Jealous as ever - but worse than hearing about fantastic targets that we can never see here, are those that are just at the horizon for me! I need a really, REALLY, tall hill.

Turn off the compass and use it manually? Seriously. That's not a smart-alec statement.

Yes, yes and yes! Weather forecast not looking so good now, though. 🙄

Spending a couple of nights in Peebles with the family. I have unpacked! Friday night looks good, so I'll head out late and try and find a good location. Ideally with a clear view South, but that might mean a bit of a drive. Anyway, does anyone know a good location near Peebles, that's safe, dark and quiet?