Alvin Huey, an enthusiastic deep-sky observer, author, and resident of the Sacramento, California, area, turned me on to a new site that deep-sky devotees should know about. Check out www.deepskyforum.com to see a growing community of posts from dedicated observers about viewing deep-sky objects. Many of the posters own large scopes and are sophisticated viewers looking for faint and challenging objects. The founders are Dragan Nikin of Dark Skies Apparel and Jimi Lowrey of Ft. Davis, Texas. The administrators include Alan Lippert of Chicago, Illinois; Michael Sowell of Panama City, Florida; and several others.
New posts at present include topics such as M13, observing the southwestern filament of the challenging nebula IC 443, and viewing the Calabash Nebula. The community of advanced observers, most of whom are owners of large Dobsonians, makes this an interesting place for discussions of strange and wonderful objects you may not have even heard of. The hope is that this forum will bring together deep sky observers to a common forum, making sure they discuss a wide range of objects, so those with smaller telescopes can also benefit.
While you’re at it, check out Alvin‘s site www.faintfuzzies.com. There you’ll see some interesting things associated with his observing and his book, Hickson Group Observer’s Guide, which details how to find these obscure galaxy groups.
Good hunting!