Quote Originally Posted by Uwe Glahn View Post
Howard and Steve, you are right, to give it a try is the best way to know if it is visible or not. The praxis is more honest than any theory.

I think I know what you are talking about. Basically it is not the time itself what makes the night meaningful. For myself and because of sketching I rarely manage to visit more than 15 objects per night. But is is more the reminder what we are generally doing and observing. As experienced observers we all have our plans, our projects, our list to work on. And we are able to work efficiently. And I believe that is often the problem. Although we operate good we have to take a deep breath during our observing session. For example not to fight with 2MASS 02224186+4222417 with high power only but to shift a lower gear and to enjoy the simply beauty of the magnificent whole object.
Good words to observe by, but I had to chuckle about your comment regarding 2MASS 02224186+4222417 (one of the difficult companions of NGC 891). Howard, Jimi and I spent some time observing NGC 253 at high power two weeks. Well not exactly NGC 253 -- we were looking at the small (background?) galaxies surrounding NGC 253 like 2MASX J00472496-2521253!