Messier Objects Observations (Binocular)

Messier Objects observed with binoculars

The purpose of this table is to make it easy for me (and anyone else who is interested) to see what Messier objects I've observed. The list was taken from Astronomical League's list of Messier objects to observe in order to get the AL Messier Binocular certificate. Most of the links contained here point to pages maintained by SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space). Unless otherwise noted, all of the below observations were made with my Orion 16x80 binoculars.

Messier Objects observed with binoculars
M # Const Mag Date Time Location Seeing Notes

1 Tau ~8 1998-12-27 0100 EST Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0 Averted vision shows this to be a faint fuzziness, roughly rectangular.

2 Aqr 6.5 1998-08-02 0300 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. With a direct view, it looks like a star, but with averted vision, it appears to have some nebulosity around it.

3 CVn 6.4 1999-07-17 2245 EDT Savage Farm, VA Rather nice evening, temperature was about 70 to 75 degrees with limit magnitude of about 5.5 to 5.7. Nice GC. Fairly well defined "core" surrounded by fainter "cloud". No blending from core to outer layer.

4 Sco 5.9 1998-07-01 0040 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 Circular smudge with brightness at peak in the center

1999-08-06 2200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy A beautiful sight. The center seems a bit offset toward north?

5 Ser 5.8 1998-07-10 2225 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. Found this globular cluster without too much trouble. It seems little bit elongated, but otherwise a good sized GC.

6 Sco 4.2 1998-07-02 0005 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Nice cluster; I can count aboutt 9 or 10 stars in the cluster. It sort of looks like a boomerang or dolphin, but not a butterfly per its name, Butterfly Cluster. But maybe it was too dim to look like one anyway.

7 Sco 3.3 1998-07-02 0005 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Another beautiful sight. Number of stars increased as you move toward the center of the open cluster.

8 Sgr ~6 1998-07-01 0055 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 A lovely sight of the Lagoon Nebula. It looks like 2 bright nebulae with a dark band running roughly N-S between the nebulae.

9 Oph ~8 1998-07-01 2345 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Saw a mere smudge that can be seen only with averted vision. It might have been easier to see without the Moon in the sky.

10 Oph 6.6 1998-07-11 2220 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. It was mostly circular with a hint of flatness on the north-east side.

1999-08-03 2200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1 A nice bright GC. No sharp division between the core and the outer shell.

11 Sct 5.8 1998-08-p02 0030 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. The Wild Duck cluster looked like a half circle nebula to me. There's a star near the left side of the cluster.

12 Oph 6.6 1998-07-11 2225 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. It seems triangular in shape, pointing south. Also it appears dimmer than M10 which supposedly has the same magnitude as this one, and I observed it only 5 mins ago. But maybe that's because of the smaller size (14' vs 15' for M10)? Or the rising Moon? :-/ smaller size

13 Her 5.9 1998-08-02 0050 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. Came across the Hercules cluster while looking for a star to navigate to this beautiful cluster, saving me the trouble of looking for it. :-) It appears to have a well defined ball embedded within a bigger and more loose ball. It also serve as the apex of a wide triangle with 2 stars that are equidistant to M13.

14 Oph 7.6 1998-08-19 2335 EDT Savage Farm, VA Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so Lovely GC, with a sharp peak in brightness in the center.

15 Peg 6.4 1998-08-02 0320 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. I found this object after some trouble because I kept taking the wrong angle from a star toward the object and thus kept missing it. It was a pretty nice cluster.

16 Ser 6.0 1998-07-02 0115 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Direct view of the Eagle Nebula shows mostly stars with a hint of nebula surrounding the stars. With averted vision, I could see more of the nebula.

17 Sgr ~7 1998-07-02 0115 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 The Omega Nebula was a lovely little nebula. It was somewhat rectangular and fitted within the same field of view as M18.

18 Sgr 6.9 1998-07-02 0115 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Right above M24 in my field of view through the binocular. At first I thought it was M24, but it was in the wrong position. It also fit in the same field of view with M17. There are some nebulous glow in this object which doesn't show up on some pictures.

19 Oph 7.2 1998-07-01 0045 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 Can be seen only with averted vision. It looks like a fainter copy of M4

20 Sgr ~8 1998-07-01 0055 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 Trifid Nebula looks like a nebula with a star in the middle. That star is probably the very hot 7th magnitude star (spectral type O7) which is heating up the nebula. It wasn't as extended as the chart seems to imply, but maybe that's because I was looking through the binoculars?

21 Sgr 5.9 1998-07-02 0030 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 It has been called 'impressive', but to me it doesn't seem very impressive, but maybe I need to look at it with a telescope to be impressed. :-) For some reason, this wasn't on the AL's list of objects to observe for the Binocular Messier certificate?

22 Sgr 5.1 1998-07-01 0100 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 Nice round smudge with gradual brightening toward the center. Need little bit of averted vision to get more details from this one.

23 Sgr 5.5 1998-07-02 0030 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Very fine cluster (by 'fine', I mean not granular). It was hard to resolve any stars in it, but it didn't look like a nebula either.

