Todd's Amateur Astronomical Observations

Observation Reports

All times shown are Eastern Standard Time (with adjustment for Daylight Savings Time during appropriate months) in 24-hour clock format. In parenthesis is how long it took to perform the observation. Sketches are first drawn at the eyepiece/binoculars, then (in later observations, at least) resketched inside at a desk to make it look a bit better. Then, the colors are inverted. In some cases, other GIMP processing may be done (e.g. to fix the color of a star or brighten stars and/or darken the background).

Name:	Todd Vance	73P-B
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-09
Date:	22:46:00 (14 minutes)
Seeing:	3
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	73P-B
Object:	Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Frg. B
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: About as bright as M13, nucleus seen as well as fanned tail. Only 3-4 stars of Corona Borealis visible with unaided eye, and saw stars near Vega down to about magnitude 8 in binoculars. The comet was easily found in the same field of view as Vega by looking for the prominent (in binoculars) triangle of stars, HIP92098 (mag. 6.03), HIP91674 (mag. 6.62) and the binocular double Epsilon Lyrae (mag. 4.65 and 4.56). The comet was just outside the triangle, just below (ESE) the midpoint of the base defined by HIP92098 and Epsilon Lyrae. At 22:53, a faint (mag. 7 or so) satellite crossed the field of view, entering at 1o'clock and exiting at 8o'clock, passing just south of HIP91674. At 22:57 a brighter satellite (mag. 5 or so) crossed the field of view, entering at 9o'clock and exiting at 4o'clock. (lines aren't drawn that accurately. I did not specifically witness it passing through or close to any stars other than the one mentioned.) Neither was listed on www.heavens-above.com, but Starry Night's latest update listed the brighter as Cosmos 1833 rocket booster, mag. 2.16. Haze went in and out of the field of view, making the comet seem to brighten and fade.

Name:	Todd Vance	73P-C
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-07
Date:	00:30:00 (10 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	73P-C
Object:	Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Frg. C
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Could not tell if it was a tail and bright nucleus or a comet and a star (HIP90781, mag. 7.34). Moon was waxing crescent roughly westward. Beautiful faint gossamer nebulosity, roughly triangular. Easily found by pointing binoculars toward Vega, putting Vega and Zeta Lyrae in the field, and moving a binocular field rightward along the perpendicular bisector of Vega—Zeta Lyrae, and then down a little to center the comet. The two bright (in binoculars) stars HIP91119 (mag. 6.09, with a “tail” of three fainter stars) and HIP91235 (mag. 5.4) made it easy.

Name:	Todd Vance	Albireo
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-06-06
Date:	23:54:00 (7 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	Albireo
Object:	Beta Cygni
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor with 9x50 5.8° field of view finder
Power:	60x
Description: Bright yellow star with dimmer blue-green companion. Other stars in field appeared white.

Name:	Todd Vance	Collinder 399
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-06-10
Date:	23:24:00 (9 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	Collinder 399
Object:	the Coathanger
Constellation:	Vulpecula
Instrument:	Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor with 9x50 5.8° field of view finder
Power:	30x
Description: Most of the coathanger fit in the field of view, but I chopped off one star. The central star was brilliant white. Two stars of the curved hook were orange, and one was bluish-green, and one dimmer one was bluish white. The star in the line nearest the central star was bluish white, as was the one northeast of it. The remaining stars were white. Some glow (from the moon) was on the southeast portion of the field of view. I used this asterism to measure the field of view of my 40mm eyepiece. This is easily found in the finder by pointing the telescope 1/3 of the way from Altair to Vega. Once thought to be an open cluster, the coathanger is merely a chance alignment of unrelated stars.

Name:	Todd Vance	Deneb
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-12
Date:	01:25:00 (30 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	Deneb
Object:	Alpha Cygni
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Beautiful site—milky way, though not visible to unaided eye, was just visible in binoculars; made me think of the title of a science fiction story I read years ago: “The Stars, Like Dust.” In binoculars, stars visible to almost mag. 9. With unaided eye, stars visible to about 4.5 in area of Deneb (nearly-full moonglow washed out area of Albireo at the other end of Cygnus).

