Hello DSF,

This is my first report on this forum. Thanks to Akarsh and Sanath for suggesting that I post my observing reports here.

I had a chance to go observing last weekend to a dark site near Bangalore. The sky was about NELM 6+, with moderate seeing. I observed with my Lightbridge 16". The night was mostly productive, but I was a little tired after a few hours, and a little wary ( Some wild elephants had come rampaging in the field we were observing the previous night, and there were huge footprints all over the place ). So you will probably notice that my descriptions get shorter and less detailed towards the end of the list. I look forward to your comments.

1) Eskimo Nebula - NGC 2392 : Very bright. Crisp asymmetric (head shaped) inner region surrounded by a grainy halo (Pentax XW 7mm)
2) NGC 2903 : Bar easily visible, along with hints of spiral arms (13mm Hyperion)
3) NGC 1999 : On first look, appears to be a star surrounded by nebulosity. With averted vision, a dark T shape clearly visible, very crisp - with the base of the T close to the star (Pentax XW 7mm)
4) IC 434 : Horsehead easily visible as a dark silhouette on a wall of nebulosity ( Doesn't look like a horse ) (Pentax XW 7mm)
5) Flame Nebula - NGC 2024 : The entire Flame nebula is visible, almost like a photograph. Very bright, intricate details visible in the dark lanes (18.2mm DeLite)
6) NGC 2022 : Small, crisp oval shape. Not much detail visible (Pentax XW 7mm)
7) NGC 2440 : Very bright hourglass shape, with fainter tapering wings stretching out perpendicular to the hourglass. (Pentax XW 7mm)
8) NGC 1975 : Very bright, with prominent dark lanes very similar to photographs. Running man clear (18.2mm DeLite)
9) Orion Nebula - Messier 42 : Overwhelmingly bright. The entire complex is easily visible, which i had only seen earlier with an O3 filter on a 17.5". Exquisite details (18.2mm DeLite)
10) Messier 43 : Very crisp and sharp, mango shaped. Small filaments visible throughout. (18.2mm DeLite)
11) Crab Nebula - Messier 1 : Large, highly irregular shape, with brighter central region, and fainter, irregular wisps spreading out. 3 stars are visible within the nebula. (13mm Hyperion)
12) Sanduleak 2-21 : Smallish, almost round object. Relatively faint, but visible well with AV. The outer edge is brighter and crisp. Located right next to a mag 10 star, very close to 16 puppis. (Pentax XW 7mm)
13) Leo I : Very large, faint and elliptical - stretching E-W. Visible with averted vision. (18.2mm DeLite)
14) IC 424 : Unobserved (18.2mm DeLite)
15) Duck Nebula - NGC 2359 : Helmet well visible. One side is a shot but bright horn, the other side a fainter, larger horn. Wisps of nebulosity visible throughout the object. (18.2mm DeLite)
16) Cone Nebula - NGC 2264 : Nebulosity visible around several stars of the cluster, with one being very bright. Cone faintly visible with AV. (18.2mm DeLite)
17) Rosette Nebula - NGC 2239 : Extremely large. Nebulosity on one (south west?) side very prominent. (18.2mm DeLite)
18) NGC 2207 : Large And faint. Stretching east to west. IC 2163 is smaller and brighter with 2 stellar cores(?) both the glaxies seem to be connected, and the larger galaxy appears to have a tail sweeping outward, opposite 2163. Needs to be confirmed. (Pentax XW 7mm)
19) 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak : Fairly small, with a stellar core amd fuzzy nucleus. Couldnt detect a tail. EDIT: 2nd observation- hint of tail towards west northwest? (18.2mm DeLite)
20) Owl Nebula - Messier 97 : Large, round, and bright, with 2-3 dark regions visible occassionally (13mm Hyperion)
21) Messier 108 : Large, edge on. One bright and one faint stars visible on the galaxy. Irregular edges. (13mm Hyperion)
22) Black Eye Galaxy - Messier 64 : Large, very bright. The dark lane is extensive and very obvious. Large halo surrounding the galaxy (13mm Hyperion)