24 Sgr ~4 1998-07-02 0100 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Beautiful cloud of stars that was aboutt 1 or 2 degrees wide. I had some trouble seeing it (and it was right under my nose!) because I was kind of expecting to be smaller than its apparent size. But Jonathan Bein confirmed that I was seeing this one. :-)

25 Sgr 4.6 1998-07-01 0100 EDT Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 A pretty open cluster. I can count aboutt 15 stars in the cluster. I drew a diagram of the stars and it agree pretty well with pictures in my book of Messier objects.

26 Sct 8.0 1998-08-02 0040 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. A pretty faint, circular cluster with a tight core.

27 Vul ~8 1998-08-22 0210 EDT Savage Farm, VA Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0. This famous Dumbbell Nebula looked like a pairs of nebulae connected to each other. The southern nebula appears to be bigger than the northern one.

28 Sgr ~7 1998-07-02 0115 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Looks like a smaller version of M22. It was fairly easy to see it, probably because by now, the Moon has set.

29 Cyg 6.6 1998-07-11 2235 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. A nice small and tight cluster. I could count directly aboutt 5 or 6 stars in the open cluster, but couldn't really count with the averted vision although there appear to be little bit more stars that way. I noticed an interesting 'string' of stars north (I think) of M29.

30 Cap 7.5 1998-08-02 0150 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. A nice little globular cluster--not too much to tell.

31 And 3.4 1998-08-02 0230 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. The Andromeda Galaxy indeed looks like a galaxy. The length of it was longer than my field of view, aboutt 2 or 3 degrees (can't remember off-hand) wide, with a bright center. I can make out M110 without too much trouble, but not M32.

32 And 8.2 1998-10-10 2300 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very transparent and decent seeing, but pretty windy. Finally 'saw' it after numerous observations of the M31/32/110 area. It was quite faint and pretty small smudge, almost a star. On this evening I took a look at the same area through Bill Bryson's 14" (?) telescope and saw that M32 was highly concentrated, so that may be why I kept missing it because it looked like another star?

33 Tri 5.7 1998-08-02 0240 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. It appears to be roughly rectangular nebula, with a possible slight peak in the 'left' side (probably NW) side of the galaxy. Or maybe I'm imagining things. :-)

34 Per 5.2 1998-08-22 0100 EDT Savage Farm, VA Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0. Found this OC without too much trouble. I could count aboutt 20 stars in the cluster.

35 Gem 5.1 1998-10-11 2335 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so). A nice open cluster, with aboutt 10 stars that I could count. Its shape was trapezoid, sort of.

36 Aur 6.0 1998-10-11 2335 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so). A smaller and more compact open cluster than M38, which make it brighter. Directly, it appear to be fuzzy, but with averted vision, I could make out some individual stars.

37 Aur 5.6 1998-10-11 2335 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so). A rather fine cluster in that there were a lot of really small stars. So small, it wasn't possible to see any individual stars even with averted vision. It's roughly triangular in shape.

38 Aur 6.4 1998-10-11 2330 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so). Very fine cluster, squarish with some 'arms'. As usual, averted vision showed more details.

39 Cyg 4.6 1998-07-11 2245 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. Another nice cluster, this time loose/open cluster, with no apparent 'center' of cluster. Can count aboutt 12 stars.

40 UMa ~8 2000-07-03 23:40 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. I can see why Messier might mistaken this for a nebula. It look a bit wispy, especially if not perfectly focused.

2003-03-29 20:10 CST Canyon of the Eagles, TX Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent. Found it without trouble and like last time, I appreciate why Charles Messier thought this was a bit of nebula rather than very close double.

41 CMa 4.5 1999-03-16 2030 EST Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). A nice loose cluster that's not spherical. It seems more like a figure. There were a couple of orangish/reddish stars in the center and a blueish star off to the left, about half-degree to a degree away; I'm not sure if that star was part of the cluster.

42 Ori ~4 1998-12-27 0020 EST Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0 A beautiful nebula that has two 'wings', with 3 to 4 stars in the middle of it. They'd be the renowned Trapezium stars. :-) I can't see any nebula around M43, although the star in it was easily visible.

2000-04-08 2130 CST Lakeway Airport, TX Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency Saw 4 stars in 2 rows.

44 Cnc 3.1 1998-05-29 2130 EDT Crockett Park, VA Fairly murky Has almost no trouble finding the Beehive Cluster during late twilight with the 5 days old moon aboutt 16 degrees below it.

2000-04-08 2130 CST Lakeway Airport, TX Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency Very nice cluster, evenly distributed.

45 Tau 1.2 1998-08-02 0210 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. The Pleiades cluster was somewhat low when I observed it, so it was twinkling quite merrily, which make it a beautiful sight. I could see about 50 stars in it, but no nebulosity.

46 Pup 6.1 1999-03-16 2100 EST Mickey Gordon Park, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). An open cluster that provides a lovely constrast to M47 below. It's dimmer than M47, which was right next to it. Although dimmer, it was easily visble and more evenly spread out than M47.

47 Pup 4.4 1999-03-16 2100 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). A beautiful and bright open cluster. It's bluish and appears more 'chunky' than M46 which was right next to this cluster.

