Recognizing that there are usually very few usable nights in the summer when the
moon is not a problem prompted us to head to BBSP on Tuesday night. Yes, we
know you work and cannot drop everything at a moments notice just to go out and
observe, but that's what separates us astronuts from the rest. Joplin, Glen,
and I along with two of Glen's family descended for a few hours under the stars.
The Clear Sky Chart promised a decent night which it was. Granted, some clouds
drifted in around 11, but did not keep us from observing.

We spent a little time with Saturn waiting for it to get dark. Then on to some
other familiar objects. Since I didn't prepare an observing list, we spent most
of out time on familiar objects. On the agenda were a bevy or M objects; M3, 4,
45, 11, 13, 17, 20, 22, 27, 28, 51, 57, 65, 66, 80, 94, 101, 104, 106, and 109.
The big surprise of the night was M106 which turned out to be a very bright and
large spiral galaxy. I had not bothered to really look at in the past other
than from my back yard. It is definitely a must see, and not to be missed when
available for observing.

The Leo Trio was still available and I was able to get M65, M66 and NGC3628 in
the FOV of my 17 Nagler. Corvus was still up which gave us M104 along with
Jaws, Star Gate and Ngc 4361, the planetary inside the Corvus quad. Then to
NGC5643, 4565, and 6144, a faint globular near Antares. Jupiter rose a little
after midnight, but was still too low to enjoy. Another reward was an apparent
meteor shower that resulted in a number of fairly long trails passing west in
the vicinity of Ursa Major. It was past time for the June Lyrids (June 15-16)
discovered in 1966, but they were numberous enough and persistent in their
pattern that they characterized themselves as a particular shower. This is the
4th time that I have been lucky enough to stumble on a minor meteor shower while
observing.

around 1am we decided it was time to go. Unfortunately the clouds had finally
cleared out causing us to leave an excellent sky behind. The very next time out
M106 must be checked out since it was special treat and quite unexpected.