Name:	Todd Vance	Epsilon Lyrae
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-29
Date:	21:31:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	Epsilon Lyrae
Object:	the Double Double
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor with 9x50 5.8° field of view finder
Power:	200x
Description: Epsilon Lyrae is a double star in binoculars, but with higher magnification in a telescope, each component splits into a double, for a total for four stars. TYC3122-1635-1 is the Mag. 10.4 fifth star in the field. To my eyes, three of the Epsilon Lyrae stars appeared greenish, the fourth orange. The fifth star was gray-white.

Name:	Todd Vance	Jupiter
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-29
Date:	21:07:00 (4 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	Jupiter
Object:
Constellation:	Libra
Instrument:	Celestron C6-R 150mm f/8 refractor with 9x50 5.8° field of view finder
Power:	200x
Description: Some twilight still in sky. Transparency is based on what I saw later that night. The Great Red Spot was visible in Jupiter's Northern hemisphere to the (terrestrial) East. The four moons visible, from left to right, are: Europa, Callisto, Io, and Ganymede.

Name:	Todd Vance	M10
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-16
Date:	22:49:00 (18 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M10
Object:
Constellation:	Ophiuchus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Could see stars down to Lambda (mag. 4.40) in Serpens Caput with the naked eye. Starfield was fairly sparse (especially as compared to the nearby Serpens Caput's head). I centered the field of view on three close dim stars in a right-triangle shape. I found the field of view by pointing the binoculars at the naked-eye star Han (Mag. 2.53) and moving to the left two fields to find two bright binocular stars (at the bottom of the drawing below) 23 and 30 Ophiuchi (mag. 5.21 and 4.81). M10 was found above 30, a little to the right, to from a 5-12-13 right triangle with 23 and 30. Globular was diffuse and dim, no visible nucleus. The two bright stars at the very top are close to M12 (not drawn, just outside field of view) which looks about the same as M10 in binoculars. At 22:57, a meteor passed through the field of view (drawn). It took about one second, much faster than an airplane or low-earth-orbit satellite. It brightened twice (both times to magnitude around 4, from magnitude about 6) as it passed through. There was no visible trail. It was white. After I finished drawing the field of view, I scanned somewhat randomly with binoculars and caught another meteor in nearby Corona Borealis at 23:08, moving roughly the same direction, passing through the field of view in less than a second, and brightening once, leaving a faint and very short lived trail one degree behind it. These might be Epsilon Aquilids.

Name:	Todd Vance	M103
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-25
Date:	00:41:00 (10 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M103
Object:
Constellation:	Cassiopeia
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Haze came in and out—at times, magnitude 3.43 star η Cassiopeiae was visible, but never for more than an instant. The star in the center Ruchbah (δ) was brilliant white but had the faint bluish tint associated with fluorescent lamps. The star χ appeared orangish. All other stars were white or light gray. The moon was almost full, but behind me. M103 is an open cluster ENE of Ruchbah, but only three stars with apparent nebulosity could be seen. The nebulosity made it look like a hazy hyphen from NNW to SSE. I took this opportunity to check (again) my binocular field of view (advertised at 305 feet per thousand yards, which translates to 5.8 degrees). I could not put η and Caph (β) in the field of view together, but I could almost do so. The angular distance between eta and Caph is 5.3786 degrees. Thus, the true field of view of my binoculars is 5.3 degrees.

Name:	Todd Vance	M12
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-21
Date:	22:54:00 (19 minutes)
Seeing:	8
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M12
Object:	Gumball Cluster
Constellation:	Ophiuchus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: M12 is a faint hazy patch with detectable nucleus found by aiming binoculars at the field containing Yed Posterior and the diamond belt-buckle asterism containing Upsilon Ophiuchi. Then move to the left, perpendicular to the line from Yed to the belt, two binocular fields to find a pair of stars, HIP 82405 (mag. 6.31) and HIP 82527 (mag. 6.93). M12 is just above this pair of stars. A magnitude four or so meteor (line with arrow) went through the field of view eastward at 23:07.