48 Hya 5.8 1999-03-16 2115 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). A roughly circular open cluster with some sort of structure in the left-center of the cluster.

49 Vir 8.4 1999-07-03 2245 EDT Savage Farm, VA A rather muggy evening, about 75 degrees and lots of haze. This was really hard to find because of the haze. But at least I could see it in the right orientation.

50 Mon 5.9 1999-03-16 2115 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). A nice open cluster. It seems to have 2 'layers' of stars. In the center of the cluster, there appears to be an even fuzziness, while outside of that appears to be an outer 'shell' of pinpoint stars.

51 CVn 8.1 1998-08-19 2300 EDT Savage Farm, VA Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of about 6.5 or so This Whirlpool Galaxy appears to me as a nice elongated smudge with a hint of bent toward the top. That bent would be the small satellite galaxy that is connected to the main galaxy by bridge of gas and stars.

52 Cas 6.9 1998-08-22 0045 EDT Savage Farm, VA Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0. I'm not completely sure I saw this one, but a description of M52 match my observation, especially the fact that a star seems to be right on the edge of the cluster. Also, it seems somewhat irregular in shape, agreeing with the description.

53 Com 7.7 1998-07-10 2235 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. This GC was quite a faint smudge. Barely visible with direct vision and little bit better with averted vision as expected. There seems to be a faint star or a smudge southeast of M53. At first I thought it might be NGC 5053, but I think it's too close to M53 to be it.

54 Sgr 7.7 1998-07-02 0130 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 It looked like a star at first, but after some averted observation, I could make out some nebulosities around the star. I'm sure I saw this object because it was in the right spot according to the chart.

55 Sgr 7.0 1998-07-02 0130 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Nice size, but not really bright. While I could see it with direct view, I needed to avert to see some more details.

56 Lyr 8.2 1998-08-22 0200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0. Quite faint; need to use averted vision to see this GC's somewhat irregular shape

58 Vir 9.8 1999-06-04 2215 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. Another circular smudge with a "bright" core.

59 Vir 9.8 1999-06-04 2200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. Circular smudge, a touch smaller than the neighboring M60.

60 Vir 8.8 1999-06-04 2150 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. Quite faint (but it was still twilight). Orientation doesn't seem to match that on the chart--what I saw was quite elgonated. Bill B. confirmed the idenity of M60 and showed a picture of it showing 2 galaxies interacting and they were in the right orientation to account for what I saw.

61 Vir 9.7 1999-06-04 2350 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. A clircular smudge--a bit ovalish.

62 Oph 6.6 1998-07-01 2345 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 It looked like a very small comet going South ("tail" was pointing north). Some averted vision was needed to see it.

63 CVn 8.6 2000-07-03 23:10 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. A nic eelognated galaxy. Looks like a comet with a fore star acting as "comet head".

64 Com 8.5 2000-07-03 22:45 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. Finally found it after being a bit disoriented because I had the wrong orientation set in my mind. It's not too hard a galaxy to find, as long as you don't get tied up with expecting a particular orientation. There appears to be 2 centers of brightness.

65 Leo 9.3 2003-03-28 20:50 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees. Appears to be a thin fuzzy.

66 Leo 9.0 2003-03-28 20:50 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees. With averted vision, there seems to be 2 starlike "cores".

67 Cnc 6.9 2000-04-08 2130 CST Lakeway Airport, TX Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency Quite a fine open cluster. Brighter stars toward South. Sort of look like a planet in phase.

68 Hya 8.2 2003-03-29 23:20 CST Canyon of the Eagles, TX Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent. Somewhat patchy, little bit better view with averted vision. The view was not great because one of my eyepiece was starting to dew up.

69 Sgr 7.7 1998-07-02 0130 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 Like M70, this was another faint smudge that only an averted vision can help one to see it.

70 Sgr 8.1 1998-07-02 0130 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 A faint smudge that is in the correct spot. It required averted vision just to see it at all

71 Sge 8.3 1998-08-22 0215 EDT Savage Farm, VA Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0. Rather faint and looked like a fat comet with a short tail. As it turned out, what I drew on my notebook is similar to a drawing of this object in a book, The Messier Album.

72 Aqr 9.4 1998-08-20 0015 EDT Savage Farm, VA Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so This was really faint--some averted vision show it to be irregular in shape.

73 Aqr [none] 1998-08-20 0015 EDT Savage Farm, VA Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so This 'cluster' is really an asterism, although it looks like to me a faint linear cluster.

75 Sgr 8.6 1998-08-02 0140 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. This globular cluster took me a while to find because it was so star-like. Only by comparison of the view and the chart was I able to see it. With averted vision, I could see a hint of fuzziness around it.

77 Cet 8.8

78 Ori ~8 1998-12-27 0030 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0 A faint and circular fuzziness. There were another fuzziness, but smaller, and was just south of M78.

79 Lep 8.0 1999-03-16 2045 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). Quite a faint cluster. It looked like a dim star, but with averted vision, I could make out some fuzziness.

80 Sco 7.2 1998-07-01 2335 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5 There is a small star at where M80 should be and a small smudge can be made out surrouding that star with some averted vision. I'm not really sure if I did see it or not. I'll have to get someone more experienced to tell me if I saw it or not.

