This was another great night of observing. We checked out the Veil and North American nebulas through Mark's widefield refractor (102mm F/5), which was stunning. It's rare to see all three parts of the Veil in one field of view! When I put my scope on the Veil, it was exceptionally bright. I was able to follow a stream of nebulosity from the middle section all the way through the center area, up to the top of the fork! In addition, when I just scanned the area, I could find lots of small nebula pieces that aren't attached to the main three and usually go unnoticed.
Just after the Andromeda galaxy passed the zenith, I checked it out with my Nagler 17; unbelievable! Incredible contrast. The first dust lane practically beat me over the head with it's presence. The outer dust lane was also very prominent. The companion NGC 205 looked incredible by itself. The view of this group was described by one observer as a religious experience.
Now the really cool part: extra-galactic globulars! We found G73, G244, and G286; all members of the Andromeda group. Incredible!
My list:
NGC 7331
Stephen's Quintet
M2
M52
NGC 772
NGC 246
Andromeda galaxy with both comapions and globulars G73, G244, and G286.
NGC 1023, which showed a clear dust lane at almost 300X.
At about 1am, frost became a problem. My secondary frosted over around 1:15, so I called it a night.
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