Let the dog out and got a new Messier...

[Walshie79]

Just went to let the dog out and noticed that it had cleared again, having clouded over about 10. We had a thunderstorm earlier this evening so I thought the air mist have cleared, and indeed the stars looked very bright and the sky transparent. 

I've been looking for objects in southern Sagittarius in the binoculars for weeks now without success (have seen from M8/22/28 up without difficulty) and I noticed that Zeta Sagittarii was clearly visible and Nunki prominent, just crossing the meridian. Cue a dash inside for the bins. Panned around for a bit, then got a chair to sit where I could see the right area away from lights. After a while I spotted something SW of Zeta with averted vision, then checked the nearby star patterns (one pair of stars above left, one below left, one single star below right). Then I looked again , and thought it looked fuzzy. After managing to hold the object averted I looked straight at it, and slowly but surely realised it was clearly a very tight, faint globular, like a dim M92. Managed to stare at it for a couple of mins, then go back and find it again. Checked the finder chart, it was definitely M54. Surrounding stars all correct, finally I've got a Messier below -30 declination 

[southernman]

Wonderful achievement , particularly from your location . Even though M54 reaches an elevation of approx 75 degrees from where I am it is not that bright : mag 7.59 ( according to skysafari ). Well done.

Peter