81 UMa 6.8 1999-08-06 2200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy Rather easy to see, but needd averted vision for a better view of it. M81 appears to be a round fuzziness with sharp bright core. It also appears to be slightly elogonated in the right direction, thus confirm this observation.

82 UMa 8.4 1999-08-06 2200 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy It appears to be more elgonated than M81 and at a right angle to M81. It also appears to curve somewhat to the right, like a left parenthesis.

83 Hya ~8

84 Vir 9.3 1999-06-04 2255 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. M86 is slightly smaller than neighboring M86. Both has bright and small core.

85 Com 9.2 2000-07-03 22:10 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. A nice galaxy. Not hard to find it. Looks a bit like 2 globular clusters together--2 spots of brightness.

86 Vir 9.2 1999-06-04 2255 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. M86 is slightly bigger than neighboring M84. Both has bright and small core. I could also see NGC 4438 as an elgonated smudge.

87 Vir 8.6 1999-06-04 2235 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. "Bright" circular galaxy. I thought I could see a dust lane in the middle of the galaxy, but was told by someone it was impossible to see it with my binoculars.

88 Com 9.5 1999-06-04 2310 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. A nice edge-on galaxy (at least it looks like one. :-) )

89 Vir 9.8 1999-06-04 2230 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. Ovalish smudge--a bit hard to locate, but found it eventually.

90 Vir 9.5 1999-06-04 2220 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. Nice elgonated ("edge-on") galaxy. Not too hard to see compared to other Virgo galaxies so far.

92 Her 6.5 1998-08-02 0105 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. This took me a while to find because I had trouble with the differing orientation of the view through the binoculars and the chart. This globular cluster appears to be quite small with a tight center.

93 Pup ~6 1999-03-16 2055 EST Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0). Visible with averted vision as a nice fann shaped cluster. With direct vision (looking right at it), I could see a bigger and dimmer cloud of stars around the fan-shaped cluster.

94 CVn 8.1 2000-07-03 23:30 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. Not too hard to find. Core is much brighter than outer fuzziness. Fairly round.

95 Leo 9.7 2003-03-28 20:25 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees. Found this and M96 after spending a lot of time looking for them. Very hard to see and take a lot of averted vision time to see them.

96 Leo 9.2 2003-03-28 20:25 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees. Found this and M95 after spending a lot of time looking for them. Very hard to see and take a lot of averted vision time to see them.

97 UMa ~11 1999-06-05 0010 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. The famous Owl nebula. Since it was very faint, I was not able to make a lot of detail out of this. For example, I couldn't see any 'eyes' in this circular smudge or anything more interesting.

99 Com 9.8 2000-07-03 22:00 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. Very faint but there, roughly in the right orientation. Could have been difficult to see because of the summer evening haze.

100 Com 9.4 2000-07-03 22:00 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Nice evening, windy, high 70s. A bit easier to see than M99. No suprise since it's about a half magnitude brighter. Looks like gray blob.

101 UMa 7.7 1998-08-19 2315 EDT Savage Farm, VA Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so This galaxy was a nice round oval of fuzziness. It took a while to verify its identity since it was quite faint and there were other galaxies (at least on the chart--I don't think I saw any other galaxies).

102 UMa 7.7 1999-08-03 2225 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1 Quite faint. Appears to be oval, evenly bright with a bit of fade at the edge.

103 Cas ~7 1998-07-11 2250 EDT Savage Farm, VA Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon. A very elongated cluster, practically a line, albeit a thick line.

104 Vir 8.3 2003-03-29 22:50 CST Canyon of the Eagles, TX Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent. Irregular blob with a bit of "core" brightness in the middle.

105 Leo 9.3 2003-03-28 20:30 CDT Canyon of the Eagles, TX Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees. Had less trouble finding this than M95 & M96, thanks to helpful star alignment. Smaller than these other objects, but that also help in my favor, having brightness in smaller area.

106 CVn 8.3 1999-06-05 0000 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. A nice bright galaxy. I could see a central bulge in the galaxy.

107 Oph 8.1 1999-07-17 2300 EDT Savage Farm, VA Rather nice evening, temperature was about 70 to 75 degrees with limit magnitude of about 5.5 to 5.7. Irregular shape--tried to study for details but clouds moved in.

1999-08-03 2155 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1 Nice little GC. Not too hard to make it out. Bright core which is well defined with outer dimmer cloud/shell.
108 UMa 10.0 1999-06-05 0005 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. A nice elgonated galaxy. I could imagine seeing the arms of the galaxy.

109 UMa 9.8 1999-06-05 0000 EDT Savage Farm, VA Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly. An elgonated smudge that appears brighter toward a star.