Name:	Todd Vance	M13
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-04-18
Date:	22:22:00 (13 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M13
Object:	Hercules Cluster
Constellation:	Hercules
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: M13 appears to be a hazy patch in Hercules, 1 sky arc minute in diameter. Moon has not risen, so that made it easier to spot. By defocussing the binoculars a little, I made other stars in the field the same size as M13, and picked one of similar brightness (circled). The star I picked turned out to be HIP81911 of magnitude 6.0. To check my estimate, M13's "official" magnitude is 7.0 (all magnitudes and other info from Starry Night Pro 5.8.2). It is easy to find again and again--find Hercules, find the "keystone" of Hercules. The top (roughtly NW) two stars are on each side of M13. M13 is collinear with them, about 1/3 of the way from the left one to the right one. Then, in binoculars, I find a triangle about the size of a full moon, maybe a little smaller. Two stars are HIP81848 (mag. 6.84) and HIP81673 (mag. 7.28)--M13 is at the obtuse (about 100 degrees) angle; it is almost isosceles. They disappeared when I defocussed, so I took them to be less bright than M13. M13 appeared to be a white fuzzy patch with a noticeably bright center. None of its stars could be resolved.

Name:	Todd Vance	Sadr
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-09-23
Date:	22:50:00 (17 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	Sadr
Object:	Gamma Cygni
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Sky was somewhat hazy, but it was mostly clear and a new moon. The field surrounding Sadr is one of the nicer binocular fields, it being in the Milky Way. Nebulosity could be seen in places, though the area immediately surrounding Sadr itself was deep black, perhaps because of contrast with bright Sadr. The overall impression was a circle within a circle within a circle—the field of view is a circle, as is some of the brighter stars surrounding Sadr, as is the apparent black area surrounding Sadr. Open cluster M29 is in the field near the left edge at about 10 O'clock.

Name:	Todd Vance	M27
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:10:00 (8 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M27
Object:	Dumbbell Nebula
Constellation:	Vulpecula
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: The night was exceptionally clear for the Baltimore-Washington metro area—Delphinus and Sagitta were visible to the naked eye, as was one star of Vulpecula. The Sadr-centered field of view in binoculars had a very large, hard to count number of stars visible. The North America nebula could be (just) picked out in binoculars. It was a faint gray-white nebulosity, with an hourglass shape just detectable parallel to the 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock line. It could be found by aiming one-fifth of the way from Gamma Sagittae to Sadr.

Name:	Todd Vance	M29
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-06-29
Date:	23:13:00 (27 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M29
Object:
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: A few scattered clouds, could see but not split Epsilon Lyrae with the naked eye. Sadr (Gamma Cygni, the crosspiece star of the Northern Cross), the brightest star to the north, is slightly yellow and was very spikey in the field of view. Milky way nebulosity could be seen through the binoculars in this area—the haze drawn is where it seemed most prominent (it seemed to form a ring around Sadr, but this likely was because Sadr's glare made it invisible in its vicinity). It seemed to fork, moving southwest of Sadr, with a fork going west, and a fork going south. The west fork split again past the center of the field of view. It actually looked like numerous fuzzy globs—perhaps it would have been better to draw it that way, using some sketching analog to painting with crumpled tissue. In the center is an asterism (marked in the sketch) that looks like a very tiny dipper—the bright star in the bowl is 34 Cygni. Just east of it is M29, which looked to me like a faint pair of stars with faint nebulosity. In reality, M29 is an open cluster—the faintest stars could not be resolved in binoculars, so they appeared as nebulosity. It has two seperated groupings of bright stars—these are probably what appeared to be two stars. Just east of M29 is an optical double. This and the dipper could help one find M29 in a telescope. I quit before I drew all the stars, as the angle I was looking seemed to put me in an uncomfortable position and I was getting restless. I did draw a lot of the stars surrounding Sadr, as can be seen.

Name:	Todd Vance	M31
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-09
Date:	01:37:00 (6 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	3.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M31
Object:	Andromeda Galaxy
Constellation:	Andromeda
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Bright nucleus that looked like a globular cluster but elliptical in the NNE-SSW direction, medium bright elliptical haze surrounding it tilted a little counterclockwise from the nucleus, and with averted vision, very faint vertically-thin “mustache” haze trailing off. Total length, including averted vision portion, almost a degree. Everything was white or light gray except one yellow star (ν Andromedae). Tree branches obscured the area south and southeast of the galaxy. M110 and M32 were not detected. I also tried but failed to detect M31 with the naked eye. To find it, first I found Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) which forms a “V” with γ and Caph (β). The vertex of the V points the way—I pass a prominent grouping of stars, and continue past three stars in an obtuse triangle until I find three stars almost in the line I am traveling (ο, HIP3478, and π). This line points the way exactly (the “V” only being approximate). I continue, cross a line of stars perpendicular to the three I just visited, and on the other side of that line (same distance as the three stars) is M31.

