It was a great night at the River Ridge Observatory last night. There was some haze from west coast forest fires but other than that it was clear with little wind and mild temperatures. I might have heard a coyote. I set up my 11″ SCT with a 0.63 focal reducer and broadband light pollution filter. I started with the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, aka M13. This was followed by the Ring Nebula, or M57, as filler. Truth be told it is a little small for this scale but I wanted to wait for my next object to get past the meridian and be in the western part of the sky. That third object was the Dumbbell Nebula, aka M27. The Moon rose a little after 11PM so I packed it up and went home to a half-night’s sleep. I’m planning to go again tonight.
