This galaxy shows an almond-shaped bright core and an ellipse-shaped body, with some brighter bulge around the core as its only special feature. The NELM was quickly getting worse because of the rising Moon, so I'm absolutely sure it would show a much larger size under a truely dark sky, but this time I estimate dimensions of only 2'x0.5'. SQM readings (just to give you an idea how much the Moon adds to light pollution): 19.95m/arcsec² (Moon slightly below the horizon) down to 19.58m/arcsec² (Moon slightly over the horizon) just within a 30 minute timeframe.

This is my first ever Moon-sketch, displaying craters Copernicus, Fauth and Gay-Lussac with some other sub-craters and domes not noted on the sketch. This is my actual sketch done at the eyepiece, no alterations were made after manually or digitally, other than resizing. It took about 45 minutes to finish, and I'm quite satisfied with it, althouth I've found that sketching the Moon is indeed very hard and very different from sketching deep space objects. Perhaps I should not finish Lunar sketches at the eyepiece but create only drafts with different markings for different shades and create the actual sketch in the warmth of the room. As an additional difficulty, the sky was 100% covered with a thin layer of cloud which made the image to be in constant change, only 1 or 2 stars was visible here and then. Moon phase was about 69%.

I was sketching the marvelous open cluster of NGC 1662 at 100x and just after I finished and took a final look, at 00:18 UT suddenly a fiery meteor rushed through the FoV, leaving a bluish ionized tail behind. This was visible for about 10 seconds before it disappeared forever. The series of sketches I've rendered digitally after quick drafts made at the eyepiece, using my actual NGC 1662 sketch as a background. As you can see, the tail was quickly moving to the North (thanks to the Dobsonian mount I was able to react and follow very quickly). While it constantly lost its brightness, it became wider and wider, and the most interesting phenomenon was the change of its shape: it got 'broken' at several points. Between each of these points, the tail remained straight. The joints were visibly brighter than the straight parts, just like on the sketch. I wonder if this is the regular behaviour of ionized tails of meteors, but this is what I saw. Anyhow, it was most probably the greatest 10 seconds of my observing life.

A very spectacular little open cluster in the great Orion constellation. It has only a handful of stars, but they are very different in colour, with brightness in the 9m range. The most interesting part is the paralelogram in the middle. SQM reading: 21.0 m/arcsec², 9°C.

This galaxy, also know as Mirach's ghost, not surprisingly is located near the bright star Mirach of the constellation Andromeda. Some have reported difficulties seeing this object, because although it's fairly bright, the glowing of the nearby Mirach easily outshines it. For me, it was visible easily from the start, but after I've increased the magnification to 250x, I was finally able to examine the structure of the galaxy without Mirach in the FoV. You may need eyepieces with good anti-glare coating to disturbing light rays. The galaxy itself is very small, round, with some suspectedly brighter details at its Northern corner, albeit this may be the result of an optical error only. SQM reading: 21.0 m/arcsec², 9°C.

Component A is the brightes part of of the trio by far. They split up easily even at 71x. A: 6.5m, white. B: 9.5m, slightly bluish. C: 11m. A-B: 10", PA: 20°. A-C: 16", PA: 170°. SQM reading: 18.33m/arcsec^2 (full moon!), 6°C.

A: white, 7m. B: a bit bluish, 8.1m. C: 10m. D: 11m. A-B does not split until 250x is used, but perhaps better seeing or greater magnification is required. A-B: 1.4", PA: 120°. A-C: 1', PA: 120°. A-D: 2', PA: 270°.

A fairly large asterism made up of stars of similar brightness and colour. It clearly separates from its environs, however it is only an asterism and not an open cluster according to the data I could put my hands on. It resembles either a double questionmark, or the flames of a large torch. Sofar I couldn't find any catalogue that listed this object as an asterism, so I decided to use the designation of Lovro 2. However, please not that this is a totally unofficial designation.

A rather standard pair with different colour and brightness. The catalogues list only 1 magnitude difference in that, but actually it looks much more to me. The fainter component is a bit pastel greenish. A: 4.5m, gold colour, B: 5.4m, green. A-B: 9.2", PA: 270°.

A bright wide pair with a separation of at least 12". B is much fainter and has a little tint of orange in it. A is perfectly white.

A nice bright pair, A is definitely orange and at least 2 magnitudes brighter than B, which looks white/yellow. A: 3.5m, B: 5.4m, A-B: 4.7" PA: 105°. Component D is much fainter and looks perfectly white, with 11m, A-D: 90", PA: 40°.

Splits up easily at 71x, although looks much better at 167x. A nice pair with different colour and brightness. A-B: 6", PA: 140°. A very spectacular pair.