It's been a long time since I saw the Ring Nebula, M57. In fact it the summer of 2007, under the very dark Adirondack skies of my friends Peter and Ben. We were using my 80mm Vixen ED refractor on a Portamount, and it was the first time trying to star-hop to any celestial object. Following the normal Cygnus -> Lyra -> Vega neighborhood hop (hey, we're not lost yet!) we eventually found it, very small but quite recognizable as a smoky donut. I am pretty sure it was the first DSO I ever saw since we hadn't found any clusters yet, although I do recall looking at Albireo.

This morning Tina had to get up early to get ready for a trip to DC, so I headed to the beach at about 4:15 to see what M57 would look like in the XT8i, which has about 45 times the light gathering ability of the 80mm refractor. It didn't take long at all until I was looking right at it, and it was certainly bigger and brighter than I remember it being last summer. In the 24 Pan it was clear and crisp, but using the 5mm Hyperion it was less distinct, which of course matches its physical characteristics since it's a planetary nebula.

I also tried out the new 35mm Pan that just arrived yesterday (good old Astromart, bargains galore!) Stars were not quite as pinpoint as they are in the 24 Pan, but the field of view is amazingly large. Since the Pleiades had already set I did not have a chance to view them in their entirety in the 35 Pan, but next chance I get this will be the first target. Andromeda is another one I'm looking forward to seeing but it is setting early enough that it's difficult to see in the West.

The eastern sky was quickly brightening by now, so I took a look at Jupiter which has now risen to about 20° in the SE by dawn. Incredible! All four of the Galilean moons were on one side of the planet, and the inner three were in a straight line, slightly angled down from a line drawn from Jupiter to the outer-most moon. There were three bands distinctly visible in the 24 Pan at 50X. This is going to be a great sprint and summer for Jupiter as it is rising earlier and higher each day.

I finished up with a quick binocular scan of the SE sky, and spotted a faint fuzzy object, which I quickly found in the scope. It was a very pretty open cluster with a single bright star in the middle and two more bright ones off to one side. At first I thought this was M13 in Hercules, but after consulting some books and maps it turns out it was M11, the Wild Duck cluster. My first view of this object! It appeared that the long axis of Cygnus was pointing almost right at it. I confirmed that with Cartes du Ciel since I remember the arc of 5 stars pointing right at the cluster. The first two stars in my "arc" were 14 and 15 Aquila, then Lambda Aquila, then 12 Aquila, then Eta Scutum, and then M11.

Since M11 was 37° above the horizon, I just realized that Sagittarius is high enough to see many of the southern galaxies and clusters I have never seen. (This is why Messier Marathons are held in early spring!) Virgo should be visible also. Well, now I know what I'll be looking for next time I'm out in the early morning.