110 And 8.0 1998-08-02 0230 EDT Savage Farm, VA Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing. I can make out this one without too much trouble, which is pretty odd since it's supposedly really hard to see it. Also to make things weirder, I can't make out M32, which, again, is supposes to be easier to see. Go figures. :-) M110 was a rectangular mist just above M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)

**Messier Objects observed with binoculars**
M #	Const	Mag	Date	Time	Location	Seeing	Notes
1	Tau	~8	1998-12-27	0100 EST	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0	Averted vision shows this to be a faint fuzziness, roughly rectangular.
2	Aqr	6.5	1998-08-02	0300 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	With a direct view, it looks like a star, but with averted vision, it appears to have some nebulosity around it.
3	CVn	6.4	1999-07-17	2245 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Rather nice evening, temperature was about 70 to 75 degrees with limit magnitude of about 5.5 to 5.7.	Nice GC. Fairly well defined "core" surrounded by fainter "cloud". No blending from core to outer layer.
4	Sco	5.9	1998-07-01	0040 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	Circular smudge with brightness at peak in the center
			1999-08-06	2200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy	A beautiful sight. The center seems a bit offset toward north?
5	Ser	5.8	1998-07-10	2225 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	Found this globular cluster without too much trouble. It seems little bit elongated, but otherwise a good sized GC.
6	Sco	4.2	1998-07-02	0005 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Nice cluster; I can count aboutt 9 or 10 stars in the cluster. It sort of looks like a boomerang or dolphin, but not a butterfly per its name, Butterfly Cluster. But maybe it was too dim to look like one anyway.
7	Sco	3.3	1998-07-02	0005 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Another beautiful sight. Number of stars increased as you move toward the center of the open cluster.
8	Sgr	~6	1998-07-01	0055 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	A lovely sight of the Lagoon Nebula. It looks like 2 bright nebulae with a dark band running roughly N-S between the nebulae.
9	Oph	~8	1998-07-01	2345 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Saw a mere smudge that can be seen only with averted vision. It might have been easier to see without the Moon in the sky.
10	Oph	6.6	1998-07-11	2220 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	It was mostly circular with a hint of flatness on the north-east side.
			1999-08-03	2200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1	A nice bright GC. No sharp division between the core and the outer shell.
11	Sct	5.8	1998-08-p02	0030 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	The Wild Duck cluster looked like a half circle nebula to me. There's a star near the left side of the cluster.
12	Oph	6.6	1998-07-11	2225 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	It seems triangular in shape, pointing south. Also it appears dimmer than M10 which supposedly has the same magnitude as this one, and I observed it only 5 mins ago. But maybe that's because of the smaller size (14' vs 15' for M10)? Or the rising Moon? :-/ smaller size
13	Her	5.9	1998-08-02	0050 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	Came across the Hercules cluster while looking for a star to navigate to this beautiful cluster, saving me the trouble of looking for it. :-) It appears to have a well defined ball embedded within a bigger and more loose ball. It also serve as the apex of a wide triangle with 2 stars that are equidistant to M13.
14	Oph	7.6	1998-08-19	2335 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so	Lovely GC, with a sharp peak in brightness in the center.
15	Peg	6.4	1998-08-02	0320 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	I found this object after some trouble because I kept taking the wrong angle from a star toward the object and thus kept missing it. It was a pretty nice cluster.
16	Ser	6.0	1998-07-02	0115 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Direct view of the Eagle Nebula shows mostly stars with a hint of nebula surrounding the stars. With averted vision, I could see more of the nebula.
17	Sgr	~7	1998-07-02	0115 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	The Omega Nebula was a lovely little nebula. It was somewhat rectangular and fitted within the same field of view as M18.
18	Sgr	6.9	1998-07-02	0115 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Right above M24 in my field of view through the binocular. At first I thought it was M24, but it was in the wrong position. It also fit in the same field of view with M17. There are some nebulous glow in this object which doesn't show up on some pictures.
19	Oph	7.2	1998-07-01	0045 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	Can be seen only with averted vision. It looks like a fainter copy of M4
20	Sgr	~8	1998-07-01	0055 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	Trifid Nebula looks like a nebula with a star in the middle. That star is probably the very hot 7th magnitude star (spectral type O7) which is heating up the nebula. It wasn't as extended as the chart seems to imply, but maybe that's because I was looking through the binoculars?
21	Sgr	5.9	1998-07-02	0030 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	It has been called 'impressive', but to me it doesn't seem very impressive, but maybe I need to look at it with a telescope to be impressed. :-) For some reason, this wasn't on the AL's list of objects to observe for the Binocular Messier certificate?
22	Sgr	5.1	1998-07-01	0100 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	Nice round smudge with gradual brightening toward the center. Need little bit of averted vision to get more details from this one.
23	Sgr	5.5	1998-07-02	0030 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Very fine cluster (by 'fine', I mean not granular). It was hard to resolve any stars in it, but it didn't look like a nebula either.
24	Sgr	~4	1998-07-02	0100 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Beautiful cloud of stars that was aboutt 1 or 2 degrees wide. I had some trouble seeing it (and it was right under my nose!) because I was kind of expecting to be smaller than its apparent size. But Jonathan Bein confirmed that I was seeing this one. :-)