Name:	Todd Vance	M35
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:57:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M35
Object:
Constellation:	Gemini
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Four stars visible, surrounded by faint nebulosity.

Name:	Todd Vance	M36
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:51:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M36
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Dimple in the sky, no stars visible in cluster.

Name:	Todd Vance	M37
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:50:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M37
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Looked like a dimple in the sky...barely visible.

Name:	Todd Vance	M38
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:52:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M38
Object:
Constellation:	Auriga
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Dimple in the sky; no stars visible in cluster. Part of “Christmas Tree” asterism.

Name:	Todd Vance	M39
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-23
Date:	22:32:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M39
Object:
Constellation:	Cygnus
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Spray of stars a degree or two in diameter, north of Deneb. Three stars were prominent, and the rest seemed to be “background” stars. The night was exceptionally clear for the Baltimore-Washington metro area—all of the little dipper was visible, though Jupiter, for example, boiled under high magnification. The Sadr-centered field of view in binoculars had a very large, hard to count number of stars visible.

Todd's Amateur Astronomical Observations

Observation Reports

123 observations.

73P-B

73P-B

73P-B

73P-C

Albireo

Albireo

Collinder 399

Collinder 399

Deneb

Epsilon Lyrae

Jupiter

Jupiter

M10

M103

M12

M13

Sadr

M13

M27

M29

M3

M31

M35

M36

M37

M38

M39

M4

M42

M44

M45

M5

M51

M52

M56

M57

M57

M71

M81

M82

M92

Mel 111

Mel 111

NGC869 and NGC884

Omicron Cygni

Sadr

Shark Fin

M15

NGC869 and NGC884

M2

M15

M31

NGC869 and NGC884

NGC7000

M11

M16

M17

M18

M24

M25

M26

M8

M20

M21

M22

M23

M6

M7

M45

M42

Collinder 50

Collinder 70

M34

M33

M80

M55

M28

Name:	Todd Vance	M42
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:53:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M42
Object:	Great Nebula in Orion
Constellation:	Orion
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Beautiful bluish-white nebula. Sword, which looks like three stars to my unaided eye, is three pairs of doubles (optical doubles perhaps).

Name:	Todd Vance	M44
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-04-01
Date:	20:01:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M44
Object:	Praesepe or Beehive
Constellation:	Cancer
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Appears to be buzzing with bees, which surround a “honeycomb”--pentagon formed by a square and a (optical) double star “peak”. Saturn was in this view (and I think I just barely saw the rings). I chose the field of view containing Saturn and the two Asseli from Cancer so I could find it again and again as I plotted the stars.

Name:	Todd Vance	M45
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-03-18
Date:	20:00:00 (1 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M45
Object:	Pleiades
Constellation:	Taurus
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Beautiful open cluster, no nebulosity visible in binoculars from here. Moon a day or so from new. Low in western sky, away from Baltimore glow. Galileo had more stars in the string (of four) than I have—he had 9.

Name:	Todd Vance	M51
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-20
Date:	21:53:00 (3 minutes)
Seeing:	7
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Alpha Ridge 39°19’15’’N 76°54’46’’W
Object:	M51
Object:	Whirlpool Galaxy
Constellation:	Canes Venatici
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Sky was clear and dark at the zenith near M51 and Ursa Major. Alcor, the optical “companion” to Mizar, the middle star of the handle of the big dipper, was just visible to the naked eye with averted vision. Some fifth-magnitude stars could be seen. M51 was a patch of haze, just visible. With averted vision, a brighter nucleus was detectable. It appeared elliptical, but the companion galaxy was not resolved separately. It is easy to find in binoculars: first, aim at the end star of the big dipper (Alkaid). Move the binoculars in the general direction of Cor Coroli (or Denebola on the lion's tail) about one field. An asterism I think of as the “tropical punch” is visible, complete with tiny umbrella to shield the drink from the “sun” of Alkaid. 24 Canes Venaticorum forms one top edge of the glass nearest the umbrella. Then, M51 is at the bottom of the glass, forming roughly a 5-12-13 right triangle with the two stars making the bottom (HIP 66004 and HIP 65768).

