I loaded up my telescope for the first time and drove across town to a city park just across the street from my son's house. The open field has a much more promising southern skyline and a bit darker skies than I typically garner from my backyard. I was not disappointed. The 2 or 3 mercury street lights throughout the park seemed a dim comparison to the seven that surround my normal viewing grounds. As I unloaded my gear and set up, the old moon in the new moon's arms greeted me to the southwest.
A couple of friends joined me, and I gave them a tour of some of the Sagittarius beauties. While I was sighting in an object, they spotted a couple of meteors, and both said they hadn't seen that in years. They made comparisons between the binocular views and tele views of M7, M6, M8, M20, M21, and M22. Jupiter and the four moons were stunning, as usual, looking like a proud soldier flanked by a sentry patrol. My daughter-in-law, 3yr old and 5yr old granddaughters joined us just in time to take a quick look at the big J before the little ones were whisked off to bed (school night.). It is soooo rewarding to be able to share viewing experiences with friends; the sounds of their amazement at seeing these objects for the first time is like seeing them for the first time myself all over again.
I stayed on a couple of hours after everyone left, and witnessed the stillness fall like a blanket over the neighborhood. The cool, quiet is so claming that it seems to intensify the clarity of the viewing... obviously just my concentration and the benefit of less LP.... and I suddenly realized that I could see M7 and the Lagoon naked eye! I can't imagine what it will be like when I finally get out on the plains of Kansas and have a chance to observe under true dark sky conditions. Just this little bit of change and I added 3 Messier objects by binocular: M4, M28, and M23. They were so obvious in binos under these skies and I've never seen a hint of them from my backyard before. What a difference. I also found M80 in my telescope, though very faint. I thought I "might" have located it with my binos, but that was probably a memory image or just plain wishful thinking. : )
When the bats started swooping and a car of late-night partyers came seeking the darkness of the park, too, I decided it was time to pack it in. And one last meteor fell toward the south as if to signal the conclusion of a beautiful night under the stars.