23) Needle Galaxy - NGC 4565 : Absolutely gorgeous! Almost fills the field. Very thin, very long. Small, bright core bulging out. Prominent dark lane cutting through the edge, splitting the galaxy almost in half (13mm Hyperion)
24) NGC 4494 : Small, fuzzy. No details visible. (13mm Hyperion)
25) NGC 4559 : Smallish galaxy. A bar is visible with averted vision.couldn't see the knots & nebulae in the galaxy. (13mm Hyperion)
26) Messier 83 : Very large, bright barred spiral galaxy. The bar is bright and prominent. 2 spiral arms stretch out from the ends of rhe bars, and the gap between the spiral arms and the bars are dark and prominent. (13mm Hyperion)
27) Sombrero Galaxy - Messier 104 : Almost photographic. The core is clearly visible and very bright. The dark lane is very well defined. Glow of the galaxy can be seen on both sides of the dark lane. (Pentax XW 7mm)
28) Messier 60 : Large and bright, almost circular. Appears connected to the nearby smaller, fainter and more elliptical ngc4647 (13mm Hyperion)
29) Messier 58 : Bright, elongatd core with a diffuse halo. Elongated almost east-west. (13mm Hyperion)
30) NGC 4564 : Small, elongated SW-NE. no indication of an extended halo (13mm Hyperion)
31) Siamese Twins - NGC 4567 : 4567 elongated E-W, with an almost stellar core. 4568 elongated SW-NE, longer, with a more diffuse core. (13mm Hyperion)
32) NGC 4528 : Small, with a stellar core. Slightly elongated N-S (13mm Hyperion)
33) NGC 4503 : Stellar core with an extended halo. ElongatedN-S (13mm Hyperion)
34) NGC 4497 : Faint, diffuse, and elongated E-W (13mm Hyperion)
35) Virgo A - Messier 87 : Bright and spherical, with a bright core and diffuse halo. No hint of the jet. (13mm Hyperion)
36) NGC 4478 : Small, bright, featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
37) NGC 4476 : Small, fairly bright, featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
38) NGC 4388 : Moderate sized, flat and stretching E-W. Hint of a dark lane? (13mm Hyperion)
39) NGC 4387 : Small, moderately brigt, and featureless (13mm Hyperion)
40) Markarian's Chain - Messier 86 : Large, bright, and stretching NW-SE. Featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
41) Markarian's Chain - Messier 84 : Bright, round and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
42) NGC 4413 : Small, elongated, stretching SW-NE (13mm Hyperion)
43) NGC 4402 : Long, flat galaxy. Edge-on? (13mm Hyperion)
44) Eyes Galaxies - NGC 4438 : Moderately large, with a diffuse core. Stretching SSW-NNE (13mm Hyperion)
45) Eyes Galaxies - NGC 4435 : Small, quite bright, with a compact bright core. SSW-NNE (13mm Hyperion)
46) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4443 : Moderately bright. Almost stellar core. SSW-NNE. Quite elongated (13mm Hyperion)
47) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4458 : Small, faint and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
48) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4473 : Bright, elongated with a compact, bright core. ESE-WNW (13mm Hyperion)
49) Markarian's Chain - NGC 4477 : Small, bright, a little elongated N-S. Compact core. (13mm Hyperion)
50) NGC 4479 : Small, faint and featureless. (13mm Hyperion)
51) NGC 4459 : Small, with a bright core. Very little - no elongation observed. (13mm Hyperion)
52) Messier 88 : Moderately large, bright, and elongated almost NW-SE. No spiral structure detected. (13mm Hyperion)
53) Messier 91 : Bright core with an E-W bar visible. (13mm Hyperion)
54) C/2015 V2 (Johnson) : Moderately brght with a tail visible stretching NW (13mm Hyperion)
55) 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova : Large and fuzzy, with an irregular shape. Hint of a tail pointing west. (13mm Hyperion)
56) NGC 3486 : Almost circular with a stellar core. No other features visible. (13mm Hyperion)
57) Messier 107 : Small, bright, asymmetric - the brighter stars form a bowl-shape. Resolved fully. (13mm Hyperion)
58) NGC 4236 : Large, elongated and quite faint. (18.2mm DeLite)