Observing Report -- July 8, 2013

Originally I was planning to head up to Seymour Mountain...but events intervened, as they say, and I spent the night at the local park. Moonless night, but that doesn't matter much...I can almost read by the streetlights and headlights.

First up, my usual confusion of Saturn and Arcturus. Surprise, this time it's Saturn! Quick look tonight; Cassini Division easy, but did not spend a lot of time on the rest. Four satellites in view; turns out Tethys and Enceladus were quite close when I looked, so no idea which of the two I saw.

I found the top half of Libra (alpha, beta, gamma) through a crack in the trees. Have I mentioned the lack of a southern horizon where I observe? True. So being able to see this was kind of a big deal. Tried finding M80, but no luck; might possibly have been visible standing, but not sitting with the scope.

M13 was lovely, as always; it stood up to 200X tonight. Tried looking for NGC 6207 there as well, but can't be certain I saw anything. Split Rasalgethi at 200X as well. (That combo of the Vixen 12mm and my cheap Barlow seems to work quite well.) Saw an Iridium flare by chance at 11.42pm, which was nice.

Saw M56, which was a first for me. Maybe a slight hint of elongation; certainly no hint of resolution. Found M31 in binos; something faintly depressing about this; are we done with summer already? Found M102, which was a first. Tried for NGC 5907. but no luck at all. Found M25 through a gap in the trees, so at least that worked.