Hello astronomy fans, I got out for four and a half hours tonight. Back on the Herschel hunt. I recorded eleven of them before MY VAN started clicking because my battery was going dead! You know me, I like to listen to classical music when I observe.
Up until then, wow!, what a night. I had my Lunar II list with me, now, then, but while I had three potential targets, they do not become illuminated until Friday night which apparently doesn't look so good.
Saturn was spectacular! Three of the "amateur moons" just above and trailing down to the side of the ring in a nice little arc, plus Titan 3 planet widths off to the east and I suspect Iapetus was two more widths beyond that. With sharp rings and a fine Cassini's Division, it is easy to keep the boys down on the farm.
I took Jay McLaren's advice on the Coma-Virgo group of galaxies and previewed my targets. I finished the two groups in Coma Berenices very easily that way and didn't waste time jumping from one constellation to another. The best I saw tonight were NGC 4414, 4448,4293 and 4394. All these are really worth a look.
I don't know what I liked better tonight, stargazing or not having to walk home. After my battery started clicking I shut everything off, packed up, jumped in, said a prayer and fired it up to go home. Thank you Lord for both!