Location: St. Croix Observatory (SCO)
Date: 2024-09-04
Time: 9:28 PM ADT
S&T Chart Reference: 67, 69
Instrument: SkyWatcher Evostar 80ED with star diagonal
Eyepieces: SvBony 30mm-10mm Zoom eyepiece
Magnification: x20 - x60
Transparency: Very Good (4)
Seeing: Good (3)
SQM: 21.14
Temperature: 16º C
It was a great night at SCO! No clouds. No wind, not even a breeze. Six souls ventured into the wilderness to take in the dark skies. There were the two observer/sketchers (me being one of them) whereas the others were imagers. Lots to see but my focus this evening was the Messier objects.
M22 is a cluster that's been located by binoculars too many times to count! As always, used Kaus Borealis as the start point for the search then found the Y-shaped 4-star configuration (HD170978, HD171056, HD171097, 24 Sgr). M22 was in the same FOV as the 'Y'. It is a seemingly uniform dense cluster with no discernible stars at this magnification. However, by staring at it for several seconds was able to see a bright star at 3 positions of a clock within the cluster - 3, 6 & 9 o'clock. The cluster didn't appear completely circular because of the brighter stars in the S-SW giving it a more oval/almond shape.
