I went back to Sagittarius with the telescope. It is low in the sky and is only visible early in the evening. So I only stayed out for an hour or so. There were also passing clouds although it did get better after I was all done.
It was also my first time using the Telrad. Definitely helpful although not as easy to use as the laser: it's awkward looking through it on a Dobsonian, and you can't use binoculars so you are limited to the few stars visible with the naked eye in the San Francisco sky.
Unfortunately, I installed the dovetail base directly about one of the tightening nob for the trusses and so I could not slide the Telrad into place without first unscrewing the nob.
I started with visual observations using the Baader Zoom for M22 and M24 then switched to the camera because the views were underwhelming.
Observations:
- M22 (Great Sagittarius Cluster)
- M24 (Small Sagittarius Star Cloud) and NGC 6603 (within M24) recognized through plate solving
- M17 (Omega Nebula) - Sagittarius
- M16 (Swan Nebula) - Sagittarius
- M25 (Open Cluster) - Sagittarius
- Could not see M8 or M20 as they were blocked by the neighbor's house.
- M55 (Globular Cluster) - Sagittarius
- M54 (Globular Cluster) - Sagittarius
- Saturn - the stack from the captured video didn't show any details
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| M22 Great Sagittarius Cluster |
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| NGC 6603 (in M24) |
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M24 Small Sagittarius Star Cloud
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| M17 Omega Nebula |
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| M16 Eagle Nebula |
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| M25 |
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| M54 |
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| M55 |
