So I did a quick Google for "Summertime nebula" and found Trifid and Lagoon as top results. Hell if I could find out where the Teapot constellation is or was. I'm sure I will someday. For now I needed to stick to things I knew. Reading down a few lines I found the Ring Nebula. Kersplat! It was pretty close to Vega. Vega practically gouges my eyes out nightly. Using the handy dandy starmap app I found the approximate location. It is best seen to me as a sort of oddly shaped diamond or a parallelogram. Like this not to scale representation:
VEGA
X
X
X
o
X
The "o" is where it is. I couldn't locate the son of a bitch. Although the bottom stars I could define I just couldn't make out anything regarding the Ring.
So back to Google I went. Ooh! That sure looks like a sweet picture of the Andromeda Galaxy and I was in luck that it was a clear shot to the east. This was even harder to find. I don't even think I found the correct stars to guide me. Flummoxed and depressed I was about to walk away when I decided to try the Ring one more time. Success!
The Ring Nebula
Though it was very hard to see, using what small amount of peripheral vision the eyepiece allows, I could make out the center. I could also leave the area, return to it fairly easily and locate the Ring again. There were these three stars that I used. The Ring and the three stars formed what I thought looked like a chicken's, or any bird's, footprint. This won't be the last time I go back.
This was a great night again. Saw many shooting stars as well. It's truly amazing and unexpected how many I see by chance. I could have searched for Neptune tonight too. It's pretty big and it's up as I am writing this. Yet, something tells me the planets are going to require a lot less city light. Might save those for camping.
Time to go work on my night vision. You think that surgery that Riddick had is real?
Until next time...
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