ah, good honest work on the mirror and then mighty clear skies in the night. the thrill of your first few observations and going to bed with sweet memories. satisfaction guaranteed.
the cynic and i spent around 2-3 hours gazing at various clusters. M7, M28, and other’s i don’t quite remember. the cynic swung the scope around, and the pharaoh was dazed.
M7 (near scorpius), also known as Ptolemy’s cluster, is an open cluster and is quite apparent even through binoculars. in fact, the view from the cynic’s binoculars (10×50) was really good. the view from the scope wasn’t that enchanting (it’s pharaoh’s first observation, so bear with him). it just appeared like a bunch of stars scatterred around.
M28 (near sagittarius), a globular cluster, is a bit more difficult to spot. it was pointed out to me, but i only have vague recollections of it.
i was also allegedly shown M4, M6, M8. but, i am not sure i saw them. while seeing M4, i only remember seeing Antares in all it’s red super-giant glory. Antares has a companion star (5 mag), but it gets lost in Antares’ haze. can only be seen in an occultation of Antares.
all in all, it was fun & educative. the cynic taught me how to recognize some constellations 
, and it was instructive to read-up on what i had seen earlier in the night.