25	Sgr	4.6	1998-07-01	0100 EDT	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0	A pretty open cluster. I can count aboutt 15 stars in the cluster. I drew a diagram of the stars and it agree pretty well with pictures in my book of Messier objects.
26	Sct	8.0	1998-08-02	0040 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	A pretty faint, circular cluster with a tight core.
27	Vul	~8	1998-08-22	0210 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0.	This famous Dumbbell Nebula looked like a pairs of nebulae connected to each other. The southern nebula appears to be bigger than the northern one.
28	Sgr	~7	1998-07-02	0115 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Looks like a smaller version of M22. It was fairly easy to see it, probably because by now, the Moon has set.
29	Cyg	6.6	1998-07-11	2235 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	A nice small and tight cluster. I could count directly aboutt 5 or 6 stars in the open cluster, but couldn't really count with the averted vision although there appear to be little bit more stars that way. I noticed an interesting 'string' of stars north (I think) of M29.
30	Cap	7.5	1998-08-02	0150 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	A nice little globular cluster--not too much to tell.
31	And	3.4	1998-08-02	0230 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	The Andromeda Galaxy indeed looks like a galaxy. The length of it was longer than my field of view, aboutt 2 or 3 degrees (can't remember off-hand) wide, with a bright center. I can make out M110 without too much trouble, but not M32.
32	And	8.2	1998-10-10	2300 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very transparent and decent seeing, but pretty windy.	Finally 'saw' it after numerous observations of the M31/32/110 area. It was quite faint and pretty small smudge, almost a star. On this evening I took a look at the same area through Bill Bryson's 14" (?) telescope and saw that M32 was highly concentrated, so that may be why I kept missing it because it looked like another star?
33	Tri	5.7	1998-08-02	0240 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	It appears to be roughly rectangular nebula, with a possible slight peak in the 'left' side (probably NW) side of the galaxy. Or maybe I'm imagining things. :-)
34	Per	5.2	1998-08-22	0100 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0.	Found this OC without too much trouble. I could count aboutt 20 stars in the cluster.
35	Gem	5.1	1998-10-11	2335 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so).	A nice open cluster, with aboutt 10 stars that I could count. Its shape was trapezoid, sort of.
36	Aur	6.0	1998-10-11	2335 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so).	A smaller and more compact open cluster than M38, which make it brighter. Directly, it appear to be fuzzy, but with averted vision, I could make out some individual stars.
37	Aur	5.6	1998-10-11	2335 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so).	A rather fine cluster in that there were a lot of really small stars. So small, it wasn't possible to see any individual stars even with averted vision. It's roughly triangular in shape.
38	Aur	6.4	1998-10-11	2330 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly transparent, with good seeing and little bit chilly (~50 degrees or so).	Very fine cluster, squarish with some 'arms'. As usual, averted vision showed more details.
39	Cyg	4.6	1998-07-11	2245 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	Another nice cluster, this time loose/open cluster, with no apparent 'center' of cluster. Can count aboutt 12 stars.
40	UMa	~8	2000-07-03	23:40 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	I can see why Messier might mistaken this for a nebula. It look a bit wispy, especially if not perfectly focused.
			2003-03-29	20:10 CST	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent.	Found it without trouble and like last time, I appreciate why Charles Messier thought this was a bit of nebula rather than very close double.
41	CMa	4.5	1999-03-16	2030 EST	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	A nice loose cluster that's not spherical. It seems more like a figure. There were a couple of orangish/reddish stars in the center and a blueish star off to the left, about half-degree to a degree away; I'm not sure if that star was part of the cluster.
42	Ori	~4	1998-12-27	0020 EST	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0	A beautiful nebula that has two 'wings', with 3 to 4 stars in the middle of it. They'd be the renowned Trapezium stars. :-) I can't see any nebula around M43, although the star in it was easily visible.
			2000-04-08	2130 CST	Lakeway Airport, TX	Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency	Saw 4 stars in 2 rows.
44	Cnc	3.1	1998-05-29	2130 EDT	Crockett Park, VA	Fairly murky	Has almost no trouble finding the Beehive Cluster during late twilight with the 5 days old moon aboutt 16 degrees below it.
			2000-04-08	2130 CST	Lakeway Airport, TX	Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency	Very nice cluster, evenly distributed.
45	Tau	1.2	1998-08-02	0210 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	The Pleiades cluster was somewhat low when I observed it, so it was twinkling quite merrily, which make it a beautiful sight. I could see about 50 stars in it, but no nebulosity.
46	Pup	6.1	1999-03-16	2100 EST	Mickey Gordon Park, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	An open cluster that provides a lovely constrast to M47 below. It's dimmer than M47, which was right next to it. Although dimmer, it was easily visble and more evenly spread out than M47.
47	Pup	4.4	1999-03-16	2100 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	A beautiful and bright open cluster. It's bluish and appears more 'chunky' than M46 which was right next to this cluster.
48	Hya	5.8	1999-03-16	2115 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	A roughly circular open cluster with some sort of structure in the left-center of the cluster.
49	Vir	8.4	1999-07-03	2245 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	A rather muggy evening, about 75 degrees and lots of haze.	This was really hard to find because of the haze. But at least I could see it in the right orientation.
