We had an excellent view of NGC 6745, the Bird's Head galaxy in Lyra - two galaxies in the process of merging - at the OSP a few weeks ago. I was going to make it the OOTW this week but Jimi reminded me that it's already had that distinction. Here are my notes and sketch:

"Well now, this is a wonderful view! The internal detail is way more than I expected and even the worm is visible - dim, but it's there. 605x, 22.00 SQM

NGC6745_crop.JPG NGC6745_cropinvert.JPG

I'm not sure if I saw the core of the main galaxy or the knot of bright new stars forming near it as one of the four knots that were visible, but each knot was about equally visible. This was such a stunning sight that we lingered on 6745 for about an hour. The fact that the sky was about as dark as it can possibly get was extra motivation to take a good long look as it's unlikely we'll get better sky conditions to observe this galaxy this well any time soon.