Two more Messier objects snagged tonight. This was a near perfect night, no moon, cool in the 40's but not too cold, no wind, clear, and dry. I decided to try for a couple more northern Messier's in Perseus which was up nicely above my deck. I scanned the area with my 7x50's and M34 popped right into sight. A nice view even in binoculars, it was wonderful in my 8" 25mm ep. I'm sure I've seen it before though, just didn't log it. It reminds me of a big black and green garden spider in its web. Very nice with some color evident. I also found my two mag 4 landmark stars between Del Cas (Ruchbah) and Almaak (Gam And) while scanning earlier. M76 was a bit harder to find though. It's right near a fairly bright mag 6 SAO 22551 so I centered it in my 9x50 finder and bingo, right on target. M76 in my 25mm ep is a non-descript grey fuzzy patch, a bit rectangular, without much in the way of other features. There were several small dim stars along one edge that looked interesting though.
While I was in the area, I gave the Andromeda galaxy a quick peek both with binoculars and unaided. It was easy to see unaided but spectacular in binoculars. A real 'wow' factor.
The patch of stars around Alpha Perseus was a glowing mass with unaided vision tonight. I've never seen it quite like that. It actually rivaled the Pleaedes.
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