50	Mon	5.9	1999-03-16	2115 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	A nice open cluster. It seems to have 2 'layers' of stars. In the center of the cluster, there appears to be an even fuzziness, while outside of that appears to be an outer 'shell' of pinpoint stars.
51	CVn	8.1	1998-08-19	2300 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of about 6.5 or so	This Whirlpool Galaxy appears to me as a nice elongated smudge with a hint of bent toward the top. That bent would be the small satellite galaxy that is connected to the main galaxy by bridge of gas and stars.
52	Cas	6.9	1998-08-22	0045 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0.	I'm not completely sure I saw this one, but a description of M52 match my observation, especially the fact that a star seems to be right on the edge of the cluster. Also, it seems somewhat irregular in shape, agreeing with the description.
53	Com	7.7	1998-07-10	2235 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	This GC was quite a faint smudge. Barely visible with direct vision and little bit better with averted vision as expected. There seems to be a faint star or a smudge southeast of M53. At first I thought it might be NGC 5053, but I think it's too close to M53 to be it.
54	Sgr	7.7	1998-07-02	0130 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	It looked like a star at first, but after some averted observation, I could make out some nebulosities around the star. I'm sure I saw this object because it was in the right spot according to the chart.
55	Sgr	7.0	1998-07-02	0130 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Nice size, but not really bright. While I could see it with direct view, I needed to avert to see some more details.
56	Lyr	8.2	1998-08-22	0200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0.	Quite faint; need to use averted vision to see this GC's somewhat irregular shape
58	Vir	9.8	1999-06-04	2215 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	Another circular smudge with a "bright" core.
59	Vir	9.8	1999-06-04	2200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	Circular smudge, a touch smaller than the neighboring M60.
60	Vir	8.8	1999-06-04	2150 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	Quite faint (but it was still twilight). Orientation doesn't seem to match that on the chart--what I saw was quite elgonated. Bill B. confirmed the idenity of M60 and showed a picture of it showing 2 galaxies interacting and they were in the right orientation to account for what I saw.
61	Vir	9.7	1999-06-04	2350 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	A clircular smudge--a bit ovalish.
62	Oph	6.6	1998-07-01	2345 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	It looked like a very small comet going South ("tail" was pointing north). Some averted vision was needed to see it.
63	CVn	8.6	2000-07-03	23:10 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	A nic eelognated galaxy. Looks like a comet with a fore star acting as "comet head".
64	Com	8.5	2000-07-03	22:45 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	Finally found it after being a bit disoriented because I had the wrong orientation set in my mind. It's not too hard a galaxy to find, as long as you don't get tied up with expecting a particular orientation. There appears to be 2 centers of brightness.
65	Leo	9.3	2003-03-28	20:50 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees.	Appears to be a thin fuzzy.
66	Leo	9.0	2003-03-28	20:50 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees.	With averted vision, there seems to be 2 starlike "cores".
67	Cnc	6.9	2000-04-08	2130 CST	Lakeway Airport, TX	Clear and pleasant (~60) with seeing of about 8 (out of 10) and pretty good tranparency	Quite a fine open cluster. Brighter stars toward South. Sort of look like a planet in phase.
68	Hya	8.2	2003-03-29	23:20 CST	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent.	Somewhat patchy, little bit better view with averted vision. The view was not great because one of my eyepiece was starting to dew up.
69	Sgr	7.7	1998-07-02	0130 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	Like M70, this was another faint smudge that only an averted vision can help one to see it.
70	Sgr	8.1	1998-07-02	0130 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	A faint smudge that is in the correct spot. It required averted vision just to see it at all
71	Sge	8.3	1998-08-22	0215 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Partly cloudy and very warm, implying high humidity. Seeing is reasonable, aboutt 6.0.	Rather faint and looked like a fat comet with a short tail. As it turned out, what I drew on my notebook is similar to a drawing of this object in a book, The Messier Album.
72	Aqr	9.4	1998-08-20	0015 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so	This was really faint--some averted vision show it to be irregular in shape.
73	Aqr	[none]	1998-08-20	0015 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so	This 'cluster' is really an asterism, although it looks like to me a faint linear cluster.
75	Sgr	8.6	1998-08-02	0140 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	This globular cluster took me a while to find because it was so star-like. Only by comparison of the view and the chart was I able to see it. With averted vision, I could see a hint of fuzziness around it.
77	Cet	8.8
78	Ori	~8	1998-12-27	0030 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and cold (~20) with limit magnitude of aboutt 5.5 to 6.0	A faint and circular fuzziness. There were another fuzziness, but smaller, and was just south of M78.
79	Lep	8.0	1999-03-16	2045 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	Quite a faint cluster. It looked like a dim star, but with averted vision, I could make out some fuzziness.
80	Sco	7.2	1998-07-01	2335 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude of around 6.0 to 6.5	There is a small star at where M80 should be and a small smudge can be made out surrouding that star with some averted vision. I'm not really sure if I did see it or not. I'll have to get someone more experienced to tell me if I saw it or not.
81	UMa	6.8	1999-08-06	2200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy	Rather easy to see, but needd averted vision for a better view of it. M81 appears to be a round fuzziness with sharp bright core. It also appears to be slightly elogonated in the right direction, thus confirm this observation.
