10-23-09 / Trnsp: 8/10 / SEE: 4/5 / LM: 4 Temp: low 50's
I got home from an evening engagement about 9:30pm (CDT-US) and noticed that the gray slurpy stuff that's plagued our skies for half of forever had simply vanished. There was a crispness in the air reminiscent of beautiful fall/winter observing, so I told my hubs I was just gonna grab the binocs for a quick look at a couple targets I've been searching for. The skies were the best I've seen in months, and I really didn't expect those conditions given all the moisture we've had lately. Suffice it to say, after quickly finding a couple of new Messier binocular targets, and realizing I could resolve 5 stars in M45 naked eye... I had to go grab the scope. Skies like this just can't be wasted.
While letting the scope cool down, I spent time just drinking in this deep velvet richness, accented with it's dazzling diamond-like embroidery. As I gazed upward, I realized I could detect some naked eye fuzzy areas where I normally have to star hop to an object. It's been a LONG time since my skies have given me this experience.
Zeroing in on the first fuzzy pacth, I pulled up my binoculars spot-on to CR 399... no star hopping needed this time, and there was my little buddy just inviting me to take off my coat and share a visit. From there, I easily star hopped over to M27 using the steps I'd practiced on a less-than-perfect viewing night earlier in the week. (There is value to observing under poor viewing conditions and drawing what you see regardless of NOT finding the intended target.) This time, M27 was unmistakably right where he was supposed to be, and both bino and scope views provided lots of detail to enjoy.
The DC, Andromeda Galaxy and the Pinwheel (M33) all begged for attention as they displayed their tell-tale, ever-so-faint fuzzies that alluded to their presence. I've been looking for M33 for over a year now (!?!) and this was the first time I've been able to find it. Its size in binos came as bit of a surprise, and tho' smaller and fainter than Andromeda, I know I should've seen this galaxy long before now. Thank you excellent viewing conditions for letting it pop out of hiding. 
One last naked-eye invitation came from NGC 281 in CAS. (Someone can correct me here if I'm off on that one, but a check of my star charts shows this to be the most likely target in that area.) As I studied the Queen, I could detect this little fuzzy spot about 1deg? east off 24Cas. 10x binocs revealed what appeared to be a DS with very distinct, rich nebulosity around it, and a somewhat smudged streak extending to the west. A peek in my scope showed the "smudge" was a more-or-less triangular patch of stars near the larger of the two stars, and this concentration of field stars was obviously what had attracted my eye to the "fuzzy" spot in the first place.
I ran quickly through a little tour of 8-10 favs, and much as I hated to, I had to cut it short. Even tho' I only got in about 2 hours of observing, it was a tremendously rewarding time. (I "heart" my dob!)
~De