Name:	Todd Vance	M52
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-17
Date:	23:56:00 (10 minutes)
Seeing:	6
Transparency:	4.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M52
Object:	The Scorpion
Constellation:	Cassiopeia
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint nebulosity with two stars visible. Cassiopeia was low in the sky and partly in the haze and Bowie skyglow.

Name:	Todd Vance	M56
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:30:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M56
Object:
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint globular, easy to find as it was about halfway between Sulafat (Gamma Lyrae) and Albireo. No structure detectable, just a faint fuzzy spot.

Name:	Todd Vance	M57
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-23
Date:	23:40:00 (21 minutes)
Seeing:	6
Transparency:	4.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M57
Object:	Ring Nebula
Constellation:	Lyra
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: M57 looked like a gray-white magnitude 8.5 star in binoculars. No detail was detectable. It would not be recognized as a Messier object except for being in the right place and having the right magnitude. Surrounding starfield was pretty, being at the edge of the Milky Way (not visible to naked eye in Bowie, but nebulosity just visible in binoculars. It is found by aiming the binoculars at roughly the midpoint between Beta and Gamma Lyrae, and looking for a triangle of gray-white 8.5 magnitude stars (requiring averted vision) right on the line from Beta to Gamma. Two stars are north of the line, and the third “star” is M57, south of the line.

Name:	Todd Vance	M71
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-07-16
Date:	23:40:00 (5 minutes)
Seeing:	5
Transparency:	5.0
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M71
Object:
Constellation:	Sagitta
Instrument:	15x70 Celestron SkyMaster Binoculars 4.4° field of view
Power:	15x
Description: Faint fuzzy spot in Sagitta, forming a short (120 degree vertex) isosceles triangle with Gamma and Zeta Sagittae.

Name:	Todd Vance	M81
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-22
Date:	22:06:00 (23 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M81
Object:	Bodes Galaxy (cf M82)
Constellation:	Ursa Major
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Both M81 and M82 were very faint, hard to detect visually. M82 was fainter than M81. M81 was close enough to another star I at first mistook it for a double star with the nebulosity sometimes seen on double stars. It appeared to be a faint elliptical smudge with a star-like nuclei. In the sketch, the view is centered on HIP48803. At 22:15, a satellite passed through the field of view (shown). To find this field in binoculars, aim at the top of the bear's nose (23 UMa, mag. 3.62) and move outward (North) along a line perpendicular to the line formed from the other two stars of the bear's nose (Upsilon, mag. 3.75, and Omicron, mag. 3.34). Pass a quadralateral of stars (a bright triangle means you are too far west), and arrive at a pentagon that looks vaguely like a smiley face. Continue on the line to find a boomerang shape with west end at 24 UMa, mag. 4.53, and the galaxies are to the east. (CF M82)

Name:	Todd Vance	M82
Name:	Bowie, MD
Date:	2006-05-22
Date:	22:06:00 (23 minutes)
Seeing:	4
Transparency:	3.5
Site:	Home 38°54’51’’N 76°44’05’’W
Object:	M82
Object:	Cigar Galaxy (cf M81)
Constellation:	Ursa Major
Instrument:	9x63 Meade Travelview Binoculars 5.8° field of view
Power:	9x
Description: Both were very faint, hard to detect visually. M82 was fainter than M81. I drew M81 before finding M82 in the same field. M82 appeared to be a faint elliptical smudge with a star-like nucleus. In the sketch, the view is centered on HIP48803. At 22:15, a satellite passed through the field of view (shown). To find this field in binoculars, aim at the top of the bear's nose (23 UMa, mag. 3.62) and move outward (North) along a line perpendicular to the line formed from the other two stars of the bear's nose (Upsilon, mag. 3.75, and Omicron, mag. 3.34). Pass a quadralateral of stars (a bright triangle means you are too far west), and arrive at a pentagon that looks vaguely like a smiley face. Continue on the line to find a boomerang shape with west end at 24 UMa, mag. 4.53, and the galaxies are to the east. CF M81.