82	UMa	8.4	1999-08-06	2200 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice, 70-75 degrees, a bit breezy	It appears to be more elgonated than M81 and at a right angle to M81. It also appears to curve somewhat to the right, like a left parenthesis.
83	Hya	~8
84	Vir	9.3	1999-06-04	2255 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	M86 is slightly smaller than neighboring M86. Both has bright and small core.
85	Com	9.2	2000-07-03	22:10 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	A nice galaxy. Not hard to find it. Looks a bit like 2 globular clusters together--2 spots of brightness.
86	Vir	9.2	1999-06-04	2255 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	M86 is slightly bigger than neighboring M84. Both has bright and small core. I could also see NGC 4438 as an elgonated smudge.
87	Vir	8.6	1999-06-04	2235 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	"Bright" circular galaxy. I thought I could see a dust lane in the middle of the galaxy, but was told by someone it was impossible to see it with my binoculars.
88	Com	9.5	1999-06-04	2310 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	A nice edge-on galaxy (at least it looks like one. :-) )
89	Vir	9.8	1999-06-04	2230 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	Ovalish smudge--a bit hard to locate, but found it eventually.
90	Vir	9.5	1999-06-04	2220 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	Nice elgonated ("edge-on") galaxy. Not too hard to see compared to other Virgo galaxies so far.
92	Her	6.5	1998-08-02	0105 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	This took me a while to find because I had trouble with the differing orientation of the view through the binoculars and the chart. This globular cluster appears to be quite small with a tight center.
93	Pup	~6	1999-03-16	2055 EST	Mickey Gordonn park near Middleburg, VA	Clear and chilly, (~40s) with quite good transparencies and steady seeing (~5.5-6.0).	Visible with averted vision as a nice fann shaped cluster. With direct vision (looking right at it), I could see a bigger and dimmer cloud of stars around the fan-shaped cluster.
94	CVn	8.1	2000-07-03	23:30 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	Not too hard to find. Core is much brighter than outer fuzziness. Fairly round.
95	Leo	9.7	2003-03-28	20:25 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees.	Found this and M96 after spending a lot of time looking for them. Very hard to see and take a lot of averted vision time to see them.
96	Leo	9.2	2003-03-28	20:25 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees.	Found this and M95 after spending a lot of time looking for them. Very hard to see and take a lot of averted vision time to see them.
97	UMa	~11	1999-06-05	0010 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	The famous Owl nebula. Since it was very faint, I was not able to make a lot of detail out of this. For example, I couldn't see any 'eyes' in this circular smudge or anything more interesting.
99	Com	9.8	2000-07-03	22:00 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	Very faint but there, roughly in the right orientation. Could have been difficult to see because of the summer evening haze.
100	Com	9.4	2000-07-03	22:00 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Nice evening, windy, high 70s.	A bit easier to see than M99. No suprise since it's about a half magnitude brighter. Looks like gray blob.
101	UMa	7.7	1998-08-19	2315 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Autumn-like weather--clear, low humidity, limit magnitude of aboutt 6.5 or so	This galaxy was a nice round oval of fuzziness. It took a while to verify its identity since it was quite faint and there were other galaxies (at least on the chart--I don't think I saw any other galaxies).
102	UMa	7.7	1999-08-03	2225 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1	Quite faint. Appears to be oval, evenly bright with a bit of fade at the edge.
103	Cas	~7	1998-07-11	2250 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Clear with limit magnitude around 5.0 to 5.5, and a rising Moon.	A very elongated cluster, practically a line, albeit a thick line.
104	Vir	8.3	2003-03-29	22:50 CST	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Cold but calm. Temperature went from about 40 degrees to low 30s. Fairly transparent.	Irregular blob with a bit of "core" brightness in the middle.
105	Leo	9.3	2003-03-28	20:30 CDT	Canyon of the Eagles, TX	Mostly clear with high clouds to the west. Breezy, temperature around 45 to 50 degrees.	Had less trouble finding this than M95 & M96, thanks to helpful star alignment. Smaller than these other objects, but that also help in my favor, having brightness in smaller area.
106	CVn	8.3	1999-06-05	0000 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	A nice bright galaxy. I could see a central bulge in the galaxy.
107	Oph	8.1	1999-07-17	2300 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Rather nice evening, temperature was about 70 to 75 degrees with limit magnitude of about 5.5 to 5.7.	Irregular shape--tried to study for details but clouds moved in.
			1999-08-03	2155 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very nice evening, with steady seeing and transparency of 6.1	Nice little GC. Not too hard to make it out. Bright core which is well defined with outer dimmer cloud/shell.
108	UMa	10.0	1999-06-05	0005 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	A nice elgonated galaxy. I could imagine seeing the arms of the galaxy.
109	UMa	9.8	1999-06-05	0000 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Fairly clear and good transparencies (~5.5 or so). A bit chilly.	An elgonated smudge that appears brighter toward a star.
110	And	8.0	1998-08-02	0230 EDT	Savage Farm, VA	Very clear and transparent--unusually so for July/August, with some unstable seeing.	I can make out this one without too much trouble, which is pretty odd since it's supposedly really hard to see it. Also to make things weirder, I can't make out M32, which, again, is supposes to be easier to see. Go figures. :-) M110 was a rectangular mist just above M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)

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